18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD… (Isaiah 1:18a, King James Version)
It seems that every year there are people who want to bicker over the date of Pentecost, aka Feast of Weeks. Some count inclusively, some count exclusively. Strange as it may seem, though, some don’t count at all.
Now, I’m sure they will not tell you that. They will claim that they count 50 days from the first High Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
In reality, though, that isn’t counting at all, as it is a fixed date. The Feast of Weeks, using this method, will always land on Sivan 6. There is no need to count if the date is fixed. To say otherwise is to elevate the traditions of men above the word of God.
Is God less logical than men? What if I told you that in order to find New Years Day on the Gregorian calendar, you had to count 7 days from Christmas? You would probably look at me like I was from another planet. “Why,” you could say, “can’t you just answer ‘January 1st’?”
Why not indeed? You don’t have to count when you can flip the page and point to the first day of the first month!
So, using the good common sense God gave us when we read:
15And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. (Leviticus 23:15-16, King James Version)
It is obvious that we count 50 days from the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. In fact, it is made very plain because we count seven Sabbaths. As I previously stated in “One Week or One Sabbath After the Wave Sheaf?”, it is called the Feast of Weeks, “shabuwa”, but in this verse we are told to count seven “Sabbaths”, “shabbath”.
Why count? Why didn’t God give a fixed date for Pentecost? I have to admit that I don’t know.
I doubt God does something like that for one reason only. I have to wonder, though, if one of the reasons isn’t to see what we will do. Will we obey Him and count? Or, will we follow the traditions of men and observe a fixed date? Will we believe God when He says to count 7 “Sabbaths”, or will we allow men to deceive us into believing He just means count 7 “weeks”?