Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Two WHEAT Harvests and How the Rabbis Eliminated the TRUE Pentecost!

This article shows that even the Jewish Rabbis acknowledge the fact of a SECOND WHEAT HARVEST in Israel, and it is called the "new grain" wheat harvest each year -- NOT the first wheat harvest. Unfortunately, they condemned the new grain harvest by their traditions and no longer  realize that the Bible connects Pentecost with this harvest, NOT the first.

HOIM Staff

The Jewish Rabbis recognize that there is ANOTHER wheat harvest in Israel, that comes AFTER the traditional wheat harvest. The following shows several Rabbis instructing the people not to eat any wheat from this SECOND wheat harvest because the grain is considered NEW GRAIN or, as they call it, chodosh grain. They instruct the people to save the spring wheat/new grain -- which is harvested in the summer -- until the following year.

You would think they would recognize that YEHOVAH God instructed Israel that the firstfruits for Pentecost would be from the NEW GRAIN, yet they use old grain from the previous year.

The Spring Wheat Harvest Creates a Huge Dilemma for Jewish Rabbis

There's none so blind as he whom the Almighty has blinded, and he that refuses to see.

The following will show just how blind some people are, and show more evidence that the Pentecost NEW meat/grain offering had to be from the SPRING WHEAT which is harvested in the summer -- 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath (Leviticus 23:16).

We all know, or should know, that Leviticus 23 teaches that a NEW meat offering -- NOT an OLD one -- is to be brought to YEHOVAH God from the wheat harvest. The blinded Jews bring an OLD meat offering for the traditional Pentecost, as you will see shortly.

Notice what the King James Version of the Bible says --

"Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a NEW meat [grain]-offering unto the LORD" (Leviticus 23:16).

The Rabbis teach that SPRING WHEAT -- that which is planted in the spring and reaped four months later in the summer -- cannot be eaten until the following year because it is considered chodosh/NEW grain/meat. Not realizing that YEHOVAH God commanded the NEW GRAIN OFFERING (which would be from the Pentecost wheat and therefore the spring wheat that is harvested in the summer) to be the true Pentecost wheat, they blindly teach an early Pentecost (Shavuot) in the Hebrew month of Sivan. They believe that anything planted during or after Passover cannot be eaten until after the next Passover wave sheaf has been waved.

According to this belief, the traditional Pentecost winter wheat cannot fit the requirements of a NEW meat/grain offering because it is considered OLD grain/meat because it is planted in the fall, and took root before Passover. Therefore there is no way they can have a NEW grain offering of the wheat. And -- unless their EYES are opened and they acknowledge the summer wheat harvest that produces the new grain Pentecost offering -- they are simply following the traditions of men.

Even if they planted winter wheat, it would NOT be considered a NEW grain/meat offering because it was planted before the Vernal Equinox and, according to the Mishnah etc., it is considered old grain. The NEW grain/meat comes after Passover, in the summertime, and that is exactly what the Bible calls for but they are too blind to see because of their traditions.

Here is a comment by Rabbi Moshe, who condemns eating NEW GRAIN (spring wheat) until the following year when it becomes old grain:

"The same Torah which does not permit us to eat the meat of an animal that does not have split hooves or chew its cud, also does not permit us to eat from new grain harvest until the barley omer sacrifice was brought in the Bais Hamikdash on the second day of Pesach" (Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, Star-K Rabbinic Administrator).

The Prohibited Grain is Called Chodosh

According to A Guide to Chodosh by Yoseph Herman with the assistance of C. Rosskamm,

"Chodosh is defined in the Torah as including only grains in five categories: wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt. Any of these grains that took root before pesach become Yoshon after the second day of pesach. (According to some poskim this means that the planting has to occur not later than 3 days before the second day of pesach, others require 2 weeks before the second day of pesach.) If one of these grains missed this planting deadline, then it is considered as having been planted too late to be Yoshon for this year. This grain will be harvested several months later. From the time of its harvest (typically the July-August period) until the pesach of the following year, this grain is defined as Chodosh. This is the forbidden Chodosh grain, whose avoidance is the subject of this Guide.

"Note that only these five types of grain can be Chodosh. Other grains such as buckwheat, rice, corn, etc. never have the problem of Chodosh.

"There exist two kinds of crops: winter crops and spring crops. In the Northern Hemisphere (such as in America) winter crops are planted in the fall, remain in the ground though the winter (and more importantly for us, through pesach) to be harvested in the early summer. Since these crops were in the ground through pesach, by the time they are harvested they are Yoshon. In the USA, rye and spelt are both winter crops and are Yoshon (caution, “rye bread” contains wheat flour in addition to the rye and could thus be Chodosh). Spelt flour from Canada is also mostly Yoshon. However, rye or spelt products imported from elsewhere could be Chodosh.

"Spring crops in the USA are usually planted after pesach and are harvested towards the end of the summer. Therefore from the harvest until the following pesach they are Chodosh. In the USA most of the oats and barley are Chodosh until the pesach that follows the harvest. Wheat in the USA is grown as two distinct crops, winter wheat and spring wheat. These two wheats differ chemically. Winter wheat is Yoshon. Its chemical properties make it best for most cookies, crackers, pretzels, cakes, matzos and other baked products that are soft or crumbly. Thus the wheat ingredients in most of these products are Yoshon. The exception to this rule is a small part of the Far West USA, near Los Angeles, where the cake and cookie flours could contain some spring wheat. Other exceptions include some “heimishe” brands of cookies, which use spring wheat flours. Spring wheat is used for most breads, challehs, and pasta products such as noodles, macaroni and spaghetti. Therefore these items may be Chodosh from approximately the end of the summer until pesach."

What, then,  constitutes chodosh grain? Grain that was planted close to, during, or after Passover, thereby taking root after the time of the omer sacrifice, is not permitted to be eaten until the following Passover. This grain is called chodosh, literally, "new grain." One observes chodosh by not eating food products containing chodosh grain.

Grain that has taken root before Passover, even if it is harvested after Passover, is permitted to be eaten immediately, without restriction. This grain is called yoshon, literally, "old grain." When a yoshon designation appears on a label, it means that yoshon grains are used in the preparation of this product.

The prohibition of chodosh only applies to the chameishes minei dagan -- the five major grain types, namely wheat, oats, barley, rye, and spelt.

Winter wheat is planted in the late fall or early winter and is harvested in the late spring or early summer. Since winter wheat is planted before Passover and is harvested after Passover, it is always yoshon. Spring wheat is planted in the spring and is harvested in the late summer or early fall. Since spring wheat is usually planted after Passover, one must wait until the following Passover before the spring wheat becomes yoshon. Since the spring wheat, which is chodosh, reaches the market-place at summer's end, chodosh restrictions begin at the end of the summer and last until the following Passover. Once the second day of Passover passes, the prohibited chodosh grains are halachically transformed into yoshon grains and are permitted to be eaten. From after Passover until the end of the summer all chodosh related problems cease.

Spring wheat is a high gluten, high protein variety, similar to hard red winter wheat. The protein of spring wheat is even higher than that of hard red winter wheat, and is also used for bread dough. Soft white wheat is a soft wheat used for cakes, cookies, and crackers.

One may assume that products made from soft red winter wheat are always yoshon. One should assume other products, such as bread, bagel dough, and yeast cakes, are chodosh.

There is an opinion that chodosh restrictions apply only to grain grown in the land of Israel. Another opinion asserts that chodosh applies only to the grain of a Jewish person. However, the majority of Poskim (rabbis who decide Jewish law and custom) agree that chodosh still applies today to all grains grown “IN” and outside of the land of Israel, belonging to Jew or non-Jew alike.

One web site says,

“Chodosh -- the new crop of grain (spring wheat). Originally, chodosh was forbidden by the Torah until after Pesach (when it is then called yoshon, the old crop). Its status today outside of Israel is open to various opinions. Actual chodosh grain is prohibited even outside of Israel, but with the double doubt as to whether a product is made from winter or spring wheat and whether that spring wheat is from this year’s crop or last year’s, many authorities are lenient outside of Israel. All kashrus agencies require yoshon status for products of Israel” (http://www.kashrusmagazine.com/magazine.php?do=133).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshon we read,

"In Judaism, Yoshon (Hebrew: éůď ; "old [grain]") is a concept within Kashrut (the Jewish dietary regulations), based on the Biblical requirement not to eat any chodosh -- grain of the new year (or products made from it) prior to the annual Omer offering on 16th Nisan. [1] In classical Rabbinic Judaism, this requirement was considered restricted to the five classical grains of Judaism -- wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and rye; any of these grains that are too young to pass the requirement (and products made from them) are referred to in Judaism as Chodosh, meaning "new [grain]." Additionally, the Rabbinic interpretation requires grain to have taken root prior to the omer offering for it to become permitted; therefore, grains planted after Passover could only be consumed the following year."

At http://www.ou.org/kosher/daf/advanced/yoshen.htm and http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-yoshon-prepchodosh.htm Jewish Rabbis are discussing the problem and referring to the Mishnah etc. to prove that everything harvested after Passover is NEW meat/grain unless it was planted and took root before Passover and then it is OLD grain/meat. The Bible teaches that A NEW MEAT [GRAIN] OFFERING is supposed to be made at Shavuot or Pentecost. Had the Rabbis not brought in another wheat harvest, they would not be having this dilemma. Also remember that Lamentation 2:6 teaches that YEHOVAH God would cause BOTH the Sabbaths AND feast days to be forgotten in Zion, and that is exactly what has happened. The key to the whole issue is to remember that there were and are TWO wheat harvests in Israel. The Jewish Rabbis teach that the SECOND wheat harvest is the NEW GRAIN of the year and therefore cannot be used until the next year.

ALL websites that discuss this issue show that it is the SECOND wheat harvest that produces the NEW GRAIN, not the first wheat harvest. The Bible connects Pentecost with the new grain offering -- NOT the old grain!

Not only does Israel have winter and spring wheat but they also have winter and spring barley, oats, rye, etc. Winter wheat is sown in the fall and harvested in the spring, about two weeks after the winter Barley harvest. The spring wheat is sown in the spring and harvested in the summer about four months later -- and this is the harvest found in Scripture for Pentecost wheat. We hope this information will help you to understand that there is a SECOND wheat harvest in Israel that is harvested about 50 days after the first wheat harvest -- and goes almost completely unnoticed because of the traditions of men.

Muddied Waters

In order to hide their blind insistence of following the traditions and errors of their forbears (Matthew 23), the scribes muddied verse 15 and 16 of Leviticus 23 -- seemingly ignoring the plain Hebrew words contained therein. Then, on top of all that, the English translators tried to argue that the Hebrew word unto/until/"AD", supports counting 50 days from the wave sheaf instead of 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath, Leviticus 23:16. When you understand that there are TWO  wheat harvests, one in the spring, about two weeks after the Barley harvest and one in the summer about 50 days after the one in the spring, it will better help you understand the word "UNTIL." 

Seeing as there are two types of wheat harvests and Pentecost is the firstfruits of wheat harvest -- it is the duty of every serious truth seeker to find out which of these TWO wheat harvest was originally used for Pentecost.  One of these wheat harvests takes place in the spring around the second and third month -- and the other wheat harvest takes place in the summer around the fourth and fifth Hebrew months.  

Leviticus 23:16 has been a major topic for those opposing the fourth month summer wheat harvest in favor of the winter wheat harvest which is sown in the fall and reaped in the springtime, about two weeks after Barley harvest.  They focus on the Hebrew word for UNTIL and think that it supports their position -- even though the only conclusive wheat harvest found in Scripture is in the summer, NOT spring.

If we were to number 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete, it would obviously bring us to a new meat offering of the summer wheat harvest, which is 50 days beyond the spring wheat harvest. But if we numbered ONE day after the seventh Sabbath complete it would obviously bring us to the spring wheat harvest. This is an absolute. The question is, how did ancient Israel number, one day, or 50 days after the seventh Sabbath complete, i.e., WHICH wheat harvest is the scripture referring to?

The Words "AD" and "Min"

It appears that most English translators, motivated by Jewish tradition and preconceived ideas stemming from the Catholic Whitsunday, failed to translate ONE little Hebrew word! What is that word? It's the word "MIN."

The beginning of verse 16, in the Hebrew, is "AD-MIN-MOCHORATH." The word "MIN" is a preposition which, when combined with other words, means "FROM."

The Hebrew word "AD" is a preposition, adverb or conjugation that has many uses for describing TIME, SPACE or DEGREE. Ignoring the word "MIN," the translators render "AD" as "EVEN UNTO" -- however there is a major problem with this! The phrase "EVEN UNTO" deals with SPACE, while all of the measurements in verse 16 -- "the morrow," "the seventh Sabbath," and "fifty days" all deal with TIME, not SPACE! Therefore, the English translation for "AD" as "EVEN UNTO" is in error and CANNOT be correct since it deals with "SPACE" and not "TIME."

According to the Koehler and Baumgartner Lexicon the word "AD" can have the following meanings:

"LATER IN THE FUTURE, count fifty days (AD has a future tense).
AND then count fifty days (AD can be a conjunction).
JUST BEFORE counting fifty days, count seven weeks."

It would not be going out on a limb to state that this GROSS misapplication of "even unto" here has been very successful -- albeit a deliberate deception to achieve the translator's personal or traditional meaning for this critical passage. Every English translation -- with the exception of the Ferrar Fenton translation -- is CLEARLY based upon the KJV's MISUSE of "even unto," making it appear that the day following the seventh Sabbath is the terminus or ending point of the fifty-day count. This is in perfect keeping with the "count fifty" Pentecost interpretations that now dominate "Christendom" -- including the unwilling and/or unwary Sabbatarians who should know better since they are always quoting I Thessalonians 5:21!

So HOW should the Hebrew of Leviticus 23:16 be CORRECTLY translated into English? Since the English translation for "AD" as "EVEN UNTO" is misapplied and cannot be correct since it deals with "space" instead of "time," what definitions DO apply to the measuring of "time" in verse 16? They are as follows:

"Hebrew "AD" = English "DURING, WHILE and UNTIL." Other general options for Heb. "AD" include: "AS, AND, AT, BY THAT, AS FAR AS, WHEN, WHILE and YET."

But what if the Hebrew word for "FROM" was at the beginning of verse 16? If this was the case, it would be the STARTING POINT for the fifty-day count rather than the ending point. As we have already seen, the Hebrew word for "FROM" is indeed at the beginning of verse 16. While the word "AD" does NOT mean "FROM," the word "MIN" DOES -- and it is in the very beginning of verse 16 along with the word "AD"! Although the Hebrew word "MIN" is there in the Hebrew text, it has purposely been omitted from every English translation except the Ferrar Fenton version!

Notice how Fenton's version translates verse 16 --

"THEN AFTER the seventh Sabbath, you shall count fifty days, when you shall present a NEW [grain] offering to the EVER-LIVING."

The original Hebrew scriptures CLEARLY show that after counting seven Sabbaths (weeks) from the Wave Sheaf Offering, there is a SECOND NUMBERING of 50 days up unto the actual Feast of Shavuot. That second count of 50 days does NOT conclude, but rather COMMENCES on the morrow AFTER the seventh Sabbath. This places the feast of the WHEAT HARVEST at the very end of the fourth Hebrew month -- right where it belongs in the middle of the SUMMER wheat harvest and at the beginning of the grape harvest, midway between the spring and fall harvest seasons.

Counting and Numbering

Bullinger's Lexicon says "until as long as, marking the continuance of an action up to the time of another action." We have an action of COUNTING seven Sabbaths even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath and then we have ANOTHER action of NUMBERING 50 days. 

The first action is to COUNT the Sabbaths.    

The second thing they were to do was to NUMBER 50 days.  

The third thing they were to do was to bring a new meat offering.  

They were not instructed to count seven Sabbaths complete and then bring a new meat offering. They were instructed to count seven Sabbaths complete up “unto” the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then they were instructed to number 50 days -- but not until after they counted seven Sabbaths first. They were instructed to bring a new meat offering, but not until after they numbered 50 days which numbering began after the seventh Sabbath complete.

If the 50-day count were to begin from the wave sheaf, it would read, “even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye bring a new meat offering.” But YEHOVAH does not say "ye shall bring a new meat offering after the seventh Sabbath" -- it says "shall ye number fifty days"!

This is how we understood the words even before we saw the definition. You have an ACTION of COUNTING seven Sabbaths, even UNTO the morrow AFTER the seventh Sabbath and then ye have ANOTHER action to NUMBER 50 days; and then "ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD." If there was only ONE action of numbering from the wave sheaf, we believe the Scripture would read to number 50 days from the wave sheaf instead of 50 days from the morrow after the seventh Sabbath -- but the first action is to COUNT seven Sabbaths and the second action is to NUMBER 50 days. Even if the morrow after the seventh Sabbath was included in the first count for the seven Sabbaths, which would make the seven Sabbaths inexact, it still teaches to number 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath because the Hebrew word for "shall" is ALWAYS future tense.  

Adding to the above, the English word "SHALL" is ALWAYS future tense -- and this goes along with the above.  "Shall ye number fifty days," in Leviticus 23:16, is future tense and, besides that, even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath complete is 49 days NOT 50, because if the word means up until a certain point -- but not including that point -- it would bring you to the beginning of the morrow after the seventh Sabbath was complete, which would not be 50 days. If the word meant up until a certain point and including that point, it would make the seventh Sabbath inexact -- as the noted Hebrew scholar Rashi says in his commentary on this verse. We say the verse could be understood to count seven Sabbaths up until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath, and then INCLUDING the morrow after the seventh Sabbath "shall ye number fifty days" and then bring a new meat offering. Either way you want to look at it, the children of Israel understood it to be 50 days after the seventh Sabbath.  

Remember, there is a difference between “counting” and “numbering.” Even though Strong's Concordance uses the same number for both words, they are TWO different words in the Hebrew interlinear. There is also a difference between weeks and days. You can count seven cars and then count to 50 and then cross the street. You can count seven Sabbaths and then number 50 days and then bring the new meat offering to the Almighty. You do not count seven Sabbaths and then number ONE day, but you count seven Sabbaths and then number 50 days -- not one day.   

Scholars such as Rashi and Ferrar Fenton are in harmony with the chag that Aaron and the children of Israel proclaimed in Exodus 32:5 -- which was 50 days after the seventh lunar Sabbath (Leviticus 23:16), which brings you to the summer wheat harvest.

Fenton's translation is also in harmony with the NEW WINE that was present on the day of Pentecost in the second chapter of the book of Acts. As the prophet Joel prophesied in the second chapter of Joel, there are no ripe grapes in the third month, and neither is there a chag mentioned in the third month in the scenario of the traditional third month Pentecost. These scholars and some translations are also in harmony with the Pentecost summer wheat harvest in the FOURTH MONTH, mentioned by the Messiah at Passover-time in the book of John. Notice!

"Do you not say, 'There are still FOUR MONTHS and then comes the harvest'?..." (John 4:35). 

The scholars and translations we have mentioned are also in harmony with the many other things that we have covered in the discussion of Pentecost.

When all is said and done, it really doesn't matter how the scholars understand the Hebrew word in Leviticus 23:16. What does matter is how the children of Israel understood it according to Exodus 32:5 -- and how it is confirmed in nature itself.

Every count must have a beginning and ending point, and I think we all agree that the beginning point for the seven Sabbaths complete begins on the morrow after the Sabbath when the priest waves the wave sheaf. The question is, where does this count end and the next count begin? As we have shown above, there are two counts mentioned in Leviticus 23, and they were not to offer the new meat offering until “both” counts were completed. If we count seven Sabbaths complete and ”then” bring a new meat offering, we are partial in the Law, but if we count seven Sabbaths complete up unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath and then number 50 days instead of one day and then bring the new meat offering, we have fulfilled the Law.  

10 "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.  

15 "And ye shall COUNT unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye NUMBER fifty days; and ye shall offer a NEW meat-offering unto the LORD" (King James Version).

The first count goes up “even unto"/until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath and ends. The next count begins and goes for 50 days, and the text is understood as saying, “the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days.” One reason it is to be understood this way is because the morrow after the seventh Sabbath is NOT included in the first count of the seven Sabbaths. The seven Sabbaths goes up until the morrow after and no further -- and THEN "ye shall number fifty days" counting the morrow, and then you bring the new meat (grain) offering, and not before. In other words, the first count goes up to the morrow after the seventh Sabbath then stops -- and then you NUMBER 50 days and bring a new meat (grain) offering after you number the 50th day.

The question is, when do we bring the new meat offering? Is it after we number 50 days? The answer is yes!  But when do we began to number the 50 days?  Do we number the 50 days from the morrow after the Nisan 15 Sabbath -- the 16th? Or do we number the 50 days from the morrow AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete? Is it one day after the seventh Sabbath complete or is it after numbering 50 days after the seventh Sabbath complete? The Bible says, “until the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat-offering unto the LORD” (Leviticus 23:16). How much plainer can it get? Most people don't understand the Hebrew or English grammar. The children of Israel obviously understood it like it says, number 50 days AFTER the seventh Sabbath complete because they celebrated it exactly 50 days after the seventh lunar Sabbath according to Exodus 32:5. They were to celebrate the feast unto the One that brought them out of Egypt -- but they celebrated it unto a golden calf instead, saying it was the one that brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:4).  

 

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Preparing the Way for the Return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah!

Hope of Israel Ministries
P.O. Box 853
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 www.hope-of-israel.org

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