pen ́tḗ-kost.
As the name indicates (πεντηκοστή, pentēkostḗ), this second of the great Jewish national festivals was observed on the 50th day, or 7 weeks, from the Paschal Feast, and therefore in the Old Testament it was called “the feast of weeks.” It is but once mentioned in the historical books of the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 8:12-13), from which reference it is plain, however, that the people of Israel, in Solomon’s day, were perfectly familiar with it: “offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.” The requirements of the three great festivals were then well understood at this time, and their authority was founded in the Mosaic Law and unquestioned. The festival and its ritual were minutely described in this Law. Every male in Israel was on that day required to appear before the Lord at the sanctuary (Exodus 34:22, 34:23). It was the first of the two agrarian festivals of Israel and signified the completion of the barley-harvest (Leviticus 23:15-16; Deuteronomy 16:9-10), which had begun at the time of the waving of the first ripe sheaf of the first-fruits (Leviticus 23:11). Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, therefore fell on the 50th day after this occurrence. The wheat was then also nearly everywhere harvested (Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Numbers 28:26), and the general character of the festival was that of a harvest-home celebration. The day was observed as a Sabbath day, all labor was suspended, and the people appeared before Yahweh to express their gratitude (Leviticus 23:21; Numbers 28:26). The central feature of the day was the presentation of two loaves of leavened, salted bread unto the Lord (Leviticus 23:17, 23:20; Exodus 34:22; Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:10). The size of each loaf was fixed by law. It must contain the tenth of an ephah, about three quarts and a half, of the finest wheat flour of the new harvest (Leviticus 23:17). Later Jewish writers are very minute in their description of the preparation of these two loaves (Josephus, Ant., III, x, 6). According to the Mishna (Menāḥōth, xi. 4), the length of the loaf was 7 handbreadths, its width 4, its depth 7 fingers. Leviticus 23:18 describes the additional sacrifices required on this occasion. It was a festival of good cheer, a day of joy. Free-will offerings were to be made to the Lord (Deuteronomy 16:10), and it was to be marked by a liberal spirit toward the Levite, the stranger, and orphans and widows (Deuteronomy 16:11, 16:14). Perhaps the command against gleaning harvest-fields has a bearing on this custom (Leviticus 23:22).
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Pentecost, Tongues of fire, Day of Pentecost, Pentecostal
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.