Counting the Omer 2017

Transcription

1 B. Scott 4/15/17 Counting the Omer 2017 As we find ourselves in the midst of the Spring Festival season (having celebrated Pesach, currently in the week of Unleavened Bread, and now looking towards Shavuot) we re faced with an interesting command that is not always paid attention to! In Leviticus 23:15-16 it says, And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto Yahweh. We re to count 50 days this is the process of the first Spring Festivals to the final one of Shavuot! Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow Count: Strong s #5608 caphar ס פר to count, relate, to rehearse or to declare, to narrate, to tell with praise or to celebrate, this word is often used to refer to the communication of important information and truths to those who have not heard them; it s a cognate of #5612 cepher רפ ס a legal document, can refer to a proof of purchase deed, a book in which things were written for a need in the future, but it can also refer to a divorce decree *Could it be that this 50 day process is about Israel declaring for themselves that they ve been bought with a price, redeemed, and are choosing to divorce/cut off their previous gods and masters? They re responsible for communicating this information because there s going to be some future encounters with those who don t know what s taken place, and Israel is charged with declaring they ve been redeemed! Continuing to look at the term caphar it can also mean to scratch, to scrape, to inscribe letters on a stone it seems then that whatever they declare during this 50 day journey is what s going to be written on the deed/document they receive (whether it s praise to the King for our deliverance or complaints about the journey we ve now begun) they are inscribing the tablets! What we receive at Shavuot seems to be based on what we speak, declare, and rehearse during the time of counting! In fact, if you break apart the term caphar ס פ a threshold, a doorway, describes one who functions as the doorkeeper; פ ר the fruit of the lips; when we re commanded to count /caphar, it s revealing that we re entering a season where we are to guard what we allow to cross the threshold of our lips guard our words! 1

2 When Israel is first delivered the statement is made in Exodus 14:14 Yahweh shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. from the English it seems to infer that we just have to be quiet no work required on our end but in the Hebrew it reveals something else! Hold your Peace: Strong s #2790 charash חרש to cut in, plough, engrave, to cut into or inscribe letters on a tablet, to be still, be quiet, be speechless, be silent Israel was charged with allowing the deliverance of Yahweh, what He did on their behalf, to be engraved and inscribed onto the tablets of their hearts! To allow that divine intervention to change them so that during the next 50 days of the season of counting the omer, when they were attacked by their enemies, and doubt and fear would try to put them back in bondage, they would be able to caphar/to declare that they were set free! He was admonishing them to guard their words! Count the omer Omer/Sheaf: Strong s #6016 omer ע מ ר omer, a sheaf, a measure of grain; from #6014 amar to bind sheaves, to manipulate, deal tyrannically with, treat as a slave, to bind closely together, to heap up, to subdue or to make a servant, to act as a master *The definition to heap up refers to the practice of heaping up stones in order to ratify or show agreement to Covenant terms! Could it be that the season of the counting of the omer was a time when Israel would choose who they would now be bound to? The choice was theirs, they could continue to dwell in slavery with a slave mentality, or they could choose to serve Yahweh! It s interesting that this term omer is describing this process of 50 days Israel has just been set free from slavery yet it seems they won t get the official documents until 50 days later! Do you think that maybe this season is a test to see if we re willing to speak to the pharaoh s in our lives that have enslaved us and declare that we ve been set free? Remember this is a 7 week process! Shavuot (the 50 th day) is a picture/type of the Jubilee (50 th ) Year inheritances were restored, debts forgiven, and slaves set free! This is what s taking place Israel is preparing to return to their inheritance (the Promised Land), they re being set free from bondage in Egypt but there s a stipulation given concerning this! A Hebrew servant was to be released on the 7 th year, but there are 2 choices at the end of that 7 year cycle! Exodus 21:5, 6 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. *We always apply this to Yahweh, a bondservant unto Him, but is it possible that the season of the counting of the omer, this 7 week process, is about us choosing 2

3 whether or not we re going to remain in the house of our bondage as a bondservant to our Pharaoh? This is why we re commanded to count to caphar it s about guarding the doorposts in order to ensure that we don t allow the wrong Master to bore our ear! This is the season where we inscribe our documents! Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow Morrow: Strong s #4283 mochorath מ ח ר ת the morrow, the day after; breaking חרת & something prefix = from, out of, the source of מ this word apart though (#2801) chereth ח ר ת to engrave, graven, used only in Ex. 32:16 describing the writing of Elohim on the tablets of stone! *Out of the counting of the omer (the 50 days) their hearts would be engraved with the Torah, the Word of Yahweh! It would be by the constant declaration of His Word that they undergo the changing of their character and nature! The next clue we re given is that it is a 7 week process! 7 in Hebrew is the term sheba ש ב ע from the root shaba (#7650) to swear, adjure, to take an oath, covenant cutting, to bind by an oath; the number 7 was considered sacred and directly connected with covenant because oaths were confirmed by either 7 sacrifices (Gen. 21:27 with Abraham and King Abimelech), or by 7 witnesses and pledges. *When Yahweh sends Moshe to deliver Israel, He reveals Himself in a different manner than before, prior he was known in the characteristics of El Shaddai, but now Moshe declares that Yahweh will deliver them. The revealing of His name is accompanied by a 7 fold promise! Exodus 6:6-8 1) I will bring you out 2) I will deliver you 3) I will redeem you 4) I will take you 5) I will be your Elohim 6) I will bring you into the land 7) I will give it to you for a possession Whenever a Covenant is cut, both parties are to agree to the terms and abide by them, and the terms were to be read often! Is it possible that the 7 weeks of counting the omer was about Israel reading/declaring the terms of the Covenant, learning what each aspect of the 7 fold promise meant in their lives, and choosing to ratify each step? *It s also important to note that in Ancient Near Eastern Covenant practices, when a covenant was cut between unequal parties (such as between the Great King of all Creation & a group of slaves Israel), the lesser party had no right to change the terms, the terms were defined by the superior party and the lesser could either accept the offer of the relationship or choose to exist in conflict with the Great King! Now the actions of Israel during the 50 days leading up to Shavuot at Mt. Sinai take on a new meaning! Every complaint concerning lack of food, water, loss of luxuries found in Egypt, and voicing of the desire to return to their bondage was a declaration of war against the Covenant terms and was determining whether this 3

4 treaty would be one of peace or war! Through their words they were ratifying the document! This is important because Shavuot was known as the festival of the wheat harvest it s all about the loaves baked from the wheat! This is what has to be presented! Wheat: ח ט ה Strong s #2406 wheat; but it shares the roots of chata ah ט א ה sin, to miss the mark or goal; shares the טח root which means to engrave, to dig, to scratch whatever we spend the 50 days of counting speaking, engraving, cutting into the tablets of our hearts will be what is offered on Shavuot and the determining factor of whether or not we ve missed the mark! This is why there was a 50 day journey to Mt. Sinai & Shavuot Israel would have no problem with the Torah being given (engraved on tablets of stone) if they spent the 50 days engraving it on the tablets of their heart! They would be able to bring the offering the 2 loaves representing that they had undergone the journey and now reached the goal! Some other interesting things take place though through this transition! At Passover/Unleavened Bread we remove all the leaven from our houses and are commanded not to eat it leaven becomes the enemy! We search it out, hunt it down, and it takes on an identity of everything evil and wrong! Yet 50 days later at Shavuot, the leaven is commanded to come back 2 leavened loaves are the commanded offering to be brought, why? Leviticus 23:17 they shall be baken with leaven Baken: Strong s #644 aphah א פ ה to bake, but it also conveys the sense of to be complete or whole. It s a cognate of the term meaning nature or character (Klein s Etymological Dictionary). A new meaning begins to unfold concerning the concept of leaven! As we look at the process of Passover to Shavuot, leaven now can also represent the process of fulfillment, completion, something that has travelled its due course, and fulfilled its potential! *The unleavened loaf is what is not yet fulfilled. It represents the beginning of the process, something immature, and unripe the start of the journey that is necessary to cause it to have a nature and character change! Could this be part of the lesson of why we are only allowed to eat unleavened bread at Passover? As Israel left Egypt, it was a sign to them that this was only the start of the journey, they were not yet complete or fulfilled, and their potential was not yet met! *Pay attention to the lesson! Whenever we find ourselves in dire straights, it s human nature to focus on the goal of being released or set free from it. The moment we re free, our goal is met. Yet Yahweh was teaching Israel (and you and I today) that freeing them from their bondage was not the end goal it was only the beginning! And if we re to meet our potential, to be 4

5 complete and fulfilled, it has to do with the counting of the omer (this season of 49 days) to reach Shavuot where we undergo a process of renewing our minds and choose to walk in our freedom and truly learn what it means to be in Covenant with Yahweh. Leaven: Strong s #2557 chametz חמץ the thing leavened, leaven; this exact same thing is prohibited at Passover/Unleavened Bread! Yet now, required for the offering, why? Breaking it apart: חמ - ח מ ץ = Heat, Desire, Passion & ץ = Desire, it is the pictograph of a fish hook, something that catches you, insinuating that whatever your desires are, that which catches your attention, is what leads and directs you! *Israel must remove the chametz at Passover it was symbolic of them choosing to not allow themselves to be led by their own desires and passions, because even though they had been redeemed, set free, their minds had not been renewed! The significance of chametz being offered at Shavuot now becomes clear! After spending 50 days of caphar/declaring the Word & guarding the threshold, retraining the way they think, now they ve cultivated a desire and a passion for their King! 5