Feast of Weeks: Shavuot Study and Survey

The key Word phrase FEAST OF WEEKS is mentioned in the Holy Word (Old Testament) of God four times. The Hebrew translation for the Key Word phrase FEASTS OF WEEKS is shaw-boo-'ah.  Shaw-boo-'ah means weeks. In the Old Testament shaw-boo-'ah takes place seven weeks after Passover or shall we say forty-nine days plus one sabbath equals Fifty Days. 

Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord. Leviticus 23:16-17

See also Leviticus Chapter twenty-three

Biblically and historically Shaw-boo-'ah was originally an agriculture appointed feast time. Shaw-boo-'ah is also the celebration of the conclusion of the Barley Harvest as well as the beginning of the summer into Autumn Wheat Harvest. The Biblical story of Ruth and Boaz took place during this spring Barley Harvest. 

So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Ruth 1:22

Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city. Ruth 3:15

In addition to being an appointed Feast Time Shaw-boo-'ah is also a time of Thanksgiving for the Early Harvest, which is no thing but a provision of the Lord. Our future faith is built on present and past provisions of Almighty God. The Book of Ezekiel holds a scripted promise in the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth verse of chapter thirty-six.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. See also Ezekiel Chapter One

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Exodus 34:22

And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: Deuteronomy 16:10

Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: Deuteronomy 16:16

Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. 2 Chronicles 8:13

It is customary to bake two loaves of Challah Bread on Shaw-boo-'ah. These represent the two wave loaves in Leviticus 23. Some say as believers these two loaves represent the Jews and the gentiles becoming one.

The fulfillment of Shaw-boo-'ah in the Old Testament is Pentecost (Acts 2) in the New Testament. Pentecost means fifty in Greek. On the Day of Pentecost all of them were filled with the Holy Sprit for the first time. Shavuot is also a celebration of the giving of the Torah and the Ten Commandments to the Israelites on Mount Sinai.

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:23