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Chapter Five:
An Introduction to the Counting of the Omer
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et's review the language of the scriptures in the King James Version Bible related to Pesach and the Counting of the Omer to Shavuot in context of a pure lunar-based Biblical calendar.  There are only two methods one can count to fifty days after seven full weeks and seven weekly Sabbaths.  One is in the context of a pure lunar-based Biblical calendar.  The other is in the context of a solar-Gregorian calendar only if the count is started the day after the weekly Saturday Sabbath during the week of Hag HaMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread).  You may read about this method at http://www.karaite-korner.org/shavuot.shtml.  The Rabbinic method of setting Shavuot does not agree mathematically with the way the Counting of the Omer is described in scripture.

Let's focus on the
Book of Leviticus chapter 23 (KJV) and Deuteronomy 16:5-15 (KJV). The explanation of the verses is in the left column and the original scriptures are in the right column.
 
 
First, read the scriptures to your right to get a conceptual overview and then return here to review the paragraphs along with the commentary below.
 
Verse 5 is speaking of the 2nd evening of the 14th day, which is really the 1st evening of the 15th day.  Verse 5 and 6 are speaking of the same period of time but in two different ways.  In both cases it is Abib 15.  Seven days later or the 7th day of the week is Abib 21. Make sure you review Exodus 12:6-14, 18-19 as a cross-reference because it clarifies verse 5 and 6.
 
Verse 8 corresponds with the weekly Sabbath which is seven days later than the first day of the week that is Abib 15.  Take a look at
Exodus 12:18-19.
 
The term in verse 11, "on the morrow after the Sabbath" is basically saying the "next day after the Sabbath" or "tomorrow after the Sabbath."  Notice verse 15 is speaking of the same day as verse 11 in the commandment to count the omer.  It is also referring to the same day as verse 14.  We can tell from the language used as well as the reference to the words, "sheaf," "wave," "brought an offering," and "selfsame day."

In the week of Pesach there are only two Sabbaths that verse 11 and 15 can apply to.  The first Sabbath is the Sabbath on Abib 15, which is Pesach.  The second Sabbath is the weekly 7th day Sabbath on Abib 21.  In the context of a pure lunar based calendar, the timing of days become clear.

The problem of identifying which Sabbath the verse is referencing is easily reconciled.  If you start the omer count after the 15th of the month, which is the 16th, you are in the middle of the week.  This creates a problem because there is no way to arrive at the 50th day on "the morrow after the seventh Sabbath" after "seven weeks" (
Deuteronomy 16:9) because you started counting in the middle of the week.

The other choice is to start counting the omer on the "morrow after the Sabbath" which is the weekly Sabbath or Abib 21. This is what is illustrated in the pure lunar-base Biblical calendar in Chapter 4.

As you can see by starting the omer count after the weekly Sabbath, we arrive at the 50th day on the "morrow after the seventh Sabbath" exactly as Yahuah commands in verse 16 and
Deuteronomy 16:9.

Verse 21 clarifies the 50th day (selfsame day) to be Shavuot, a day of holy convocation, a Sabbath, because no servile work is to be done. Verse 17 speaks about the two waves loaves offered as firstfruits on Shavuot. They are known as "meat offerings."
 
Leviticus 23:1-24 (KJV)

23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.

6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete:

16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

 
Deuteronomy 16:5-15 (KJV)

5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the LORD your God and do no work.

9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.

11 And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

13 Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your Feast--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

Exodus 12:6-14 (KJV)

6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike [it] on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast [with] fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11 And thus shall ye eat it; [with] your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it [is] the LORD'S passover.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I [am] the LORD. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye [are]: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy [you], when I smite the land of Egypt.

14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Exodus 12:18-19 (KJV)

18 In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
 
 
   
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