"Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" (John 4:35)
The Jewish concept of every holiday is not a question of remembering something that happened in the past but of reliving the experience to which the festival pointed. The blessing on the festivals reads "in those days, in this time..." challenging every celebrant to grow spiritually through the symbolism of the ritual, to reap G-d's blessing by connecting with the message of the festival. Thus the Bible records:
"I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the L-rd our G-d, as well as with him who is not with us today....." (Deut. 29:14-15)
The period known as Counting the Omer, while not a holiday, is observed by Jews with traditions and rituals that call to mind prophetic events. The fifty days between the Feast of Firstfruits (known as Resurrection Day to the Church) and Shavuot (known as Pentecost to the Church) are called, Sefirat Ha-Omer or Counting of the Omer. G-d commanded that the Israelites count off the seven weeks between these Festivals. They were to count seven days, seven times from the day of the offering of the first sheaf of the wave offering at Firstfruits until the day they brought in the new food offering at Shavuot.
The numerology of 7 x 7 symbolizes a special degree of holiness for the period of counting and for its culmination on the fiftieth day.
Just as every generation was to celebrate Passover as if they were there, every generation is to Count the Omer each year, reflecting on the supernatural provision of G-d in anticipation of His wondrous manifestation on Shavuot. The revelation of the Shekeinah at Sinai on Shavuot was an experience so cosmic and mysterious that no ritual could encompass it. It was the day when the trumpet call of G-d was heard when He gave His Torah, His Holy Word, to the Israelites. It was there they were given the awesome responsibility to bear witness throughout every generation of human history that the G-d of Israel is King over all the earth.
The fulfillment of the traditions of this period can be seen clearly in the light of the New Testament. The presentation of the sheaf of the wave offering represents the first harvest of the new crop of grain after the winter fallow period. The apostle Paul says that the sheaf of the wave offering, symbolizing a new harvest season, pointed to Yeshua. He was resurrected from the dead and presented Himself to His Father in the heavenly Temple as the Firstfruits of a new harvest season of souls (John 20:17). Yeshua even referred to Himself as a kernel of wheat that must die in order to produce much grain (John 12:24).
"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Harvesting of the new grain crops is brought to a climax on Shavuot (Pentecost) with the offering of two loaves of leavened bread. The new food offering, the two leavened loaves, is given as firstfruits to the Almighty. It should recall for believers, the Apostle Paul's words concerning the One New Man (Ephesians 2:14, 15).
In Jewish teaching, this offering of leavened bread is called the bread of affluence. Even though leaven or yeast symbolizes sin in the Bible, the leavened loaves represent redeemed mankind. The rabbis say that it depicts a future time when man will no longer be adversely affected by sinwhen he will be able to live in the midst of sin but not be subject to it.
It was on the day of Shavuot or Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit filled all those who were gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalemthose who believed that Yeshua was the promised Jewish Messiah. It is the Holy Spirit that enables man to live in the midst of sin, but not be subject to it.
Counting the Omer connects the season of freedom, Passover, to the season of servanthood, Shavuot. The sages teach:
On the first day of Counting, Psalm 67 is recited which has 49 words in the Hebrew text. In mystical teaching, there are 49 levels of depravity and 49 levels of sanctity and there are 49 days from Firstfruits to Shavuot. Thus, there are 49 days during which to be transformed in order to become worthy to receive the Torah. [As believers, we know that the Torah, the Word of G-d, is Yeshua.] The rabbis say that the period of Counting represents the transformation of a people freed from slavery to become a holy nationtransformed from:
It is taught that Passover is the betrothal and Shavuot is the wedding of G-d to Israel. The Tablets of Stone (The Ten Commandments) portray the ketubah or marriage contract.
Tradition mandates the observance of the customs of mourning for the dead during the Omer period. The source of the tradition is very obscure. One source says that it is mourning for the martyrs killed but not buried after the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD (Psalm 79). Each source seems to point to a plague or tragedy that is commemorated during the Counting of the Omer. The mourning period lasts for only thirty-three days of the fifty. This mourning period calls to mind the scriptures that speak of the day when all Israel will mourn over the One whom they pierced:
"...they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son... In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem..." (Zechariah 12:10, 11)
The Book of Revelation repeats this theme:
"Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him..." (Revelation 1:7)
The 33rd day of this fifty-day period is called Lag B'Omer. The name is derived from the numerical values assigned to the two Hebrew letters 'lamed' and 'gimel' that form the word 'Lag': 'lamed' = 30; and 'gimel' = 3. Therefore, the word Lag = 33 (there are no vowels in Hebrew).
Lag B'Omer or the 33rd day of counting, is a special day of celebration called "hillula". In Orthodox tradition, the uplifting of the souls of the departed is observedthe re-uniting of a soul with its Source, G-d. In the Talmud it is equated with a wedding celebration (Brachot 6a and 31a). One's death is considered his true wedding daythe moment when one is freed from the entrapments of the body to be united with G-d in the True World, the Spiritual Realm. In the broadest sense, this world is the engagement, and the World to Come is the wedding. It is worth noting the words of the apostle Paul concerning the resurrection of the dead in Christ:
"For the L-rd Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of G-d: and the dead in Christ shall rise first..." (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
The only time the Bible recalls that the trumpet of G-d was heard was on Mount Sinai on the first Shavuot. The rabbis say that the trumpet of G-d was heard worldwide. Zechariah records a future day when the trump of G-d will be heard once again:
"Then the L-rd will appear over them; His arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign L-rd will sound the trumpet." (Zechariah 9:14)
Matthew records Yeshua's own words concerning the day that the Trump of G-d will be heard:
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn...And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds..." (Matthew 24:30, 31)
The L-rd was connecting His end-time appearance with the time that the tribes (Jews) will recognize who He is and will mourn; and with the time of the sounding of the trumpet from heaven, the resurrection of the dead, and the great harvest of the elect.
Mourning for the dead is turned into a festive celebration on the 33rd day. Lag B'Omer commemorates the end of 'the plague'. Bows and arrows are given to children because of an ancient custom of shooting arrows at demons. In this vein, Zechariah records a future time when the L-rd will visit His people and make them stronger than their enemies:
"...The L-rd of hosts will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His royal horse in the battle......They shall be like mighty men, who tread down their enemies....They shall fight because the L-rd is with them...." (Zechariah 10:3b, 5)
The 'bows' given to children are also symbolic of the rainbow. Tradition says that a rainbow will appear in the sky as a harbinger of the final redemption when G-d will remember His promise to redeem His people. Some Jews celebrate Lag B'Omer by decorating a Tree of Life because the Torah (the Word of G-d) is believed to be a Tree of Life for those who obey. They tie bows on it in the 'chai' (life) motif18 ribbons because the numerical value of the word 'chai' is 18. Then the Tree of Life is crowned in a joyous celebration! Again, this points to Yeshua, the Word of God, the Tree of Life, being crowned by the Jewish people in acknowledgement of His kingship over them (Revelation 11:15).
The entire Omer period foreshadows the early harvest of souls with its theme being a bountiful crop at the L-rd's appearance.