Welcome
Counting the Omer 2023 began the evening of Thursday, April 6 and ended the evening of Thursday, May 25.
- Blessed are you that your eyes see and your ears hear
- The Manna is prophetically connected to Chag HaMatzot and Yom HaBikkurim
- The day that the symbolic Manna ceased was Nisan 16
- Measuring our lives by the Bread out of Heaven
- Forty-nine days of measuring our lives by the Manna of Messiah
- The 49 days of Counting the Omer
Blessed are you that your eyes see and your ears hear:
נגשו התלמידים ושאלו: מדוע אתה מדבר אליהם במשלים? השיב ואמר: מפני שלכם נתן לדעת את סודות מלכות השמים, אך להם לא נתן. כי מי שיש לו נתון ינתן לו ושפע יהיה לו, אך מי שאין לו, גם מה שיש לו ילקח ממנו. לכן במשלים אני מדבר אליהם, כי בראותם אינם רואים ובשמעם אינם שומעים אף אינם מבינים. ומתקימת בהם נבואת ישעיהו לאמר: שמעו שמוע ואל-תבינו וראו ראו ואל-תדעו. השמן לב-העם הזה ואזניו הכבד ועיניו השע, פן-יראה בעיניו ובאזניו ישמע ולבבו יבין, ושב ורפא לו. אשרי עיניכם הרואות ואזניכם השומעות. אמן. אומר אני לכם, נביאים וצדיקים רבים נכספו לראות את אשר אתם רואים ולא ראו, ולשמע את אשר אתם שומעים ולא שמעו.פ
The talmidim came and asked, “Why do you speak to them in meshalim?” He answered and said: “Because to you it is given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For to one who has, it will surely be given, and he will have abundance; but for one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken from him. That is why I speak to them in meshalim. For in their seeing they will not see, and in their hearing they will not hear, nor do they even understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Yeshayah (Isaiah):
“Listen well, but you will not understand. Look closely, but you will not know. Fatten the heart of this nation (Israel), and make its ears heavy and seal its eyes, so it will not see with its eyes or hear with its ears or understand with its heart or repent and be healed.”
“Blessed (אשרי-ashrei, happy) are you that your eyes see and your ears hear. For I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and have not heard. “
The Manna is prophetically connected to Chag HaMatzot and Yom HaBikkurim:
“On the day after the Passover (Nisan 15/16), on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day after (Nisan 16/17) they had eaten some of the produce of the land (Yom HaBikkurim, Day of Firstfruits), so that the people of Israel no longer had manna.” (Joshua 5:11-12)
Immediately, the day after the unleavened bread was consumed in eretz Israel the symbolic manna ceased. This is a picture of our appetite for the things of HaShem. Once the Bread of Affliction was eaten in the promised land then it was for us as if we had consumed the Food of our Healing. Our insides were changed, our cleansed appetites were changed, we became hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and so we were filled (שבע-satiated, satisfied). Thereafter, we did not need the symbolic manna on the day of *Nisan 16/17 because we had already received the real (true) Bread of Heaven instead.
*Why are two dates (Nisan 16/17) given instead of just one? (Nisan 16). Read about the Mystery of the Hidden Day.
Let us begin to try to explain this connection in more detail by asking and answering the Pesach question:
What is the Bread of our Affliction and the Bread of our Healing?
In the Torah matzah is sometimes called the “Bread of Affliction” (Deuteronomy 16:3). However, it is not “of affliction” because it is unleavened but it is unleavened because it had been born out of affliction. In other words, since our ancestors – the children of Israel – had no time to prepare their bread on account of their affliction the bread had no time to rise.
The matzah then is not so much the remembrance of bondage as it is the remembrance of deliverance from bondage.
Matzah is called the Bread of Affliction but it is also called the Food of Healing. First comes the Food of Faith (believe). Then comes the Food of (our) Healing. Believe and be healed. What is it that is both a Bread of Affliction and the Food of our Healing? It is literally the bread of the affliction of the *poverty of Messiah that is food for our healing.
*God made the one who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
This means that in our present state of affliction we are powerless to affect the perfect righteousness that God desires to reside in all our hearts, souls, minds and bodies. However, the Bread of Messiah’s Affliction is sufficiently powerful to permanently cleanse us and effect perfect healing for our souls. Therefore, when we eat this bread we profess the power of Messiah’s Bread of Affliction – sacrificial, redemptive death – that is sufficient to save and heal our souls; until the resurrection day Messiah comes again to heal our bodies as well.
Messiah is not only the Bread out of Heaven that is associated with the symbol of manna but he is also the Bread of Affliction that is the Bread of our Healing. According to the prophetic narrative of Joshua 5:11-12, when we receive by emunah (faith) the real Bread of our Healing (on Nisan 14-15) then it is as if we received the real Bread of Heaven as well (on Nisan 16). This means that the Person of the Messiah is the One sent to us from HaShem to be our:
Bread from Heaven (הלחם מן השמים);
Bread of Affliction/Poverty (לחם עוני);
Bread of God (לחם האלוהים);
Bread of Life (לחם החיים).
The day that the symbolic Manna ceased was Nisan 16:
The day that the symbolic manna ceased to be was Nisan 16. This is also the day of HaBikkurim when we begin Counting the Omer. In Temple times during the gathering of the firstfruits of the barley harvest a sheaf of barley was waved before HaShem.
The word sheaf in Hebrew is omer; this term simply means a dry measure equal to about five pints.
The term firstfruits is derived from the Hebrew word re’shiyth. This special word means “the first of its kind.” The omer is a dry measure that is equal to the amount of manna that was allocated as a daily portion of food while the people of Israel journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land. The word “manna” comes from the interrogative pronoun “mah” that means what, of what kind. Therefore the meaning of the word manna is:
“What is this?”
An omer contains a portion equal to the manna that was assigned to each individual for his daily allotment of food while Israel was transiting from the wilderness to the Promised Land. The answer to the riddle of “What is this?” is:
“Who is This?”
Messiah is the answer to the mystery. Messiah is the Mystery. All of the mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed through our exercising true faith in him. Our heavenly Father measures all of our lives by the Measure/Omer of the Messiah.
Messiah is the Omer of God. He is the full measure and stature of perfection that HaShem desires for all of us to be.
The Anointed One of God is HaAdam HaAcharon (אדם האחרון-the Last Adam). Rabbi Yeshua is the first of his kind. He is the perfect one (Adam). He is the person that GOD our Father desires all of the human race to be like (1, 2). Therefore, it is the will of our righteous Father that we all redeemed humankind shall grow up to the full measure (אל השיעור המלא) and stature of the Messiah (אל הקומתו המלא של המשיח); whose perfect life is the blessed means by which Abba Avinu shall one day perfect us all!
Measuring our lives by the true Bread out of Heaven:
Question: How do we daily measure our lives by the life of the Messiah?
Answer: We accurately measure the content of our lives by conforming ourselves to the teaching of the Messiah.
What way could we better count the 49-days than to examine ourselves by the 49 meshalim of Messiah? What better way could we count the seven weeks that prepared our Jewish ancestors for receiving the gift of the Father, His Living Torah, the Indwelling Presence of the Spirit of the Holy One, than to meditate on the teachings of M’shicho, His Messiah. Regarding this matter keep in mind four points:
Point #1. The truth that precedes all other truths, the key (singular) mystery (סוד-sod) of the kingdom of God (מלכות האלהים) that precedes our receiving the keys (plural) that unlock all of the secrets (סודות-sodot) of the kingdom of heaven (מלכות השמים) is that M’shicho is the true Manna from Heaven!
Point #2. The omer is a derivative measurement of the volume of a one day portion of manna. Therefore, the omer derives its spiritual messianic meaning and purpose from the Torah meaning of the manna.
Point #3. When using the omer we are asking, “How does this measure up with that?” We are asking, “How does something measure up to the Manna?”
Point #4. Therefore, from a literal point of view, when we retrace our journey out of Egypt to Mount Sinai – Israel and the Commonwealth of Israel – we are daily measuring the contents of our own inner-life by the measure of the manna. Since Messiah is the Manna from Heaven it only makes sense that we would be reading and meditating on his teaching during this very special time of the year.
Forty-nine days of measuring our lives by the Manna of Messiah:
The Jewish calendar year we are in now is 5783.
In chapters twenty to sixty-nine of the Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim we will be providing a summary of the forty-nine meshalim of Messiah; along with his seven “I Am” sayings. This year we began the Counting of the Omer (Nisan 16-Day 1) the evening of Thursday, April 6, 2023.
*Yom Rishon, the first day of the Jewish week, begins Saturday evening and ends Sunday evening.
We are posting Sefirat HaOmer (ספירת העומר) calendar just below in honor of the Messiah. The actual historical day of Rabbeinu Yeshua’s resurrection on Ha-Bikkurim—Techiyat Ha-Mashiach, Year 3790 (Nisan 16/17)—was on the first day of Firstfruits, on a Sunday morning. The resurrection of Messiah Yeshua ben Yosef, the Suffering Messiah, is our spiritual reference point for our observing HaBikkurim this year and all future years; until the day the Messiah Yeshua ben David, the Conquering Messiah, triumphantly returns to us from heaven.
In the Rabbi Yeshua’s last days here on earth he resurrected from the dead on the first day of Firstfruits (*Nisan 16/17); he observed Pesach Sheni (the Second Passover) thirty days after Pesach (Iyyar 14/15); appeared to over 500 people over a period of forty days; ascended into heaven on the fortieth day (Iyyar 25/26); and on the fiftieth day (Sivan *6/7), just as our prophets of righteous memory foretold, he sent to a remnant of Israel the gift of our heavenly Father – the gift of the Indwelling Presence of His Holy Spirit
*Why are two dates (Nisan 16/17) given for the day of Rabbi Yeshua’s resurrection instead of one? (Nisan 16). Read about the Mystery of the Hidden Day.
The 49 Days of Counting the Omer:
The meshalim of Messiah are brief stories constructed out of very short, little wise sayings, proverbs, and allegories. Yet, all of these small narratives possess a sense of unending great mystery. Some of the parables are lengthy. Some of the proverbs and allegories are incredibly brief. For example: The Seed that multiplies by dying and the Vinedresser, Vine & Branches. All of the meshalim listed above contain a single central message. However, keep this in mind: there are innumerable peripheral (supernatural) insights that can be gleaned/gained from just one mashal.
Counting the Omer 2023 began the evening of Thursday, April 6 and ended the evening of Thursday, May 25.
A Sefirat HaOmer 2023 calendar is provided at the very bottom of this page – lower left hand corner – under “Study Tools.” This calendar includes the Jewish Calendar dates Nisan 16, 5783 – Sivan 5, 5783.
The 49 Days of Counting the Omer:
Counting of the Omer, Sefirat HaOmer (ספירת העומר), sometimes abbreviated as Sefira or the Omer is an important verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the Jewish holidays of Pesach (חג הפסח) and Shavuot (חג השבועות).
Shavuot 2023 began in the evening of Thursday, May 25 (Sivan 6) and ended in the evening of Friday, May 27 (Sivan 7).
The 49 meshalim (משלים, משלי-parables; מָשָׁל-parable, allegory, proverb) of the Messiah that we will be reflecting upon this year during the 49 days of Counting the Omer are presented in their proper chronological order as we believe they were actually taught by the Messiah.
The parables of Messiah are simple stories and very brief (little, small) wise sayings (proverbs, allegories). Yet, all of the meshalim of the Messiah possess a sense of unending mystery. Some of the narratives are lengthy. Some of the proverbs are incredibly brief. Yet there are innumerable supernatural insights that can be gained from just one parable.