Tonight begins the festival of Shavuot, a time of joyous celebration when G-D gave Moshe the Torah on Mount Sinai. G-d has had His hand on our Jewish people over centuries of persecution, slavery and exile, but the one tangible thing that has held us together as a people is the Torah.
Shavuot is in Hebrew one of the Shalosh Regalim, one of the three pilgrimage festivals, in which Jewish men were required to go up to Jerusalem to the Temple to worship and observe. Shavuot marks the end of the barley harvest and the start of the wheat harvest. It is customary to read the Book of Ruth at this time, as her story centers around the wheat harvest. Ruth, as a Moabite woman, selflessly embraced her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, and the Jewish people as her own. Ruth ended up marrying Boaz, Naomi’s relative, and through that bloodline, became not only the great grandmother to King David, but ultimately in the geneology to Messiah Yeshua. G-D truly works in mysterious ways, especially with a willing heart!
Shavuot is also referred to in the Book of Acts in the Brit Hadasha or New Covenant.
Acts 2:1-14 states, “When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting…They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak out. Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. (They had come up to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple as commanded.) And when this sound came, the crowd gathered. They were bewildered, because each was hearing them speaking (the Shlichim or Disciples) in his own language…(TLV)
Peter goes on to refer to the prophet Joel, chapter 3 (2:28-32 in some Bibles), that these were those days Joel prophesied that G-D would pour out His Ruach on all flesh, and that those who call on Adonai’s Name will be saved.
You will seek Me and find Me, when you will search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (TLV)
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