Blog 56: The Wavesheaf Axis
When Israel had traveled three days, they came to Etham at the edge of the Wilderness of Etham, where they received YHWH’s instruction to turn south to Pi-Hahiroth. Having left Egypt on Wednesday evening (start of Abib 15), three days counting brought them to the close of the Sabbath. What is important about this juncture? If Israel had been in the Promised Land, the wavesheaf was cut at this Sabbath’s sundown, prepared that night, and around mid-morning the next day waved before YHWH to be accepted as the first of the harvest. After the wavesheaf offering, the spring harvest began.
The day after the wavesheaf Sabbath within the seven days of unleavened bread1, the seven-Sabbath count2 to Shavuot (Feast of Weeks, Pentecost) began. An Abib 14 Passover falls on four possible days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sabbath, making the count from the day after the Sabbath within the Feast of Unleavened Bread different each year (see Appendix 12: Passover and Pentecost Calendar below).
Overlaying the year of Israel’s exodus with its self-same day as the Abrahamic covenant onto the New Testament’s year of Yeshua’s sacrifice, the events of His last Passover, death, burial, and resurrection coincide with Israel’s first Passover, night of exodus, and three days in the wilderness. With a Wednesday Passover and Thursday NTBMO, Yeshua’s three days and three nights in the tomb end at the close of the Sabbath, His resurrection. He was put to death in the body, but after three days in the grave, He was made alive by the Spirit (1Pe. 3:18). In His resurrected spiritual existence, He went and preached to the spirits in prison (angels cast down to Tartarus for disobedience long ago, in gloomy caves and darkness until the day of judgment) about their sealed fate to die as men due to His victory, inheriting all nations (1Pe. 3:19; 2Pe 2:4; Psa. 82:1, 6-8). YHWH was not just the God of Israel but now the God of all peoples. Yeshua was the first of humanity’s harvest, the Wavesheaf, cut and prepared after Sabbath to be waved before God for His acceptance on the first of the weeks count (Abib 18). (This is why He told Mary Magdalene not to cling to Him since He had not yet ascended as the wave offering, John 20:17-18). After ascending to the Father, that same day at evening, on the first day of the weeks (Sunday), Yeshua appeared to His disciples locked behind closed doors, sent them as the Father had sent Him, breathed on them His Holy Spirit, and commissioned them as priests to go and serve humanity. Under the direction of the risen Yeshua High Priest, the spring harvest had begun!
Counting seven Sabbaths is forty-nine days, 72. What does it mean within the Bible’s storyline? In Blog 10, I showed that the age totals of ten generations from Adam to Noah were numerically significant. Ten indicates a complete order of a cycle, leaving nothing wanting in the generations of humanity. The firstborns’ ages totaled 8 × 207 (1656), the numeric signature of the 207 days from Abib 1 to Tishri 30, within which are Yeshua’s eight Feasts, His holy convocations. The years after the firstborns total 6919, 11 × 17 × 37, pointing to His sacrifice (11), victory (17), and His Name constant (37), marking a fall harvest. The sum of both is 8575, 175 × 72, the age of Abraham multiplied by seven Sabbaths. Abraham walked with God. In Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. We become Abraham’s seed when we walk by faith in Yeshua. The Ten Generations chart shows the way not to die (Enoch) is through a baptism/rebirth water ordeal (Noah) to walk yoked together with YHWH (Yeshua), becoming one with Him. He is the Seed of Abraham, the Savior of humanity who said, “I will be with you.”
Takeaway:
The seven-week count to the mountain of God starts within the days of Unleavened Bread, marking Yeshua’s victorious resurrection over humanity’s sin and exile. By His sacrifice, He proclaimed innocent those who believe in Him. He was with Israel going through the haunts of evil in Hahiroth and the sea of death in baptism and rebirth. The universe revolves around Yeshua’s death and resurrection, connecting Sheol to the heavenly mountain of God. Because He died with our sins upon Himself and was raised in the Spirit on the third day, Yam Suph’s waters do not overflow us but destroy our enemies so that none is left. Since He was the first of the firstborns raised and accepted by the Father, He sends His new Israel as His priests to serve the nations. The Wavesheaf offering of the resurrected Yeshua is the axis mundi of His harvest of humanity.
Footnotes: 1 In the years when Passover falls on a Sabbath, some incorrectly calculate the count from Passover, making the wavesheaf day on the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Doing this puts the first day of harvest on the holyday when all manner of work was forbidden. Passover is not within the seven days of unleavened bread (Num. 28:16-18, 25), though unleavened bread is eaten at Passover. Another distortion by some Jewish traditions counts from the day after the Holyday Sabbath of Abib 15. Counting this way puts the seven Sabbath count not on the weekly Sabbaths, situating days 49 and 50 on weekdays instead of the seventh weekly Sabbath (day 49) and the first day of the week (day 50).
2 The seven-Sabbath count is often referred to as “the count of the omer,” referencing the barley and wheat harvest. One omer equals 9.7 cups, the daily allotment of manna, the same number as the 9.7-mile Yam Suph crossing.
