May Monday:

Christians celebrated Pentecost this past weekend, and most of us know the story by heart. “Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 2…” We know about the sound like wind, the descending tongues of fire signifying the arrival of the Holy Spirit for each person, the believers speaking in tongues, foreigners hearing the message each in their own language, Peter giving his best “Christ crucified” message, people becoming believers, and over 3000 baptized that day. Hallelujah!

But Acts 2 begins, “When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” It worked out well that they were all in one place, all in the same room, praying. But why were they there? What caused them to all gather on that particular day? The answer: Shavuos.

Shavuos (sometimes Shavuot) remembers the day God gave the Torah to His people on Mount Sinai. It is significant that the Torah was given following the Exodus from Egypt, not before. God had rescued His people; now He was teaching them His ways. Similarly, after Jesus died to rescue us from our sins, we were given the New Testament. Our celebration of Pentecost now seems to overshadow Shavuos. I wish we could have both.1

Obtaining the Torah was no small thing. God had to serve it up twice! The first time Moses brought the tablets down the mountain, he found the Israelites had built a golden calf to worship, forsaking God. Exodus 32 In his anger, Moses threw the tablets, smashing them into smithereens. He then challenged the people: "Whoever is FOR the LORD, come to me." Those FOR the LORD were armed with swords, and then put to death those who were NOT for the LORD. That day, about 3000 people died.

Finally, Moses had to return to the mountain and (hopefully) atone for the sin of God’s people. In the end, the LORD said he would punish the people when it was time, but He would not abandon them. He told Moses to make new stone tablets, and He, God, would write on them the words that were on the first tablets. Exodus 34

Since then, the history of the Hebrew people, wisdom, worship and prophets were combined with the original Pentateuch. Christians then added Jesus’ time on earth (Gospels), the beginning of the church, letters of instruction and encouragement to the new congregations, and the apocalyptic Revelation.

Christians believe that ALL scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching and correction. The Bible is our history, the instruction manual for how we are to live now, and how we are to teach our children to live in the future. Be thankful that God equips us for His work, by giving us His Holy Word.

Norton Lawellin

1. A day of thanksgiving. Shavuos also celebrates the firstfruits of the new harvest.