I shall try to show that according to the
selfsame Torah, it is because that on Mount Sinai and ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST
(Shavuot), God showed HIMSELF to them, even BEFORE He only TWO DAYS AFTER, gave
them the Covenant of Ten Commandments. According to God's one and eternal
Covenant of Grace, MERCY ALWAYS COMES BEFORE THE LAW, AND
GRACE IS ENOUGH!
This finding is perfectly reflected in the
New Testament in the Sermon to the Hebrew Christians the twelfth chapter from
the eighteenth verse to the last of that chapter, and especially the last two
verses of it. And it mainly shows that what descended upon the mountain, and
from it upon the People, was God through his Holy Spirit.
Jesus ascended into the heavens on the
fortieth day after his resurrection from the dead, which was the Passover Feast
Day of First Sheaf Wave Offering. Ten days remained to Pentecost. Then,
"When Pentecost was FULLY COME", the Holy Spirit was "poured
out" upon the WAITING BELIEVERS.
Now it says in Exodus 19:1, "In the
third month, when the children of
In the 11th and 15th verses it says:
"Be ready against the third day" or, "be ready FOR the third
day". "For (on) the third day the LORD will come down upon mount
Sinai in the sight of all the People." (11b)
God gave the People the FULFILMENT OF THIS
PROMISE exactly so, according to verses 18 and 19. This is what the Preacher to
the Hebrew Christian tells us of in Hebrews 12 above referred to.
How did we get to this "THIRD"
day from the first day of the third month? It is clear and easy:
ON THE FIRST DAY "in the third
month",
"And Moses went up ... ", verse 3, "and Moses came (down) ...",
verse 7, "and all the People answered ...". That makes up DAY TWO of
the month Sivan.
THE THIRD DAY of Sivan: "And the Lord
said unto Moses ..." - for which reason Moses had to have ascended the mountain
a second time. "... And Moses told the words of the People unto the
Lord". "Moses reported to the LORD what the People had said (the
previous day)". "... and Moses went down (the second time) ..."
(verse 14). "Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go to the People, and sanctify
them TODAY (3 Sivan),
AND, TOMORROW (4 Sivan):
for
the THIRD day (5 Sivan) the LORD will come down IN THE SIGHT OF ALL THE PEOPLE
... IN A THICK CLOUD (verse 9) ... And it came to pass on the third day in the
morning ...".
The remainder of this day is recorded up
to verse 20A: "And the LORD came down upon mount
Sinai on the top of the mount" ... Not a word about the Law being given!
Compare Hebrews 12 the last two verses!
THIS, FIVE Sivan, is in fact the FIFTIETH
DAY counted from 16 Nisan, and is the day of the outpouring of God's Holy
Spirit, that is, the pouring out of Himself in Power of his Mercy!
From verse 20B, the NEXT DAY'S events are
recorded, counted to the same measure of the previous days' counting: To the
measure of Moses' going up to, and coming down from, the mountain:
Ex.19:20B:
6 Sivan: "And the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and
Moses went up ...
Verse 24A: "And the LORD said unto
him (Moses), Away, get thee down ...".
This, 6 Sivan, is the fifty FIRST day
after 16 Nisan.
Verse 24B and 25: Then on SEVEN SIVAN, and
the fifty SECOND day after First Sheaf Wave offering, TWO DAYS AFTER PENTECOST,
CAME THE LAW!
This, 7 Sivan, is NOT Shavuot - the
Fiftieth Day or "Pentecost"! The “counting” of the “Shavu’os” has
stopped two days ago already. (Says Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, “... (C)ounting is a significant aspect of Shavuot, notes the
illustrious Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch ...”.) The giving of the Law is no part
of the giving of Grace.
Despite, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin observes: 7
Sivan is the day "... the Midrash insists that the giving of the Torah on mount Sinai took place on the Sabbath!"
All the confusion because the Day of
Pentecost and Day of God’s Gift of HIMSELF, is identified with the day of the
Law's giving!
Derivation of 5 Sivan on the
Sabbath:
Accept that the Midrash as
far as the date of 7 Sivan is concerned – for the giving of
the Law and not of the Holy Spirit (God’s descent in
“thick cloud”) – is correct, then 5
Sivan was the day of the Holy Spirit’s descent or outpouring.
Accept that the Midrash is
correct as far as the notable day of event is concerned – that it was the Sabbath
–, then the Sabbath was the day of the Holy Spirit’s descent or
outpouring.
Yerachmiel Tilles of Ascent
Seminars, “Countdown to Shavuot”: “The first Shavuot took place on Shabbat,
fifty days after the Exodus from
Nevertheless it would be more
reasonable to expect the particular day of the week would have been
‘remembered’ correctly rather than the date of its occurrence – seeing it was
the Sabbath and the event that gave the Sabbath so much meaning. Also the
proneness of human nature to confuse the fruit for the tree – to confuse the
Commandment for the Gift (of the Holy Spirit) – makes it more likely the
Midrash mistakes the Event rather than the Day. The Midrash delivers the
Sabbath correctly but it mistakes the giving of the Law for the giving of the
Holy Spirit on the Sabbath.
Therefore
it is not a total contradiction with the Midrash to assume the Sabbath
for the fiftieth day after First Sheaf 16 Nisan, on condition the event on the
fiftieth day – Pentecost - wasn’t the giving of the Law but the giving of the
Holy God in Spirit and the Power of his mercy, and on the further condition the
date was two days BEFORE 7 Sivan, namely 5 Sivan.
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Reckoning backwards from
Pentecost / Shavuot, Sabbath 5 Sivan, to First Sheaf, Sabbath 16 Nisan,
PERFECT AGREEMENT OCCURS with
each and every other date, day and event mentioned in the Torah:
1, With
the express mention of “the fifteenth day of the second month ... (till) the
Seventh Day ... Sabbath” (Ex.16);
2, With the Exodus and Entering into the promised land (Ex.12 to 15) and its (later) categorical placement in the Fourth Commandment for reason of the Sabbath’s remembering and keeping.