The controversy still rages on how to count Pentecost! Is it
counted from a weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened
Bread? Or should it be counted from the day after the Passover
Holy Day, the First Day of Unleavened Bread? Here is amazing
New Testament evidence on this continuing dispute!
William F. Dankenbring
For over fourteen years, I have been trying to show the churches that came out of Worldwide Church of God, Messianic
groups, and others, the plain truth on the matter of how to “count Pentecost.” For some reason, many people just
don’t want to seriously check into this matter, or they simply accept the word of their minister or some self-anointed
“scholar” on the subject. Opinions sometimes get heated, there has been much name-calling, and yet the battle
for the truth rages on.
What is the truth? If I could show you plain evidence in the New Testament that has been overlooked for the last
fifty years, would you believe?
Well, here it is!
We read a very mysterious passage in the gospel of Luke which has confounded ministers and laymen alike. Various
opinions have been offered to explain this passage. But let’s just take a careful look ourselves, and see if we can
understand it!
Luke writes, “Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grain fields.
And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to
them, ‘Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?’” (Luke 6:1-2, NKJV).
Believe it or not, hidden in this passage is the KEY that unlocks the truth about from what day to count to Pentecost!
What is this mysterious expression, “the second Sabbath after the first”? It has perplexed scholars for generations.
Notice first of all that this event occurred at the time of the harvest of grain. This would place the time as
early to late spring. In Israel, the two major grain harvests are at the beginning of spring, or Passover, and the festival
of “first fruits” – that is, Pentecost. Passover occurs March-April, and Pentecost falls in May or June.
Passover begins the barley harvest, and Pentecost begins the wheat harvest.
Which harvest is this? Matthew records this same event in chapter 12. In Matthew’s account, we simply
read, “At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to
pluck heads of grain and to eat” (Matt.12:1).
In this passage, the simple word “Sabbath” is used, showing
that this would be a normal weekly Sabbath day – not an annual holy day. That same day, He entered their local synagogue
(Matt.12:9), and healed a man on the Sabbath (verses 10-11). He thus showed it is all right to heal and do good on the Sabbath,
thus showing that some of the Jewish Sabbath traditions and rules were in grievous error. The whole emphasis here was that
it was the weekly Sabbath day that was involved!
Yet Luke adds that this particular weekly Sabbath day was also “the second Sabbath after the first.”
How are we to understand that significant statement? What could he mean by such an expression?
Deuteroproton
The Greek-English Interlinear has it this way: “And it happened on the second chief Sabbath.” Literally,
“And it was on a Sabbath, the second chief.” The Greek expression here is sabbaton dueteroproton and means, literally,
“Sabbath, the second chief,” or “sabbath the second first,” that is, “the second first (or chief)
Sabbath.”
Now notice two vital elements to this puzzle. First, it was during the grain harvest. Secondly, this was a weekly Sabbath,
and yet it was unique – a “second” “chief” Sabbath. This could not be during the fall Feast
of Tabernacles – that festival occurs AFTER the harvest has been completed! There is only one “chief Sabbath”
at Pentecost, since it is a one-day festival. The only other time when there would be two “chief Sabbaths” in
a row would be during the spring Passover/Days of Unleavened Bread.
During the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, we actually have THREE CHIEF SABBATHS. That is, the first day
of Unleavened Bread, the weekly Sabbath which occurs DURING the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and the FINAL day of Unleavened
Bread. Both the first and last days of Unleavened Bread are “annual festivals” or “Sabbaths.” God
says: “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight [evening] is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth
day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
On the first
day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire
to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it” (Leviticus
23:5-8). Between these first and last annual Sabbaths is the weekly Sabbath during the Festival (Lev.23:3) – sanctified
by being the seventh day of the week, and also because it occurs during the seven-day festival, it is very special.
When we look at this passage in Luke closely, therefore, we see that we have three unique Sabbaths during the
days of Unleavened Bread, in all years except where the first or last day of the Feast falls on the weekly Sabbath.
It is clear that the Sabbath in Luke 6 must have been a Sabbath during the week of Passover. At no other festival
are there two chief Sabbaths, or three. And at no other festival is the harvest of grain occurring, except Pentecost, which
is a one day festival.
Therefore this passage must be discussing the Sabbath which occurred during PASSOVER and the Feast of Unleavened
Bread! The passage says this was the “second chief Sabbath,” not the third – therefore it was the second
Sabbath of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The account in Matthew simply refers to it as a weekly Sabbath, giving
no indication it was an annual holy day. Therefore, this Sabbath must have been the WEEKLY SABBATH!
What, you may ask, does this have to do with determining from what day we are to count the days (counting the
“omer”) until Pentecost?
