Tag: Shavuot

Pride and Pentecost

There’s a huge miracle that happened at Pentecost aka Shavuot in Acts 2 that is directly related to salvation but seldom noticed.

Audio only below

Talk about the new theme of the month of June is just around the corner. What do we think of pride? Do we think that’s a good thing?

Slide 2 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. (Jas 2:8-13)

It’s my philosophy that there are two sins that almost all other sins stem from. Keep in mind that there is doctrine and then there is philosophy. Doctrine is teaching and a set of beliefs based on scripture. If we were to say there are two laws from which the rest emanate from a doctrinal point of view, the two would be the Shema and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Yeshua literally says this so that settles that. Hence, a settled doctrine. Philosophy is a little bit of a different angle. Your philosophy in life is based on your knowledge, experience, and emotions. A philosophy is something of how you view the world, so it changes throughout life.

Philosophically, we can approach things from many different angles and will very likely arrive at the same truths. This is why many of the commandments are common among almost all societies. Philosophically, one can figure out that adultery, murder, and theft are bad. Doctrinally, though, it’s a different story. 

Anyhow, after a rambling start, my philosophy is the two sins that drive most of the rest are coveting and pride. Coveting, the lusting after your neighbor’s stuff, is the most often talked about of these two. This is the point of the 10 commandments where the people lost it. “You mean we can’t even THINK about doing these things, Yahweh? We can’t take it anymore. Talk to us through Moses”. Coveting is the root of a ton of sins, most famously Cain and Able. The coveting led Cain to murder his brother. Coveting also got Eve as she longed for something she was not supposed to have. King David’s adultery – yep, coveting his buddy’s wife. Coveting is a really difficult thing to overcome and we all have it to one degree or another. And, doctrinally, this is the literal 10th commandment.

But pride, that one is really tough. The word pride has a couple of definitions, not all of which are bad. Taking pride in your work, like admiring a well-built fence or a well-made meal, is not a sin. It’s not a sin to set a goal, achieve it, and then be proud of it. Taking pride when your children or sports team does something well is also not a sin. But pride when used in the vein of haughtiness or arrogance, that’s the one that really gets people. That’s the one that causes people to do things they wouldn’t or shouldn’t really do. 

Slide 3 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is he that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today YHVH has accomplished deliverance in Israel.” (1Sa 11:12-13)

King Saul started out very humble. When he met Samuel and was told wonderful things, his reaction was to say his tribe, Benjamin, was the least in the land and his family was the least in that tribe. But Samuel delivered the Word of God, that Saul would be Yahweh’s anointed. Saul even hid in the baggage when they were seeking a king in the assembly but was brought forth and made king. After his first battle here on the board, he did not act haughty at all. He could have had his early detractors put to death, but he chose to allow the deeds of the day to stand on their own. Humility is on display here – the people are ready to do whatever he says and he doesn’t take the bait. He gives credit to YHVH for the victory as well.

Slide 4 Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of YHVH.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of YHVH your God, which He commanded you, for now YHVH would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

(1Sa 13:8-13)

King Saul is one of the biggest examples of letting pride take over and driving him to do things he really should not have done. Look at the bold verses. It became about him, not about Yahweh and not about the nation he was anointed to serve. He took his anointing as Israel’s first king to mean that he could do anything. He ignored Samuel and decided that he could just do whatever he felt moved to do. He let his pride drive him to insane jealousy over David, chasing him like a madman all over the kingdom. And he ultimately felt the loss of his power so hard that he turned to witchcraft, breaking his own order, to try to call up Samuel to get a glimpse of what he had back. 

Slide 5 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Adonai YHVH, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you. (Eze 28:12-17)

Most of us understand these verses to be speaking of Satan. Much like Saul, Satan was a magnificent specimen of a creature and anointed immensely.  Satan’s own pride brought him down and the earth will deal with the ramifications of his sin until the end of days. The parallels between here and Saul are simply remarkable, aren’t they?

Slide 6 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has YHVH indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And YHVH heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) (Num 12:1-3)

The opposite of pride is humility. The understanding that even though you just did something good, and you enjoy it, you don’t let it go to your head. Humility is one of the best traits a human can have. When a successful businessman can still relate to the guys in the shop or on the assembly line, we all feel good. There was even a successful TV show called “Undercover Boss” where corporate executives went undercover to become line workers in their own companies. It was touching and one of the best products the TV industry has put out in a long time. The executives humbled themselves in secret to experience being an employee in their own firms. They often changed policies and increased wages based on the experiences. Their willingness to humble themselves made for touching TV but also positively impacted many employees.

Back to the bible, when the Jews were allowed to come back from Babylon,  Nehemiah declined to eat the governor’s portion because the people had to work instead of growing food and cattle. Nehemiah was the legitimate leader of Israel and could have stayed “in the boardroom”. He not only refused to eat well and have servants, he also worked on the rebuilding himself. The nation and history are blessed by his humble example. Moses was the most humble man on earth until Yeshua. This is one reason Moses was anointed to lead the people for so long – that he would not get that pride and blow it. When Moses did blow it, it appears to be out of frustration, not out of pride or covetousness (remember, I said most sins come from pride or covetousness. Rage is another source). You can see here in this passage that Aaron and Miriam did get a little proud and haughty. “Moses ain’t the only one YHVH speaks through…” And they got smacked down for it. 

Slide 7 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1Ti 3:1-7)

Paul even makes it a point to clarify the traits of a man to lead an assembly. These traits combine to make someone not haughty, prideful, or conceited. In fact, the word “conceited” there could actually be “lifted up” if you look at the concordance. Yeshua and Moses are our examples for leaders. That’s a tough place to be because it’s not possible to attain to such a standard. Perhaps we could attain it for a while, but to sustain it seems far off. Yet we try. The reality of our faith is that we strive for a standard that only Yeshua attained and He mediates on our behalf. Those who lead and/or teach need more intercession because our sins can be multiplied and spread through our teaching, or we can harm the Gospel by being bad examples. Some will consider you arrogant if you are intelligent, some will consider you prideful if you can speak well, and there really isn’t much one can do to change those minds. However, a life of humble servitude – showing up, taking responsibility, arranging things, and seeing to the sick and infirm will show your true heart. 

This gets to a point that will make sense why I’m talking about this on Shavuot here in a moment. Doctrinal humility. Being able to understand the Bible and biblical history to the point of crafting doctrine is a big avenue for pride to kick in. It’s a strange cycle we live in. We come out of mainstream Christianity because their doctrines are clearly wrong. Along the way, we study like crazy, first trying to prove what we’ve been taught all along right and then, when that doesn’t pan out, we try to get to every scintilla of truth possible in the scriptures (and some even go beyond). Then many make their own doctrines and end up creating perhaps a more accurate system, but a system nonetheless with errors and end up in a similar place to where we started.

We can see the power of doctrinal pride with the way they questioned Yeshua all the time. He challenged many of their established and cherished doctrines. That’s one reason they didn’t care for Him. It was a challenge to their doctrines and their authority, which oftentimes becomes a challenge to pride. Well, there were a few miracles that came out of Shavuot in the first century. Let’s look at one that’s very appropriate to today’s message:

Slide 8 “This Yeshua God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET. Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah—this Yeshua whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Act 2:32-37)

Did you catch that? They called Peter and the gang “Brethren”. They immediately left the land of

“us vs. them” and humbled themselves. They could have very well stayed stubborn and prideful,

but this time they repented, acknowledging their guilt, and the pride was gone. They were literally able to publicly admit they killed an innocent man. And this lasted. The apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit, were able to preach the knowledge of the Son of God throughout the known world and it was received by people who were taught and trained to reject that information. They also were able to get people to stop their pagan religions and convert to Christianity – true first century Christianity. One miracle of that day of Pentecost in the first century was that finally some were able to get past their pride. And by doing so, have been granted eternal life.

The Feast of Weeks for Christians

“You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.” (Exo 34:21-22)

This Sunday, June 5th, is the Feast of Weeks for 2020. This day goes by many names in scripture including “count fifty” which, in Greek, is Pentecost. Most Christians know this day to be Pentecost because of the miracle of the Spirit (Ruach) descending on the Apostles in Acts 2. The book of Acts was written in Greek and Pentecost was not translated into English. What’s ironic is many Christians don’t realize this day is from the Torah and it shows the Apostles were continuing to observe Torah after Yeshua ascended.

I used the Exodus scripture above vice the many others to illustrate the Feast of Weeks for a reason today. It’s because the commandment is adjacent to the Sabbath commandment. In English, we don’t see an association here that is plain to see in Hebrew. Let me show you:

“You shall work six days, but on the seventh day (yom shebee-e) you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks (Chag Shebua), that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (Exo 34:21-22)

Yom Shebee-e means seventh day. Chag Shebua means Feast of Weeks. And you can see these words are derived from the word Shabbat, which we know is the weekly holiday commanded by the 4th commandment. The Feast of Weeks is tied to the Hebrew week. We are to count 7 Sabbaths and then a day to arrive on the day to be observed, which is June 5 this year.

I understand there is another counting method to this day that makes it start on a calendar date each year instead of a day of the week. This results in the Feast of Weeks falling on random days of the week fifty days later. Does it make sense to count 7 weeks apart from the week established by Yahweh at Creation? I don’t think so.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (Act 2:1-4)

I will speak about this day in detail this weekend. The Sabbath before Pentecost is rather special to those of us who believe in Yeshua and the New Testament. Please join us on Zoom at 1pm central to hear more about that specific day in history. On Pentecost, please join at 3pm central. Sorry for the change in times but we share meeting space and couldn’t get in at our normal time. Here’s the link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9833667268

On the day of Pentecost in Acts two, we can know the count started on the 1st day of the week because Yeshua was resurrected on the 1st day. The women arrived at the tomb to find it empty before sunrise on the 1st day. Since a day starts at sunset, we know Yeshua was resurrected sometime Saturday night (using modern words for understanding). Paul later tells us Yeshua is the first fruits of the dead, meaning He was resurrected on the day the wave sheaf was offered as Yahweh’s blessed first fruits of the dead. Yahweh accepted His Son’s sinless death as an offering for all sin and resurrected Him at the proper time. This observance is particularly important as an apologetic to our common Messianic faith. Because it shows the Apostles were still keeping Torah even after the Messiah was resurrected and explained everything to them. And they were rewarded incredibly for displaying their faith through their works. Shalom and I hope to see you online this weekend!

Last Day of Unleavened Bread 2022

Various topics about this Holy Week, the Wave Sheaf offering, and the timing of the count for Shavuot.

There isn’t much to talk about on the last day of unleavened bread. I’m not aware of any significant happenings on this day in scripture. And you know what? That’s just fine. Sometime it’s good to just obey simply because the WORD says so. We always want to get into deeper meanings, parallels, analogies, and the like, but once in a while it’s good to just trust and obey, huh? For our observance, we bring all our left over unleavened bread treats to Oneig on this day to eat them up. Oneig is a Hebrew word that means “meal of delight”. Bringing in various foods and kind of cleaning everything up is sort of a metaphor for today’s message, which is just a bit of cleanup on the various topics surrounding the week we are wrapping up.

Slide 2 “Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to YHVH your Elohim; you shall do no work on it.” (Deu 16:8)

Today is the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. Since it’s Friday, this year, it’s the next to the last day of unleavened bread since we can’t go buy anything. The commandment, as we see on the screen, is not just to get rid of the leaven but to actually consume some matzah every day. Since we’re in the west, we can switch up to rice or corn tortillas, which I don’t care for, and forget to have the ULB so I hope you didn’t forget to have a little every day. This is a good segue to contrast between back then and now. On Sunday, or after sundown on Shabbat, we can just go buy some regular bread because we live in the west. In first century Judea, likely not. In ancient Israel, definitely not. It would take a good while before they would have soft bread again. It would come back slowly. We can just go to the store and buy made bread or buy yeast and be back in action pretty fast.

Leavening is metaphorically like sin, but it’s not sin. Be careful when we use analogies, similes, metaphors, and other literary teaching devices not to confuse the real with the analogy. If leavening was sin, then we wouldn’t be able to eat it at all. Leviticus 11 tells us what foods are OK and which are prohibited. Leaven is not prohibited at all. Leavening is used as an analogy for sin because we have to search it out and put forth effort to get rid of it, just like we do with sin, but leavening itself is not bad. In fact, there’s a holy day where leavened bread is offered.

There’s a metaphor in this leaven/sin paradigm for where we live today. We live in Babylon, so while we exit the world for Shabbat or the festivals, once they are over we are right back where we started. Well, physically. Emotionally and spiritually, we should be in a much better place, refreshed and ready to go for another season! In Israel, the festivals likely had more of a lasting effect, especially ULB. Just like it takes a long time to get that starter lump going, it also could have taken longer for the people to get back to hustle and bustle. Since these days were pilgrimage festivals, they had to go home on foot or in carts, so the festival would definitely linger. Like when Yeshua was a boy and they lost Him in the caravan home. They were still together, talking about the festival, talking about the harvest, and traveling. The festival would linger for sure. Today, not so much.

Slide 3 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (Joh 17:13-16)

Just to be clear, though, we’re supposed to be in this condition. After Yeshua ascended, the apostles took the faith outside of Judea. They used the synagogues in the world to spread the Gospel, traveling everywhere. We have the documentation of Paul’s journeys and when they intersected the brethren, but we need to remember that happened to all of them. Paul is just the one whom YHVH saw fit to use as our example. Paul was a citizen of both Rome and Judea. A highly educated Jew who could live in both worlds. This is our condition right now. We have come to the truth in the world and in the world we shall stay until Yeshua returns. It’s also important to note that this was the expectation. Their mission was not to start their own Israel or stay in Judea. They had to venture out into the pagan world and spread the Gospel. Such is our fate as well.

Switching gears, there’s an appointed time that isn’t a High Day for which we don’t have any observance or any means to actually observe outside of the land without a full blown priesthood. That’s the day of the wave sheaf offering.

Slide 4 Then YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. ‘He shall wave the sheaf before YHVH for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. ‘Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to YHVH. ‘Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to YHVH for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. ‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your Elohim, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places 

(Lev 23:9-14)

This is an appointed time that is uniquely a work day. And boy oh boy there’s a lot of speculation about this day, its scope, and its timing. Before I get into it, let’s look at why it’s very important to us!

Slide 5 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. (1Co 15:20)

First fruits is the day Yeshua was resurrected as the first fruits of the dead. The timing of the week of his death and resurrection puts Him coming out of the tomb on the 1st day of the week after Passover, albeit before sunrise. The holy days are literal, but are also part of the prophecies of YHVH and His plan of salvation. While this day is very literally real, the people had to make this offering before partaking of the new grain, it’s also a sod, a mystery, a prophecy of the resurrection of our Lord. And since YHVH accepted that first offering of His Son’s death, we are able to be part of the spiritual harvest, looking forward to our resurrection to eternal life.

Returning to the Torah, there are two popular ways of timing this day and then a third one that I think I’m the only one who contemplates. The first is the way our group counts this day. This reads “on the day after the Sabbath” and we understand that to be the first day of the week.

Our way to identify this day is to make it the first day of the week during ULB. This year, it would have been Sunday the 17th of April. 50 days from then we arrive at Sunday, the 5th of June. In this manner of counting, we always start on a Sunday and end on a Sunday because 50 days from any day of the week will land on that same day of the week. I think this has to be the way because this observance doesn’t start from a calendar date like the rest of the days in Leviticus 23. The other way to count this, which we will get to next, makes it possible to have the day of first fruits be the actual Sabbath day, which doesn’t make sense as this is a work day. Our way lines up with Yeshua’s resurrection, though, so I think it’s a keeper.

The second way to count this is to say the day after the Sabbath to wave the sheaf is Abib 16. This way of counting calls the Sabbath the high day, which is the 15th of Abib, and starts counting on the same calendar date each year, which is Abib 16. That doesn’t make a lot of sense because it’s not set in Leviticus or anywhere as a calendar date. It’s also very possible for Abib 16 to fall on the weekly Sabbath, which would mean people would bring their offerings on a day when nobody is supposed to work. But a lot of people use this manner of counting, including the Pharisees of the first century.

Both of these methods of counting hinge on the timing of Passover and ULB. Passover is Abib 14, ULB 1 is Abib 15, so then you either have Abib 16 or the Sunday during ULB as the day to start. In my feeble mind, and I’m the only person I’ve ever heard say this part, what if the barley isn’t ripe enough to cut on Abib 16 or the first day of the week during ULB? What if the crops just aren’t ready by then and they have to go another week? Could it be possible this day isn’t directly tied to Passover at all? Like I said, our group times this one of the two popular ways and isn’t likely to change, but I wanted to bring this up in case we get to the kingdom and learn something different 😊.

You don’t have to count every day. This is a tradition. There’s nothing wrong with counting every day, I just want to point out it’s not a commandment. Literally, we are to count 7 weeks and a day, so one could count week 1, week 2, etc. This also lends more credence to starting the count on the first day of week one, so you actually count 7 Sabbaths and a day. And I’m sure there were people would did count 50 days individually back in the first century and before. The kohenim definitely kept count. Regular folk probably kept count, too, to keep track and because it’s a fine tradition. But it’s just fine today to look at a calendar 50 days down the road and mark an X. Which is June 5 this year.

It’s also important to remember what was happening during the Exodus at this time. Today is the LDUB, but it’s also the 7th day of fleeing. The people were terrified, they were on the run with the flocks, herds, and kneading bowls. Pharaoh was in hot pursuit. It was still chaos. Pure, uncertain, chaos. They had to get to the Red Sea, get boxed in, and then have that incredible miracle happen. And then they get to the other side and have some relief because they are safe. All that happens during the 50 days. The tradition, which does work out mathematically and makes sense, is that the first day of Shavuot during Exodus was when YHVH gave the 10 commandments from Mt. Sinai. The bible doesn’t say this, but there’s no reason for it not to have happened like that.

In contrast to the Exodus, these days actually anticipate shalom, not chaos. The remembrances are instituted so we can remember the chaos. The Torah is not just a set of rules, it’s an actual culture for a nation. The nation entered the land in Joshua 5, after circumcising everyone, and was able to harvest grain they did not plant and observe the days of unleavened bread in complete peace. Nobody was chasing them. They were enjoying bread for the first time in 40 years. Many of them born in the wilderness had never tasted bread. This happened during peace. Then they went off to war. After the conquest, the nation was expected to plant, harvest, offer, and eat in peace. They were expected to observe ULB and then millions of households would make new starter lumps. They would do this safe and snug in their land with no enemies. The memorial to eat the bread of affliction was to teach the generations that it wasn’t always peaceful and to cherish what they had.

The moral in that story is that they didn’t. They were good for exactly one generation, the Joshua generation. Our adopted ancestors couldn’t keep the faith, just like how the apostles couldn’t even stay awake. They sinned, got tossed into captivity, brought back, were good for a while, then decided to become Greeks. Then a remnant called the Maccabees restored Judea but made a pact with Rome that led to the occupied Judea of the first century. Then we have the Son of God coming to begin the New Covenant, which then launches the greatest evangelism in the history of the world. So that we, a people who were not God’s people, could be grafted in, and be called His People. So as we finish the festival of unleavened bread, let’s rejoice that we are called, and be dedicated to doing it again every year until the Messiah returns.