By Norman Manzon
Well, friends, every party needs a party pooper, and I've been drafted by the Lord for this one. You're skeptical!
Shavuot and Pentecost are different names for the same day; Shavuot being Hebrew, Pentecost Greek. It is popularly assumed that the giving of the Law at Sinai occurred on Shavuot just as the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the believers in Acts 2 occurred on Shavuot or the Day of Pentecost - but is that the case?
1. Notable Parallels Between the Two
Indeed, there are notable parallels between the two. Perhaps the most significant parallel of all is that each of these occasions brought about an earth-shaking paradigm shift for the people of God: the
first for Israel under Moses (Exodus 19-20) and the second for the believers in Yeshua (Acts 2:1-4, 41). There were also notable, similar, profound supernatural phenomena. At Sinai, there
was thunder and a very loud
trumpet (Hebrew: shofar) sound (Exodus 19:16); on the Day of Pentecost, there was a noise like a violent
rushing wind (Acts 2:2). At Sinai, there were lightning flashes (Exodus 19:16); on the Day of Pentecost, there were what
appeared to them tongues as of fire (Acts 2:3). At Sinai, the Shekinah Glory, the visible manifestation of the presence of God, covered
the mountain in the form of smoke and fire: Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in
fire (Exodus 19:18); on the Day of Pentecost, the Shekinah Glory fell in the form of tongues
as of fire (Acts 2:2-3).
On each of the occasions, the phenomena evoked strong emotional reactions from the crowds, as well. At Sinai, All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance (Exodus 20:18); on the Day of Pentecost, the crowd was bewildered . . . amazed and astonished at the sound and at hearing the proclaimed message in their own native languages (Acts 2:6-8).
2. Typological Connection
Another argument in favor of believing that the Law was given on Shavuot is that there is a typological connection between the
prescribed Feast of Shavuot observance and the pouring out of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Under Moses, the Israelites were instructed to do the following on the Day of
Shavuot: You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave
offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD (Leviticus 23:17). Throughout Scripture leaven (yeast) is a symbol of sin. Also throughout Scripture, it may be seen that, in the
Lord's eyes, the world's population is viewed as two major people groups: the Jews and the Gentiles, all of whom are under sin
(Romans 3:9). We can now begin to see the connection: two leavened loaves, two people groups under
sin.
What did the Lord begin on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2? He poured out His Spirit on believers from among these two sinful people groups to unify them into the one body of Messiah.
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For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
~ 1 Corinthians 12:13 ~
14. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16. and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
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On the Day of Pentecost the Lord poured out His Spirit on proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism, Acts 2:10-11) as well as on Israelite believers, and the process was started whereby God would also pour out His Spirit on believing Gentiles who had not converted to Judaism (Acts 10).
3. Connection by Contrast
Another connection between the giving of the Law and the pouring out of the Spirit is by way of contrast. In Deuteronomy 16:12, the
Lord commanded Israel that, on the Day of Shavuot, You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you
shall be careful to observe these statutes. In the New Testament, slavery is symbolic of the yoke of the Law which, according to Galatians 4:21-31,
we are to reject in favor of the liberty we have in the Spirit of Messiah.
Surely, the giving of the Law and the falling of the Spirit occurred on the same Hebrew feast day of Shavuot or Pentecost, though some fourteen hundred years apart. That is what I believed as I had heard it so often. It only made sense, and it made for great preaching. One day, however, I read something that upset my apple cart. The writer said that, though the Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost or Shavuot, the Law was not given on that day. So I exclaimed, "What's the scoop?" as we are wont to say in Hawaii; and being an incurable Scripture addict, I hit the Books. I also hit the books.
So what did I find? I'm glad you asked.
1. No Connection in the Feasts Passages or Other Passages
In Leviticus 23, the central passage on the Feasts of Israel, in verses 15-22, the Shavuot section, no mention is made of Sinai or the
giving of the Law. In Deuteronomy 16:9-12, a section on Shavuot where God exhorted the Israelites to remember that they were slaves in Egypt, no mention is made of Sinai or the giving of the Law
although the latter was a momentous, epochal event that followed closely on the heels of the Exodus. Search as I did, I found no passage in either Testament that dates the giving of the Law to
the Day of Shavuot. What I did discover was that it was called the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) (Exodus 34:22; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:10), the Feast of the Harvest
of the Firstfruits (Exodus 23:16), and the First Fruits of the Wheat Harvest
(Exodus 34:22); but in no passage was it called anything like the Feast of the Giving of the Law - an amazing omission if the Law were given on that
day!
Did I miss something? I searched further.
2. First Connected by Maimonides 2600 Years Later
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia writes the following under Pentecost:
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The Old Testament does not give it [Pentecost] the historical significance which later Jewish writers have ascribed to it. The Israelites were admonished to remember their bondage on that day and to reconsecrate themselves to the Lord (Deu_16:12), but it does not yet commemorate the giving of the Law at Sinai or the birth of the national existence, in the Old Testament conception (Ex 19). Philo, Josephus, and the earlier Talmud are all ignorant of this new meaning which was given to the day in later Jewish history. It originated with the great Jewish rabbi Maimonides and has been copied by Christian writers. And thus a view of the Jewish Pentecost has been originated, which is wholly foreign to the scope of the ancient institution. (1)
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According to the quote, the belief that the annual Feast of Shavuot "commemorated the giving of the Law at Sinai" originated with Maimonides, who lived in the twelfth century - 2600 years after Moses received the Law.
Hitchhiking on what Wikipedia said, I did a little research into what Philo and Josephus wrote on the matter.
Philo, a Jewish philosopher contemporary with Yeshua, and Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, each wrote of Shavuot (Josephus wrote of it on
five occasions [2]); and neither one of them connected Shavuot with the giving of the Law. This is corroborated by Talmidim Yeshua Fellowship (3): "Abraham Bloch tells us, 'The connection of
Shabuot with the Revelation at Mount Sinai is of later origin and is not mentioned either by Josephus or Philo. (4)'"
3. Picking Brains
a. I wrote to Mottel Baleston, Secretary of The Association of Messianic Congregations and a regular teacher at Ariel
Ministries. Here is Mottel's response:
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Hi Norm,
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b. I also checked out Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum's take on the matter in his Messianic Bible Study 062: The Feasts of Israel. (5) Though the good doctor is noted for his thoroughness and meticulousness, he nowhere mentions a passage that connects Shavuot with the giving of the Law. On the contrary, he wrote, on page 14, "The rabbis taught that the Law was given on this occasion."
So Dr. Fruchtenbaum corroborates what the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Mottel and the above footnoted sources say - not to mention, of course, my own biblical research, which I won't mention.
Preliminarily, it must be observed that neither the parallels between the giving of the Law and the pouring out of the Spirit, nor the typological connection between the two, nor the connection by contrast, constitutes proof that the giving of the Law took place on Shavuot. On the other hand, considering that there is no biblical command in the Tanach (9) to commemorate the giving of the Law on Shavuot, nor any Old or New Testament passage naming Shavuot as the day that the Law was given, and that neither Josephus nor Philo connected the event and the day, one must conclude that the giving of the Law did not occur on any Shavuot (Day of Pentecost).
A Personal Note
I tried to nail the matter down conclusively by demonstrating how the two calendar days could not have coincided during the Exodus, but this proved
to be a task that involved complicated calculations that did not go unchallenged by several readers. As a result, I have concluded that I have not had enough training to stand by my calculations
with conviction and have deleted that section from this study.
Nevertheless, in consideration of the lack of explicit connection in the Scriptures between the two days, and the lack of explicit connection in the writings of Philo and Josephus, and the testimonies of Dr. Fruchtenbaum, Mottel Baleston, and the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, I am persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that the Hebrew calendar day on which Moses received the Law did not and does not coincide with the day of Pentecost; and that the belief that the two days do coincide is a rabbinic development begun by Maimonides some 2600 years after Sinai. Let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
So is everybody still happy?
* If you were blessed by this study, please consider linking to it. Thank you. *
1. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Pentecost. e-Sword, 1915, 1939.
2. Goldberg, G.J. "Pentecost / Shavuos in the Works of Josephus." Thematic Concordance to the Works of Josephus. N.p., n.d.
Web. 8Mar.2015. <http://josephus.org/Pentecost.htm>.
3. "Was the Law Given on Mount Sinai at Shavuot." talmidimyeshua.org.
Talmidim Yeshua Fellowship, n.d. Web. 82015. <http://talmidimyeshua.org/lawgiven.htm>.
4. Bloch, Abraham P. The Biblical and Historical Background of the Jewish Holy Days, KTAV Publishing House, 1978, p.229.
5. Fruchtenbaum, Dr. Arnold G. Messianic Bible Study 062: The Feasts of Israel. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 1984, 2005.
6. In succession, the months are Aviv (Nisan), Iyar and Sivan. Aviv has 30 days, and Iyar 29. Thus, from the 15th of Aviv to the 15th of Sivan is
fifty-nine days.
7. Kashrut: the body of Jewish dietary laws.
8. Glatt Kosher: A high standard of kashrut.
9. Tanach: Old Testament.
Was the Law Given on Shavuot?
A Tale of Two Occasions
© Norman Manzon, 2015
All rights reserved
Part 1: Who Is Israel? Who Are the Jews?
Part 2: The Chosenness of Israel
Part 3a: Contrary Claims I: Replacement Theology
Part 3b: Contrary Claims II: Ephraimite or Two-House Doctrine
The Prophetic Feasts of Israel
Where Are the Promised Promised-Land Blessings?