Signification of the couting of the Omer, the sfirat haomer*
Sixth
day of the omer this evening!
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 Tradition, 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.
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:
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
- 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!
