Counting the Days...

(Update note:  since writing this particular post, I have studied the related Scriptures more.  See the blog post called YHVH's Word - Simply Truth for more on these Scriptures.)

Shabbat Shalom!


Not only is today Shabbat (and I am so glad!), but it is also day 25 of the count of the Omer.

We are halfway between Pesach and the Day of First Fruits (when the counting begins) and Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks and Pentecost (when the counting ends).

What exactly is an "omer", and why do we count it?

An omer is a unit of measurement. It is basically a sheaf of grain. The omer, in this particular commandment, was the very first fruit of the earliest harvest (barley) that was brought to the priest and waved as an offering before YHVH. This is what YHVH commanded at the time of Pesach and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Directly after commanding the waving of the sheaf of first fruits, YHVH commanded that we count 7 weeks plus one day (50 days) and then have another feast celebration of harvest.

So we aren't really counting the omer (or the sheaf of grain). We are actually counting the DAYS between the first waving of the earliest first fruits (at Pesach) to the next commanded offering of the first fruits of all the crops (at Shavuot).


Let's look at it as commanded in YHVH's Word:


Leviticus 23:9-22
(We will start with what YHVH said about the day of First Fruits and go from there...)

YHVH said to Moses, "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen [priest]. He is to wave the sheaf before YHVH, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat....

From the day after the day of rest -that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving -you are to count seven full weeks, until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to YHVH....
The cohen will wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before YHVH, with the two lambs; these will be holy for YHVH for the cohen. On the same day, you are to call a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.

When you harvest the ripe crops produced in your land, don't harvest all the way to the corners of your field, and don't gather the ears of grain left by the harvesters; leave them for the poor and the foreigner; I am YHVH your God.'"


Deuternomy 16:6-11

(We will start with what YHVH commands regarding Pesach and go from there:)

...at the place where YHVH your God will choose to have his name live - there is where you are to sacrifice the Pesach offering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt. You are to roast it and eat it in the place YHVH your God will choose; in the morning you will return and go to your tents. For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for YHVH your God; do not do any kind of work. You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain. You are to observe the festival of Shavu'ot [weeks] for YHVH your God with a voluntary offering, which you are to give in accordance with the degree to which YHVH your God has prospered you. You are to rejoice in the presence of YHVH your God.


It would appear that there is really nothing else to say about what YHVH has commanded. He told us to count the days (7 weeks plus the next day, which equals 50 days) until the harvest and then to have an appointed celebration, the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost (which means "50", as in "50 days").

So we count!


On a side note (but not really), as I was reading these verses and also reading the Torah portion for this week, I noticed something...

Did you notice verse 22 in Leviticus 23?
The verse about leaving part of your grain unharvested for the poor and the foreigner?

Well, interestingly enough, in this week's Torah portion (which is Leviticus 16:1-20:27), there is another reference to this command.


Leviticus 19:9-10 says "When you harvest the ripe crops produced in your land, don't harvest all the way to the corners of your field, and don't gather the ears of grain left by the harvesters. Likewise, don't gather the grapes left on the vine or fallen on the ground after harvest; leave them for the poor and the foreigner; I am YHVH your God."

Just as YHVH meets our every need and provides for us, we must also do for others. This thought is echoed by Yeshua in other places in the B'rit Hadashah (New Testament) reading for this week.

Also in this week's Torah portion, in Amos 9:7-15, YHVH uses the language of harvest, crop, and land to describe His future promises to His people Israel:

He promised that He would give the order and shake Israel among the Gentiles as one shakes a sieve, letting no grain fall to the ground.

Then He says "'When that day comes, I will raise up the fallen tent of David...sweet wine will drip from the mountains...I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel...they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, cultivate gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their own soil, no more to be uprooted from their land, which I gave them,' says YHVH your God."
This is happening now and will continue to unfold into the future!!

You know, I think we miss so much when we become distant from the land, from the day-to-day seasonal growing and harvesting, sowing and reaping. We miss so much when we don't work the land and see and live this important life-giving relational truth in a practical day-to-day way!

So, today as I celebrate my weekly rest of Shabbat, and as I continue to count the seven weeks until Shavuot, I also celebrate YHVH's work of growth and harvest in His people!
I celebrate His planting of His people Israel eternally in their dwelling place with Him!
I celebrate that YHVH is the giver of manna, daily bread!
I celebrate His grafting of me into His olive tree, His people, His kingdom!
I celebrate my Redeemer Yeshua, the Bread of Life, the First Fruits from the dead!
I celebrate that I am a branch connected to the Vine of Yeshua!

I celebrate that my YHVH is a God of the land, the harvest, the fruit. I am so glad that He does not just use symbolic language but instead uses LIFE, the life He has given us, as a way to know Him and live with Him. So as I count every day and live every day, I want to know His Word, His ways, His Truth, His purposes.

In Yeshua, our Bread of Life,

Gina

Yeshua's Death & Resurrection - Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread & First Fruits

Hello!
Shabbat Shalom!

I realize this is a little late...Passover and the Feasts of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits have already passed!
I was so caught up in celebrating these 3 important appointed times of YHVH that I did not take time to sit at my computer and write a blog about them. But now I have some time, and I want to share some of the things I have learned.


As you may know, this is the first year that I am intentionally "hearing and obeying" (sh'ma) all that YHVH says in His word regarding His appointed times, as well as His mitzvot (commands and instructions). So this is the first time that I have spent the week of Pesach (Passover) actually doing what He says in His Word! Even though I stopped celebrating Easter 6 years ago because of the pagan background and traditions, this is the first year I have really begun to practice the TRUTH of all of YHVH's appointed times and how they fit in with each other and with YHVH's Kingdom plan of salvation. This was also the first time I was able to attend a Seder celebration...how awesome it was!

I am sorry that it has taken me so many years to realize these things about YHVH's Word and His eternal plan and His eternal mitzvot!




Leviticus 23:1-16

YHVH said to Moses, "Tell the people of Israel: 'The designated times of YHVH which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are my designated times. Work is to be done on six days; but the seventh day is a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy convocation; you are not to do any kind of work; it is a Shabbat for YHVH, even in your homes. These are the designated times of YHVH, the holy convocations you are to proclaim at their designated times. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for YHVH.
On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah. On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; don't do any kind of ordinary work. Bring an offering made by fire to YHVH for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.'"
YHVH said to Moses, "Tell the people of Israel, 'After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen. He is to wave the sheaf before YHVH, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat. On the day that you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without defect, in its first year, as a burnt offering for YHVH. Its grain offering is to be one gallon of fine flour mixed with olive oil, an offering made by fire to YHVH as a fragrant aroma; its drink offering is to be of wine, one quart. You are not to eat bread, dried grain or fresh grain until the day you bring the offering for your God; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live. From the day after the day of rest -that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving -you are to count seven full weeks, until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to YHVH.'"

PESACH
UNLEAVENED BREAD
FIRST FRUITS

Three celebrations, three appointed times...all wrapped up together and integrally connected with each other.

To celebrate this week-long time of three appointed feasts, it has helped me to break it down and look at each part separately, and then put them all back together again.


Exodus 12 tells the story of YHVH's salvation and deliverance of His people Israel from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh. It is worth reading the whole chapter to get the whole story. For now, I have included parts of Exodus 12 to show what YHVH said about Passover and Unleavened Bread:

The PASSOVER

Exodus 12:1-3, 6-8, 11-14
YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt; he said, "You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you. Speak to all the assembly of Israel and say, 'On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household....You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at dusk. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror....Here is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and you are to eat it hurriedly. It is YHVH's Pesach [Passover]. For that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and animals; and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt; I am YHVH. The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over [Hebrew: pasach] you - when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you. This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to YHVH; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation.'"

UNLEAVENED BREAD
Exodus 12:15-20

"'For seven days you are to eat matzah - on the first day remove the leaven from your houses....On the first and seventh days, you are to have an assembly set aside for God. On these days no work is to be done, except what each must do to prepare his food....You are to observe the festival of matzah, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you are to observe this day from generation to generation by a perpetual regulation. From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat matzah. During those seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses...Eat nothing with hametz in it. Wherever you live, eat matzah.'"

I think it is worth pointing out a few other statements from Exodus 12...

Exodus 12:24-27

[Moses told the people] "You are to observe this as a law, you and your descendants forever. When you come to the land which YHVH will give you, as he has promised, you are to observe this ceremony. When your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this ceremony?' say, 'It is the sacrifice of YHVH's Pesach [Passover], because [YHVH] passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he killed the Egyptians but spared our houses.'"
Verse 42: "This was a night when YHVH kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt, and this same night continues to be a night when YHVH keeps vigil for all the people of Israel through all their generations."
Verses 47-51: "The whole community of Israel is to keep it. If a foreigner staying with you wants to observe YHVH's Pesach, all his males must be circumcised. Then he may take part and observe it; he will be like a citizen of the land. But no uncircumcised person is to eat it. The same teaching is to apply equally to the citizen and to the foreigner living among you." All the people of Israel did just as YHVH had ordered Moses and Aaron. On that very day, YHVH brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

Deuteronomy 16 is another place where Moses retells the story and YHVH's commands regarding Pesach, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.

Deuteronomy 16:1-9

"Observe the month of Aviv [also known as Nisan], and keep Pesach to YHVH your God; for in the month of Aviv, YHVH your God brought you out of Egypt at night. You are to sacrifice the Pesach offering from flock and herd to YHVH your God in the place where YHVH will choose to have his name live. You are not to eat any hametz with it; for seven days you are to eat with it matzah, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thus you will remember the day you left the land of Egypt as long as you live. No leaven is to be seen with you anywhere in your territory for seven days. None of the meat from your sacrifice on the first day in the evening is to remain all night until morning. You may not sacrifice the Pesach offering in just any of the towns that YHVH your God is giving you; but at the place where YHVH your God will choose to have his name live - there is where you are to sacrifice the Pesach offering, in the evening, when the sun sets, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt....For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for YHVH your God; do not do any kind of work. You are to count seven weeks; you are to begin counting seven weeks from the time you first put your sickle to the standing grain [First Fruits]."

After wandering in the desert for 40 years, when YHVH brought the children of Israel to cross over into the Promised Land, it was at the time of Passover!

You can read this story in Joshua chapter 5:

YHVH had just dried up the waters of the Jordan River so the Israelites could pass over into the promised land. They were now in the land, camped out just west of the river in the plains of Jericho.

At this time YHVH commanded Joshua to circumcise all the males who had been born during the 40 years wandering in the desert. After the circumcision, all the Israelites celebrated the Passover.

Verses 10-12: The people of Israel camped at Gilgal, and they observed Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month, there on the plains of Yericho. The day after Pesach they ate what the land produced, matzah and roasted ears of grain that day. The following day, after they had eaten food produced in the land, the manna ended. From then on the people of Israel no longer had manna; instead, that year, they ate the produce of the land of Canaan.

FIRST FRUITS

Now, I don't completely understand all that YHVH commands and says regarding First Fruits at this time (Passover). My understanding is that there are two celebrations of First Fruits: the first one is commanded after Shabbat at Passover...this would be the earliest crop of barley, which is the grain that ripens before any other. Then YHVH commands that a sheaf of this harvest is to be waved before Him AND that the count-down of 7 weeks until the Festival of Weeks (also known as Shavuot or Pentecost) occurs. At this time, the first fruits of the main harvest of grain and other crops is brought before the Lord.

What I do understand is that the first offering of First Fruits at Passover is important because it is necessary to begin counting down to the second offering of First Fruits. I also understand that all the appointed times, the Feasts, the Festivals, Shabbats are ALL a picture of YESHUA and that He is the fulfillment of them all! So even if the Word of YHVH does not mention as much about the day of First Fruits as it does Passover and Unleavened Bread, it is equally as important and is a vital part of understanding all the Feasts and all of YHVH's commands to us, and His desire to dwell in relationship with us.

All First Fruits and all First Born belong to YHVH. They are to be an offering to Him.


















YESHUA...



the PASSOVER LAMB . . .


Matthew 26:19-20, 26-28

The talmidim (disciples) did as Yeshua directed and prepared the Seder. When evening came, Yeshua reclined with the twelve talmidim...While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the blessing, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, "Take! Eat! This is my body!" Also he took a cup of wine, made the blessing, and gave it to them, saying, "All of you, drink from it! For this is my blood, which ratifies the New Covenant, my blood shed on behalf of many, so that they may have their sins forgiven."

The UNLEAVENED BREAD. . .
1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Get rid of the old hametz (leaven), so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth.



YESHUA is the FIRST FRUIT...

1 Corinthians 15:20-23

But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died. For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man. For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive. But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming...




















And those who followed after Yeshua the Messiah are also First Fruits...
His First Fruits!

Matthew 27: 50-53

But Yeshua, again crying out in a loud voice, yielded up his spirit. At that moment the veil in the Temple was ripped in two from top to bottom; and there was an earthquake, with rocks splitting apart. Also the graves were opened, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life; and after Yeshua rose, they came out of the graves and went into the holy city, where many people saw them.

James 1:17-22

Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father who made the heavenly lights... Having made his decision, he gave birth to us through a Word that can be relied upon, in order that we should be a kind of firstfruits of all that he created. Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; for a person's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness! So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives. Don't deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it!

Romans 8:19-24

The creation waits eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed; for the creation was made subject to frustration - not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it. But it was given a reliable hope that it too would be set free from its bondage to decay and would enjoy the freedom accompanying the glory that God's children will have. We know that until now, the whole creation has been groaning as with the pains of childbirth; and not only it, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we continue waiting eagerly to be made sons - that is, to have our whole bodies redeemed and set free. It was in this hope that we were saved.

Revelation 14:3 -5

They were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living beings and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who have been ransomed from the world. These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been ransomed from among humanity as firstfruits for God and the Lamb; on their lips no lie was found - they are without defect.

Isn't all of this exciting?!!
I am only just beginning to see and understand all the depth and richness of YHVH's Feasts, of His mitzvot, of His BIG PICTURE of Salvation and Redemption!
I am so glad to be living this life of hearing and obeying His Word!

And eternal life is this: to know you, the one true God, and him whom you sent, Yeshua the Messiah. John 17:3

In the celebration of YESHUA, our Passover Lamb, our Unleavened Bread, the First Fruits,
Gina Dittmer