The main tool for timing Pentecost is the understanding of when Christ kept it but there is other evidence that can be used to establish the timing. The way that I have conceived of this makes it a very long topic hence I want to summarise so that nobody gets lost in the reading. I begin by stating my understanding of how Shavuot is counted and how it links as a seven. In order to give credence to my opinion I then go into the three scriptures that are fundamental to Shavuot: Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16 and Acts 2. I take Moses at his word that Deuteronomy is the authoritative scripture and that is discussed in this document. I next go to Acts 2 to establish that the Bible follows the description of Isaiah 28:10 and all of the pieces must be put together for the truth to appear. From Leviticus 23 we see that the use of Sabbath there is ambiguous which makes it impossible to use that as a proof text. I follow with evidence that the attempts to discredit the Pharisees as inferior to the Sadducees in the Law is unfounded, unbiblical and unhistorical, then I go into the evidence from Greek vocabulary, and end with the ancient Biblical evidence from Joshua of the first Passover celebrated by Israel in the Promised Land. All of this connects to the Pattern for life given by God.

I summarise my approach to Pentecost in articles looking at what I consider to be significant elements of Pentecost.

The multiple of sevens

Pentecost is the second multiple of seven from Passover. It is the multiple of seven weeks and is preceded by, but also overlaps, the multiple of seven days, i.e. Unleavened Bread or Passover week. Remember that God called the whole week Passover therefore the Last Day of Unleavened Bread is still part of Passover. The Wave Sheaf establishes the beginning of the 50 day count that ends with Pentecost. The Deuteronomy 16:9 count gives man 49 days and then Pentecost. Pentecost actually follows a period of seven weeks starting from the day of the wave sheaf so it actually pictures the full redemption of the earth. Fifty is not just a convenient way of finding it because Pentecost is a jubilee of days, meaning that it represents redemption.

*U B = First day of Unleavened Bread

But the Jews don't count

Is it fair to condemn the current traditional Jewish practice by claiming that they disregarded scripture and are not counting but, setting the date of Pentecost to Sivan 6? This was one of the accusations of the study paper of the WCG. Lets see what the Jews actually say.

Shemaiah and Abtalion are famous first century Hebrew rabbis known as one of the zuggot. Rabbi Shemaiah wrote:

Pentecost is sometimes on the fifth of the [third] month, sometimes on the sixth, and sometimes on the seventh. For instance, if both of them are full, it is on the fifth; if both of them are defective., it is on the seventh; if one is full and the other defective, it is on the sixth (Talmud Mas. Rosh Hashana 6b:1216).

Full is referring to the months of Nisan and Iyar. If they contain thirty days it is on the fifth; if both of them are defective [contain only 29 days] it is on the seventh; if one is full and the other defective, it is on the sixth. This happens because the count touches three months. That was in the 1^st century but as I understand it these months are now all fixed at a specific length of days and do not normally vary, but it is possible to vary their lengths to ensure that Pentecost falls on Sivan 6.

From what we already know about the Jewish calendar this is reasonable except for when their Passover falls on a Thursday evening, because the Jewish year begins in Nisan and is followed by two months, Iyar and Sivan. These months have 30, 29 and 30 days respectively so we have a fixed period of 89 days. The 50 days of the omer easily fit into this fixed period. The variable months (Cheshvan and Kislev) which cause the calendar to shift by up to 2 days occur in the fall. By making changes in the previous year the dates in the following year are affected. The truth is that I do not completely understand how it deviates from what it would be without these interventions but I do know that it leads to what they call the four gates and by using those they ensure that the feasts run smoothly. People wonder why then, did God not say on the x day of the y month. Consider the following answer. At that time the Jews determined the beginning of the months by observation and it tended to shift (especially if the weather was overcast and they could not see the new moon). Under those conditions a date prescribed like the x day of the y month would not be consistently the same number of days from an earlier date. God wanted exactly the same 50-day period each time. We no longer depend on personal observations. In the present calendar where dates are determined by astronomy it can be fixed except for when Passover falls on a Thursday.

Does Pentecost fall on Sivan 6, or should Pentecost always be on a Sunday?

As a practical matter the issue is should we keep Pentecost on a Sunday or should it fall on whatever day is Sivan 6? This is a trick question because both are wrong! It cannot be set to Sivan 6^th unless you fiddle with the calendar. Setting Shavuot to Sivan 6^th started over 200 years after Christ. As I established above it was done by observation at the time of Christ but later it was done by maths and astronomy. The truth can be established by adopting what Christ did. The Sadducees are the ones who proposed Sunday and you can read the topic on the Pharisees and Sadducees to be clear that they were not the ones that dictated the way that the feast was kept. Jesus did not use Sivan 6 in modern day terms because it ignores those times when the day on which the sickle is put to the corn would naturally be a Sabbath. You cannot set Pentecost to any day or any date; you must count every year from the day that the sickle is put to the corn. That deviates from being the day following the first day of Unleavened Bread when the Second Day of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath. Both methods in the caption are wrong! Sunday people don't count but set it to Sunday and start from the wrong place while Jews who set it to Sivan 6 in theory ignore the first Omer being shifted by one day when Passover falls on a Thursday. Setting it to Sivan 6 does not in itself account for the second day of Unleavened Bread falling on a Sabbath, unless they fiddle with the calendar to compensate for it, which they actually do by using the concept of the four gates.

Having said what I just did about Sivan 6 let me also say this. A calendar is something made by men and can be adjusted by men for convenience. If you create a calendar and adjust it so that Sivan 6 always coincides with the first Omer then that is your prerogative. It could compromise the beginning of the month (the new moon) but it can be done. I have not specifically examined the impact of the four gates on Shavuot but from what I have read they do appear to make that adjustment.

The Sheaf of the Wave Offering - a Moveable Feast?

This argument seems to be structured like this:

God says to count or you are a sinner,
I (the person who is contesting a fixed date) say that you did not actually count,
You are a sinner for not counting therefore your date must be rejected

This is a very persuasive appeal to people's fears but you have not proved that the result is not exactly the same as if they count. That argument does not hold. It held in the time of Moses and it held at the time of Christ but no longer. In an article of this series dealing with the Jewish calendar I demonstrated that with months that depended on observing the new moon, it was necessary to count, but that is no longer always so. That is because we now have a computed calendar, and we can see where the count will end in advance. Through maths and astronomy we have it accurately figured out. Remember that our calendar was not yet invented when the Law of Moses was first written or even when Rabbi Shemaiah wrote. Moses ensured that the count was accurate from the wave sheaf, and that it did not shift when the observer did not see the sliver of any new moon on the correct day in the intervening months. It was a fifty day period  (50 is more than 29 or 30) and so it could cross at least one new moon and there was no other way to establish it as a fixed period. All of the dates of the other feasts are fixed from the beginning of a new moon in the same month as the feast, but for Pentecost you had to count across at least one new moon, hence the difficulty with fixing the date for Pentecost.

The Bible simply states that it is required to ensure that the day is 50 days from the First Omer. It does not say that it is a moveable feast! I have shown that this movement was because of how they identified the beginning of months and that they could not start the count on a Holy Day. People claim that it is because the feast is moveable. It was always fixed (fixed from the first working day after Passover) but it is only noticeable now because we do not have those variations in months since the invention of our calendar. We can accurately predict when months begin and end. On the question of being moveable I concede to that in the limited way that I have described. I propose that the very fact that all of the other feasts fall in a precise order with specific timing from a specific point, recommends a consistent trend in application. The only precise way to continue the trend of fixed predetermined periods was to count from one through another into a third month, rather than rely on the new moon. The introduction of the term moveable distorts the issue in Bible. Because the lengths of months are now fixed you can specify a date in advance and still reach the exact same day as if you counted.

Deuteronomy 16 - The Authoritative Interpretation

The question is how different? Some people interpret this to say that it is a completely different law based on the phrase beside the covenant. Support for this is offered by quoting Deuteronomy 1.

That has to be the authoritative interpretation because this is the final rendition and it is commanded. Leviciticus cannot override what it says in Deuteronomy.

Nothing else makes sense

Because of the change in the priesthood Israel could no longer kill the Passover at home but had to go to the place that God specified. He also moved the Passover celebration to the end of the fourteenth so that they would have time to prepare. Moses took the opportunity to clarify misunderstandings about the wave sheaf. The changes that God made did not affect the basic framework.

The sickle could not be put to the corn on that day because it would be the weekly Sabbath so the sheaf would be cut on the Sunday outside of the feast week. When would you start the count; before or after the feast; does God care? Similarly if Passover is a Sunday then the last day of Unleavened Bread would be the next Sunday. The Saturday would be a Holy day and the Sunday would be a Holy Day. When would you cut the sheaf and still eat of the new grain during the feast? If the sheaf is to be waved during the Days of Unleavened Bread then the weekly Sabbath poses a problem. Does God even care?

Beginnest To Put The Sickle To The Corn

Something else brought out by Deuteronomy is that it was when they Beginnest To Put The Sickle To The Corn. Beginest is translated from the Hebrew chalal which does mean to begin but also has other meanings. None of the other meanings are appropriate in the sentence so we have to admit that the translation is correct. It suggests that this was a harvest day and not just a ceremonial day. It represented a day in which harvesting would actually be done. Since that appears to be true then it could not be a Sabbath i.e. a rest day. That means that if the day following the first day of Unleavened Bread (i.e. the second day of Unleavened Bread) was a rest then the Omer could not start. You would have to wait until the day that you could actually begin to put the sickle to the corn.

Passover Today

This section was modified from my original to address an error that I made about the nineteen year time cycle. The Metonic cycle is repeated every 19 years which is 235 synodic months. Synodic means pertaining to a synod, i.e., a meeting which in this case is a meeting of the Sun and the Moon (which is about 30 days). That is one kind of Lunar month and another is the Sidereal month (which is about 28 days). The sidereal month is the time it takes the moon to circle the earth and return to its original position. To calculate the sidereal month we only need the earth and the moon. To calculate the synodic month it requires the earth, the moon and the sun. It is the cycle which brings the earth, the moon and the sun back to a previous alignment and is observed by the moon going through all of its phases. During each Metonic cycle the Moon’s phases recur on the same days of the solar year (e.g. a new moon on the 28^th of February will again be on the 28^th of February nineteen years later). It has been traced back to origins in Babylon yet it is attributed to Meton a Greek, in a similar way to how the calculations for triangles have been attributed to Greeks (Pythagoras) although they have been traced to Egypt. The Jewish calendar repeats in a Metonic cycle where they add an extra lunar month once every two or three years, for a total of seven times every nineteen years.

Hebrew dates are recorded in molads (about 29 days, 12 hours). According to their tradition there was a molad at exactly 14 hours (i.e. 8am) on the Friday of Creation, the time that Adam was created. Adding the standard interval 29 days, 12 hours, 793 chalakim to the original molad defines subsequent molads. A molad is defined in the form xd xh xp where d= days, h= hours and p=part/chalakim, one minute is about 18 parts. The molad of Tishri 5759 occurred at 2d 12h 1005p (using 6PM as the zero hour), and corresponded to the Gregorian date September 21, 1998.

Keep in mind, however, that you can't really calculate a Gregorian date before the Gregorian calendar reforms, which took effect at varying times in varying places.

From the Jews we can use the 19 year cycles to accurately count back the years and fix the Passover. The Jews have used that knowledge to adjust when the year starts and accurately fix Passover. What have the Nicene Christians done? God set it so that Passover is always calculated as ten days from the first new moon of the spring in Jerusalem. It is technically possible to determine the winter equinox, then when spring will begin and then find the first new moon but I hope that it does not come to that. The Jews made every effort to be reliable. God gave us the necessary instructions to follow Him but this world has thrown them away. I believe that He made it possible to restore things and follow Him. Passover seems to be one of these challenges but it can be resolved.

God has been consistent from Adam to Isaac and down through the ages with keeping Passover at the right place and the right time. Why would He be so careless with the system to have Pentecost and the omer arbitrarily outside of his Holy methodology of sevens?

Calculating Pentecost/Shavuot

From Leviticus we see that the count begins on the wave sheaf day; from the first working day after the Sabbath that starts Unleavened Bread. From there we count seven weeks, as is clarified in Deuteronomy, and the next day is Pentecost. Unleavened bread always begins with an annual Sabbath which is called the First Day of Unleavened Bread. It is a rest or Sabbath; no work can be done.

There might have been some misunderstanding around calculating Pentecost from the time in the wilderness because Moses changed to a different way of recording the count in Deuteronomy and it clarifies the issue. Deuteronomy is the book where Moses sought to explain things as he said in Deuteronomy 1:5. He went on to leave this instruction.

Pentecost is counted from when you start to reap. Deuteronomy makes it clear that we are not relying on the weekly Sabbath but a count of seven sevens whenever they start. You cannot reap on a Sabbath therefore if a weekly Sabbath follows the annual Sabbath then you have to wait two days until you can reap. Moses added this clarification in Deuteronomy.