Pentecost Sunday falls on June 4 this year. Though various Christian denominations commemorate Pentecost, many forget that it was a Jewish holiday before the Church was established. The name Pentecost comes from the Greek word for 50, but the Jewish name is Shavuot (meaning weeks or sevens).

Traditional Jews of Jesus’ time celebrated Pentecost (or Shavuot) on the fiftieth day after the waving of the firstfruits. (Firstfruits coincided with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.) The firstfruits wave offering consisted of a sheaf of barley, the first crop of the spring growing season. This early growing season ended seven weeks later with the cutting of the wheat harvest, and for that crop, a different kind of offering was decreed. We find the Old Testament commandment for Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, and its required offering in Leviticus 23:15-17: MORE