PENTECOST is one of the three pilgrim festivals outlined in the Bible. According to tradition, it commemorates the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai in what is now northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is also known as Pentecost because it begins on the 50th day after the completion of the seven-week period of the Counting of the Omer.

Instructions for this festival are found at Leviticus 23:15-21, Numbers 28:26-31, and at Deuteronomy 16:9-12. It was to be celebrated on the 50th day following the seven week count from Nisan 16, the day that the barley sheaf was offered (Leviticus 23:15, 16). It was after the barley harvest and the beginning of the harvest of wheat, which ripened in the summer. Pentecost always falls in the fourth Hebrew month of Tammuz.

The festival of Pentecost was a time of rejoicing, as is indicated by the offering that was presented by the congregation and was given to the priest. This offering would also denote peaceful fellowship with YEHOVAH God. At the same time the sin offering reminded the Israelites of sin on their part and was a petition to YEHOVAH for forgiveness and cleansing. The increased burnt offering served as a practical expression of their gratitude for His bountifulness as well as a symbol of their wholeheartedness in carrying out their covenant relationship with YEHOVAH God.

After the regular daily morning sacrifice was offered, the festive sacrifices described in Numbers 28:26-30 were brought. Afterward came the offering peculiar to Pentecost -- the wave loaves with their accompanying sacrifices (Leviticus 23:18-20). After the loaves were waved, one of them was taken by the high priest, and the second was divided among all the officiating priests.

It was on the day of Pentecost that YEHOVAH's holy spirit was poured out on the group of about 120 disciples and then, later, 3,000 in the Temple at Jerusalem in the year 31 A.D. (Acts 1:13-15). The approval by YEHOVAH God of Yeshua's own human sacrifice and of Yeshua's presentation of his disciples (although born in sin) to be spiritual sons of YEHOVAH God was manifested by the pouring out of YEHOVAH's spirit upon them.