The Pentecost Connection

By Brian Hennessy

Every year, when the Feast of Pentecost rolls around, which the Jews call Shavuot, and the Bible in other places calls the Feast of Weeks, I inevitably get a number of newsletters and e-mails on the subject. They usually remind me, that in addition to the Holy Spirit being poured out (Acts 2:1), God also gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai on that day. These reminders usually include a teaching based on conclusions drawn from the confluence of these two major spiritual events. Some show how the coming of the Holy Spirit replaced God’s old government system of living by the letter of the Law. A few foolishly teach that the unique timing suggests the Spirit was given to help us keep the letter of the Law.

Although the Bible does not mention anywhere that the giving of the Law and Pentecost coincided on the same day, it has long been enshrined in Jewish tradition as fact. Another name given to the feast by the Jews in Hebrew is Hag Matar Torahteinu, which means, “The Festival of the Giving of our Torah.” So you could say that as far as the Jews are concerned it is written in stone as surely as the Ten Commandments. And like most Christians, I had no reason to question it, or think differently. The sound of the trumpet blast on Sinai and the sound of the mighty wind through the Upper Room seemed a fitting parallel for God to introduce a major change in the way He wanted His people to worship and serve Him.

But then one day I happened to be reading in Exodus and noticed that the text itself seemed to rudely contradict this venerable tradition. The verse that stopped me was Exodus 19:1:

“In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.”    (New American Standard)

 Other Bible translations have it this way:

 “In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, the same day, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai.” (Amplified Bible)

“The Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai exactly two months after they left Egypt.” (New Living Bible)

Now the reason this verse stopped me was that I knew Pentecost was supposed to be celebrated 50 days after Passover. That’s why it’s called “Pentecost” – from the Greek “pente,” meaning “five.” Yet this verse was saying that the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai exactly two months to the day after leaving Egypt - or approximately 60 days after Passover. So how could the Israelites be at Mount Sinai when Pentecost occurred?

This piqued my interest enough to dig into all the possible explanations for this apparent contradiction. I soon was convinced the Israelites could not have reached Mt. Sinai within 50 days after leaving Egypt. And therefore the giving of the Law and Pentecost could not occur on the same day. And if it did not occur then, when did it occur?

The Investigation

For most Christians it is clear that the coming of the Holy Spirit was God’s way of transitioning us from the letter of the Law to the spirit of the Law. So whether the two events actually coincided or not has little relevance to them other than to learn the truth of the matter, as well as any revelation insight that might result from things not being what we thought. But a growing number of Christians believe that the Holy Spirit was primarily given to help us keep the literal letter of the Law, or “Torah” as they call it (see my article Torah! Torah! Torah!), so it’s beneficial to their argument that Pentecost does occur on the same day the Law was given to Israel. So aside from discovering the biblical accuracy concerning the timing of these two historical events, there are other ramifications riding on its determination.

But before we get into the calculations, I want to first focus on the unique connection between Passover and Pentecost, which the Jews call Pesach and Shavout respectively.

If you are not that familiar with the biblical feast days God gave to Israel, let me quickly review them for you. Although they are seven in number, they are grouped into the three major festival categories of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (to use the names most familiar to Christians). Under Passover are grouped three feasts: Passover itself, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. Pentecost then stands alone. And grouped under Tabernacles are the last of the seven feasts: Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles.

On the Jewish calendar it looks something like this:

March/April (Nisan)                  May (Sivan)                  September/October (Tishri)

       Passover (Passover/UB/FF)           Pentecost                   Tabernacles (Trmpts/Atmnt/Tab)

Now even though Pentecost comes almost two months after Passover, and stands alone as a major feast, God deliberately connected the two by having Israel count 50 days to determine when Pentecost should occur. They are so tightly connected, that Pentecost and the three Passover feasts are referred to by the Jews as the “Spring Festivals.” While the three Tabernacles feasts are known as the “Fall festivals.”

Now the counting of the 50 days which links Passover to Pentecost is called by the Jews, “The Counting of the Omer.” And it’s based on this verse in Leviticus.

“You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf  [omer] of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, baked with leaven as firstfruits to the Lord.” (Lev. 23:15-17)

 Although the word “omer” doesn’t appear in the text the Jews interpret the word “sheaf” to be an omer, which is a biblical measurement of a volume of a grain. I’m not sure how they get from a “sheaf of a wave offering” to a jar full of barley grain, but that’s how they understand it.

So here’s how it’s supposed to work. During the seven-day celebration of Passover, on the day determined to be the feast of Firstfruits, an offering of barley grain was to be waved before the presence of the Lord. And on that day the Israelites were to start counting 50 days. They would know which day the Feast of Firstfruits occurred because it would be the day “after the Sabbath” (more about that shortly).  From there they would count off seven Sabbaths (seven weeks, or 49 days), and the day following the last Sabbath would be Pentecost. Voila! And that’s when another wave offering would be made, this time using two loaves of leavened bread made from wheat.

So what was God signifying with this mysterious connection? According to Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin, in his book, “To Be a Jew,” the purpose for connecting the two festivals of Passover and Pentecost was, “To Impress upon us that the release from physical bondage and the political freedom that is represented by Pesach [Passover] does not constitute complete freedom unless it culminates in the spiritual restraints, disciplines and duties represented by Shavout [Pentecost], which celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments, God’s revelation to Israel, and Israel’s acceptance of the Torah” (pg. 236-237). Obviously he believes that Pentecost and Mt. Sinai occurred at the same time.

But how should Christians understand this?  For me the connection is a reminder that our born-again experience as symbolized by Passover (when Jesus died and rose again) is incomplete without us also experiencing the indwelling Holy Spirit who came on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1). It signified that the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the written word of God would now become the means God would use to discipline us, i.e. disciple us, and guide us and lead us into all truth. This would replace the need for the restraints of the Mosaic Law and its penalties for the followers of Jesus. So the message is, in addition to being born again, a Christian must also experience His indwelling presence through what is known as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (John 1:33; Acts 1:5).

A further insight is gained in realizing that the Jews look at barley as food for animals, and wheat as food for humans. This is a perfect picture of us moving from our carnal bestial nature and putting on our new heavenly nature via the Holy Spirit.

Another exciting revelation is found in the command that the two loaves of bread to be waved at Pentecost (representing Israel and Judah?) should be leavened. This has intrigued Bible scholars for centuries in light of the command just given at Passover to clean out the leaven and eat only unleavened bread under penalty of banishment (Ex. 12:19).  I’m not saying I have the final word by any means on this paradox, but for me the first command to throw out the leaven during Passover (which had been brought from Egypt) speaks of the worldly mindset that we bring with us from our old life that needs to be “thrown out,” and then replaced with the truth of His word. The harsh penalty attached for not doing it was a warning to us that if we don’t renew our minds with His word, and live accordingly, we too could be separated from His people when the kingdom comes.

 Well if that explains why the bread of Passover was to be unleavened, why were the two wave loaves of Pentecost then leavened? I believe it was to symbolize the reality of our imperfect condition even after we come to the Lord. That as long as we remain in these bodies, we will never be perfect. That we will still sin. That we will still have pieces of the world idolatrous leaven corrupting our thinking till the day we die. But that nevertheless we are to press on in His word and strive “not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

So having harvested those few insights, let’s look at the timing of the exodus according to the biblical story and see why Mount Sinai and the Feast of Pentecost can’t coincide.

Two Traditions

To develop a timeline we must start with Passover, which we are told occurred on the 14th day of the first month on the Jewish calendar, known as “Nisan.” That’s when the command came from Moses to slay the Passover lamb and eat it.

“And you shall keep it [the lamb] until the 14th day of the same month, and then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight” (Ex. 12:6).

 Now we know this month is the first month of their calendar because God had just told them to consider it so from then on.

“This month [Nisan] shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you” (Ex. 12:2).  

          So this establishes for us that the Passover took place on the 14th day of the first month. We just don’t know what day of the week it occurred. We also know that on the next day, the 15th, a second Passover-related feast commenced known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which continued for seven days. It was on this day God delivered His people out of the bondage of Egypt.

“Then on the 15th day of the same month [Nisan] there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.” (Lev. 3:6)

 “You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” (Ex 12:17) 

So the second day of Passover, the fifteenth of Nisan, the first day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, was the day they left Egypt. Still with me?

Now we should be aware that there is a historic division within Judaism itself as to when the third feast of Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits, should occur. This is critical because that is when the counting of the omer would begin.

 The main tradition accepted throughout Judaism, which is said to have originated with the Pharisees, declares that the counting should begin on the second day of Passover, which would be Nisan 16^th. Using that counting, then Pentecost would culminate fifty days later on the sixth day of the third month, which would be Sivan 6th. 

Here’s how it would look on the Jewish calendar that has the feasts of Passover falling on Nisan 14th (as Scripture tells us), Unleavened Bread on Nisan 15th (the day they left Egypt), Firstfruits on Nisan 16th (the day they were to start counting), and Pentecost occurring fifty days later on Sivan 6th . (This calendar assumes Passover fell on a Wednesday in the year of the Exodus, which I believe is the actual day it did occur.)

NISAN

   IYAR

     SIVAN

 Now the reason the rabbis arrived at this calculation is because they don’t believe the Sabbath day mentioned in Lev. 23:15 refers to the regular Saturday Sabbath. Rather they believe, because work was forbidden on the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15th), that this is the “sabbath day” that should signal the counting of the omer. However, that day is never officially designated in Scripture as “a sabbath.” What’s more, using this formula the 49^th day won’t always fall on a Saturday Sabbath as commanded. In the example above it lands on Sivan 5th, a Thursday, with Pentecost being the day after.

 “You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath”   (Lev. 23:15)

 However, there is a second tradition that is traced to the Sadducees and is practiced today by a small sect known as Karaite Judaism. This branch of Judaism adheres only to the written word of the Bible, rejecting the Talmud or oral law as being inspired by God. In other words they are the most like Bible-believing Christians who say all truth is found only in the Bible. And, like the Bereans Paul encountered, they search the plain teaching of Scripture to see what God has to say on any subject.

For the Karaites, the counting of the omer should not automatically start on Nisan 16^th. They reject the teaching of the early rabbis and believe that the instructions given in Leviticus 23:15,16 clearly mean the counting should start the day after the true weekly Sabbath, whenever it occurs each year. Therefore, for them the counting would always start on a Sunday, which would be the “day after the [Saturday] Sabbath.” And that means Pentecost would not always arrive on Sivan 6. In fact, there could be as much as a six-day swing from year to year for the day on which Pentecost falls. Nevertheless, that feast would always fall on a Sunday, because it would always follow the “seventh Sabbath.” Much the same way that Christians always celebrate Easter on a Sunday.

            Although I believe the Karaite tradition is the correct understanding of Scripture, it actually makes no difference which tradition you choose. Neither one would provide enough time for Moses to reach Mt. Sinai by Pentecost.

Take the Pharisaic tradition first. According to their calculations the counting starts on the 16^th of the first month (Nisan), causing Pentecost to occur on the sixth day of the third month of Sivan. But that contradicts the verse in Exodus that triggered this whole investigation.

 “In the third month, after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai” (Ex. 19:1).

 If they left Egypt on the 15^th, and arrived on the same day in the third month they left, then they would have arrived at Sinai on Sivan 15^th. That is 59 days later, nine days too late for Pentecost. Since that is obviously far off the mark, you may be wondering how fifteen million Jews could think it correct? Because not only does the rabbinical tradition interpret the sabbath day differently, but they interpret Exodus 19:1 differently. When the Scripture says, “on that very day,” they interpret that to mean the first day of the third month. But that is a very liberal interpretation of the text. And it demonstrates why this whole topic has remained so obscure even after so many centuries.

Now I’m not sure what the Karaite tradition says regarding the overlap of Pentecost and Mt. Sinai, but it makes no difference. Using their calculations based on the Saturday Sabbath being the correct sabbath, the earliest Israel could have gotten to Mt. Sinai would have been on Sivan 12, three days too late.

This leads us to ask the intriguing question: if Pentecost did not coincide with their arrival at Mt. Sinai, then when and where in the travels of Israel would Pentecost have occurred?  I say “would have” occurred, because the actual Feast did not exist until Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai. So there would be no specific reference to it no matter what. But since this feast was very definitely a type and a shadow of the coming of the Holy Spirit, it would be reasonable to expect some wilderness experience foreshadowing that future event.

Since these calculations show Pentecost had to have occurred several days before they got to Sinai, I backtracked a bit from Sinai to look for clues. And when I came to chapters 17 and 18 in Exodus that described the happenings at a wilderness location called “Rephidim,” I found the text literally dripping with signs pointing to Pentecost.

The Rock of Ages

When you explore Chapters 17 and 18 in Exodus you see that three major events took place at Rephidim. First is the story of how they thirsted greatly, and after grumbling to Moses we read how Moses brought forth water from the rock to meet their need. Next is how they found themselves under attack by the Amalekites, and how they defeated them. And then lastly how Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, shows up to instruct him about how best to govern Israel.

Let’s start with Moses striking the rock and the water gushing forth. We know from Scripture that the rock symbolized Jesus. “And they all drank from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

We also know that Jesus likened the coming of the Holy Spirit to “rivers of living water,” as recorded by John the apostle.

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast [of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living waters. But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7: 37-39)

 The parallel to the thirsty Israelites at Rephidim crying out for water, and the promise of living water spoken about by Jesus, is unmistakable. For those who thirsted in the desert He gave H2O. But as He told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water I shall give him shall become a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13,14). And it was on Pentecost that this truly thirst-quenching water finally became available to all who came to Jesus, the Rock of Ages.

Curiously, the prophesy of the “living water” by Jesus was given on the Feast of Tabernacles and not on the Feast of Pentecost. This strongly suggests that the outpouring on Pentecost only represents the introduction of God’s Spirit (called the “early rain” by the prophet Joel in 2:23). But that the final outpouring of God’s Spirit (Joel’s “latter rain”) will no doubt occur precisely on the eighth day – the “great day” – of some future Feast of Tabernacles, and result in the final harvest of God’s chosen people and the judgment of sinful mankind.

Now the second incident at Rephidim was the attack by the Amalekites that followed immediately after the people drank from the Rock. It is a spiritual fact of life that after someone receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit there is usually an immediate encounter with the kingdom of darkness. Jesus is the perfect example. After He received the Spirit at the baptism of John, we read, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1).

So it is fitting that Amelek (a picture of Satan) would immediately show up after the water is poured out. And we know this was a spiritual battle because it was not won “by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord” (Zech 4:2). Israel won only because Moses was interceding in the heavenlies with his hands raised in praise. When he lowered his arms, the battle went against them. Is that not a great symbolic example of how a believer wages war in the Spirit?

The third clue is the arrival of Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses. After watching Moses judging the people one day, Jethro sees how exhausted he will soon become unless he gets help. So he proposes in essence a court system that allows the lesser issues to be decided by the lower courts, while the really tough cases went to Moses who would act like the Supreme Court.

 Now the link to Pentecost that jumped out at me here is that with the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives we have to learn how to cease from our own labor, and rest in the Lord. And so Moses delegating most of the work to others symbolizes the new way of walking in the Spirit, and letting Him do all the heavy lifting. But I felt that there was even more here that I wasn’t seeing yet. So I put the matter before the Lord and asked Him to show me what I didn’t yet see. “For there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed” (Mark 4:22). And thank you, Jesus! - The next day I had more revelation than I knew what to do with!

But before I share some of what I found hidden in the Jethro story that further supports my belief about when Pentecost occurred, I would ask you to put this teaching down for a minute, go get your Bible, and read Exodus 18. It’s only 27 verses – so it won’t take long.

  Mr. Pentecost

Ready?

Now the whole chapter, as I’m sure you noticed, is divided into two distinct parts. The first part is Jethro arriving, reuniting Moses with his wife and two boys, hearing first hand about the escape from Egypt (which he obviously knew about), and his giving praise to God for the deliverance. The second part is where he shows Moses a better way to govern the nation. 

Now from the moment Jethro arrives at Rephidim there is a strangeness to it all. Although he is Moses’ father-in-law, he is a man who doesn’t seem to belong in the exodus story. His very presence seems to diminish the heroic stature of Moses and reduce him to a mere son-in-law who doesn’t quite have a handle on things yet. His visit is very reminiscent of another Gentile priest, Melchizedek, who mysteriously showed up after Abraham fought his battle with the Five Kings (Gen 14:18) and blesses him, showing him to be the greater of the two (see Heb. 7:7).

 Like Melchizedek, Jethro shows he is greater than both Moses and Aaron, two of the greatest figures in the Bible. We learn that when we see Moses bow down to him and greet him with a kiss (18:7). And although we may be tempted to write that off to a simple display of family honor, that is quickly dispelled when we see Aaron, the future high priest of Israel, as well as the elders of Israel, allow Jethro, a Midianite priest, to lead them in sacrificing unto their God (18:12). So who is this man who is greater than the greatest? 

We know Melchizedek, who was both priest and king, was a type and shadow of a royal priesthood Jesus would assume after death, allowing Him to operate as high priest of Israel in His heavenly temple (Heb 5:9,10; 8:1), the Holy of Holies. In that role and place, He became the eternal – and sole - mediator between God and His people.

Jethro, I believe, is a type and shadow of the resurrected Jesus ministering in His earthly temple (us) through the Holy Spirit. Unlike Melchizedek, he was not a king, so his place of ministry would be represented by the Holy Place. It was in this part of the earthly tabernacle that the priests ministered by the light of the seven-branched candlestick, a recognized symbol of the Holy Spirit. In short, Jethro is Mr. Pentecost. And we see that more clearly as he begins to instruct Moses on how to work.

Life in the Spirit

The second part of the chapter opens with Jethro observing how Moses is single-handedly trying to minister to the entire nation each day. All must come to him to learn what is right and wrong, because he alone has God’s ear and is able “to make known the statutes of God and His laws” (v. 16). Which is amazing in itself. They have not arrived at Sinai yet, but Moses already has an intuitive understanding about the ways of God. This statement has caused many Bible scholars to suggest this story occurs after Sinai; that the chapter is out of sequence. But I think we have to trust that God has ordered His word correctly. For me, the Jethro/Moses encounter is the perfect picture of a new believer (portrayed by Moses) in the Pentecostal era who has begun to hear from God directly by the Spirit, but who is still trying to minister in the strength of his own flesh.

As Jethro observes Moses dutifully working himself to death trying to instruct the whole nation from sunup to sundown, he can no longer keep quiet. He finally pulls him aside and tells him, listen, “The thing that you are doing is not good. You shall surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you” (v. 17). He then proceeds to show Moses a better way of governing the people.

“Now listen to me: I shall give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes before God, then teach them [the people] the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk, and the work they are to do.” (v.9,20)

His first step then is to recognize and affirm Moses as the sole intermediary between man and God. Clearly this is a picture of Jesus in the heavens interceding as our high priest with God the Father.

The next step is to make sure he taught the people the ways of God. This of course drastically changed the way Moses was working, which was to make everyone completely dependent upon him for direction.  And isn’t that the whole message of Pentecost? Before Pentecost the Law is the sole governing influence over Israel. All had to refer to Moses to determine what was right and wrong. After Pentecost, all would now have the Spirit and His living inspiration of the Scriptures to inform us. Now a new system is in place, which means the Law can be retired. Moses can take a much earned rest. “[He] has led us to Messiah, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Gal. 324,25).

 In the third and final step Jethro instructs Moses to bring in godly men to assist him with the actual governing of the people.

“Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall appoint these over them, as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.” (v. 21)

 Jethro’s idea of having Moses appoint levels of ministers under him is a perfect picture of the gifts Jesus gave the ecclesia of those called to minister under the New Covenant.  “And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Messiah” (Eph. 4:11, 12). 

Realize also, that for Moses to implement the plan of Jethro, he would have to die to self. He would have to pull back and let others operate in their calling. This is a picture of the priesthood of all believers. That the body of Messiah is no place for a hierarchical organization with men lording it over each other, as we see in most denominational structures, from the local church to the whole organization. There is only one CEO in the body of Messiah – Jesus. All the rest of us must submit to the ministry of those called to build up the body (as they also must submit to us as we move in our callings), but ultimately we take our leadership and our direction only from Jesus via the Holy Spirit. 

Therefore, I believe this decentralized government suggested by Jethro is a prophetic picture of the future administration of the Holy Spirit. “So that we might serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter” (Rom 7:6).

I think it is also very interesting to note that Jethro is referred to as “Moses’father-in-law” thirteen times throughout this chapter. You’d think once or twice would have been sufficient to inform us of that fact. Is God is trying to tell us something? Could it be to emphasize that Moses is his “son-in-law?”  And that this chapter is all about sonship? This is the relationship believers have with the Father once we transition into Pentecost, and we go from being slaves under Law to being sons of God in Messiah.

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father! The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Rom. 8:14-16)

It’s just one more reason I believe that when Moses struck the rock at Rephidim it symbolized the Pentecostal event that would occur some 1400 years in the future. I’ll bet it happened at nine o’clock in the morning, too. 

The Exodus Timeline

Now I showed you why Pentecost and Sinai could not have occurred at the same time based on the popular Jewish traditions. Now I would like to conclude this investigation by showing how we can discover from the Bible narrative the exact day Israel left Egypt and put all speculation to rest once and for all.

In order to fix the correct times, we must determine what day of the week Passover occurred. That way we can figure out when and where to start the counting to fifty and discover when Israel arrived at Mount Sinai. So we’ll start by picking up the Israelites after they have crossed the Red Sea and are about to enter the wilderness of Sin.

“And they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.” Ex. 16:1

             From this verse we learn they entered the wilderness of Sin “on the 15^th of the second month (Iyar),” which is exactly 30 days after they left Egypt on Nisan 15. That fixes a time and place for us. It was here they started to get manna from heaven on the morning of the following day (Iyar 16th). Now we know they stayed there a minimum of seven days (to Iyar 22nd), seeing manna appear every morning until the seventh day. On the sixth day, however, they were able to gather twice as much manna than on the other days. They were told the reason was because the seventh day would be a day of rest and no manna would show up. So the double portion was to cover them for two days:

“See the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” (Ex. 16:29)

And here is where we get our big timing clue. When God declared the seventh day to be a sabbath day of rest, He was introducing the seven-day week cycle.  And by naming that day “the Sabbath,” we now have the name of a day (Saturday) attached to a date (Iyar 22nd). Later, when they finally got to Mount Sinai, this day of rest would become the official Sabbath Day enshrined in the Fourth Commandment.

Marking Iyar 22nd on our calendar as Saturday, we can now count back 37 days to Nisan 15th, the day they left Egypt, and then subtract one more day to discover that Passover occurred on a Wednesday (Nisan 14th). Here is how it looks on a calendar, showing the four major feasts in red, and the key Sabbaths in green.

NISAN

IYAR

SIVAN

 As you can see, Firstfruits would have occurred on Sunday, Nisan 18th.  By counting 50 days forward from there we see Pentecost would have fallen on Sunday, Sivan 8th. And since we know the Israelites didn’t reach the wilderness of Sinai until Sivan 15th (Ex. 19:1), it confirms my belief that they would have been too late for Pentecost and Mount Sinai to coincide. Seven days too late, to be precise.

But what about Rephidim? Does Scripture allow the Israelites the right amount of time to reach Rephidim to coincide with Pentecost as I have suggested?  Let’s see.

 First of all, Scripture doesn’t reveal when Israel left the wilderness of Sin to move on to Rephidim. They may have stayed another day or two after the Sabbath day was established. But let’s assume the longest-case scenario and say they left the wilderness of Sin the next day on Sunday, Iyar 23rd, as the text seems to indicate. For them to arrive at Rephidim in time to coincide with Pentecost on Sivan 8th, they had to be on the road another fourteen days. Do the Scriptures allow for that?  Absolutely!

 “Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.” (Ex. 17:1 - NAS)

The NIV translates “journeyed by stages” as “travelling from place to place.” And when we turn to the Book of Numbers, which details the Israelites entire journey, we discover they made two more stops between Sin and Rephidim.

“And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and camped at Dophkah. And they journeyed from Dophkah, and camped at Alush. And they journeyed from Alush, and camped at Rephidim; now it was there that the people had no water to drink.” (Nu. 33:12-14)

Fourteen days is certainly an acceptable amount of time for an estimated two-to-three million Israelites to travel to two more locations, camp and break camp two more times, before arriving at Rephidim. That would put them at Rephidim on the fiftieth day, qualifying it to be the place where the Feast of Pentecost would have occurred. 

They then stayed at Rephidim for quite a while also (fighting the Amalekites, talking to Jethro, etc.) before departing for the Sinai. This would have eaten up another five or six days, but since they were now in the neighborhood of Sinai, they would still have had plenty of time to get there by Sivan 15, as Exodus 19:1 tells us. It all fits.

This proves at least to my satisfaction, and hopefully yours, that Pentecost did not and could not coincide with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. And that the most logical location for the Feast of Pentecost to have occurred would have been at Rephidim.

I rest my case. 

March, 2010                               www.reunionministries.net