Signification of
the couting of the
Omer,
the sfirat haomer
ספירת העמר
A process of sanctification
Omer, עמר,
means "sheaf" and it is also a measure.
ADONAI
said to Moshe, "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'After you enter the
land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring
a sheaf,
omer, עמר
of
the firstfruits of your harvest
to the cohen. He is to wave the
sheaf
before ADONAI, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave
it on the day after the Shabbat. On the day that you wave the
sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb without defect, in its first
year, as a burnt offering for ADONAI. Its grain offering is to
be one gallon of fine flour mixed with olive oil, an offering
made by fire to ADONAI as a fragrant aroma; its drink offering
is to be of wine, one quart. You are not to eat bread, dried grain
or fresh grain
until
the day you bring the offering for your God; this is a permanent
regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.
"'From the day after the day of rest-- that is, from the day you
bring the sheaf,
omer עמר
for
waving-- you are to count seven full weeks, until the day after
the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are
to present a new grain offering to ADONAI. You must bring bread
from your homes for waving-- two loaves made with one gallon of
fine flour, baked with leaven-- as firstfruits for ADONAI.
Leviticus
23:9-17
On
the second day of Pesach, called a Shabbat, the counting of the
seven weeks begins and an omer, a sheaf of the first fruits
has to be brought: this sheaf or omer is the image of the
Resurrection:
But
the fact is that the Messiah
has
been raised from the dead, the firstfruits
of
those who have died. 1 Corinthians 15:20
This
first sheaf offering was of barley; the next offering which had
to be brought at the end of the seven weeks was that of wheat:
This
is a symbol of EVOLUTION AND MATURITY
Barley,
which is a cereal, is harvested earlier than wheat and is less
evolved than it; this new grain symbolizes the result of a spiritual
maturity obtained through the process of sanctification.
These
seven weeks then, correspond to seven
weeks
of purification. As the counting ascends, we too are climbing
up.
According
to the Zohar, the Israelites descended downwards to the
49th
level of impurity while they were in Egypt, a source of idolatry. They were not ready to receive
the gift of the Torah and needed purification; this is what the
counting of the omer teaches us.
The
Exodus is mentioned fifty times in the Torah and corresponds to
the fifty levels of sanctification required to receive the Torah
on the fiftieth day.
[1] [1]
These
49 days or steps are passed through and the ascension to the throne
of sanctity is suggested to us by the dream Yaakov had
as he was fleeing from his brother Esav. He saw a ladder
going up to heaven and G-d inviting him to go up step by step
(*Gen
28:12).
It
is when we are in Yeshua and through the work of His Spirit
that we are given the ability to pass though these steps of sanctification:
Natan'el
said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra'el!"
Yeshua
answered him, "you believe all this just because I told you I
saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than
that!"
Then
he said to him, "Yes indeed! I
tell
you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going
up and coming down (*) on the Son of Man! John 1:49-52
At
the end of this counting, comes the Feast of Shavuot (which means
the Feast of the Weeks), and also the receiving of the Torah and
the Day of Pentecost when
the disciples received the gift of the Ruach Hakodesh,
the Holy Spirit, who engraved the Torah on
their
hearts!
These
seven weeks also
represents
the spiritual progress that leads us to bear the fruits of the
Ruach Hakodesh,
meant to
transform
our old man into mature disciples, filled with wisdom in His image:
But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing
in the Torah stands against such things. Galatians 5:22 -23
The
seven weeks are mentioned in the counting of the seven years to
reach the Shmitah, the rest year. Then at the end
of the seven year cycle comes the fiftieth
called
the Yovel, Jubilee. This final year is calling everyone
to freedom.
Pesach
sets us free but doesn't yet mature us; we must first be educated
and restored in our thinking to become a holy people, who are
beyond the drinking of milk and are ready to eat meat, as G-d
requires.
In
the "Ethics of the Fathers" we find a mishna that teaches us that
Torah can be obtained through forty eight ways (6:6
[2] [2]):
Torah
is
greater
than priesthood and kingship. For kingship can be obtained through
thirty ways of perfection and priesthood with twenty ways but
it requires forty eight for the Torah:
-
Through
study:
Let the Word of the Messiah, in all its richness, live in you,
as you teach and counsel each other in all wisdom, and as you
sing psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs with gratitude to God in your hearts. Colossians 3:16
[3] [3]
-
Through
practice:
Don't
deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do
it! James 1:22
-
Good
disposal of the saying of our lips:
ADONAI,
open my lips; then my mouth will praise you.
Psalms
51:15
- Through
discernment of the heart:
But
solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been
trained by continuous exercise to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14
Let's
also mention patience, trust in the Word, the love
of
our neighbor, offerings, the love of correction, banishing pride,
sharing the burdens, studying in order to teach, etc.
The
seven weeks of counting symbolically brings us through the steps
of sanctification, to resemble the One Who is the living Bread. These
different steps are mirrored by the steps and tests that the children
of Israel
went through while coming out of Egypt.
G-d
calls us to perfection and we will find the way in Him, step by
step:
It
is not that I have already obtained it or already reached the
goal - no,
I keep pursuing it in the hope of taking hold of that for which
the Messiah Yeshua took hold of me. Brothers, I, for my part,
do not think of myself as having yet gotten hold of it; but one
thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining forward
toward what lies ahead, I keep pursuing the goal in order to win
the prize offered by God's upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua. Philippians
3:12-14
Pesach:
The
free gift, grace; G-d intervenes without Moshe for the last plague
which will finally set the Sons of Israel free.
The seven weeks of the omer:
A
symbolic time under the number seven, that of perfection: 49 days
to "work at our salvation" and sanctification.
Shavuot:
On the fiftieth day is the Jubilee: the glorious
freedom of the children of G-d:
The
Torah is engraved on the hearts and will produce men and women
at the full stature of the Messiah!
May
we be transformed from glory to glory to become the pure and spotless
Bride He expects!
Celebration
of the counting:
The
counting begins on the second day of Pesach for 49 days and on
the fiftieth comes Shavuot, which will fall this year on:
Thursday evening June 1st
We
are commanded to count each day the omer:
ברוך אתה
יהוה אלהינו
מלך העולם אשר
קדשנו במצותיו
וצונו על ספירת
העמר
Baroukh
ata Hashem, melekh haolam, asher kideishanu beimitzvotav veitzivanu
al sfirat haomer
Be
blessed Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who sanctified
us through His commandments, and commanded us to count the omer
This
prayer is followed with the reading of the Psalm 67 which is composed
of 49 words (in Hebrew with the counting of the linked
words).
We
invite you to count the days and to meditate on the steps of sanctification
which open our heart to His Word!
Chag
Sameakh!
חג שמח
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