Pentecost, Shavu’oth and the Harvest

I thought I would write a little about the time we see in scriptures called Shavu’oth, which we see translated sometimes as Pentecost, the feast of weeks, and also the appointed time of harvest.

There are many different views on when this event is to be held. Some say to count 50 days from the day known as first fruits, which is the 16th day of the first month. Others say to count seven weeks and then count 50 days from the 16th day of the first month.

But what I am going to present here may surprise many people. I do not count to the appointed time of harvest using either of these methods. The reason I do not is simply because of what I find in scripture.

To start with, I count from the 23rd. The day after the Sabbath of the Feast of unleavened bread. There are a couple of reasons why I count it this way which I will explain to you next.

When you count seven sabbaths from here you land upon the sabbath which is the 15th day of the third month. The day after the Sabbath is the 50th day and that is the 16th day of the third month.

The reason I do it this way is because what I found when I was studying His word. You see if you count from the appointed time of trumpets, 1335 days, you will come to the same sabbath. That is, the Sabbath upon the 15th day of the third month. The next day is the day of harvest.

I understand that we are to be like the Son. If He rose upon the 16th, so shall His people. Many of them rose upon the 16th in the first month. Having those who are righteous rise at the same time the son did makes sense.

Scripture says that we need two to three witnesses of something before we can say it is truth.

We find that written here for example:

2 Corinthians 13:1
1 This is the third time that I am visiting you. Every fact shall be sustained and confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Matthew 18:16
16 But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two others, so that every word may be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Even Yahshua himself said this:

John 8:17-18
17 Even in your own law it is written that the testimony of two persons is true. 18 I am One who testifies about Myself, and My Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”

So if this is the case, and He is talking about the harvest of all His people, shouldn’t we expect to find two to three witnesses which all testify of the same thing? Importantly each witness would:

1) Have a different place from where they witnessed the event from.
2) They would see the same event, but be able to describe it from their point of view.

So why does scripture say we need two to three witnesses? It is like when you have three people standing around the item in question.

When you look at something from one angle, the report may come back that the item which was seen as a circle. And there view, from their perspective may be true. Another person may say that what they have witnessed was a square. And again from their perspective that may also be true.

But we cannot have it being a square and a circle unless you have the third witness which ties them both together. That is the object the three were looking at was a cylinder. A circle on one side. A square on another, but together makes a cylinder.

That is what I am trying to point out. People looking at Leviticus 23:12-13 are only seeing one angle of that which is spoken of more than once. We need to take each part together see the whole, otherwise, we are only seeing a specific view which does not represent the object we are speaking of. It just represents our view alone.

For us to be able to claim we are correct, we REQUIRE two to three witnesses of an event. A single witness will not do.

Now I have had a friend say to be that “if it is written in the law, it must be correct”. I had a look at this as I was reading what Yahshua himself said above in John 8:17. “Even in your own law it is written that the testimony of two persons is true.”

So even from the Laws perspective, we require two witnesses as the minimum.

So what does scripture tell us regarding when Pentecost is?? Have we misunderstood a single scripture to our own demise? If we use just a single scripture and then say that our understanding of that scripture is truth, we are in fact looking at the cylinder from one view alone and will either claim it is a circle or a square from the single perspective we view it from.  We will not budge because that is all we can see.

Let me encourage all to take a step back and look at what else we see in His word regarding this event:

Witness 1:

Daniel 12:11-13
11 And from the time the continual shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up. A thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

In this scripture, I see a number of things. I see that the continual calendar that is in use today shall cease and the calendar which Yahuwah instituted, in the beginning, shall be restored. That is, we will have the sun and moon making their 30 day months again, not 29.5 days. That is the continual being taken away.

Then the count starts. 1260 days (Three years) then another 30 days (making 1290 days) then another 45 days (making 1335 days).

When you count it this way from the appointed time of Trumpets, here is how it is laid out:

Month 7 – 30 days (Starting at the time of Trumpets)
Month 8 – 30 days
Month 9 – 30 days
Month 10 – 30 days
Month 11 – 30 days
Month 12 – 30 days
Total = 180 days – This is 1/2 a year

Month 1 to Month 12 = 360 days – This is 1 year
Month 1 to Month 12 = 360 days – This is 1 year
Month 1 to Month 12 = 360 days – This is 1 year

In three and a half years, therefore, there are:
3 x 360 + 180 = 1260 days.

But the scripture in Daniel 12:12 tells us to count to the 1335th day. Have you ever counted two and a half months more to see where you end up?

Month 1 – 30 days
Month 2 – 30 days
Month 3 – 15 days.

This brings you to the end of the 15th day in the third month. Now look to see what Daniel 12 says about this time right after the 1335th day is mentioned:

Daniel 12:13
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

Twice Daniel is told it is to the end. “Till the end be” and “at the end of days” We are told in Matthew 13:39 that the end is the when the harvest shall be:

Matthew 13
39 The enemy who sowed them (the bad seed) is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. The reapers are the angels.

Reaping occurs in the harvest. That is the appointed time of harvest. So from this witness, we have the appointed time of harvest occurring after the Sabbath on the 15th day of the third month (for work does not occur on the Sabbath).

Witness 2:

In the book of Jubilees, we also find that the appointed time of harvest was held the day after the Sabbath upon the third new moon. It is described as the time when we see the seperation occur. When the wheat and the tares are seperated. Here in Jubilees 14, we see a heifer, a goat, a sheep, a turtle dove and a pigeon all being divided into two parts. All except the birds.

The birds represent the 144,000. those who are righteous and do not need to be divided as they already follow the Father. The rest represent the people, that is, the wheat and the tares. This is the sepatation of the wicked and the righteous.

Jubilees 14:1, 9-11, 19-20
1 After these things, in the fourth year of this week, on the new moon of the third month, the word of Yahuah came to Abram in a dream, saying: ‘Fear not, Abram; I am thy defender, and thy reward will be exceeding great.’

9 And He said unto him: ‘Take Me an heifer of three years, and a goat of three years, and a sheep of three years, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon.’ …
10 And he took all these in the middle of the month and he dwelt at the oak of Mamre, which is near Hebron.
11 And he built there an altar, and sacrificed all these; and he poured their blood upon the altar, and divided them in the midst, and laid them over against each other; but the birds divided he not.
…
19 And the day passed, and Abram offered the pieces, and the birds, and their fruit offerings, and their drink offerings, and the fire devoured them.
20 And on that day we made a covenant with Abram, according as we had covenanted with Noah in this month; and Abram renewed the festival and ordinance for himself
for ever.

In verse 20 we see some interesting things.  Firstly we see that there was a festival – or what we call an appointed time which fell midway through this month. This is the appointed time of harvest we are seeing.

Secondly we see this time being spoken of when a covenant was made with Abram and Noah. I beleive this was the time when Noah had come out of the ark, and as such was renewed. We see the results of the harvest – the wicked were drowned and the righteous came through. The covenant was made with Abram we see above.

The harvest, that is the final division between the righteous and the wicked occured at this time. This is the same story we read of in Genesis 15 by the way.

Witness 3:

In the very next chapter of Jubilees, chapter 15:1 we read:

Jubilees 15:1
1 And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee, in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram celebrated the appointed time of the first-fruits of the wheat harvest.

Here again we see the appointed time of harvest occurring. This day is the same day spoken of as the 1335th day in Daniel.

Witness 4:

In Jubilees 16 we see the following:

Jubilees 16:13
13 And she (Sarah) bare a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which Yahuwah had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first fruits of the harvest, Isaac was born.

Here we again see the third month, middle of the month. We see that this is the time of the harvest.

Witness 5:

In the first chapter and the first line of Jubilees 1, we are told the day that Yahuwah told Moses to come up to collect the ten commandments, that is, His law, was the sixteenth day of the third new moon.

You see after the harvest, the people of Yahuwah will be following His commandments. They follow His commandments because they love Him and He gives them the commandments because He wants the best for His people.

Jubilees 1:1
1 And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the third month, on the sixteenth day of the month, that Yahuwah spake to Moses, saying: ‘Come up to Me on the Mount, and I will give thee two tables of stone of the law and of the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayst teach them.’

Here upon the 16th day, which is the day after the 1335th day, is the day which Moses was given the commandments for the people, that he may teach them. I believe this will occur again in the future, from this day, but we will have His commandments not written on Stone, but upon our hearts that we might know and understand them and act accordingly.

Witness 6:

In Jubilees 6 we again find the appointed time of harvest being spoken of and we also find it falling it falling in the third month.

Jubilees 6:1, 15-17
1 And on the new month of the third month he went forth from the ark, and built an altar on that mountain.
…
15 And He gave to Noah and his sons a sign that there should not again be a flood on the earth.
16 He set His bow in the cloud for a sign of the eternal covenant that there should not again be a flood on the earth to destroy it all the days of the earth.
17 For this reason it is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets, that they should celebrate the “Feast of Weeks” in this month once a year, to renew the covenant every year.
…
21 For it is the “Feast of Weeks” and the “Feast of First Fruits:” this feast is twofold and of a double nature: according to what is written and engraved concerning it, celebrate it.

So what about Leviticus 23:15-16??

If we read it the way many interpret it, they shall arrive upon the 9th day of the third month. But that is not the same day as the 1335 day, nor does it align with the what we see in Jubliees.

We could just say that these multiple witnesses are false and that our single witness is true, but that would be like saying that the cylinder is just a circle, ignoring the whole.

Rather. if you spend some time looking at Leviticus 23:15-16 you will notice something. Leviticus 23:15 in most translations says something like:

Leviticus 23:15
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.

Witness 7:

What I believe has happened here is a mistranslation of the text into English. For if scripture must agree with scripture, and a witness must agree with a witness there is only a single answer. It should read as such:

Leviticus 23:15
15 Count, so it happens, from the day after the Sabbaths of the wave sheath (unleavened bread), seven Sabbaths complete. 16 Count to the fiftieth day, to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to Yahuwah.

You see the Last Sabbath of unleavened bread falls upon the 22nd. The day after this Sabbath is the 23rd.  If you count 7 weeks from this date, you will end up upon the Sabbath of the 15th day of the third month.  This is the same day all the other witnesses testify is the appointed time of harvest.

New moon days are not days of the week. They never have been a day of the week for new Moon day is a day of rest. A worship day according to Ezekiel 46:3 and Amos 8:1-5.

Ezekiel 46:3
3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before Yahuwah on the Sabbaths and the New Moons.

Amos 8:1-5
1 Thus Yahuwah Elohim showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. 
2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then Yahuwah said to me:

“The end has come upon My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore.
3 And the songs of the temple
Shall be wailing in that day,”
Says Yahuwah Elohim—
“Many dead bodies everywhere,
They shall be thrown out in silence.”

4 Hear this, you who swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail,

5 Saying:

“When will the New Moon be past,
That we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath,
That we may trade wheat?
Making the ephah small and the shekel large,
Falsifying the scales by deceit.

According to scripture, it is impossible to have two witnesses which conflict. Sure we would agree that witnesses should have different views of the same event, but their views must meet at the same spot if we are to understand it as truth.

Our present view of Leviticus 23:15-16 is going to be a stumbling block for many.

Witness 8:

Some people like to quote John 4:35 to say that the appointed time of harvest is not in the third month, but rather it is in the fourth.

Let us take a look at what John 4:35 says:

John 4:35
35 Do not ye say, that there are yet four months and the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest.

Here, Yahshua is saying to the people that they – the people – have a saying that there are four months and then the harvest comes. But when would one say this? Would this be said in the fourth month, or before the fourth month?

1. We can tell that the month it was said in was the month He was referring to.
2. We can also tell that the month it was said in, could not have been the fourth month, otherwise what would be the point in mentioning this? If it was already the fourth month, why tell them that the harvest was ready early??

Rather this scripture points to the fact that the harvest had to be before the fourth month, and the month directly before the fourth month, is the third.

The word we see here as “white” in the phrase “white to harvest” is something which passes over many people.  This is not just referring to colour of the grain being harvested, but also to the state of the moon at that time.  The word white here comes from the word leukos and is the same word used for the name Luke.

It refers to Light and in particular, a bright and brilliant form of white light. Midway through the month, is when the full moon is seen. It is also the same colour. A brilliant white light.  Right after this Light is the harvest, upon the 16th day.

Note: Whilst I was looking at anothers Facebook post the other day, I came across this image which shows so clearly that the count above is correct.

Click here to view the image above in full size

Yahuwah Bless

Robert-Aaron.