Michael Wellman left this article as a comment in my blog and I think it is very good for all of you doves to read. I will include my reply.
Nando
Michael
Pentecost is the beginning of the wheat harvest in Israel fullfilled in Acts-2.
I found it interesting that many of the following prophecies were fulfilled during what the Rabbi’s refer to as the “Three Weeks” from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av. That is when the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem occured. I know the summer fruit harvest was associated with Tu B’Av the 15th of Av, and many of the prophecies were fulfilled prior to that date. What is interesting is the number of prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled i.e. Dan 2:34, Luke 21:29, Luke 3:17, that use the same terms as the prophecies that were fulfilled. It’s really quite amazing if you give some thought to it.
I live in farmland, so practically speaking I look out my window and they are harvesting wheat right now. They no longer use a fan and floor, they use combines. There are also vineyards on the hillside ripening for harvest. So when is the end of the wheat harvest? Well no specific date, when the last bushel of wheat is brought in, perhaps the end of July likely as not by mid-August, also known as Tu B’Av.
He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. Prov 10:5
Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen. Isaiah 16:9
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Jer 8:20
O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. Jer 48:32
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. Dan 2:34
Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. Amos 8:1
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. Micah 7:1
Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Luke 21:29
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. Luke 3:17
Thank you Michael, the Apocalypse will start this month of July, 2011 and the Rapture may be in Pentecost at the end of this month.
Nando