In Acts 2:1, it says "When the day of Pentecost was fully come..." . Why is the expression "fully come" used? To arrive at Pentecost, scripture calls for counting (per King James Version Bible) or numbering per the Hebrew. There were to be fifty more days to arrive at Pentecost. Most Jews were numbering starting with the 16th of Abib, morrow after the holy day sabbath (15th) of the first day of unleavened bread. (Leviticus 23). Their count would then bring them to a day on the calendar rather than a day of the week, fifty days later, Sivan 6, as the bulk of Jews do today. Sectaries of the Jews and some Christians were correctly counting from the morrow after the weekly Sabbath during passover / unleavened bread week. This makes sense as it would be unnecessary to count if it were a calendar day. If one uses the morrow after the weekly sabbath and understand the Hebrew means "number" not "count from", we number 1st day of the week (Sunday) as day one and then Pentecost comes on a Sunday (1st day) 50 days later (always Sunday, 1st day). But why does Acts 2:1 say "fully come"? Many know the truth that Jesus died on the biblical passover, a Wednesday (14 Abib). The holy day Sabbath (modern Jewish Passover) that followed was Abib 15, a Thursday. For the general Jewish society, the numbering for Pentecost would begin with Friday being day one. This would make the bulk of the Jewish society around Jerusalem keeping Pentecost fifty days later on a Friday. To the average Jew of the day just going by what the ruling Jewish leaders were saying (just like they do today), it would be like a modern "Thanksgiving Weekend". Pentecost weekend would call for traveling to Jerusalem and arriving on Thursday, Sivan 5. Then it would be keeping societal Pentecost on Friday, (Sivan 6) the sabbath on Saturday and beginning to return home on Sunday. (For more info search on Google for Shavout 2009 or the Jewish Feast of weeks or Pentecost Friday). In 2009 the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, and therefore Pentecost, fell the same as the year Jesus died. |
