Sivan 3rd Month (May-June). This is the month GOD chose to give us His Word and His Spirit, two gifts of provision!
Bible scholars call Sivan the “The Month of Giving.” This is the time GOD chose to give mankind two life changing gifts of provision –His Word and His Spirit. Shavuot,the anniversary of the giving of the Torah to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai; and Pentecost, the giving of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room. These two gifts are the spiritual foundations of our faith and together they forever changed the way believers live and relate to our Heavenly Father.
Sivan is the 3rd month on the Biblical Calendar. However, on the Jewish civil calendar it is the 9th month and on the Gregorian calendar used today, Sivan begins in late May (May 24, 2020) and runs for 30 days until (June 22, 2020). This special time on the Biblical calendar is also is known as the Feast of Weeks since it is the 50th day after counting 7 weeks from Passover in the Counting of the Omer. According to Bible scholar Sam Nadler, author of “Messiah in the Feasts of Israel”; “Pentecost means “fiftieth” (day), a word used to translate the Hebrew Shavuot. This holiday had come to its fulfillment fifty days after Messiah’s resurrection.”
Shavuot or Feast of Weeks begins at sunset on Thursday, May 28, 2020 and ends at nightfall on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments are read in synagogues, just as they were in the desert on Mt. Sinai over 3,300 years ago. It is associated with the grain harvest in the Torah and is observed by abstaining from work and attending synagogue services.
In 2020 the date for Pentecost is Sunday, May 31. To be clear, Pentecost is a Christian holy day that celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit 40 days after Easter. Some Christian denominations consider it the birthday of the Christian church and celebrate it as such. Originally, Pentecost was a Jewish holiday held 50 days after Passover. This Appointed Time or Feast of the Lord is the second of the three pilgrim festivals commanded by GOD and can be found in scripture:
Exodus 24:12-13 Complete Jewish Bible
12 Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.” 13 Moshe got up, also Y’hoshua his assistant; and Moshe went up onto the mountain of God.
Exodus 34:22 King James Version (KJV)
“And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.”
Exodus 34:22 Tree of Life Version (TLV)
22 “You are to observe the Feast of Shavuot, which is the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, as well as the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times during the year all your males are to appear before ADONAI Elohim, God of Israel. 24 For I am going to cast out nations before you, then enlarge your territory. So, no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before ADONAI your God three times in the year.
Acts 2:1-7 Complete Jewish Bible
The festival of Shavu‘ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. 2 Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak. 5 Now there were staying in Yerushalayim religious Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered; they were confused, because each one heard the believers speaking in his own language.
These two foundational events in the Old and New Testaments shared many similarities. Bible scholar Sam Nadler describes it this way:
Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, was trained by his mentor Paul to understand the work of God in Messiah from a Biblically Jewish frame of reference. Luke depicts the events of Acts 2 as a second “Mount Sinai experience.” When the Law was given, there was fire and noise as God descended on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18-20). When the Spirit was given there was fire and noise as well (Acts 2:2-3). The rabbis comment in the Talmud that when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai, “Every single word that went forth from the Omnipotent was split up into seventy languages for the nations of the world. 2” When the Holy Spirit was given, men from every nation spoke in other languages as the Spirit enabled them: “Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:4-5).
One of my favorite writers on the topic of the biblical calendar is Chuck Pierce, who is the author of the book, “A Time to Advance: Understanding the Significance of the Hebrew Tribes and Months.” I often quote his research. According to Pierce, “Sivan is the month of receiving your boundaries. The month to be merciful. The month of alignment (Moses, Miriam, Aaron).” In his book, Pierce describes the characteristics and attributes of each Biblical month and tells readers what God wants us to focus on in the spiritual realm during each month. Here is a link to some of the features for the month of Sivan – https://godtime.blog/sivan-guidance-insight/
