Pentecost as Harvest Festival

This Sunday, a lot of churches will celebrate Pentecost. Maybe I’m just an idiot, but I didn’t know until just last week that Pentecost has a Jewish counterpart, also called Pentecost. (It’s also called the “Festival of Weeks”. See Lev. 23:15-22.) Perhaps expectedly – since Christ came not to abolish but to fulfill the law and the prophets – the Jewish Pentecost prefigures the Christian Pentecost. Thus, it sheds interpretive light on what this Sunday’s Pentecost celebration really means. A few things are worth noting:

First, just as the Jewish Pentecost comes fifty days after Passover, so the Christian Pentecost comes fifty days after Easter. Passover and Easter, of course, are parallel events in salvation history. More specifically, Passover prefigures Easter. Passover celebrates God’s deliverance of his people out of slavery in Egypt; Easter celebrates God’s deliverance of his people out of slavery to sin. (John 8:31-36) At Passover, Israel commemorates how God saved his people by the blood of the lamb. At Easter, the Church commemorates how God saves his people by the blood of the definitive Passover Lamb, Jesus.

Those are the parallels between Passover and Easter, and they point to the parallels between the Jewish Pentecost and the Christian Pentecost. Fifty days after Passover, the Jewish Pentecost is a harvest festival that celebrates two things in particular:
(1) God’s law (torah) written on stone tablets (according to Exodus 19:1, this occurred fifty days after Israel was delivered from Egypt)
(2) The abundance of food produced in the Promised Land (Lev. 23:15-22)

Fifty days after Easter, the Christian Pentecost recalls how Christ sends his Spirit into and among his people. Like its Jewish pre-figuration, it’s a harvest festival that celebrates two things:
(1) God’s law (torah) written not on stone tablets but on human hearts by the Spirit of Christ (2 Cor. 3:3)
(2) The abundance of “food” (namely the “fruit of the Spirit”) produced in the true Promised Land

The Christian Pentecost is a “harvest festival” because the Holy Spirit comes not just to hang out, but to produce and reap the “fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23) Ultimately, this is the true fruit of the true Promised Land, yes? If so, then the Jewish Pentecost prefigures and is fulfilled by the Christian Pentecost. Indeed, the latter initiates the definitive Harvest Festival.

A final point I’d like to propose. This might be a stretch, but it might also be true. In Leviticus 23, the Jewish Pentecost is followed by a description of another celebration, called the “Festival of Trumpets”. It’s written: “you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts. You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall present the Lord’s offering by fire.” (Lev. 23:24-25) Could it be that this “Festival of Trumpets”, which follows the Jewish Pentecost, prefigures what Christianity says will follow the Christian Pentecost (namely, the return of Christ on the Last Day)? The Festival of Trumpets sounds awfully similar to how the New Testament describes Christ’s return: complete rest (Heb. 4:9-11), trumpet blasts (1 Cor. 15:52), and a fire that burns offerings to the Lord (1 Cor. 3:13).

Maybe, and maybe not. In the meantime, enjoy the Harvest Festival called Pentecost. Let’s hope the Spirit continues to make the message of Christ intelligible and effective (just like in Acts 2), so that the fruit of the Promised Land might grow for the pleasure and glory of God.