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Sabbath...."shall ye number FIFTY DAYS." Those who count seven
SATURDAYS instead of seven FULL WEEKS as the Bible says, are not
counting FIFTY DAYS (Pentecost) but ONLY FORTY-NINE DAYS. And
the 49th day is NOT Pentecost, and those who observe it do NOT
observe Pentecost, no matter how well-meaning their intentions,
for PENTECOST means FIFTY-count; that is, COUNT FIFTY, not count
49! Now let us PROVE that this word "shabbath" as it is in the
original Hebrew means WEEKS here, and not "SATURDAYS." The same
identical Hebrew word is used in Lev. 25:8,: "And thou shalt number
seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years: and the
space of seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine
years." There it is FIGURED OUT. It does not mean SATURDAYS---it
means PERIOD OF SEVEN---seven TIMES SEVEN. and it figures to FORTY
NINE. Now counting from Sunday April 25th, seven sabbaths complete
are FORTY NINE DAYS, and we count "even unto the morrow after the
seventh sabbath ... FIFTY DAYS," and this is a MONDAY. If you
count it seven SATURDAYS you do not have 49 days, but 48. Seven
Saturdays after Sunday April 25th brings you to Saturday June 12,
exactly 48 days. The text quoted above FIGURES it for us, and this
expression figures out to FORTY NINE, not 48. Then we add one day
to make it FIFTY.
You'll find the same identical word used in the same
identical meaning in Lev. 25:8, 26:34, 43 and II Chron. 36:21. In
all these places it means PERIOD OF SEVEN, or multiply by seven,
not seven SATURDAYS.
We are also instructed how to count Pentecost in Deut.
16:9. "Seven WEEKS (not Saturdays) shalt thou number unto thee:
begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest
to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the FEAST OF
WEEKS unto the Lord thy God." Now here a DIFFERENT Hebrew word is
used---"shabuah", meaning "sevened, i.e., a WEEK. It is another
derivation from the Hebrew "Shabbath." Here, even in the King
James translation, we are told to count SEVEN WEEKS, not seven
Saturdays, FROM the day the first sheaf was cut and waved---from a
Sunday.
Again from the Bible Dictionary: "PENTECOST: The term,
adopted from the Greek, means 'fiftieth,' and was applied by Greek-
speaking Jews to the second of the three chief Hebrew feasts,
because it fell on the fiftieth day AFTER the offering of the
barley-sheaf during the Feast of Unleavened Bread." Again, "The
Feast of WEEKS came on the 50th day after the barley sheaf was
waved, (i.e., the day AFTER the completion of seven WEEKS). Hence
we read, (Jer. 5:24) of the 'appointed weeks of harvest.'" There
has been in the past a dispute as to WHICH Sabbath, weekly or
annual, the wave-sheaf day followed to count FROM, but never as to
HOW TO COUNT THE FIFTY DAYS.
Suppose you had borrowed some money. We are all in
agreement as to which day we count FROM---we count fifty days FROM
Sunday April 25th. The problem, then, is how to COUNT fifty days.
Suppose that on April 25th you had borrowed $1,000 at the bank.
You don't want to pay it back a day too soon. You would pay it
back ON the day that is PENTECOST, if you borrowed it for FIFTY
DAYS.