The answer to the last question first: The reason you should care is because it will reveal the day on which Pentecost should be celebrated. How is that possible?
“Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when you come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Leviticus 23:10-11).
“on the morrow after the Sabbath.”
Wave is from the Hebrew “nuwph”, meaning move to and fro, swing, shake, or brandish. This “nuwph” is the mid-section of another Hebrew word “tenuwphah”, also translated as wave, for example, in Exodus 29:27. The point made by historian/linguist EW Bullinger is that a wave offering is made to the four corners of the earth, waving it to the sides, not lifting it to the Eternal (Bullinger, EW, Companion Bible, page 114, marginal note on Exodus 29:27). Something lifted to the Eternal would be a heave offering, not a wave offering. For example, the shoulder of the lamb is a heave offering, pushed upward toward the Eternal.
There are two points of view of which day was the wave sheaf offering. These two points of view impinge on when one might celebrate the day of Pentecost because: the day of Pentecost is arrived at by counting 50 days from the day of the wave sheaf offering. So, if one’s understanding, of when the wave sheaf offering is presented, happens to be erroneous, then the day on which one celebrates Pentecost, will also be erroneous. Notwithstanding, we are only accountable for what we know. We should follow the way of God to the best of our knowledge and the best of our ability. On the other hand, is there anyone who would continue celebrating Pentecost on the wrong day after realizing he was in error? Some apparently would. Each individual must decide based on the evidence available to him, and hopefully not be swayed by peer pressure.
The important question to ask is: Who was in charge of the temple during the time of Christ’s ministry? Why does this matter? It matters because, once again, this answer does impinge on the decision as to when to celebrate Pentecost.
The Sadducees celebrated Pentecost by counting 50 days from the day after the weekly Sabbath occurring during the days of Unleavened Bread, believing the wave sheaf offering should be performed on the day after that weekly Sabbath.
The Pharisees celebrated Pentecost by counting 50 days from the day after the annual Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, believing the wave sheaf offering should be performed on the day following the First day of Unleavened Bread. In other words, the wave sheaf offering was performed on the 16th of Nisan.
Unlike the Roman calendar, the Hebrew day begins at sundown.
We know that the Jews would argue with Christ over such trivial things as the hand washing ritual. So, it stands to reason that if Christ celebrated days at different times than the temple, it would have been a huge argument between the Jews and Christ. Since there is no recording of any such argument, we may reasonably expect that there was no major conflict, comparing the days that Christ celebrated and the days that the temple celebrated.
Now, all that remains is to find out who was in charge of the temple activities, and it is then an easy task to figure out when the wave sheaf was offered and when Pentecost arrived.
In addition to the fact there was no recorded argument over the celebration days, Christ’s followers were waiting for the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. There is no record that they were told to switch to a different day. They knew which day it was. So, once we figure out who controlled the Temple (and therefore the calendar) during that time, we will also know when they celebrated Pentecost and when we should celebrate Pentecost.
First, let’s cover some history.
Herod the Great was ruling in Judea from about 37 BC to 4 BC. His first major act was to execute several members of the Sanhedrin. Why? They had sought to uphold the Mosaic law in secular matters. He appointed high priests mainly from the Egyptian and Babylonian Diaspora (Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, p. 111). On the other hand, Herod built up the temple, adding huge Corinthian pillars and a massive 35-acre foundation. This was the temple that the disciples of Christ were impressed by (Matthew 24:1), the physical temple that Christ predicted would not have one stone left upon another (Matthew 24:2).
Herod downgraded the importance of the high priest, who was usually a hated Sadducee. The Sadducees were hated because they were mostly political rather than religious and, even though they were a minority, they had support from much of the rich, particularly the Romans. Their cooperation with Rome was looked upon as despicable by most of the Pharisees.
Herod appointed a Pharisee to be the deputy. The job of the deputy was to supervise the regular temple functions, including insuring that the high priests (Sadducees) performed in a Pharisaical manner (Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, p. 118).
Herod the Great had a son, Herod Antipas. That is the same Herod who tried to kill Jesus by killing all the babies 2 years old and younger (Matthew chapter 2). The Sadducees were the minority upper crust by the time of Christ’s ministry. They were politicians more so than religious, ignorant of the resurrection from the dead and the existence of the spirit world (angels, demons, etc.). They were clueless about most spiritual matters, which is the reason they had Pharisees as their supervisors, even in their temple duties.
To give you some idea as to how closely the Pharisees supervised the Sadducee High Priest, consider how the High Priest was required to submit to the instructions of the Pharisee appointed to him for the Day of Atonement, the most intense of the celebration days. This was important because if the Sadducee High Priest made a bad mistake, God would strike him dead. There are stories of the High Priest wearing bells and having a rope around his ankle so that if he was struck dead someone could pull him out. The High Priest did wear bells. It was required. Some Jewish sources deny that he ever had to have a rope around his ankle. Which is true? There appears to be no source to prove it one way or another. Many Jewish sources deny it because it applies a comical twist to something they consider to be profoundly serious.
Before the day of Atonement, a Pharisee would require the Sadducee High Priest to bind himself with an oath, to perform during the Day of Atonement according to the Pharisee pattern of belief, for example, lighting the incense after entering the Most Holy Place, not before entering (Edersheim, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, page 245).
Needless to say, the Pharisees monopolized what was done at the temple. They monopolized when everything was done in spite of the fact that the Sadducees were charged with carrying out the temple service.
The annual celebration days, centering around the temple, were scheduled according to God’s calendar. Had it been otherwise, Christ would have done more against the Jews in the temple, than simply throwing out the money-changers.
In regard to the wave sheaf offering, most splinter groups, that came out of the Worldwide Church of God, believe the expression “the morrow after the Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:11) to mean the day after the weekly Sabbath occurring during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This is in line with the belief accepted by Herbert Armstrong, who accepted the Sadducee pattern. The belief that the wave sheaf offering occurred on the day after the weekly Sabbath occurring during the Days of Unleavened Bread was a Sadducee notion. However, this notion was suppressed from making an impact on the temple service because the Sadducees had to submit to the will of their supervisors, the Pharisees.
Referring to the Sabbath from which the countdown to Pentecost is made, Edersheim reports: “The testimony of Josephus (Antiq.3.248-249), of Philo (Op. ii. 294), and of Jewish tradition, leaves no room to doubt that in this instance, we are to understand by the “Sabbath” the 15th of Nisan, on whatever day of the week it might fall” (Edersheim, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, page 204).
To this day the Sadducee example is followed by many groups that came out of the Worldwide Church of God. The present leadership of the Worldwide Church of God has no respect for the celebration days of God or for the Sabbath. They have joined Evangelical Protestantism in the quagmire of Paganism and seem to be comfortable in it.
The thesis of this presentation represents a minority view. I can see entirely rational reasons people may have for keeping a Sunday or Monday Pentecost. It is not my purpose to recruit people away from what they truly believe to be the correct time corridor for any particular celebration. However, I would point out a line of logic that may not have been considered by most. If you celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, using the Pharisee pattern of timing, the Day of Atonement, using the Pharisee pattern of timing, and the Last Great Day, using the Pharisee pattern of timing, what would be the reason for adopting a Sadducee pattern of timing for the Day of Pentecost (Firstfruits)?
Information Sources:
Ben-Sassson, HH, A History of the Jewish People, 1969 Dvir Publishing House, Tel Aviv, Israel
Bremton, Sir Lancelot C.L., The Septuagint with Apocrypha; Greek and English, 1851 Samuel Bagster and Sons, Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Bullinger, EW, The Companion Bible, 1922 Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Dankenbring, William, Sadducees Versus Pharisees Who Really Controlled Temple Services in the Time of Christ? 2008, Triumph Ministries, Omak, WA, United States
Edersheim, Alfred, MA, DD, PhD, The life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah, 1896 Longmans, Green, and Co., New York, NY, United States
Edersheim, Alfred, MA, DD, PhD, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, 1994 Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, United States
Johnson, Paul, A History of the Jews, 1988 Harper Perennial, New York, NY, United States
Mendelsohn, Bob, How Shall A Man Approach God? 2008 Jews for Jesus, Sydney, Australia
Soncino Zohar, Vayikra, Section 3, Page 102a, 1984 Soncino Publishing, Brooklyn, NY, United States
(Note: Inclusion in Information Sources is simply for the purpose of giving credit where credit is due. Inclusion in the list does not pre-suppose agreement with the entirety of the documentation or the theology to which it is keyed.) |
