Shavuot, the Ten Commandment, and the State of Israel
We are now three days away from Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks! The Feast
of Shavuot is often associated with the revelation at Sinai in which
the Almighty proclaimed the Ten Commandments directly to the ancient
Israelites. Scripture never actually connects Shavuot with this event.
In the Torah, Shavuot is also known as the “Day of
Firstfruits” (Numbers 28:26) and the “Feast of Harvest” (Exodus
23:16). However, the revelation of Sinai does appear to have taken
place around the same time as Shavuot. The section in the Torah on the
Ten Commandments opens with the statement that the Israelites arrived
in the Sinai Desert on the 3rd month, but does not state on which day
of the month this was (Exodus 19:1). The Hebrew phrase “on the 3rd
month” can also mean “on the 3rd new moon”. Shavuot itself is not a
fixed day of the month but rather on the 50th day counted from the
morrow after the Sabbath during Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened
Bread). Shavuot can fall out any time from 4th day of the 3rd month
until the 12th, depending on when the “morrow after the Sabbath”
during Chag HaMatzot. This means that the revelation of Sinai might
have taken place on Shavuot, even though this is not stated anywhere
in the Bible. We can say with confidence that the revelation at Sinai
took place around the same time as Shavuot.
Recently I learned about another fascinating connection to Shavuot. In
his new book “Restoring Abrahamic Faith” (available from http://genesis2000.org/),
Professor James Tabor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
argues that the State of Israel was established on the biblical date
of Shavuot. Most history books simply record that the modern Jewish
state was founded on May 14, 1948 and some add that this was the 5th
of Iyyar on the “Jewish” calendar. Of course, Iyyar is the Babylonian
name used by the Rabbis to refer to the 2nd Biblical Month. On page 99
of his book Tabor writes:
“In 1948 the intercalated 13th month, Adar II, was added to the year,
based on [the] mathematical Hillel calendar... However, if one goes by
the observation method, as the Karaite Jews, and refrains from adding
Adar II, everything is moved back one lunar month... This system of
the observed calendar will obviously be restored in the future...”
Tabor concludes that based on the ancient and future biblical calendar
there should not have been a 13th month in 1948 and therefore the
State of Israel was really founded on Shavuot! This certainly is an
exciting suggestion and if nothing else reminds us of the magnitude of
the miracle that took place in 1948. Of course, no one was actually
observing the Aviv in 1948 so there is no way to know for sure whether
the State of Israel was established in the 3rd biblical month or the
2nd. Nevertheless, we can say with confidence that the establishment
of the State of Israel took place around the same time as Shavuot.
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