Most people familiar with the Pentecost—or Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks—associate the Jewish holiday with the Book of Ruth. After all, the most exciting events of Ruth’s story occurred during the time of Shavuot at Bethlehem’s wheat harvest (Ruth 2:23). It’s no wonder today that many people include reading of the Book of Ruth as part of their celebration of Shavuot.
Although I absolutely love the Book of Ruth, Shavuot more often causes my mind to wander further west of Bethlehem—down into the Shephelah.
It’s unlikely anybody celebrates the Pentecost at such an unlikely place as Beth Shemesh.
But a practical application urges us to do so.
The last time I stood on the site of ancient Beth Shemesh in the Sorek Valley, I thought about the days of the judges.
Years before Samson, the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant, eventually returning it on a cart up the Sorek Valley.
The curiosities of both Samson and the people of Beth Shemesh offer an interesting contrast. Samson had a curiosity about sin and the people a curiosity about God’s holiness.
Ironically, the first made the second just as disastrous.
Beth Shemesh stood as Judah’s most important city in the Sorek Valley, because it guarded the diagonal route leading to Lachish as well as a critical approach to the Hill Country.
Not surprisingly, the archaeologist’s spade has unearthed history there.
Shavuot also bears the name “Feast of Weeks,” because it comes seven weeks after the feast of Passover.
For centuries, God’s prophets anticipated that a promised “New Covenant” would write the Law on the hearts of God’s people through the giving of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 59:20-21; Jeremiah 31:31-34).
True, Beth Shemesh seems an unlikely place to remember Shavuot. But the events that occurred in the Sorek Valley at the Pentecost wheat harvest cause us to consider the outcome of lives like Samson and the Levites of Beth Shemesh.
It is precisely by observing such lives that our dedication to the fulfillment of the Pentecost offers such hope.
In view of our own weaknesses, the holiday challenges us to adopt a renewed commitment to live according to Holy Scripture—only by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tell me what you think: What occurs in your life that renews your passion for God’s Word? To leave a comment, just click here.