Counting the Omer
Have you ever counted the days till an event you’re excited about? In May I had several conversations with friends who, for the last few weeks, had been counting with anticipation the days until their summer vacations! Our daughter and son-in-love are counting with great jubilation the day they move into their newly purchased home.
Counting the days is certainly a phenomenon we all experience from time to time. Our omniscient God is aware of this reality and has capitalised on it to drive an important truth home. I am thinking about the Biblical tradition of “Counting the Omer” which connects Passover with the Jewish Feast of Shavuot, perhaps better known to you as Pentecost.
Not surprisingly, there is a Jesus connection to your Old Testament heritage!
In Leviticus 23, God institutes the Feasts of Israel, including Passover and Shavuot.
The Hebrew word Shavuot means “weeks” or “sevens” because we count seven sevens from the day after Passover. In Greek, Pentecost literally means “Fiftieth” and refers to the 50-day period between Passover and the day Shavuot is celebrated. This Feast time on the Jewish calendar is when my people would give thanks to God for the produce of the barley season.
Specifically, we find God commanding the counting of the Omer in Leviticus 23:15-16,
“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf (omer) of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.”
An omer is a unit of measurement and is about three and a half liters, or just over fifteen cups of dry goods. In this historical case, barley. Sometimes an omer is translated as sheaf, since it is about the amount of barley or grains that you would need to bundle into a sheaf. So the instruction is to wave an omer, or a sheaf of barley before the Lord, and then count seven Sabbaths (or Weeks) and a day — 50 days — until the wheat harvest ripens and the Feast of Weeks arrives. The Feast of Weeks, also called Shavuot or Pentecost, was certainly a time of culmination.
Important history and Bible knowledge aside, what is the Jesus connection?
We recall that Jesus was crucified on Passover and rose again the third day. During the Counting of the Omer season, Jesus rose again and conducted ministry in His resurrected state for 40 days prior to His ascension in Acts 1:8. Additionally, on the Jewish Feast of Shavuot that the birthday of the Church occurs in Acts 2 (aka Pentecost)! Oh what a day, a day of culmination. Praise God for His perfect timing!
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven; He has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11).
Tonight at sundown, June 1, Shavuot begins. As God’s people, we remember and rejoice that it was on this day over 2,000 years ago that the Church was born. And because of every blessing we have in Messiah Jesus, we thank God and count ourselves as most blessed! Hallelujah and Amen.