Pentecost
Of the Jewish feasts, there are three that were considered especially important to the Jews,the Three Pilgrimage Festivals,which requiredall male Jews to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shavu-ot). Shavuot is the Hebrew name, called Pentecost in the Greek language, meaning “50,”referencing the fact it took place seven weeks and one day, or 50 days, after Passover. The full name is “Hag Shavuot”, and it means “Festival of the Weeks,”though it is also sometimes called the Feast of Harves tor the Feast of Firstfruits (Num. 28:26), due to its occurrence being at the grain harvest. Its first mention is in Exo. 23:16: “And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field”(KJV).
The purpose of Pentecost was to commemorate the giving of the Law of Moses, and to celebrate the wheat harvest(Exo. 34:22).This holiday began somewhere around 1440 B.C., after the Exodus from Egypt (Horner). Some have stated that Passover freed the Jews from their physical bondage (from Egypt) while Pentecost freed them from spiritual bondage to idolatry and immorality (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shavu-ot). Pentecost did not occur on a particular date or day of the week, it was simply 50 days after Passover. However, it was a holiday in which work was not permitted (Ibid.).
The observance of Pentecost was the first day on which the Israelites could bring their firstfruits, called the“Bikkurim,”of which were seven things the land of Israel was praised for in Deu. 8:8: “A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;”(KJV)(https://ohr.edu/7864).The firstfruits were identified by the farmers tying a reed around the first ripening fruits from each of the species of plant in their fields (https://templeinstitute.org/shavuot). These fruits would be cut and put in baskets of gold and silver, loaded onto carts driven by oxen whose horns were gilded and laced with garlands of flowers, led in a grand procession to Jerusalem, while being accompanied by music and parades (Ibid.).
Upon reaching the Temple at Jerusalem, each farmer presented his firstfruits to a priest, in such a way that followed the instruction in Deu. 26:1-11, which is a retelling of the history of the Jewish people as they were in Egypt, but then redeemed by God: “1And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;2 That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:7 And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:9 And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you”(KJV).
Citations:Holy Bible: King James Version. Thunder Bay Press, 2000. Horner, Chuck M. “WVBS COURSE NOTES: Exodus.” World Video Bible School. “Jewish Holidays.” Shavuot, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shavu-ot.
Klein, Reuven Chaim. “Stop! It’s Shavuot! by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein.” Ohr Somayach, 19 May 2018, https://ohr.edu/7864. “Shavuot.” Temple Institute, 3 May 2020, https://templeinstitute.org/shavuot.