These ceremonies emphasized the relation of Pentecost, as the close of harvest, to the sheaf- waving at its beginning. There a single sheaf of barley, here two prepared loaves of wheat-bread ; there one lamb, here two, together with accom-
anying burnt- and sin-offerings. That, there- ore, was the prelude of this. he two included the harvest period of seven weeks,* and expressed in climacteric form the increased gratitude of the porte. No voluntary offerings of first-fruits could made before Pentecost (see Ex 331»), Of course the harvest was not always finished in all the land by Pentecost; but the seven weeks covered the normal period, and brought the festival into the sabbatical system.
In the second temple these ceremonies were fully observed. Maultitudes attended the feast (Jos. Ant. Xvi. x. 2, BJ π΄. iii. 1; Ac 2). In anticipation of it, a portion of the best wheat, previously selected, was cut, thrashed, brought to the temple, ground, and passed through twelve sieves to ensure its fineness. On the day before Pentecost [unless it were a Sabbath, in which case on the second day before] two omers of the flour were baked into loaves. The size of the latter is described in the Mishna as 4 handbreadths wide, 7 long, and 4 fingers high. Soon after midnight the temple gates were opened that offerings for the day might be examined by the priests. At sunrise occurred the regular daily sacrifice, and soon afterwards the festal offerings directed in Nu 28*-*!| Amid the singing of the ‘ Hallel,’ the peculiar ceremonies of Pentecost began. ‘The two lambs were first waved alive; then, after their sacrifice, the breast and shoulder were laid beside
* The phrase, ‘is σαββάτῳ Jeriperpérm’ found In TR of Lk δὶ ‘supported by many MSS), has been explained as meaning the
rst Sab, after the second day of the feast of unleavened bread, ie. the first Sab. of the harvest period. (So, first, Soaliger, de Emend. Temp. vi. 577, followed by many. See Lightfoot, Hor, Hebd. on the passage) The word must have originated in some known custom; and this explanation is not improtabla, since the Sabbaths between Nis. 16 and Pentecost were oare- fully noted. The adj., however, is probably a Western and τς gloss intruded into Lk's text, and is rejected by WH after XBL and other weighty authorities
PENTECOST
PEOPLE
the loaves and ‘“‘ waved” ἀρ ται toward the East) forwards and backward, and ὯΝ and down’ (Edersheim, The Temple, p. 230). 1en followed the other appointed sacrifices, and the freewill gifts; and the rest of the day was spent in festive gatherings, to which the poor and the stranger and the Levite were invited. The attendant festivities are said to have often continued several days.
The Jews of the post-biblical period held Pente- cost to celebrate the giving of the law at Sinai, which was calculated to have taken place on the 60th day after the Exodus (Ex 19"). Nosuch view of the day, however, is found in OT, Josephus, or Philo. Philo, in fact, seems to regard the feast of trumpets as commemorative of Sinai (de Septen. § 22). It was probably after the fall of Jerus. that this view originated.* Thereafter it was peo adopted by the Rabbins, and the day is described in the later liturgy as ‘the day of the giving of the law’ (Saalschiitz, Das Mos. Recht, p. 420). The same view ap among the Christian Fathers (see Jerome, Ep. ad Fabiolam ; Augustine, contra Faustum, xxxii. 12). Maimonides (More neb, iii. 41) expressly says, ‘ festum septimanarum est dies ille, quo lex data fuit’; but Abarbanel, while admitting the fact, denies that Pentecost was a celebration of it (Bihr, Symbd. ii. 645). Modern Jews accept the tradition, and spend the previous night in reading the law and other ap-
ropriate Scripture. The later Jews also observed Pea tacodt for two days; but this custom arose in the Dispersion from the difficulty of determining exactly the Palestinian month, which was fixed by observation of the moon. See NEw Moon.
In the Christian Church the importance of Pentecost was continued, and its significance emphasized, by the Sey eel 3 of the Spirit on that day (Ac 2).t The day of the week on that occasion is traditionally represented as Sunday. Its determination, however, depends on the date assigned to Christ’s death. It is to be assumed that He died on a Friday (see e.g. Mk 1653). If, then, as many suppose the Fourth Gospel to teach, He died on Nis. 14, Nis. 16 and Pentecost fell on a Sunday; but if, as the Synoptists seem to state, He ate the passover wit His disciples at the regular time, He was crucified on Nis. 15, and Nis. 16 and Pentecost fell on Saturday [see CHRONOLOGY OF NT]. Wieseler (Chron. d. Apost. Zeitalter, pa) plausibly suggests that the fes- tival was fixed on Sunday by the later Western Church to correspond with Easter.
But, whatever the day of the week may have been, the events of that Pentecost were of funda- mental importance to the Church, and as appropri- ate to that festival as Christ’s death had been to the Passover season. They indicated the Divine origin of Christianity on its subjective side, and the Church was then endowed for its future work. The suddenness of the manifestation indicated the supernaturalness of the endowment; the ‘sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind’ was the natural emblem of the almighty Spirit; the tongues ‘parting asunder’ or ‘distributing them- selves’ on the disciples [not ‘cloven’ as AV] symbolized the universal gift of power to proclaim the gospel; the semblance of fire indicated the purified zeal, born of faith and love, which was