PENTECOST pĕn’ tĭ kôst,-kŏst (πεντηκοστή, G4300, fiftieth; also ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς πεντηκοστῆς, the fiftieth day). The Gr. equivalent for the OT Feast of Weeks. The OT name is חַ֤ג שָׁבֻעֹת׃֙ (Exod 34:22; Num 28:17; Deut 16:10; 2 Chron 8:13); LXX ἑορτή ἑβδομάδων, “feast of weeks.” As the second of the three great pilgrimage feasts in Israel it concluded a cycle of time begun at Passover. Since the fall of the Temple it has been celebrated among the Jews to commemorate the giving of the law at Sinai. It was named Pentecost because it fell on the fiftieth day after the offering of the barley sheaf during the Passover celebration. It was the beginning of the offering of firstfruits. The NT usage refers to the known Jewish feast. Since the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church took place on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), Christians emphasize the meaning of the festival in the light of that event.

1. Other names for the feast. This festival has been known by several names: “Feast of Ingathering” (חַ֤ג הַקָּצִיר׃֙, “feast of reaping or harvest,” Exod 23:16). “Pentecost” (יﯴם הֲמִשִּׁים, “fifty days,” 2 Macc 12:32; Jos. Antiq. III. x. 6; Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Cor 16:8 [cf. Lev 23:16]). “Assembly” (עֲצֶרֶת, “restraint [?],” in Targum, Mishna, and Talmud). “Day of First Fruits” (יֹ֣ום הַבִּכּוּרִ֗ים, Num 28:26; cf. LXX τῇ ἡμερᾳ τῶν νεῶν). The feast was essentially a harvest celebration, and throughout Biblical times this was its character. Exodus 23:16 prob. gives the most ancient name as “Feast of Harvest.” The title “Weeks,” used for the special feast day when the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God, refers to the whole period of grain harvest, starting with the reaping of the barley and concluding with the end of wheat harvest, a period of about seven weeks. The period was particularly sacred in Israel when they recognized the Lord as the source of rain and fertility (Jer 5:24).

The feast was designated the “day of first fruits” (Num 28:26; see also Exod 23:16; 34:22; Lev 23:17), because it marked the beginning of the time in which the people were to bring voluntarily their offerings of firstfruits, a season that concluded with the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). It was celebrated as a sabbath with rest from ordinary labors and the calling of a holy convocation (Lev 23:21; Num 28:26). Among Hel. Jews, the feast was called the (Day of) “Pentecost,” referring to the seven week harvest period. Since this feast is mentioned once in the OT outside the Pentateuch (2 Chron 8:13), coupled with a paucity of references in rabbinical lit., it has been concluded that the feast was not so important as the Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles.

2. Secular use. The profane use of the word “Pentecost” from the 4th cent. b.c. was in connection with a tax on goods as impost to the state. In non-Biblical usage, the word πεντηκοστή, G4300, was a technical tax term, originally connected with a cargo tax in the harbor of Piraeus. In Israel there were no connotations of a tax of firstfruits. Jubilees 6:21 states: “This feast is twofold and of a double nature,” referring to the weeks and firstfruits.

3. Reckoning the feast. In ancient Pal., the grain harvest lasted seven weeks, beginning with barley harvest during the Passover and ending with the wheat harvest at Pentecost. The offering of the sheaf fell on the day after a sabbath; reckoning this as the first day, the feast was celebrated on the fiftieth day. Disagreement has arisen as to the meaning of “sabbath.” Is the weekly sabbath meant? Is some other day of rest (Israel has several sabbaths) indicated? The words “after the seventh sabbath” (Lev 23:16) argue for the first possibility. If this is true, the festival would always fall on the same day of the week, namely, Sunday. This has its counterpart in the Christian Day of Pentecost. According to rabbinical judgment, the “sabbath” in question was not the weekly sabbath, that is, the one which came in the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; rather, it was the fifteenth day of Nisan, described as a day of “holy convocation” and of rest from work (23:7). The Day of the Sheaf then fell on the subsequent day, the sixteenth of Nisan. The Jews, therefore, celebrated the feast on the basis of this reckoning. The Sadducees always started counting on a Sunday, so Pentecost always fell on a Sunday. The Pharisees understood the “sabbath” of Leviticus 23 as the first day of Passover (the fifteenth of Nisan). Thus, Pentecost always came fifty days after the sixteenth of Nisan, and the day of celebration varied from year to year. This view prevailed after a.d. 70. In later Judaism it was considered as the concluding feast of the Passover.

4. The rites of the feast. The sheaf brought as a wave offering (Lev 23:11) was garnered when the sickle was first put to the grain (Deut 16:9). It was presented for the whole land. Before this sheaf was offered, the law forbade the reaping or use of the harvest for personal purposes (Lev 23:14). A portion of the sheaf was placed on the altar, and the priest ate the rest. A male lamb was sacrificed as a burnt offering (23:12). The ritual of the sheaf offering was a part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The feast was one of joy and thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest season. As a holy convocation (23:21) the observance prohibited ordinary labor, and the males in Israel appeared at the Temple before the Lord (Deut 16:16). Other festal offerings are specified (Num 28:26ff.).

The main offering of the day was a cereal offering of two loaves (Lev 23:17). The loaves, made from the new wheat and baked with leaven, were brought by the priest as a wave offering for all the people. None of the bread was placed on the altar because of the leaven, but was eaten by the priests. With the two loaves, two lambs were offered as a wave offering also. When seven weeks earlier the sheaf had been presented, it marked the freedom to use the new grain as food. Beginning with this sacrifice, Israel was allowed to use it for liturgical purposes also. The feast was concluded by the eating of communal meals to which the poor, the stranger, and the Levite were invited.

This feast, as stated above, was also the Feast of First Fruits (Num 28:26). After the ceremony of the loaves, the worshipers could offer of the new grain harvest as personal gifts of firstfruits. The offerings were given to the priest, followed by a recital of thanksgiving for God’s past deliverances of the nation and their settlement in the land of promise (Deut 26:1-11).

It may be helpful to set forth the sacrifices offered on the Feast of Weeks: (1) the daily burnt offering of two lambs (Num 28:3, 31); (2) the particular sacrifices for the feast (vv. 27-30), identical with those of the new moon celebration and the days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (vv. 11, 19); (3) the sacrifices at the time of the offering of the loaves and two lambs (Lev 23:17-19).

5. The Talmud and the Feast of Weeks. The Talmud, which commonly refers to the feast day as עֲצֶרֶת (“assembly”), stresses its relation to Passover and the harvest season together with the presentation of firstfruits; thus the festival is strictly agricultural in nature. Because the Book of Jubilees adds the thought of covenant renewal for Noah’s covenant on this day (6:1-21), it has been suggested that this paved the way for the later association of the Feast of Weeks with the giving of the law at Sinai. In Pal., the feast lasted one day, whereas in the dispersion (as with other festivals in Israel) it covered two days in order not to miss the right day. The date is clearly stated in Leviticus 23:15.

6. Change in celebration. After the destruction of the Temple in a.d. 70, Weeks was celebrated, but now as a feast commemorating the giving of the law at Sinai. The joy of the feast was transferred to joy over the law. Since Passover and Tabernacles were linked with the Exodus and wilderness experiences, later Judaism sought to connect the Feast of Weeks with the Mosaic era. They indicated that Weeks commemorated the giving of the law at Sinai. This change was all the more necessary in view of the loss of the Temple in a.d. 70. The first certain evidence that the rabbis considered the giving of the law took place on Pentecost is the statement of Rabbi Jose ben Chalaphta (c. 150): “In the third month (Sivan), on the sixth day of the month, the ten commandments were given to them (the Israelites), and it was a sabbath day” (Seder ’Olam Rabba, 5). In the 3rd cent. Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedath (c. a.d. 270) spoke of the common belief of his time: “Pentecost is the day on which Torah was given” (Pes. 68b). Philo, Josephus, and the earlier Talmud know nothing of this new significance attached in later Jewish history. However, it is too late to credit Maimonides as the origin of the change, a view adopted by Christian writers.

In keeping with the rejoicing over the law, some leaders arranged special reading sections for the Pentecost eve, consisting of excerpts from the beginning and end of every book of the Bible and Mishnah, which abridgement they considered tantamount to the reading of the entire works. The reading takes some till morning, but others finish it at midnight. About a.d. 200, the custom arose of reading Exodus 19 on Pentecost. It has been traditional for years to read the Book of Ruth with its harvest background, and the custom continues to this day.

7. NT references. There are three references to Pentecost in the NT: (1) After the Ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost to dwell in the Church (Acts 2:1). The coming of the Spirit was in answer to the explicit promise of Christ (John 16:7, 13; Acts 1:4, 14). It is almost universally agreed among theologians that Pentecost marks the beginning of the Church as an institution. It cannot be too strongly stressed that Pentecost in Acts 2 has nothing to do with the tradition concerning Sinai, although some have labored to prove it. (2) Paul’s aim was to leave Asia in time to be at Jerusalem by Pentecost (Acts 20:16). (3) Paul decided to remain at Ephesus until Pentecost because of the opportunities for ministry (1 Cor 16:8). In both these instances Paul was speaking in terms of the Jewish calendar. It is possible that at Jerusalem, the believers participated at first in the Jewish Pentecost. J. C. Rylaarsdam (IDB, IV [1962], 828) thinks the NT references to Weeks take the symbolical significance of the loaves as firstfruits (Rom 8:23; 11:16; 1 Cor 15:20, 23).

8. Historical observances. As the second of the three annual pilgrim feasts (Deut 16:16), the feast was observed in Solomonic days (2 Chron 8:13). In the days of the second Temple, the men went up to Jerusalem to present their offerings of the harvest. When they reached the bounds of the city, the priests and Levites met the crowds and conducted the pilgrims to the Temple. To the accompaniment of songs, they entered the sanctuary with baskets on their shoulders. At the presentation of the firstfruits, the offerer recited the words of Deuteronomy 26:3-10. As stated above, in the intertestamental and later periods Pentecost came to be regarded as the memorial of the giving of the law at Sinai (Jub 1:1; 6:17). The Sadducees celebrated it on the fiftieth day from the first Sunday after Passover. The Pharisees construed the “sabbath” of Leviticus 23:15 as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and their computation prevailed in Judaism after a.d. 70. Now in the Jewish calendar, Pentecost occurs on different days of the week.

The Church Fathers highly regarded Pentecost. Easter was always on Sunday, so Pentecost was also. Between Easter and Pentecost there was to be no fasting. Praying was done standing rather than kneeling. During this time, catechumens were baptized. Many expected, because the Ascension had taken place near Pentecost, that Christ would return in the same season. The custom, still common in the Roman Catholic Church and among Protestants who observe the ecclesiastical calendar, is to celebrate the festival for two days. The practice of dressing in white preparatory to baptism on Pentecost gave rise to the name “Whitsunday” (for “Whitesunday”).

It is a popular custom among Jews on Pentecost (Weeks) to eat dairy products and cheese cakes in honor of the law, which has been compared to “honey and milk” (Song of Solomon 4:11). A meat repast follows the milk meal, both meals recalling the offering of two loaves of bread in the Temple.

Bibliography E. Auerbach, “The Feast in Ancient Israel” (in German), Vet Test, VIII, 1ff.; Jew Enc, IX (1905), 592ff.; H. Schauss, The Jewish Festivals (1938), 86ff.; S. M. Gilmour, “Easter and Pentecost,” JBL, LXXXI (Mar 1962), 62-66; J. C. Rylaarsdam, “Weeks, Feast of,” IDB, IV (1962), 827, 828; J. M. Chinitz, “Elusive Revelation,” Judith 14 (Spring, 1965), 187, no. 4; G. Friedrich, ed., TDNT, VI (1968), 44-53.