Hi John and Doves,
re: the count to Pentecost
I am leaning towards the belief that the way that the days are counted to Pentecost are wrong. We've had letters to Five Doves about this before...even recently.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) Peter said that the believers are not drunk because the wine is new - this would mean that the grapes have just been picked and the wine bottled...but too early for fermentation to have taken place; one can't get drunk on newly bottled wine. Well, the grape harvest in Israel, even in ancient times, doesn't even start until July. Any wine consumed in June would have been the previous year's wine and would have been well fermented.
This seems like a clue from Peter that Pentecost is a summer Feast Day and not a Spring Feast day.
2) The "offering of new grain to the Lord" at Pentecost is the wheat offering; it takes spring wheat about 115 days to mature...June is too early for the spring wheat harvest/offering. Spring wheat, planted in March/April, would be harvested in July at the earliest (not June) ...this is about a 4 month time for planting to harvest.
Remember Jesus reminded the disciples of the saying ,,,"there are yet four months, then comes the harvest." John 4:35
Leviticus 23:16 says they are to give a NEW grain offering to the Lord - there were two wheat harvests in Israel - one from the wheat that was planted in the fall (the traditional or old grain) and one from the wheat planted in the Spring (the NEW grain). This new grain is harvested in July at the earliest. This is the one that the Lord wants.
A second clue that Pentecost is a summer Feast Day and not a Spring Feast day.
Re-looking at Leviticus 23 - it could be that the count is 7 weeks plus 50 days.
There are translations of Leviticus 23 that have two separate counts of days....the 7 weeks followed by 50 days. There can be multiple definitions in Strong's per Hebrew word.
As I understand the Feast Days - there is Passover on the 14th day of the first month, followed the next day, the 15th, by the Feast of Unleavened Bread (for 7 days they were to eat unleavened bread - the 7th day was to be a 'holy convocation'), followed the next day by the Feast of Firstfruits. As Christ was crucified on Passover, in the tomb on Unleavened Bread, and rose on Firstfruits.
"From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count seven full weeks (or 7 Sabbaths). You shall count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD." Leviticus 23: 15-16 Berean Study Bible
Strong's has the word 'until' also as meaning 'in combination', or 'from' עַ֣ד (‘aḏ) 5704
Could there really be two counts in these verses? A 7 week count and a fifty day count? The two counts would put Pentecost in the grape harvest season and the second wheat harvest season. Times for new wine and the new grain sheaf offering.
This way of counting to Pentecost makes more sense in light of what Peter said at Pentecost and the necessity of the 2nd sheaf offering (new grain).
So for this year, the new moon was April 5. So the new month of Nisan began on the evening of April 5 to sunset April 6. (Dates will be a day later if using the sighting of the new moon - probably seen on April 6.) So Passover was Nisan 14 - April 19/20. Feast of Unleavened Bread was Nisan 15 - April 20/21 (also called the 'First Day of Unleavened Bread'). Feast of Firstfruits was Nisan 16 - April 21/22. The Last Day of Unleavened Bread was Nisan 22 - April 26/27.
So where do we start the 7 weeks count? The Feast of Firstfruits is when the priest waved the sheaf offering....I believe it starts there. So counting from April 21/22 7 weeks takes us to June 9/10 (the date for the 'traditional' way of counting Pentecost). Then adding 50 days to this takes us to July 29/30. I believe someone else counted to July 31/Aug 1 this year. Sounds reasonable given we're not exactly sure what dates to start counting from.
Also, I have read that the word 'door' in the Bible can refer to the Rapture - in rereading I Corinthians 16:8,9, Peter wrote: "But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door, full of opportunities, is opened to me...". Made me think about the connection between "door" and "Pentecost" and "Rapture".
Just my thoughts on this since we are soon approaching the end of July.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance