WHAT IS PENTECOST?
One of the three most important feasts of Israel is Shavuot (שבועות). It literally means “weeks” in Hebrew (“שבוע” is a week, and “ות” is a plural feminine ending). The name was chosen because of the 7 weeks that had to be counted from Passover. Judeo-Greek Septuagint in keeping with age-old Hellenistic Jewish tradition translated “Shavuot” as “Pentecost” (Πεντηκοστή). The word literally means 50th day (after 7 weeks of 7 days).
PENTECOST IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
It is intriguing that none of the Biblical references to Shavuot (Ex. 34:22 and Deut. 16:10) and its alternative names - Festival of Reaping (Ex. 23:16) - have anything to do with the Torah being given to Israel. In the Hebrew Bible this was a festival of agricultural blessing - God’s provision of food to Israel after the exodus from Egypt.
Shavuot, which is known in Christianity, by its Judeo-Greek name “Pentecost”, is a defining event described in Acts 2. It is interpreted as a story of the Holy Spirit’s descent and the birth of the Christian Church. While some Jewish traditions connecting Law-giving with Shavuot existed even before Jesus (Jub. 6:15-22), they became central and were featured by the Rabbis only after Christianity had self-defined.
UNDERSTAND THE GIVING OF
THE TORAH TO ISRAEL
The Rabbinic alternative to the Christian community’s founding story had to be provided. This is how the agricultural feast of Israel was invested with a new meaning (the giving of the Torah to Israel and the birth of the Jewish Nation).
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