Do What Counts

Week Two of Counting the Omer

Suzy Linett, Devar Shalom, Ontario, California

We all prepare for the big moments in life. As children, we prepare for the first day of school, for vacation, for play dates with our friends. As we grow, we prepare for school activities, sports, tests, and graduation. We prepare for jobs, college, trade schools, and adulthood in general. We prepare to have our own families and lives as adults. If we don’t prepare, there are consequences.

Our spiritual lives are a lot like that. We are admonished, “Train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it” (Prov 22:6). We are told to watch and wait. We are told to “Make every effort to present yourself before God as tried and true, as an unashamed worker cutting a straight path with the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). Even Yeshua needed to prepare: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you may also be” (John 14:3). We know the Israelites had to prepare for battle. The woman with the jar of oil anointed and prepared Yeshua for burial (Matt 26:7).

At this season, we are instructed to “Count the Omer.” We are to count a sheaf of barley —an omer—every day from Yom HaBikurim, the day of Firstfruits, to Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks. The offering is to be waved to the Lord. The specifics are found in Leviticus 23:9–22. We are told this is a statute “forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.” Yet, we are not in the land of Israel. We are not all harvesters of barley. What is the application for us today?

During the time of journeying after leaving Egypt, the Israelites did not harvest crops, but the sages taught that counting each day represented spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of Torah at the time of Shavuot. Sefer HaChinuch (published anonymously in 13th century Spain) states that the Hebrew people were only freed from Egypt at Passover in order to receive the Torah at Sinai, an event which is now celebrated on Shavuot, and to fulfill its laws. “Thus, the Counting of the Omer demonstrates how much a Hebrew desires to accept the Torah in his own life” (p. 306).

At the first Passover the Israelites were redeemed, but for what purpose? They were redeemed to become the people of Adonai—the people called by His Name, the people who would take His teaching to the nations, to the world. 

In order to grow from a redeemed slave-nation, the people had to prepare to become the redeemed followers of the Lord God of Israel. In fact, their spiritual renewal during the journey was the foundation of becoming the sons and daughters of God. In the same way, we pray for spiritual renewal for our families to fully live as redeemed followers of Adonai. We see this demonstrated in many synagogues today in which confirmation services are held on Shavuot, at the completion of the Counting of the Omer. I vividly remember my own studies with the rabbi leading up to that service in which my classmates and I recited prayers, read Torah, and gave brief messages. It was the culmination of my Jewish education as a young person. As I think about that event, I am reminded to pray for ongoing spiritual renewal, not only for myself, but for all of the families represented, especially for all of my own family, particularly as they have not yet become believers in the Messiah. 

As the Israelites counted and prepared, so we count and prepare our children. As Israel became a nation, so we draw closer in our families and as part of the greater Messianic family.

The giving of Torah on Mount Sinai brought order and a moral code to the people. Years later, this would lead to the promise in Jeremiah 31:30–32:

“Behold, days are coming”

—it is a declaration of Adonai—

“when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah—

not like the covenant

I made with their fathers

in the day I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

For they broke My covenant,

though I was a husband to them.”

it is a declaration of Adonai.

“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”

—it is a declaration of Adonai—

“I will put My Torah within them.

Yes, I will write it on their heart.

I will be their God

and they will be My people.”

The Counting of the Omer marks the days from becoming free to becoming a nation. The counting for Messianic believers today leads from the Written Word to the Living Word in our hearts. The count itself is Messianic, it is prophetic, and its implications and meanings are eternal.  

What do we do while we count? We prepare. We prepare our children. We pray for our families, reminding them of the importance of preparation and readiness. We remember the parables of those who were not ready as in Matthew 25:1–13, when the wise were prepared, but the foolish were not.

On the day the first omer of barley was brought to the Temple, a countdown begins to the next Festival of Adonai, Shavuot. During the time of the count, the wheat crop ripens and becomes ready for harvest. So, Shavuot also is a harvest festival. 

Now let’s jump forward to Messiah’s instructions in Luke 24:49: “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Acts 1:4: “Now while staying with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father promised—which, He said, ‘you heard from Me.’” John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Ruach ha-Kodesh whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I said to you.”

These verses speak of the events in Acts 2, with the tongues of fire and outpouring of the Ruach HaKodesh. The “Counting of the Omer,” and the empowerment by the Ruach HaKodesh on Shavuot are intertwined. The establishment of Israel as a modern nation in 1948 occurred during this time of Counting of the Omer, waiting for the Ruach, waiting for the Promise of the Father. 

The Counting of the Omer is a time of spiritual preparation. For followers of Yeshua, this time has special significance. It was during this time that the risen Messiah appeared to two disciples while they traveled to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–31). He appeared to the apostles twice (John 20:19–29). He appeared another time to 500 people and then to James (1 Cor 15:6–7). He appeared to seven while they fished (John 21:1–14). On the 40th day of the Omer, paralleling the 40 days Yeshua fasted in the wilderness, the 40 days it rained for the flood, the 40 years of wandering, and more, Yeshua ascended after commanding His followers to wait and continue in prayer and preparation for the “promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4).

When Shavuot arrived, they were gathered together in one place. They were in one accord. They were prepared. They had come together as believers in Yeshua. They had set aside their differences and arguments about who would be the greatest in heaven, or who Yeshua loved the most, and everything else. They had the witness. They were obedient. They were in unity. They were prepared. The message is also for us—prepare, wait for His promises, study, pray, be obedient to His call to take His love into the world.  Keep the feast.

Scripture quotations are from the TLV.