Pentecost: The Law and the Spirit
Sunday, May 19th, churches all over the world observed Pentecost Sunday. Before I knew about the Jewish roots of my faith in Jesus, I remember reading Acts chapter 2 as if that day was the beginning of Pentecost. I understood Pentecost as simply the day that the Holy Spirit came:
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." Acts 2:1-4
After learning about the Jewish calendar, I read Acts 2 much differently. Yes, the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost... But the Feast of Pentecost, called Shavuot (Hebrew) or Weeks, had been celebrated by the Jewish community for thousands of years before that day! It falls 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits.
On Pentecost, the Jewish community remembers the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. According to rabbinic tradition, this was the day the people of Israel received the Law from God.
Like most Jewish Holidays, Shavuot is also an agricultural feast. Shavuot is also called the "Feast of Weeks" - Shavuot means "weeks" in Hebrew - because it falls seven weeks after Passover. Jewish people count each day from the feast of first fruits (the sabbath after Passover) which is when the people of Israel would offer the Lord the very first bit of grain from the fields. Fifty days later on Shavuot comes the great Spring harvest festival! (See Deut 16:9-11)
Pentecost was a pilgrimage feast, meaning that all Israelite men would have been required to gather in Jerusalem from all over the known world, or "every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). Could it be a coincidence that on the very day that Israel was gathered together in Jerusalem, remembering the giving of the Law, God chose to give the Spirit? I think not!
Compare the Acts 2 passage with the account of Moses receiving the Law in Exodus 19: "Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him." Ex 19:17-19
The imagery is quite similar between the two encounters: a gathering of people, wind, fire, sounds, and voices. The description of the events in Acts 2 draws the mind back to Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Law. The Holy Spirit came to write the Law on our hearts - the promise of the New Covenant fulfilled (Matt 26:28).
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Jer 31:33
This year the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost) falls on June 11th - three weeks after the Christian observance! Why the disparity? In a recent post, "The Calendar Conundrum," our director Murray explained the troubling history of the Christian split from the Jewish calendar - the calendar that Jesus observed. Check it out!
By Anna Beth Havenar
Director of Communications and Community Outreach