N28-10: One AMAZING DIFFERENCE between SHAVUOT as explained in Numbers 28 and Ezekiel’s Vision

“The first day is to be a holy convocation: do not do any kind of ordinary work; but present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering, to Adonai, consisting of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs in their first year (they are to be without defect for you) with their grain offering, fine flour mixed with olive oil. Offer six quarts for a bull, four quarts for the ram, and two quarts for each of the seven lambs; also a male goat as a sin offering, to make atonement for you.  You are to offer these in addition to the morning burnt offering, which is the regular burnt offering.  In this fashion you are to offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, making a fragrant aroma for Adonai ; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.”-Numbers 28:18-24

In my last post, I mentioned that although Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were actually two separate feasts, because they followed one right after another, they had become fused into one feast in the people’s minds.

This is why the people brought their Passover lambs to the Temple to be slaughtered by a priest, since they had to be there for the Feast of Unleavened Bread anyway.

A point of clarity here.

It was NOT required that a family’s Passover lamb be killed under the supervision of a priest.

It was just that the Feast of Unleavened Bread followed immediately after Passover which as I just said was a feast the people already had to be in Jerusalem for and…

…killing the Passover lamb under the supervision of the priest also seemed to lend a solemn element and a degree of sanctity to the whole occasion.

It’s kind of like how most folks like to marry in churches.

Truth be told, there’s no Biblical requirement that people have to be married in churches, but people do so because it just seems more spiritual or holy to do so.

Heck, even in Japan where I’m living now, Japanese couples who have practically zero knowledge of the Bible, like to marry in Christian churches, and even a fake priest (usually a white guy who works as an English teacher) will be hired to officiate over the ceremony.

So again, although it wasn’t necessarily a Torah requirement, a good majority of the people made their pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Matzah early and killed their Passover lambs under the supervision of a priest.

As a result of this, huge public ovens were built and placed in strategic locations all over Jerusalem for the people to roast and eat their lambs after they killed them at the temple.

Notice also verse 24 which says  ^“…you are to offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, making a fragrant aroma for Adonai”.

The importance of the Feast of Matzah is underscored here by requiring the same amount of EXTRA sacrifices on each of the of 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Let’s move on.

From verse 26, we are presented with the requirements for the Feast of Weeks or SHAVUOT (otherwise known by the Greek word PENTECOST in the Christian world).

SHAVUOT begins precisely 7 weeks and 1 day (a total of 50 days) AFTER the Feast of Matzah.

Remember, all of these feasts were agricultural based.

The celebration of SHAVUOT began at the END of the barley harvest or the BEGINNING of the wheat harvest.

In other words, it was a summer festival.

And it was also a public festival, which meant that the people had to journey up to the Temple in Jerusalem to properly observe it and make animal sacrifices under the supervision of the priests.

Now there’s one interesting point of comparison between SHAVUOT as explained here in Numbers and Ezekiel’s vision of the reinstatement of animal sacrifices in the end-times Millennial Kingdom that I need to make.

The requirement to make a pilgrimage to the Temple according to Ezekiel’s vision HAS BEEN OMITTED!

Why?

I can’t say for sure but could it not be because of the decreased role and purpose of the priesthood in that age combined with the reality of the Messiah’s return in those days?

Again, I can’t be dogmatic on that point, but something incredibly profound is at work here.

Okay, let’s finish up Numbers 28.

The last thing I want you to notice is that again the same number of sacrifices was required for SHAVUOT as was required for each day of the Feast of Matzah and the New Moon Festivals.

And that’s it!

I’m done!

See you next time.