In the rich tapestry of the yearly holyday cycle, there is one unique thread- the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) or Pentecost. It is the only holyday where God requires us to count to the date (See Blog 56’s Appendix). But why is it essential to count individually, not as a group, family, church, or nation? And what’s the mystery behind the seven Sabbaths and a fiftieth day? Let’s explore these intriguing questions.

15 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to YHWH. (Lev. 23:15–16, Exo. 34:22, Num. 28:26–31, Deu. 16:9, 10, NKJV)

In the last blog, we examined the details of the ceremony that started the spring harvest. After the wavesheaf ritual, farmers began harvesting on the same day and brought the first portion of their grain to the priests. The harvest day after the Sabbath launched day one of the seven Sabbaths and fiftieth-day count. In connection with the Sabbath, seven indicates a journey to wholeness (See Blog 9). Seven is God’s oath, guaranteeing achievement in His creation of humanity. Numerically, seven days for seven weeks is forty-nine or 7². Fifty marks a jubilee, a restoration, or reuniting with one’s inheritance. Fifty is mathematically expressed as the sum of two squares, 7² + 1² = 50. Fifty is equidistant and middle between two prime numbers, 47 and 53, 47 representing the work of God’s hand and 53 representing the Garden. Equally important, fifty is also the sum of three squares: 3² + 4²+ 5² = 50. The triad of 3, 4, and 5 lengths make the first whole number right triangle, a shape image for uprightness or righteousness. When we consider the number 345 as the value of the name Moses and 543 as the value of I AM Who I AM, the distinctive form of the Creator God as the new Moses becomes apparent, the Being who must be involved in our counting of seven Sabbaths individually.

How is our covenant God, YHWH, involved in counting? YHWH lives by a moral code: holiness, the core of His essence. When God gave humans life in His image, His rule of holiness extended to us. When we fell from God’s rule of law, He sent His Son to show us how to live. But to indeed be successful in holy behavior, He had to make a covenant with us where we would rely on Him to teach us to act within His holiness code. A covenant is like being yoked together as a working team of oxen, the older, more experienced ox teaching the younger one. With Yeshua by our side, He turns us into the way He Himself lives. We learn to govern our lives by His principles, those of His Kingdom, instead of actions that produce death. To rule ourselves is inherent within each human image of God, but that rule was always meant to be a co-rulership with our Creator and Father. The journey of learning to co-govern our lives with YHWH shows forth the Tree of Life’s wisdom, a daily counting toward healing and wholeness. It is the 7² + 1² = 50 of learning to reign in His Kingdom.

Counting involves time, marking when things happen and when they will happen. The Hebrew idea of counting (Strong’s H5608 safar, 340, 20·17) involved “recounting” and “showing forth” the mighty deeds and miracles of the delivering YHWH, declaring His name. Counting acknowledges YHWH’s power to create day by day. “To count” is to mark or score, recording each day’s celebration of God’s marvelous works in achieving transformation through measured steps of faith. Jeremiah recounted what God had done, “YHWH has revealed our righteousness. Come and let us declare (safar) in Zion the work of YHWH our God” (Jer. 51:10). Telling (safar) that His name is near, the children of the promise are counted (safar) in His Book of Life, individually numbered as the sand of the sea (Hos. 1:10, Psa. 75:1). Personally counting the days of the seven Sabbaths involves not just remembering God’s saving work of creation, but also personally experiencing and understanding its impact on us as His new creation, leading to deep spiritual dependence and enlightenment of His holiness. It is Job’s, “My ear heard of You, but now My eye sees You” (Job 42:5).

Pentecost, the Feast of harvest, marks the end of the maturation process, a time of reaping or gathering. It’s a time of judgment, approaching the Judge of the Earth for protection and defense at the door of life. Numbering the days of our lives gives us a heart of wisdom and the understanding of God’s will (Psa. 90:12). Paul admonished us to walk circumspectly, as wise, redeeming the time by counting or evaluating our thoughts (Eph. 5:15–18). We cannot be passive observers of the count since our thoughts count toward becoming the people God created us to be. The spring harvest time had a definite beginning and end; the wavesheaf offering on day one and the two wave loaves on day fifty were the bookends. This practice of mandatory counting, therefore, is not just a ritual but a profound tool for personal spiritual growth in living and walking by God’s holiness, a statute of immense significance and awe.

Takeaway:
Individually counting the days of the seven-Sabbath harvest demands we walk in covenant with YHWH, our Creator. He is the new Moses, teaching us a more profound life wisdom than a performed religion. YHWH is the covenant God from whom we learn to rely to show us His way of holiness and how it feels in action, teaching us to rule our lives by His laws that are deeply loved and written upon our hearts. An individual’s relationship with YHWH cannot be given to another. It must be developed personally. To become the persons God created us to be, we must think and do things, governing ourselves. When we are yoked with YHWH, our will turns toward His will, from death to joyous life, a new creation co-ruling with Him in holiness. We become as He is.

Fun Factors:
The command to count forty-nine days and fifty days in Leviticus 23:15-16 (above) has a fascinating numeric configuration. The 24 words, comprised of 108 letters, have a number value of 11237, the product of two prime and Pythagorean numbers 17 and 661:  17 = 7^th prime and 3^rd Pythagorean prime; 661 = 121^st prime (11², connected to the menorah light) and 57^th Pythagorean prime (3 × 19, time cycle sureness). Also, 11237 is the sum of two mirrored squares, 94² + 49². In 94 (2 × 47), we see the hand of YHWH (47) in power during the seven Sabbath count (7²) to fifty (7² + 1²).

Deuteronomy 16:9-10 repeats the Leviticus 23:15-16 command to count. These two verses of 25 words, comprised of 98 letters (2 x 7²), have a number value of 9583, 7 × 37²! YHWH’s number constant in 185 of His names and titles is 37, clearly showing that YHWH’s seven-Sabbath creation journey translates His people to dwell with Him on His holy mountain.

Shavuot, the Hebrew word for “weeks” (שבועות), has a number value of 784, which is 2⁴ x 7², or 28², the sum of seven cubed numbers, 1³ + 2³ + 3³ + 4³ + 5³ + 6³ + 7³, complete Sabbath creation reality.