The end of the 1st weekly Sabbath

The end of the 1st weekly Sabbath

Leviticus 23:9-15 The counting of the Omer which started on the 18th of Nisan. Which started at sunset and finished at sunset the next day. Now it is now Day 7 – 24th of Nisan and also the 1st of seven weekly Sabbaths.

A. The day after the first weekly Sabbath after Passover was used to start the counting of the Omer of 50 days till the next feast called Pentecost or Shavuot or Feast of Weeks.
One view is that the word “Sabbath” in Leviticus 23:15 referred to the Sabbath at end of the week that Pesach or Passover began, so counting would always begin on a Saturday night during Passover that is after the weekly Sabbath had finished.

B. A view, held by many Orthodox Jews today, the counting of the Omer begins on the second night of Passover, that is, the day after the non-working day of Passover making the Feast of Unleavened Bread that day.
On the second day of Passover, in the days of the Temple, an Omer of barley was cut down and brought to the Temple as an offering. This grain offering was referred to as the Omer.
See verse 11 the word Sabbath is it a weekly Sabbath or a Special Sabbath?

Background reading: – First Fruit Offerings
23:9 The LORD told Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I’m about to give you and gather its produce, you are to bring a sheaf from the first portion of your harvest to the priest, 11 who will offer the sheaf in the LORD’s presence for your acceptance. The priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a one year old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering in the LORD’s presence. 13 Also present a meal offering of two tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with olive oil as an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma. Now as to a drink offering, you are to present a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 You are not to eat bread, parched grain, or fresh grain until that day when you’ve brought the offering of your God. This is to beg an eternal ordinance throughout your generations, wherever you live.”
15 “Starting the day after the Sabbath, count for yourselves seven weeks from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. They are to be complete.
Leviticus 23:9-15


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