The second of the main Jewish feasts was the commemoration of Shavuot, later called Pentecost. At first, a feast in thanksgiving to God for the fruits of the earth, but which later acquired a much deeper religious meaning.

Newsroom (28/05/2023 09:27, Gaudium Press) The second of the principal Jewish feasts was the commemoration of Shavuot,[1] later called Pentecost.

It was celebrated on the 6th or 7th day of the month of Siban, at which time the wheat and grain harvest was completed, which is why it was called the Feast of the Harvest, or the Day of the Firstfruits, because of the first loaves of bread made from the new wheat harvest.

The book of Deuteronomy, however, adds to it the name of feast of weeks, because it was celebrated “seven weeks after the time when the sickle was brought into the harvest” (cf. Deut 16:9-10), that is, seven weeks after the day of the Passover.[2]

Moreover, the reckoning of seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath on which the first fruit was presented always resulted in a figure of fifty days, “hence the Greek name of the feast: Πεντεχοστή (Pentecost), the “fiftieth day”, the first mentions of which in Scripture are found in 2Mac 12:31-32 and Tb 2:1, together with the name of the Feast of weeks.

Like Easter, with the passing of time, this feast was linked to the History of Salvation: using the quotation from Ex 19:1, according to which the Israelites arrived and encamped on Sinai in the third month after leaving Egypt, the Feast of weeks came to commemorate the covenant of the Chosen People with God, as well as the giving of the Law.

However, it was not until the second century of our era that the rabbis accepted the celebration of Pentecost as “the day on which the Law had been brought down from Sinai.”[4]

Pentecost Ritual

At first only one day was set aside to commemorate the Feast of Pentecost, although it was permitted to sacrifice voluntary victims during the six days that followed the solemn celebration. Later, in order to make it equal to the other important feasts, they began to set aside two days to celebrate Shavuot.

The characteristic ceremony was the offering of two loaves of bread made from the new flour, baked with yeast – the only time the ritual prescribes the use of yeast in an offering presented to Yahveh. This exceptional oblation underlines its close relationship with that of the Massot, when, at the beginning of the harvest, loaves of unleavened bread were eaten as a sign of renewal. At the end of the wheat harvest, therefore, leavened bread was offered, the daily bread of the sedentary people, after which the ordinary practices were resumed.

On the eve of the Feast of Pentecost the clamour of the trumpets was already heard, as was common on solemnities in Jerusalem.

“On the feast day, very early in the morning, a crowd gathered in the Temple hall. The daily morning sacrifices were offered, and then those of the feast, as on the day of the Passover. At the time of the libations, the priests blew their trumpets: the Levites sang songs and played musical instruments; the people sang Hallel. Then the unleavened bread of the new harvest was offered, together with seven lambs of a year; a calf and two rams for a burnt offering; and a goat. The propitiatory sacrifice and two lambs a year old in thanksgiving. The priests solemnly blessed the people, to the music of the Levites; the people kneeling made their prayer.”[6]

As some authors note, “the foreigners who could not fit in the Temple congregated in the synagogues, where they repeated the songs of a cantor of office. Five of them read aloud a passage from the Law, which was then explained to the community; finally the prayers of the feast were recited. The synagogues and the windows of the houses were adorned with roses and other flowers to recall the decorations that were used in the vicinity of Mount Sinai during the promulgation of the Law.[7]

From Jewish Pentecost to Christian Pentecost

With the advent of the Christian era, the feast of Pentecost acquired a significance quite different from that of the ancient solemnity of the harvest, which began on that dazzling day when “while the Apostles were gathered together in the Upper Room, there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them clusters of tongues of fire, which were divided and sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (cf. Acts 2:1-4).

Yes, the feast of Pentecost has come to “recall precisely the beginning of the Church’s public mission, since it was there that the Holy Spirit-the soul of the Church-descended visibly upon her to give her life and set her in motion.”[8]

However, let us not only note the dissimilarities between the two solemnities, but let us also see what they have in common and how God willed, in his most perfect designs, that one feast should precede the other: as happened with the Jewish Passover, which prefigured the true Passover – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Feast of Shavuot preceded the celebration of Pentecost, of which it was merely a prefigurement.

In this sense, “the very simultaneous holding of the two feasts – the Jewish and the Christian – manifests that the old system of worship had become obsolete and that at this time the promises of which it was a foreshadow would be fulfilled.” [9]

But this is not the only parity we find between the aforementioned solemnities, if we echo the teaching of the Holy Fathers, it will be possible for us to draw a parallel between both festivals, stating that “just as the Mosaic Law was proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, in the same way the new Law, which consists principally in the Grace of the Holy Spirit, was promulgated on this very day.“[10]

By John Peter Seraphim

[1] Concerning the main Jewish feast, Passover, read the article: https://gaudiumpress.org/content/as-principais-festas-judaicas-a-pascoa-parte-i/

[2] The Hebrew term Shavuot comes from the same biblical passage (Deut 16:9-10). In Portuguese its equivalent is the word Semana (Week).

[3] It should be noted that the Essenes – a mysterious Jewish community which, it is believed, originated in the dissension between fervent Jews and lax Jews, in the strong Hellenistic period – celebrated precisely the feast of Shavuot as the renewal of the covenant, that is, the most important of their feasts.

[4] Cf. De Vaux, Roland. Instituciones del Antiguo Testamento. Barcelona: Editorial Herder, 1976, pp. 621 and 622.

[5] Cf. ibid.

[6] Holzammer, Juan; Shuster, Ignacio. Biblical history: Old Testament (translated by Jorge de Riezu). Barcelona: Litúrgica española, 1934, pp. 343 and 344.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Commented Bible. Hechos de los Apóstoles y Epístolas paulinas (Professors of Salamanca), Madrid: BAC, 1965, p. 30.

[9] Roland de Vaux. Op. cit.

[10] Ibid.

The post As três principais festas judaicas – Parte II Pentecostes appeared first on Gaudium Press.

As três principais festas judaicas – Parte II Pentecostes
A segunda das principais festas judaicas era a comemoração do Shavuot, posteriormente chamada de Pentecostes. A princípio, uma festa em agradecimento a Deus pelos frutos da terra, mas que, mais tarde, adquiriu um sentido religioso muito mais profundo.
The post As três principais festas judaicas – Parte II Pentecostes appeared first on Gaudium Press.Read MoreOpinião, PENTECOSTES, prefigura, principais festas judaicas, Ritual de Pentecostes, ShavuotGaudium Press