{"id":237,"date":"2021-04-28T07:41:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T04:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalemseminary.org\/blogs\/?p=237"},"modified":"2021-04-28T08:53:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T05:53:04","slug":"counting-the-omer-from-redemption-to-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalemseminary.org\/blogs\/2021\/04\/28\/counting-the-omer-from-redemption-to-revelation\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting the Omer: From Redemption to Revelation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"237\" class=\"elementor elementor-237\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-47f51df elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"47f51df\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ee5dc77\" data-id=\"ee5dc77\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-46f8f1d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"46f8f1d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Counting the Omer: From Redemption to Revelation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-47a5ef5 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"47a5ef5\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4047a5f\" data-id=\"4047a5f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-92eac32 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"92eac32\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The Omer is a daily counting starting from the day of the giving of the Omer (a first sickle cutting of barley that produces a grain offering), just after Passover. The counting continues until Shavuot, also known as Pentecost, fifty days later. This time takes us from Passover to Shavuot &#8211; from Redemption to Revelation.<\/p>\n<p>\n<ul>\n \t<li>Leviticus 23: 15-16 \u201cThen you are to count from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the omer (a sheaf of grain) of the wave offering, seven complete Sabbaths. 16 Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you are to count fifty days and then present a new grain offering to Adonai. (TLV, modified)<\/li><br \/>\n \t<li>Deuteronomy 16:9-10 \u201cYou shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you. (NASB, modified)<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/p>\n\n<p>These 49 days of counting climax on the 50th Day &#8211; Shavuot\/Pentecost &#8211; traditionally the giving of the Torah (Exodus 19-20) and the giving of the Spirit (Acts 2)! Passover secured Israel\u2019s physical freedom from Egypt, but they were still enslaved spiritually until God graciously gave Israel the Torah at Sinai in order for Israel to know how to live as a people and a nation.<\/p>\n\n<p>Consider \u201cmaking the Omer count,\u201d by learning more about the Omer and by using these days to interact with the Creator of the Universe in this crescendoing count &#8211; filled with the anticipation of Shavuot\/Pentecost and thankfulness for the giving of the Word and Spirit.<\/p>\n\n<p><b>Further Explorations with the Omer:<\/b><ul> \t<li>It was during this season that Jesus (Yeshua) appeared for 40 days after his resurrection and before his ascension.<\/li><br \/>\n \t<li>The Omer period reminds one of the need to be aware of the poor and outcast as well as a proactive giving, as found in Ruth 2:7,15 and alluded to in Job 24:10.<\/li><br \/>\n \t<li>The Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritans, Karaites (and seemingly the early believers in Yeshua?) all counted the first day of the Omer to be the first day after a weekly Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) and not after the festal Sabbath as the Pharisees interpreted. The debate is based upon a close reading of Leviticus 23:15-16 and 23:11. <sup><a href=\"#fn1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/li><br \/>\n \t<li>Yeshua\u2019s plucking (or rubbing, but not cutting) of the grain in the field on the Sabbath day (Lk. 6:1-5) is specified to have taken place on the second Sabbath in the cycle of the counting of the omer <sup><a href=\"#fn2\">2<\/a><\/sup>. As Shmuel Safrai has pointed out, \u201cLuke\u2019s narrative clearly was composed within a society familiar with the counting of the omer.\u201d <sup><a href=\"#fn3\">3<\/a><\/sup> Shouldn\u2019t we be more aware of the Biblical calendar that God set up? (See Leviticus 23, etc.)<\/li><br \/>\n \t<li>In Leviticus 23:10 \u2013 the singular Hebrew word Reshit (rather than Bikurim) is used, meaning \u201cFirstfruit\u201d which can be paralleled heuristically with 1 Corinthians 15:20,23 where Yeshua is termed the firstfruit (\u1f00\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03c7\u1f74), a singular form as well. Bikurim (plural) is used at the end of Leviticus 23 in regards to the firstfruits for Shavuot, and parallels us as believers as the firstfruits of the new creation in James 1:18.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a13621e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a13621e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8c2e5a1\" data-id=\"8c2e5a1\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e7cc939 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"e7cc939\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a101e39 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a101e39\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-85de9d8\" data-id=\"85de9d8\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f90bb9b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f90bb9b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><fn id=fn1><sup>1<\/sup> <small>See J. van Goudoever, &#8220;The Significance of the Counting of the Omer.&#8221; In Studies on the Jewish Background of the New Testament, edited by S. Safrai O. Michel, R. le D\u00e9aut; pages 64-86, 1969. And a brief summary see Appendix B footnote 6 in David J. Rudolph (eds.), The Voice of the Lord: Messianic Jewish Daily Devotional (Baltimore: Lederer, 1998).<\/fn><\/small>\n<br \/>\n<fn id=fn2><sup>2<\/sup> <small>This detail is in the vast majority of manuscripts. For an important consideration and introduction to the Byzantine text, see Maurice A. Robinson, \u201cAppendix: The Case for Byzantine Priority.\u201d<\/fn><\/small>\n<br \/>\n<fn id=fn3><sup>3<\/sup> <small>Shmuel Safrai, \u201cSabbath Breakers,\u201d in Jerusalem Perspective No. 27 (Jul.\/Aug. 1990), pp. 3\u20105.<\/fn><\/small>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Counting the Omer: From Redemption to Revelation The Omer is a daily counting starting from the day of the giving of the Omer (a first sickle cutting of barley that 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