November 24, 2025

Omer Reisheet "First Sheaf" (Part A)

38 minutes

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chaggim template

*Updated:

April 15, 2016

“ADONAI said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el: ‘The

designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are

my designated times.” (Leviticus 23:1, 2)

tyivaer r,m{[ Omer Reisheet - First Sheaf

*This festival is alternately known by the titles

“Bikkurim=Firstfruits” and/or “Counting the Omer”

"ADONAI said to Moshe, "Tell the people of

Isra'el, 'After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops,

you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen.

He is to wave the sheaf before ADONAI, so that you will be accepted; the cohen

is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat. On the day that you wave the

sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without defect, in its first year, as a

burnt offering for ADONAI." (Leviticus 23:9-12)

Commentary

Contents:

Issues Surrounding the

“Timing” of Omer Reisheet

Three Literal Days and Three

Literal Nights?

Summary

Sunday Meeting?

*2016 Update: This commentary is going to discuss

the timing issues surrounding the Passion chronology of the week of Yeshua’s

death and resurrection. For years I asserted that Yeshua most likely died

on the very same day as when the lambs were being sacrificed at the Temple,

viz, on Nisan the 14th, which I was figuring was a Friday.

This put his Seder meal on the prior evening—the sunset of the 13th

as it became the 14th, eaten of course without meat from the

sacrificial lambs. In this way, technically I had Yeshua keeping his

Seder (I assumed it was a Chagigah) on the 14th while being able to

die 21 or so hours later on the day part of the 14th as well.

However, after careful research, and as an update to my own understanding of

the chronology of the week of Passover in which Yeshua was crucified, I have

now come to understand that Yeshua was most likely crucified on Nisan the 15th,

which as far as I can reckon, would still have been on a Friday as I maintained

earlier. This means he ate the Pesach meal with meat from lambs

slaughtered the day before on Nisan the 14th—a Thursday.

Essentially, I now hold to Yeshua being crucified on Chag HaMatzah—the Day of

Unleavened Bread. So in conclusion, I still hold to a conjunction-like

occurrence of Nisan 14, 15, and 16 all being back to back (i.e., Thursday,

Friday, Saturday), with no days skipped in between. The only major

changes to my timetable are that I now hold to Yeshua eating his Seder on

Thursday the 14th (previously I thought the 14th was a

Friday), and being crucified on Friday the 15th (previously I had

the Seder and the crucifixion both on Friday, the “Chagigah” Seder being on the

evening part of the 14th and his death during the afternoon some 21

or so hours later, viz, the day part of the 14th). I hope this

updated clarification does not cause too much confusion when following this

commentary.

The

Feasts of the LORD are very important times on the calendar. Accordingly,

this third event of the Pesach Season would carry with it truths

pertinent to the spiritual well being of the young Nation of Isra’el. But

this was not just any calendar—this was the calendar of the Creator of all

men! They are rightly called “Holy Convocations,” for

intrinsically there is nothing special about one day against any other

day. Yet when the LORD of Holiness sanctifies a day—sets it apart as

holy—the day becomes holy without question. By divine decree it is

holy. Since God recognizes it as such, it is only a matter of obedience

that we do likewise.

Baruch

A. Levine in his commentary to Leviticus by the Jewish Publication Society

(JPS) outlines the logistics of this part of chapter twenty-three for us:

In this section, two offerings

taken from the new crop are prescribed: ‘omer and bikkurim.

The first, ‘omer, is the offering of a “sheaf” of new barley. As

originally intended, the priest was to offer it on the morrow of the first

Sabbath subsequent to the seven-day festival. New grain could not be

eaten until this offering was made. It constituted desacralization, a

rite that gives God the first of the new crop, thus releasing the rest of it

for ordinary human use.

Beginning on the day of this

offering, a period of counting is initiated. Seven full “sabbaths,” or

weeks, are counted off. On the fiftieth day, the second offering of meal

of new wheat, baked into leavened loaves, is offered in the sanctuary as bikkurim,

“first fruits.” It consists of grain furnished by the Israelite

settlements. That day is a sacred assembly on which work is

forbidden. Here, it is not designated [chag], “pilgrimage,” as it

is in Deuteronomy 16:10, a significant difference.[1]

explained by Levine the Hebrew word for “sheaf” is “omer” rm[.

The omer counting leads to the well-known event called “Shavu’ot,” or Pentecost,

as it is more widely recognized by many Christians. To wit, we must

understand from this passage that the days from Pesach to HaMatzah to Omer

Reisheet to Shavuot are inextricably linked. A biblical principal worth

remembering, which carries significant truth down to this very day is that the “first” always belongs to HaShem. This

theme will play a prominent feature later on in this commentary.

Issues Surrounding the “Timing” of Omer Reisheet

Some

readers will readily note that history has been generally “unkind” to this

particular festival. What do I mean by “unkind”? I mean to draw

your attention to the fact that no less than three prominent Jewish sects have

come to interpret the timing associated with the start of this count in at

least three respective, but differing ways. Author Tim Hegg has

brilliantly noted such differences in his short paper ‘Counting the Omer,’

viewable from his web site http://www.torahresource.com/

At least three different sects understood the

chronology of the omer counting differently: a) the majority of the Jewish

community, and perhaps particularly those in Judea, near Jerusalem, considered

the phrase “the morrow after the Sabbath" to be the day following the

opening sabbath of Chag HaMatzot, that is, the 16th of Nisan; b) a sub-group of

the Sadducees, the Boethusians, took the Leviticus text to mean “the morrow

after the (weekly) Sabbath," and thus commenced their counting on the day

following the first weekly Sabbath within the festival week. c) the Qumran sect

apparently understood the Sabbath in question to be the final day of Chag

HaMatzot, and thus began their counting on the first day of the week following

the completed festival.

So,

which view is correct and how does it impact you the reader? Depending on

which view you go with, the impact will determine the date you celebrate

Shavu’ot fifty days later! The difficulty lies in the interpretation of a

key Hebrew phrase found in our text quoted at the onset of our commentary:

"ADONAI said to Moshe,

"Tell the people of Isra'el, 'After you enter the land I am giving you and

harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your

harvest to the cohen. He is to wave the sheaf before ADONAI, so that you

will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat.

On the day that you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without

defect, in its first year, as a burnt offering for ADONAI." (Leviticus

23:9-12)

Levine

provides what appears to be a “Boethusian” view:

on the

day after the sabbath The

Hebrew words mi-mochorat ha-shabbat, repeated in verse 15a, are

problematic because it is not specified which Sabbath is intended. The accepted

rabbinic interpretation is that here shabbat does not refer to the

Sabbath day but means something similar to shabbaton in verse 39, that

is, a time of resting. This characterization applies both to the Sabbath and to

festivals. This interpretation is explained in the Sifra ' Emor 23:11, 15: mi-mochorat

ha-shabbat-mi-mochorat yom tov, "on the morrow of the Sabbath-on the

morrow of the festival." Targum Onkelos explains mi-mochorat ha-shabbat

in the same way, as does the Septuagint to 23:11: te epaurion tes protes,

"on the morrow of the first day (i.e., the first day of the

festival)." Although this interpretation resolves a difficulty in

the text, it does not convey its simple sense. It has been suggested that the

words mi-mochorat ha-shabbat in verse 11 and in verse 15a represent an

abbreviation of the phrase mimochorat ha-shabbat ha-shevi'it, literally

"until the morrow of the seventh 'sabbath' of days" in verse 16

below. Verses 15-16 use the term shabbat in the sense of

"week"; verse 11 uses the abbreviation shabbat in its normal

sense of a particular day, the Sabbath. This would require that seven

"sabbaths" of days (shabbatot) would pass during the period of

fifty days. It is therefore suggested that the words mimochorat ha-shabbat

here and in verse 15a were glosses inserted to ensure that the period of

counting the seven weeks would begin on the day after the Sabbath. If this

analysis is accurate, the text of verse 11 should probably read as follows: vehenif

'et ha-'omer lifne; YHVH li-retsonkhem yenifennu ha-kohen, "He shall

present the sheaf before the LORD; for acceptance on your behalf the priest

shall present it."[2]

And

again, with relation to the date of Shavu’ot they make a distinctively

“Boethusian” comment:

And

from the day on which you bring the sheaf. . . the day after the sabbath Referring to the Comment to verse 11 above, it

should be repeated here that the words mi-mochorat ha-shabbat may be a

gloss. The original text may have read: u-sefartem lakhem mi-yom havi' akhem,

"And you shall count off, from the day on which you bring." This is

how the text of the Temple Scroll from Qumran reads. The offering is known as 'omer

ha-tenufah, "the sheaf for the presentation." In biblical usage,

when the term shabbat refers to a week and not an occasion it probably

always connotes a sabbatical week. This is certain in chapter 23 and in

the Holiness Code generally. In 25:8 sheva' shabbetot shanim means

"seven septenaries," namely, seven cycles of seven years, each of

which ends with a sabbatical year, when no planting or harvesting may be

done. On this basis, sheva’ shabbatot in verse 15 must mean “seven

weeks of days.” This indicates, in effect, that the period of

counting begins on the day after the first Sabbath, the first Sunday subsequent

to the beginning of the festival.[3]

How

are we to interpret the above-offered explanation? How did the ancient

Israelites understand the mitzvah to begin counting ‘on the morrow after the

Shabbat.’ Perhaps the Torah gives us a valuable clue in the book of

Joshua. In an effort to help resolve the matter, I personally prefer to

think of the following example as “authoritative enough for me, adding to this

the fact that as Hegg noted above, the majority opinion (Pharisees) also must

have been heavily influenced by the Y’hoshua passage.

reads:

The people of Isra'el camped at Gilgal, and

they observed Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month, there on the plains of

Yericho. The day after Pesach they ate what the land produced, matzah and

roasted ears of grain that day. The following day, after they had eaten

food produced in the land, the man ended. From then on the people of Isra'el no

longer had man; instead, that year, they ate the produce of the land of Kena'an

(Y’hoshua 5:10-12).

Notice

carefully that verse 11 states that they ate the otherwise “forbidden” product

on the day after Pesach (forbidden until waived [by the priests] before HaShem

of course), and that in verse 12—the following day—that the heavenly food

ended. The word Pesach in the above verse must include the Day of Unleavened

Bread (HaMatzah), a Shabbat, for the verse to make sense. Fascinating,

huh? It appears to be that the ancient Israelites understood ‘the morrow

after the Shabbat’ to mean the day immediately following the feast of

HaMatzah. What is more, it even appears to indicate that HaShem “approved

of their interpretation” by ceasing to provide manna in favor of what the Land

would produce from then on out!

With such a strong example provided for us by the events

in Y’hoshua, is it no wonder that the Pharisees went with what I like to call a

”conjunction-like” interpretation of the Passover week: Pesach—Unleavened

Bread—Firstfruits! In this model, all of the feasts occur back-to-back

with no days interrupting the chronology. Even more interesting is that if

one were to go with a Friday Pesach model, the Pharisaic interpretation would

have fixed the waving of the omer as Sunday (the day on which Mashiach was

reported to have already been risen by the Synoptic Gospels), corresponding

with the Sadducees as well! This means that for those who teach that the

crucifixion took place on Nisan 14th instead of Nisan 15th (I used

to believe the Nisan 14th crucifixion view) both Pharisees and

Sadducees would have ended up recognizing “Resurrection Sunday” as the day of

Omer Reisheet:

Pharisees: 14

Nisan=Pesach=Friday

Nisan=Unleavened Bread=Shabbat/Saturday

16 Nisan=Omer Reisheet (“the morrow after

the [festival] Shabbat”=Sunday

Sadducees: 14 Nisan=Pesach=Friday

Nisan=Unleavened Bread=Shabbat/Saturday

16 Nisan=Omer Reisheet (“the morrow after

the [weekly] Shabbat”=Sunday

God works in mysterious ways!

Three Literal Days and Three Literal Nights?

Even though I now hold to a Thursday, Nisan 14th

Pesach meal (with meat from lambs, as opposed to a mere chagigah that may not

have had lamb meat), I still hold to a Friday crucifixion and a very early

Sunday morning resurrection. Many have asked me, in light of the phrase

“three days and three nights,” found in Matthew 12:40, how can I hold to a

Friday crucifixion and a Sunday resurrection? The math doesn’t seem to add

up! The (late) esteemed Seventh Day Adventist scholar Dr. Samuele

Bacchiocchi provides us with an answer to this oft-asked question (quoted at

length with permission):

The literal interpretation of

the phrase "three days and three nights" as representing an exact

period of 72 hours ignores the abundant Biblical and Rabbinical evidence on the

idiomatic use of the phrase "a day and a night," to refer not to an

exact number of hours or of minutes, but simply to a calendrical day, whether

complete or incomplete. Matthew, for example, writes that Yeshua "fasted

forty days and forty nights" in the wilderness (Matt 4:2). The same period

is given in Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:2 as "forty days," which does not

necessarily require forty complete 24 hour days.

It is important to note that in

Biblical times a fraction of a day or of a night was reckoned inclusively as

representing the whole day or night. This method of reckoning is known as

"inclusive reckoning." A few examples from the Bible and from Rabbinic

literature will suffice to demonstrate its usage.

An Abandoned Egyptian

1 Samuel 30:12 speaks of an

abandoned Egyptian servant who "had not eaten bread or drunk water for

three days and three nights." The idiomatic usage of this expression is

shown by the following verse, where the servant states that his master had left

him behind "three days ago" (v. 13). If the "three days and

three nights" were meant to be taken literally, then the servant should

have said that he had been left behind four days before.

Esther’s Visit to the King

Another explicit example of

inclusive day reckoning is found in the story of Esther’s visit to the king.

When Queen Esther was informed by Mordecai about the plan to exterminate the

Jews, she sent this message to him: "Go, gather all the Jews to be found

in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three

days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to

the King" (Esther 4:16).

If Esther intended the three

days and three nights to be taken literally as a 72-hour period of fasting,

then she should have presented herself before the King on the fourth day.

However, we are told a few verses later that Esther went before the king

"on the third day" (Esther 5:1). Examples such as these clearly show

that the expression "three days and three nights" is used in the

Scriptures idiomatically to indicate not three complete 24-hour days, but three

calendric days of which the first and the third could have consisted of only a

fraction of a day.

Rabbinical Literature

Explicit examples for inclusive

day reckoning are also found in Rabbinic literature. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah,

who lived about A.D. 100, stated: "A day and a night are an Onah [‘a

portion of time’] and the portion of an Onah is as the whole of it." There

are other instances in Rabbinic literature where the "three days and three

nights" of Jonah 1:17 are combined with Old Testament passages which

mention events that took place "on the third day." "It is in

this light," writes Gerhard Dilling in the Theological Dictionary of the

New Testament, "that we are to understand Matthew 12:40."

Jewish Practice

The practice of inclusive day

reckoning, according to The Jewish Encyclopedia, a standard Jewish reference

work, is still in vogue among the Jews today. "In Jewish communal life

part of a day is at times reckoned as one day; e.g., the day of the funeral,

even when the latter takes place late in the afternoon, is counted as the first

of the seven days of mourning; a short time in the morning of the seventh day

is counted as the seventh day; circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even

though on the first day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the

child, these being counted as one day."

The examples cited above

clearly indicate that in Biblical times the expression "a day and a

night" simply meant a day, whether complete or incomplete. Thus, in the

light of the prevailing usage, the expression "three days and three

nights" of Matthew 12:40 does not require that Yeshua be entombed for 72

hours, but for a full day and two partial days.[4]

Chronology of “Passion”

Weekend

The chronology of the Passion

weekend provides further evidence of the idiomatic usage of the phrase

"three days and three nights." The days of the Crucifixion,

entombment, and Resurrection are given in clear sequence and with considerable

clarity in the Gospels as Preparation day, Sabbath, first day.

Mark, who writes for a Gentile

readership less familiar with Jewish terminology, explains with utmost clarity

that Messiah was crucified on "the day of Preparation, that is, the day

before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42). In the following chapter it will be shown

that both the term "preparation" (paraskeue) and

"Sabbath-eve" (pro-sabbaton) are two technical terms used

unmistakably to designate what we call "Friday."

Mark, then, is most precise in

explaining that the Crucifixion took place on what today we call

"Friday." The next day is designated by Mark as "sabbath"

(Mark 16:1) which in turn is followed by the "first day of the week"

(Mark 16:2). Mark’s chronological sequence leaves absolutely no room for a

two-day interval between the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Similarly Luke makes it clear

that the day of Yeshua’s Crucifixion was followed, not by a Thursday or a

Friday, but by a weekly Sabbath. He writes: "It was the day of

Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning" (Luke 23:54). By linking the

beginning of the Sabbath to the end of the day of Preparation, and the

beginning of the "first day of the week" (Luke 24:1) to the

termination of the Sabbath (Luke 23:56), Luke leaves absolutely no room for two

full days to intervene between the Crucifixion and Resurrection.[5]

No Two Sabbaths

Some wish to make room for

intervening days by arguing that between the Wednesday Crucifixion and Saturday

afternoon resurrection there were two Sabbaths: the first, a Passover Sabbath

which fell on a Thursday; the second, a weekly Sabbath which fell on the

regular Saturday. Such an argument is based on pure speculation because nowhere

do the Gospels suggest that two Sabbaths intervened between the day of the

Crucifixion and that of the Resurrection.

Support for the two-Sabbath

view is sought in the plural form the Sabbath in Matthew 28:1 takes, which

literally reads "at the end of the Sabbaths." This text is viewed as

a vital text, “which” proves that there were TWO Sabbaths that week with a day

in between." The first Sabbath, Thursday, allegedly was "the annual

high-day Sabbath, the feast day of the days of Unleavened Bread," while

the second was "the weekly Sabbath, Saturday."

This conclusion is untenable,

because, as Harold W. Hoehner points out, "The term Sabbath is frequently

(one-third of all its New Testament occurrences) in the plural form in the New

Testament when only one day is in view. For example, in Matthew 12:1-12 both

the singular and plural forms are used (cf. esp. v. 5)." There is then no

Biblical basis for a Passover Sabbath which occurred two days before the

regular weekly Sabbath.

The clear and uninterrupted

chronological sequence of days given in the Gospels is: Preparation day,

Sabbath day, and first day. This sequence leaves absolutely no room for a

literal interpretation of the phrase "three days and three nights" as

representing an exact period of 72 hours.

Conclusion

The foregoing considerations

have shown, first, that the sign of Jonah given by Yeshua to prove His

Messiahship consisted not in an exact 72-hour entombment, but in His

Resurrection on the third day after His death. Second, the phrase "three

days and three nights" (Matt 12:40) is an idiomatic expression which in

Bible times meant not necessarily three complete 24-hour days (72 hours), but

rather three calendric days, of which the first and the third could have

consisted of only a few hours.

The latter conclusion is

supported by the prevailing inclusive method of day-reckoning, by the parallel

usage of the phrases "after three days" and "on the third

day," and by the uninterrupted chronological sequence of days which does

not allow for three complete 24-hour days. A recognition of these facts

adequately explains how Yeshua fulfilled His prediction of a "three days

and three nights" entombment by being buried on Friday afternoon and

rising early on Sunday morning.

Summary

Messiah rose while it was still dark (sometime after the

sun went down on Shabbat, Nisan 16th, Omer Reisheet), reference: John

20:1. Messiah came up out of the grave and was spotted by his mother whom

after recognizing him proceeded to cling to him (John 20:17). He objected

to her touching/clinging to him because, in his own words, he had not yet

ascended to his Father. What is the implication of his statement about

ascension? I believe he had to present himself to the Father exactly the

same way the Omer Reisheet had to be presented before HaShem in the Torah:

"He

is to wave the sheaf before ADONAI, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is

to wave it on the day after the Shabbat." Lev. 23:11

The midrash on this verse is that we, the believers, are

the crop that is being represented on behalf of the first omer, who is Yeshua

himself. Yeshua "waved" himself before the Father on our behalf (the

rest of the crop) so that we, the resurrected ones to follow his resurrection,

would be accepted. Thus redemption was complete only after he presented

himself to the father, fulfilling the fullest purposes behind Passover,

Unleavened Bread, and Omer Reisheet.

What is more, the Mishnah agrees that the omer was waived

after the sun had set on the day of Unleavened Bread, which that year

corresponded to sundown on Friday. Observe this lengthy quote from the

Mishnah:

How did

they do it? Agents of the court go forth on the eve of the afternoon before the

festival of Passover. And they make it into sheaves while it is still attached

to the ground, so that it will be easy to reap. And all the villagers nearby

gather together there on the night after the first day of Passover, so that it

will be reaped with great pomp. Once it gets dark on the night of the sixteenth

of Nisan, he says to them, “has the sun set?” They say, “Yes.” “Has the sun

set?” They say, “Yes.” “With this sickle?” They say, “Yes.” “With this sickle?”

They say, “Yes.” “With this basket?” They say, “Yes.” “With this basket?” They

say, “Yes.” On the Sabbath, he says to them, “Shall I reap on this Sabbath?”

They say, “Yes.” “Shall l reap on this Sabbath?” They say, “Yes.” “Shall I

reap?” They say, “Reap.” “Shall I reap?” They say, “Reap”- three times for each

and every matter. And they say to him, “Yes, yes, yes.” All of this pomp for

what purpose? Because of the Boethusians, for they maintain, “the reaping of

the barley for the offering of the first sheaf of barley is not done at the

conclusion of the festival.”[6]

So for now, as of this writing, I choose to take the

Pharisaic view. Then again, with the plethora of data available on the

differing views, we may never know for sure what the correct view is until

Messiah comes to expound on the difficult parts of Torah for us.

to the rest of the commentary…

Sunday Meeting?

Suppose

the Sadducean/Boethusian view is correct? Suppose that Omer Reisheet

really starts on the morrow following the weekly Shabbat? This would put

the festival on a Sunday every year. What is the impact on us now?

Allow me to midrash in a different direction this time.

There

are seven festivals mentioned on the biblical calendar of Leviticus 23.

Each festival carries a similar aspect that ties it into the complete cycle of

yearly gatherings. In every single feast except one, we can observe that

the instructions to “have a holy convocation” are given (technically, Pesach

does not bear this description but I safely assume that the historical example

of the inaugural Pesach in Egypt covers the technicality). The one that

is singled out as not being identified as a convocation (gathering) is Omer

Reisheet. What could the Holy One possibly be conveying to us here?

The following explanation will serve as a personal drash (homiletic application)

on the calendar and this day that follows the Shabbat. It is not to be

understood as the objective interpretation of the text rather, it is

identifiably subjective. I base my understanding, however, on the

objective findings of the text itself.

Isra'el

was destined to be great among the surrounding nations. Theirs was a call

to holiness, vividly demonstrated by their unique, God-given calendar.

Surely, the many cultures and peoples that they interacted with had calendars

of their own, identifying their various holy days and such. Yet Isra'el

was to showcase the heavenly reality, through earthly means, that there was

only One, True God under heaven worthy to be identified and worshipped as

Creator. Isra'el was to teach the surrounding nations—by their own

lifestyle—that “God is One” (Deut. 6:4).

During

this period of the TaNaKH God usually worked his truth out by means of

object lessons. His children would “do” things, which the surrounding

nations were not “doing”; similarly, his children would also “abstain” from the

things which the surrounding nations were “performing.” In this way, the

surrounding nations would catch a glimpse of the difference between what God

identified as “clean and unclean,” “holy and profane,” “life and death.”

This was Isra'el’s "special call,” and as such, identified her unique

“chosen-ness” (read Deut 4:1-20, specifically for this commentary, vv. 19-20).

Sun

worship has been rife in the earth since the days of the Tower of Bavel.

The ancient myths tell of a supernatural being—a messiah, born of a woman, and

born of the very rays of the sun itself! This supernal being was killed

by his enemies during the Winter Solstice, only to be resurrected on the first

day of the Spring Equinox. This interpretation arose out of the belief

that the sun was in fact a god, which slept in death during the cold winter

months, and arose to new life at the start of spring. Because its

worshippers needed the sun’s vital, life-giving energy, they revered it as such

in various pagan rituals and ceremonies. Sun worship was therefore, in

many pagan cultures, mandated for survival itself.

One

of the chief ceremonies involved “greeting” the sun as it made its way

victoriously back from the underworld of the dead. Its followers would

meet their deity as he made his reappearance from the wintry death that held

him captive for a season. The day chosen to represent this glorious

awakening would become known as the first day of the Spring Equinox. And

to ensure that the themes and symbols would forever be established among their

adherents, an unforgettable name was granted to this very special day.

Thus, “Sun-day” was born.

Now

at this point in my commentary, it should be rather obvious by now that the

event that I am describing bears a remarkable resemblance to our modern-day

Easter celebration. This should be no surprise, as the origins of Easter

can indeed be traced back to this very legend! Christianity in its

infancy swelled to overflowing with former pagans, in an effort to establish

itself as a viable religion in the 3rd and 4th

centuries. It was (mis)understood that Judaism had failed, in that its

lack of recognition of the Messiah placed it in a place less-favored—nay

rejected—by the Holy One himself! Christianity would take its rightful

place among believers as the True expression of Christ-worship.

Now,

looking back in 20/20 hindsight, we can understand that this paradigmatic shift

was not entirely complete, nor would it be permanent. It was, in fact, a

shifting of responsibility of sharing the Good News with the surrounding

nations, which placed Isra'el in this “less-favored” position. The

students should familiarize themselves with Romans chapter eleven. But

like Isra'el of old, the young Christian Church would make many significant

mistakes, and mixing paganism with truth would become one of her errors that

would permeate the very fabric of the Formalized Church like “tzara’at”

(leprosy) down to this very day!

The

damage was done.

The

pagans brought their worship of the Sun into Christianity, and its traces can

be observed even today. Easter is rightly recognized as the “holiest”

gathering within Christianity. Billions of followers flock to sunrise

services all over the world to pay homage to the True Son who was resurrected

on this day—and rightfully so! Were it not for the awesome resurrection

of our LORD Yeshua from the power of death, we believers—Jew and Gentile, would

have no hope in this world!

Moreover,

he did defeat death on that day, and we do have reason to celebrate! But

do we have a biblical injunction to gather on this particular day? It is

my premise that we do not. Our theology seems to be correct, yet our

methodology lacks authenticity. Consider this example from the book of

Ezekiel, chapter 8.

“In the sixth

year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and

the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign LORD came

upon me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.

From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his

appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked

like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up

between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the

entrance to the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to

jealousy stood. And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel,

as in the vision I had seen in the plain. Then he said to me, "Son

of man, look toward the north." So I looked, and in the entrance north of

the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy. And he said to me,

"Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things

the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my

sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable."

Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in

the wall. He said to me, "Son of man, now dig into the wall."

So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there. And he said to me,

"Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing

here." So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the

walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of

the house of Israel. In front of them stood seventy elders of the

house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had

a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. He said

to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel

are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say,

`The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'" Again,

he said, "You will see them doing things that are even more detestable."

Then he brought me to the entrance to the north gate of the house of the LORD,

and I saw women sitting there, mourning for Tammuz. He said to me,

"Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more

detestable than this." He then brought me into the inner court of

the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the

portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the

temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to

the sun in the east. He said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man?

Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they

are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually

provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!

Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or

spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them."

What

was the problem here? Apparently Sun worship was even being practiced by

‘Am Isra'el! Oy vey! Exactly how low had God’s chosen people

fallen? The traceable pattern to disobedience and error looks like this:

first man misunderstands God’s purposes, then man misunderstands God’s methods.

A lack of understanding of sanctification and true worship resulted in blatant

disobedience of the Torah and eventually gross idolatrous practices (read vv.

17-18 again). This Torah Teacher believes that the Organized Body of

Messiah of the 21st Century is not far behind the ‘Am Isra'el of

this passage….!

Yet

the damage was done.

Today,

tradition still blinds us to the unchanging Truth of God’s Word—a Truth that

should not be compromised! The world is watching us believers. They

are observing whether or not we will make a difference between the clean and

unclean, the holy and the profane, life and death! HaShem did not tell

‘Am Isra'el to “gather” on Omer Reisheet—the day after the Shabbat—which,

according to the Sadducees, is Sunday itself!—in order to separate his truth

from the error of paganism (remember sun worship has existed since the days of

Bavel). I believe that the people of the TaNaKH set the biblical example

NOT to gather on that special Sunday during the Passover Week for a true

heavenly reason. Why have we failed to grasp this truth?

Surely

Yeshua was raised from death to life on that morning following the

Sabbath! Surely he is the “firstfruits from the dead!” He is the

first person to be raised unto a resurrection of incorruptible flesh!

Although our flesh still houses sin, his flesh was sinless before his death on

the execution stake; his resurrection demonstrates for us genuine believers

what a resurrected body will be made like—raised to life everlasting! Why

then do we continue to confuse this wonderful truth with our man-made

traditions? Isn't it time we start demonstrating his holiness by the very

days that we gather together on?

The “first” always belongs to HaShem. Why

are we sharing it with paganism?

Consider

these words.

“Chag Omer Reisheet Sah-meach!”

(Happy Festival of the First Sheaf!)

For

further study, read: Ex. 23:16, 19; 34:26; Lev. 2:12, 14; 23:20; Num. 18:12-15,

26; Deut. 18:1-5; 26:2-4, 10; 2 Chron. 31:5; Neh. 10:35-39; Prov. 3:9; Jer.

2:3; Ezek. 44:30; 48:14; Mal. 3:8-14; Matt. 13:37-39; Mark 4:26-29; Heb. 6:20;

7:1-8; 12:1; Jude 14; Rev. 1:7

Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy [email protected]

[1]

Baruch A. Levine, The JPS Torah Commentary to Leviticus (Jewish

Publication Society, 1989), p. 157.

[2]

Ibid., p. 158.

[3]

Ibid., p. 158-159.

[4]

Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Time of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection

(Biblical Perspectives, 2001), p. 15, 16.

[5]

Ibid., p. 18.

[6]

The Babylonian Talmud, Translation and Commentary by Jacob Neusner (Soncino

CD-ROM Edition), XXXIX. Mishnah-Tractate Menahot 6:3, Hendrickson Publishers,

2006.

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By Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy

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