Shebo-Shebetot or Pentacontads
The 7 Shebo-Shebetot also known as the 7 Pentacontads of First Fruits
# Feast of First Fruits Biblical Month Gregorian Month Biblical Date
1 Barley; Waving of Sheaf 1st biblical month Apr 1/26
2 Wheat; “Weeks” 3rd biblical month May 1/26 + 50 = 3/15
3 New Wine / Pentecost 5th biblical month July-Aug 3/15 + 50 = 5/3
4 Oil & Wood 6th biblical month Sept 5/3 + 50 = 6/22
5 (…) 8th biblical month Oct-Nov 6/22 + 50 = 8/10
6 (…) 9th biblical month Dec 8/10 + 50 = 9/29
7 (…) 11th bibl. month Feb 9/29 + 50 = 11/17
((50 days x 7) -7 + (3 x 7) = 364 days)
(49 days + 49 days + 49 days + 49 days + 49 days + 49 days + 70 days = 364 days)
((7 x 7) x 7) + (3 x 7) = 364 days
The Shebo-Shebetot (from the Hebrew שבע שבתות) is the count of seven weeks, which amounts to 49 days (7 x 7 = 49 days). The seven week count is then followed by a 50th day, which is also the 1st day of the next 49 day count.
It is also known as the pentacontad (from the Greek πεντηκοντά pentēkontá), which is the word used in the Septuagint for "fifty". It is also used by experts in the field as an academic term to describe the cycle of 50, as "pentacontad" literally means "count of 50" and echoes the word "Pentecost" πεντηκοστή ("Shavuot" in Hebrew).
The feasts of the Shebo-Shebetot (feast of barley, feast of wheat, feast of new wine, feast of wood...) mark the agricultural harvests of the year, their count also being articulated around the number "7". As the Pentacontads are perpetually celebrated on the 1st day of the week (Sunday), these feasts are means to give thanks to YHWH for the newly gathered harvests are celebrated. YHWH’s calendar is inevitably linked to seasons & harvests.
The “feasts of weeks” are also evidenced in ancient harvest celebration, which were being tracked by the means of counting weeks.
In various biblical laws and stories, we can find some of the Israelite crops listed :
Deuteronomy 8:8 "a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey."
Tobit 1:7 "But I went to Jerusalem at the feasts, according as it is written in the law of the Lord for Israel, with the first fruits and the tithes and the firstlings for the priests, the sons of Aaron ; and grains and new wine and oil and figs and pomegranates and of every fruit of the land for the sons of Levi that ministered before the Lord in Jerusalem."
Biblical Definition of “First Fruits”:
Numbers 18:12-13
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee. And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it.
Deuteronomy 26:2
You must take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land’s produce that you harvest from the land YHWH your God is giving you and put it in a container. Then go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to have His name dwell.
The 7 First Fruit Offerings:
The seven Feasts of FirstFruits, through out the year, are offerings of the first produce of the harvest, on items that are necessary for sustainable living. It is thought that these produce could have included cereals and fruits (vegetables, grains, seeds), liquids (wine, oil), or spices (frankincense), or animals for meat consumption (cattle, heifer, goat, sheep).
As the Calendar showcases a complex articulation around the number 7, the 7 Pentacontads represent therefore the 7 main cycles of harvesting through out the year. The seven full cycles of seven weeks (343 days) lead to closing the year with an additional 21 days, also dividable by 7.
This very ancient count of agricultural count was also retrieved among the Essene Calendrical Scrolls. A list of the different Feasts of First Fruits does appear in the partial remains of the Scrolls. Yet, as time damaged many of the scroll after 2000 years of slumber, only 4 (or possibly 5) names out of those 7 Feasts were preserved: (1) Barley, (2) Wheat, (3) New Wine, (4) Oil and (5?) Wood.
Mishmarot D (4Q325) Fr. 1
[...(In the week of Moaziah is) Passover, on the thi]rd (day of the week).
On the eighteenth (day) in (the first month) is the sabbath of [(the week of) Joiarib] ... in the evening.
On the twenty-fifth (day) in (the first month) is the sabbath of (the week of) Jedaiah.
During the same week is [the Feast] of Barley on the twenty-sixth (day) in (the first month), after the sabbath.
The beginning of the [second] month [is on the s]ixth [day] in Jedaiah.
On the second (day) in (the second month) is the sabbath of Harim.
On the ninth (day) in (the second month) is the sabbath [of Seorim].
On the sixteenth (day) in (the second month) is the sabbath of Malchiah.
On the twenty-third (day) in (the second month) [is the sabbath of M]ijamin.
On the thirtieth (day) in (the second month) is the sabbath of Hakkoz. vacat
The beginning of the third month after the sabbath ...
MMT A i
"... [On the sixteenth of it (of the second month): sabbath.]
On the twenty-third of it: sabbath.
[On] the thir[tie]th [of it: sabbath.
On the seventh of the third month: sabbath.
On the fourteenth of it: sabbath.
On the fifteenth of it: Feast of Weeks.
On the twenty-] II [f]irs[t] of it: sabbath.
[On] the twenty-eighth of it: sabbath.
The first of the sabbath (=Sunday), and the secon[d da]y (=Monday) [and the third are to be added. And the season is complete: ninety-one days.
The first of the fourth month: Memorial day.
On the fourth] III of it: [sabbath.]
On the e[leventh] of it: sabbath.
On the eighteenth of it: sabbath.
On the twenty-fifth of it: sabbath.
On the second of the fift[h] (month): [sa]bb[ath.
On the third of it: Feast of Wine, first after the sabbath (Sunday).]
IV [On the ninth of it: sabbath.]
On the sixteenth of it: sabbath.
On the twenty-third of it: sabbath.
[On the th]irtieth [of it: sabbath.
On the seventh of the sixth (month): sabbath.
On the fourteenth of it: sabbath.
On the twenty-first] V of it: sabbath.
On the twenty-second of it: Feast of Oil, fir[st after the sab]bath (Sunday).
Af[terwards]: offe[ring of Wood]. …."
A few other exemples of First-Fruit Offerings:
Jubilees 15:1-2 "And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee (year 26/50), in the third month, in the middle of the month (the 15th) Abram celebrated the Feast of the Firstfruits of the grain harvest. And he offered new offerings on the altar, the firstfruits of the produce, unto the Lord, an heifer and a goat and a sheep on the altar as a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord; their fruit offerings and their drink offerings he offered upon the altar with frankincense."
Jubilees 13:25-27 "For Abram, and for his seed, a tenth of the first fruits to the Lord, and the Lord ordained it as an ordinance for ever that they should give it to the priests who served before Him, that they should possess it for ever. And to this law there is no limit of days; for He hath ordained it for the generations for ever that they should give to the Lord the tenth of everything, of the seed and of the wine and of the oil and of the cattle and of the sheep. And He gave (it) unto His priests to eat and to drink with joy before Him."
Genesis 4:2-7 "And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect to Abel and to his offering: But to Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said to Cain, Why are you wroth? and why is your countenance fallen? If you do well (if you do your very best), shall you not be accepted? But if you do not well (if you do not do your very best), sin lies at the door."
