Shavuot 5769

We have counted the Omer, seven full weeks from the High Sabbath of Passover, to today.  Today is day 49 of the Omer.  Tomorrow is Shavuot, one of the pilgrimage feasts.

 

Shavuot takes place in the third month of the year.  Remember that Passover is in the first month and then we count seven weeks which takes us to the third month.  Remember that Passover is a memorial of the exodus from Egypt, our redemption.  It was in the third month after the exodus from Egypt that the people came to the wilderness and camped at Mt Sinai.  We read in Exodus 19 & 20 the amazing account of the people of Israel and the G-d Who had just redeemed them from bondage.  Can you imagine?!?  He came down, to us!  Shavuot is the memorial of this incredible event on this great day.

HaShem at Mt Sinai

The word picture of a marriage is so commonly used when HaShem speaks of His relationship with Israel, and this is the beginning of that relationship.  To best understand what took place on that first day of Shavuot, it is best to view it from the context of a betrothal.When a couple is preparing to become betrothed, they do not communicate directly.  The fathers have agreed to the marriage but there are things that must be done before the marriage can be completed.  First, the betrothal process must take place.  A marriage contract, called a ketubah is drawn up.  This is a marriage contract that outlines the roles, duties and expectations of the bride and the groom.  It is similar to our modern marriage vows, but at the same time so incredibly different.  The husband promises that he will do thus and so and the wife promises that she will do such and such, this will be his role and that will be hers.  This is the foundation that they will build their home and their family upon.  Contained within the ketubah is property for the wife that will be a source of her own income, this cannot be taken away from her – ever.  This is her pledge, her comfort.  Once the ketubah is drawn up by the husband and the fathers it is submitted to the bride for her approval.  Granted she can request modifications to the ketubah as well.  It is the friend of the bridegroom that is responsible to deliver the ketubah and to explain the terms of the contract should the bride have any questions or concerns.  He is the one that delivers messages to the groom from the bride when necessary.  The friend of the bridegroom is then somewhat responsible for the bride until he delivers her to the groom on the day of their wedding.  He is the one who has access to both the bride and the groom and he is the one that the groom has entrusted the bride with until he comes.  With this understanding in mind, when we read through the account that Shavuot is memorializing (Exodus 19 – 20 and 24) we see that what is taking place is a betrothal!  HaShem is the groom, Israel is the bride, Moshe is the friend of the groom and the Torah is our Ketubah!  HaShem has spoken the terms of the ketubah, the people have heard and responded saying, “All the words which the L-RD has spoken will we do“.  They have accepted the terms of the marriage contract and hiney!  We have a betrothal!!  HaShem writes on stone the terms of the ketubah that has been agreed to and gives it to Moshe who then spends the rest of his life instructing the people about what their ketubah says.

A Traditional Ketubah

 

The sages have taught for millennia that when this betrothal ceremony took place that the Voice that was seen as a fire at Mt Sinai broke up into 70 tongues of fire and rested upon the people in the camp. Why 70?  70 is the number of nations recorded in the table of nations in Genesis 10 and 11.  It is as if the Voice was divided into the 70 ‘voices’ of all languages of the earth so that all the nations (including Israel) could hear HaShem speaking in their own native tongue.  Remember that there was a mixed multitude of people who left Egypt just three months prior.  What a sight this must have been!

 

Last week we honored the Ascension Day of the Master and were reminded of His last words to His students.  He had spent the days of the Omer opening up the minds of His students to what the TaNaKh has to teach about Himself.    He had promised that He would send the Comforter, the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit.  While He is absent, we have the Ruach to be our guide, our tutor, our ‘friend of the bridegroom’.  This Ruach is our guarantee that our Master will indeed return!  With the Ruach HaKodesh we are to be witnesses to all the earth,

But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Yerushalayim, in all Yehudah and Shomron, and to the uttermost parts of the eretz(earth).

This gift, this Comforter, when viewed from the vantage point of the betrothal, is our surety that our Bridegroom will indeed return to take us as His own.  So the Believers waited in great anticipation for what might take place on Shavuot.  

 

In the days of the Temple, all those who had traveled to Jerusalem for Shavuot would meet together in the synagogues for study.  One of the topics of study would be the book of the prophet Ezekiel.  Just reading the first chapter reminds us of what it must have been like to stand in the presence of the Almighty at Mt Sinai -

I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst of it as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the L-RD. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

There is much to study in the book of Ezekiel.  But the book of Ruth would also be a topic of study, focusing on the harvest and how a woman from the nations would attach herself to the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, the G-d of Jacob and was accepted.  Needless to say, there was a lot of Bible study going on in the synagogues at Shavuot.  The people would all gather at the Temple to worship our Creator King with song and prayers accompanying the prescribed morning sacrifices.  Once the morning sacrifices were offered then we could give our festival sacrifices and offerings.  There would be no place on earth quite like the Temple at a festival!!  What joy!  What anticipation!  What a thrill!  To be at the Place where HaShem dwells…

and [they] were continually in the temple, praising and blessing G-d. 

At The Temple

One important thing to understand is that the Temple is often called ‘The House’ because it is The House of HaShem.  It is also referred to as ‘The Place’ and the hill on which the Temple sits is referred to as ‘The Mountain’.  These phrases show honor and respect and it reveals the centrality of the Temple in Jewish life and worship, it is where HaShem dwelt, where His Name was placed.  As King David wrote, better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.  

The same year that Yeshua of Nazareth was crucified at Passover and raised from the dead at First Fruits, amazing things continued to happen!  Incredible things had taken place at the last pilgrimage feasts,  Sukkot and Passover, and the anticipation of the pilgrims must have been strong at Shavuot.  We read in Acts 2 that the believers were together among the crowds on the day of Shavuot when there was the sound of a mighty wind that filled The House where they were and then tongues of fire were distributed among them and they begin to speak in various languages, praising HaShem and telling about Yeshua the Messiah!  Can you imagine?  Here you are, celebrating the anniversary of the betrothal of our Creator King to His chosen people, Israel.  You’ve studied Exodus 19 – 24, Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 14 – 16, Ezekiel, Ruth, Psalm 67, Psalm 119 and more.  You’ve contemplated the Voice, the fire, the smoke, the wind, the awesomeness of HaShem and what it would be like to be at Mt Sinai on that great day.  And here, right in front of you, HaShem is doing something amazing, the very same things He has done before!  Oh how my heart nearly bursts when I think of being among that group on that day.

 

At Mt Sinai 3,000 men were slain for their worship of the golden calf but here at the Temple in Jerusalem, 3,000 did teshuvah (repented) and went through the mikvah (baptism) in the Name of Yeshua the Messiah.  And huge numbers of believers were being added to their number each and every day.  What a harvest of souls for the King!    

 

At that Passover seder with Yeshua, He spoke of ratifying the New Covenant.  Jeremiah 31 is where we can learn about the New Covenant.  This new covenant is not a new Torah, not a new ketubah, but it is the same one.  That same Torah is now being written on our hearts.  The Torah, our ketubah, was given at Mt Sinat on tablets of stone on that first Shavuot.  What was new on Shavuot in the First Century was not a new religion or a new law, but a new place for G-d’s words (our mouths) and a new place for His Torah (our hearts).  

For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?”  Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say,  ”Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?”

But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.  Deuteronomy 30:11-14

 

Today we have no Temple and we cannot offer our sacrifices and offerings as prescribed on Shavuot.  Many of us, most of us in fact, will not travel to Jerusalem for the festival.  As is the case every day, we offer prayers to our King in place of sacrifices because that is all we have left of those ceremonies.  But we will still celebrate!  We will have huge challot, much dairy foods and a time of fellowship with other believers as we learn more about our Creator King and celebrate our relationship with Him through His Son, Yeshua the Messiah.

 

Chag Sameach!  (A joyful feast!)