Counting to Pentecost is for some reason called ‘Counting the Omer‘ today. Omer is singular yet during this time we are supposedly counting the omer every evening until we get to 49. To me this is a confusion. I want it to make sense. Following are two excerpts from: Chabad.org – Jewish Holidays.

Counting of the Omer

Between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, the Omer is counted each evening, signifying our preparation for the receiving of the Torah on the holiday of Shavuot.

Every evening from the second night of Passover to the day before Shavuot, we count another day, marking the 49 days (seven weeks) between these two holidays.

What does the Torah say about it?

Leviticus 23:11

YLT ¹¹ then he hath waved the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance; on the morrow of the sabbath doth the priest wave it.

Omer in YLT Leviticus 23:11 is translated “sheaf”. An omer is defined as a certain quantity of grain, in this case barley. If an omer is a dry measure or quantity, like a peck or bushel, then why call it a sheaf?

At spring harvest the barley stalks were harvested with a sickle and then tied together to make a standing sheaf. Gathering a single sheaf for a First Fruit offering took place before the general reaping could begin. The first cutting from the stalks of grain had approximately an omer’s worth of grain attached and would be offered as a wave offering.

A sheaf standing in the field could be counted as one omer, if it held about that much grain. The sheaves were bundled up stalks that were stood up in the field to dry. Counting the standing sheaves (omers) before removing the grain would indicate the amount of harvest you could anticipate that year. Drying the grain properly made both harvesting and storage more successful.

The dried bundle of barley was taken to the threshing floor where a threshing sledge was pulled over it to release the grain from the straw, rather than pulling the grains off of each individual stalk by hand. The waiving of the first omer on First Fruit day refers to a certain volume of barley, whether it was still attached to the stalks or not. So omer is often translated “sheaf” even though it initially referred to a certain volume of grain.

The first sheaf to be cut from the field may not be dry enough for threshing before First Fruit because it was freshly cut. The sacrifice of the first omer would have been cut from the field before the weekly sabbath rather than on the sabbath, in keeping with the Passover sacrifice that was prepared the day before the high sabbath, and the ointment that was prepared for Jesus’ body the day before the weekly sabbath. They couldn’t begin consuming the harvest of the field until after the First Fruit offering. The day they officially began the newly blessed work of reaping and consuming the harvest was the first work day in the counting of the 7 weeks of reaping. 7-1234567-1234567-1234567-1234567-1234567-1234567-1234567 = 50. God’s initial sevening blessed their seven sevenings. They entered His rest by way of His promised blessing on their work. He made their six days of work ‘very good’ so they could find rest on the seventh day.

Deuteronomy 16:9

LITV ⁹ You shall number to yourself seven weeks. When the sickle begins to reap in the standing grain, you shall begin to number seven weeks.

By the time Pentecost arrived, the wheat harvest was coming in. By that time the new year’s barley malt was ready to be used as the new yeast to make the two loaves of wheat bread rise together from the new year’s yeast. They didn’t have any yeast to make bread with on First Fruit. The seven days of unleavened bread were designed so God would bless the new crop with the new creation yeast it would bring in.

First Fruit was the first weekly sabbath after the first high sabbath of the year. This time it was three days out to fulfill Exodus 3:18. First fruit was the first offering as a freed people. On other years, it could have been anywhere from one to seven days after Passover. This time it was in the third day. Jesus, as the blessed and first born imager, gifted His image (new yeast) to them on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit remained on Him in the old covenant because He was the completed image of God in Adam. The Holy Spirit is His new covenant gift to them: the complete image of God within. It is the resurrection from their failure to perfectly uphold the heart of the law like He did.

Jesus was 40 days in the land and 10 days with the Father before sending the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. But I can’t find anywhere in the Torah where it says to count the omer 49 times. It says to count seven sabbaths from the First Fruit offering of one omer. It does not say to keep counting omers every evening. It says to offer an omer in the morning of the sabbath and then count seven weeks from there to get to the morning of the seventh sabbath.

Leviticus 23:15-16

YLT ¹⁵ `And ye have numbered to you from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day of your bringing in the sheaf of the wave-offering: they are seven perfect sabbaths; ¹⁶ unto the morrow of the seventh sabbath ye do number fifty days, and ye have brought near a new present to Jehovah;

Acts 20:7

ECB ⁷ and (still) on the first (one) of the shabbath(s), as the disciples assemble together to break bread, Paulos reasons to them – about to depart on the morrow; and stretches his words until midnight.

I prefer the word (still) because the Greek word translated “and” primarily means “still”. I prefer the word (one) because mia is the Greek word for one, not the Greek word for first. I added the (s) after “shabbath” because it is clearly plural.

The people typically assembled on a sabbath. This is still one of the sabbaths in the count to Pentecost. Paul either preached on past that day until midnight or they had assembled at dusk and were in the same day at midnight. Either way Paul was departing in the morning. Either way they were still in the season of the so called ‘Counting of the Omer’. Paul was trying to get to Jerusalem for Shavuot (Pentecost).

This translator may think the word sabbath can mean week. That makes more sense to him, especially if he changes it from plural to singular, since we all ‘know’ Paul assembled with the Jews on the first day of the week; surely not on a seventh day sabbath. Paul religiously met with the Jews on Sunday. Ha ha ha!

Counting seven sabbaths after First Fruit means counting seven weeks, because they counted weeks like this: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 to arrive at the weekly sabbath. Sabbath does not mean week though. If anything, the Greek word for week is seventh singular not sevens plural. In Genesis 29:27 Jacob finishes his week for Leah and then has a week of days with Rachel and then serves Laban for another week of years. He completes his sevens for the marriage; marriages in this case of trickery. The plural below for seven could mean to finish both counts to the seventh day, i.e., the seventh day with Leah and then the seventh day with Rachael. That equals two sevenths. Not 2/7 but two sevenings: two seventh days for the two marriage weeks and two seventh years for Jacob: one for each wife.

The Hebrews didn’t want another word for week. They wanted to get to 7 by completing their 6 work days. A seventh to me is 1/7, which means one of seven. A seventh to them is an arrival to a sabbath day or a sabbath year. Telos is the Greek word below translated “complete”. It is an arrival to sabbath rest. The goal is to work to the sabbath not through the sabbath. A perfect (telosed) sabbath is one you worked well to arrive at. Arriving at the seventh day of the marriage week was supposed to make it permanent. To seven together is to make a promise.

Counting to Pentecost is seven sevenths. That is seven sevenings or seven sabbaths not 7/7. A ‘perfect’ sabbath (see Leviticus 23:15 above) is one that you arrived at without breaking your agreement with God for 6 days: fulfilling 6 work days with complete integrity leads into a ‘perfect’ sabbath rest day. If the resurrection started with the perfect sabbath rest of Jesus’ very good work, then they didn’t start counting their first six work days until the next day. When someone says to you, “I had to work this week”, they most likely mean 6 days not 7.

Jesus was the Lord of the sabbath already. He wanted them to join His rest in a new covenant of promise: the new sevening. Nobody else could fulfill 6 days of work with complete integrity. So He joined them to His seventh day resurrection. He died to overcome their death for them. He gave them His resurrection from their death. He gifted it on Pentecost. As Lord of the sabbath He reigned in their harvest season with His day. Even biologically it was the seventh day of rest that physically and mentally renewed their body for work. But they could never fully rest from their own 6 days of work. It was never good enough to telos the creation week. The nation failed to keep the sabbath for 490 years; twice.

I could go for the title “Counting of the Omer” if they waited till Pentecost to count the original First Fruit omer, making the 49th day join the original sabbath day, which joined them to the body of Christ and His never ending day. That is what the final day of the final feast does too. There are seven feasts by the way. The last one lasts eight days: from a sabbath to a sabbath. The betrothal paradigm led to the wedding pattern. The goal was to be permanently sevened or covenanted. He joined His eternal sabbath day with theirs on the eighth day. The eighth day of tabernacles put the seven feasts to rest.

Ruth 2:15

LITV ¹⁵ And she rose up to glean. And Boaz commanded his young men, saying, She shall glean even between the sheaves, and you shall not cause her to be ashamed.

It was a lot less work to pick up the drying grain that fell off around the already assembled bundles. Her soon to be husbandman was graciously gifting her with grain and enabling her work. As a type of Christ, Boaz was the husbandman of the field that Ruth was working in.

One last thing: the Torah doesn’t actually say First Fruit is on the second night of Passover, as the second one of the excerpts above mentions. The Torah says, “on the morrow of the sabbath”. They interpret that as the day after the high sabbath. I interpret that as the morning of the weekly sabbath.

Acts 20:16

YLT ¹⁶ for Paul decided to sail past Ephesus, that there may not be to him a loss of time in Asia, for he hasted, if it were possible for him, on the day of the Pentecost to be at Jerusalem.

Even the Hebrew word for ‘week’ means sevened.

שׁבעה שׁבע שׁבוּע
shâbûa‛ shâbûa‛ shebû‛âh
shaw-boo’-ah, shaw-boo’-ah, sheb-oo-aw’
Properly passive participle of H7650 as a denominative of H7651; literally sevened, that is, a week 

KJV Usage: seven, week.

Wouldn’t it be significant if the Hebrew word for making a promise or taking an oath came from the root word for seven too?

Genesis 21:23

LITV ²³ And now swear to me here by God, that you will not lie to me, and to my son, and to my heir, according to the kindness which I have sworn to you. Do to me and to the land in which you have lived.

שׁבע
shâba‛
shaw-bah’
A primitive root; properly to be complete, but used only as a denominative from H7651; to seven oneself, that is, swear

The word sabbath is used 62 times after Malachi. 57 times the KJV translates it sabbath or sabbaths. 8 times they choose to use the word week instead of sabbath, rendering that sabbath as a the first day of the week.

The first excerpt at the top of this page instructs an evening sacrifice of the omer. It is very understandable why. They take the word morrow to mean the next 24 hour day rather than in the next daylight portion of the same day. Half of the translators insert the word “after” before morrow just to make sure. For Jews the next 24 hour day starts in the evening. Most people reading the following verse would also assume an evening sacrifice is meant.

Deuteronomy 16:6

CLV ⁶ but rather only in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His name. There shall you sacrifice the passover in the evening as the sun sets, the appointed time of your going forth from Egypt.

We know the passover sacrifice was fulfilled by Jesus who was sacrificed around 3PM not 6 PM. He died between the evenings. In Deuteronomy 16:6 God actually told His people to sacrifice the passover lamb ‘after noon’. The sun begins to set at noon. At noon it isn’t rising or setting. It is even. Noon is the first even-ing. It evens off with the horizon at about 6. Between the two even-ings is 3PM, which is about when Jesus died.

Exodus 12:6

KJV ⁶ And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Exodus 12:6

YLT ⁶ `And it hath become a charge to you, until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the company of Israel have slaughtered it between the evenings;

Between the even-ings is between noon and 6. The actual even-ing is either at noon or at 6. In the actual even-ing is a small amount of time. Imagine everyone trying to make a sacrifice in that very moment of the second evening, i.e., twilight. Even the Prophets of Baal sacrificed after noon, i.e., between the evenings.

1 Kings 18:27-29

LITV ²⁷ And it happened at noon, that Elijah taunted them and said, Call with a loud voice, for he is a god; for he is meditating, or pursuing, or on a journey; it may be he is asleep and must be awakened. ²⁸ And they called with a loud voice, and cut themselves, according to their way, with swords and with spears until blood gushed out on them. ²⁹ And it happened as noon passed by, that they prophesied madly until the offering up of the offering; and no sound came, and no one was answering, and no one was paying attention.

I’m still looking for a sacrifice in the Torah that takes place at twilight, which is what the excerpt at the beginning of this article means by ‘evening’. I am only finding morning and afternoon sacrifices. Both Hebrew and Greek lexical explanations for the word evening associate it with the word tide. The even-ing of the tide would be the time when it was neither coming in or going out and that happens twice a day: at high tide and low tide.

Hebrews 4:4-11

LITV  ⁴ For He has spoken somewhere about the seventh day this way, “And God rested from all His works in the seventh day.” Gen. 2:2 ⁵ And in this place again, “They shall not enter into My rest.” LXX-Psa. 94:11; MT-Psa. 95:11 ⁶ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those who formerly had the gospel preached did not enter in on account of disobedience, ⁷ He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, Today (after so long a time, according as He has said), “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” LXX-Psa. 94:7, 8; MT-Psa. 95:7, 8 ⁸ For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day. ⁹ So, then, there remains a sabbath rest to the people of God. ¹⁰ For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from His works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psa. 95:11, Gen. 2:2 ¹¹ Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest, that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience.