Why Do We Count The Omer?
What is the Omer? Why do we count it? How do we count it? Are we commanded to count it or is it just a tradition? Is it just a Jewish thing? Where does the counting of the Omer fall on the Hebrew calendar? Rood Crew member Matthew Hall tackles these questions and more on the significance of the Omer in our lives today.
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It's time to count the Omer!
Homers! yeah baby!
It's baseball season! It's time to count the homers! Okay so all joking aside,
counting the Omer is actually what we do between the day of first fruits and
Shavuot. We also known it as Pentecost. In other
words it's the fifty days between Christ's resurrection and the giving of the Holy
Spirit. Another cool fact is that the counting of the Omer has been around
since the Israelites were in the desert. Even the disciples counted the Omer in
their time because they were commanded to do so in Leviticus 23:15-16
So the word Omer is actually a measure of a grain offering. It refers to
the measure of barley that was used as a wave offering on the day of firstfruits
in the temple. There's also another grain offering that was given fifty days later
on Shavuot, but it actually uses wheat. That's because Shavuot marks the wheat
harvest and the day of firstfruits marks the barley harvest. Each day during this
period we are to count down to Shavuot. A double celebration! Another great thing
about Shavuot, it's the actual day that the Commandments were given on Mount
Sinai. Not only that, it's the day that the Holy
Spirit was given and poured out on the disciples. And this is my favorite part!
This is just God's way of letting us know that His word and His spirit are
one in the same. For more information on celebrating
Shavuot, visit us online at aroodawakening.com/Omer. I'm Matthew Hall
and this has been another Rood Crew Review. See you next time!
Don't forget to like and subscribe for more Rood Crew Reviews. Be sure to visit our website.
Shalom!
