folah78 wrote:
Was the commandment for the counting of the omer and the feast of Shavuot celebration (Lev. 23) given before the giving of the Torah on Sinai ?


No.


folah78 wrote:
IS there any command in the Torah that the feast of Shavuot is related to the giving of the Torah ?
Is the giving of the Torah in Ex.19 the first Shavuot or was the Torah given on Shavuot ?
Is the giving of the Torah in Ex.19 the first Shavuot or was the Torah given on Shavuot ?
Is that third day the 6th of Sivan ?


The nation of Yisraél left Ra'amsés in Goshen “in the morning after the Pesaḥ”, i.e. in the morning of 15th Nisan 2448 (approx. 27th March 1476BCE) and travelled to Sukkot (Sh'mot 12:37, B'midbar 33:3-5), where they camped overnight before travelling onward the following day to Eitam “which was at the edge of the desert” (Sh'mot 13:20, B'midbar 33:6). There, God instructed Moshĕh...

“Now tell the people to turn back and camp at Pi-Haḥirot between the Tower (Hebrew migdol) and the sea, in front of the Ba'al-Tz'fon [‘Northern Ba'al’]—have them camp by the sea opposite it. Then the Pharaoh will say about Yisraél, ‘They have gotten lost in the land; the desert has closed in on them!’...”
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had escaped, he and his advisers changed their minds; “What have we done,” they said, “releasing Yisraél from our service?” So he hitched up his chariot and, taking his army with him... he chased after Yisraél (Sh'mot 14:2-3)


The French mediæval Bible commentator Rashi, quoting the Midrash M'chilta, explains:

The Pharaoh sent agents with them and, when they reached the three days’ distance that it had been agreed for the people to go and then come back, and it became obvious that they had no intention of returning to Egypt, the agents came back on the 4th day and reported this to the Pharaoh. He chased after them throughout the fifth and sixth days overtaking them on the sixth day in the evening; they crossed the sea during the night before the seventh day and sang the “Song” [Sh'mot 15:1-18] the following morning—the seventh day of Pesaḥ... which is why the “Song” is the ceremonial Torah-reading on the seventh day of the Festival.


The account of the people’s travels in B'midbar continues

...Then they left Eitam and turned back towards Pi-Haḥirot which is in front of the Ba'al-Tz'fon, where they camped in front of the Tower; then they left Pi-Haḥirot and passed through the middle of the sea into the desert: they travelled through the Eitam Desert for three days, and camped at Marah... (B'midbar 33:7-8)


while the Sh'mot narrative says

Moshĕh drove Yisraél onwards from the Suf Sea and they emerged into the Shur Desert. They travelled through the desert for three days without finding water and then they arrived at Marah, but they couldn't drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—which is why they called it ‘Marah’ [Hebrew for ‘bitter’]... (Sh'mot 15:23).


Thus, Yisraél crossed the Suf Sea on 21st Nisan 2448 and reached Marah on 24th Nisan. They then travelled onwards to the oasis at Élim “where there were 12 fountains and 70 palm trees” (Sh'mot 15:27, B'midbar 33:9). From there, according to the account in B'midbar,

...they left Élim and camped by the Suf Sea;
then they left the Suf Sea and camped in the Sin Desert;
then they left the Sin Desert and camped at Dofkah;
then they left Dofkah and camped at Alush;
then they left Alush and camped at R'fidim...
then they left R'fidim and camped in the Sinai Desert. (B'midbar 33:10-15)


The Sh'mot narrative omits several stages of the journey, but it does give the date of their arrival in the Sin Desert (“which is between Élim and Sinai”)—15th Iyyar (Sh'mot 16:1), a month after the Exodus. It then describes the provision of “man”, which “they ate for forty years, until they reached habitable land—until they arrived at the border of the land of K'na'an” (Sh'mot 16:4-35). The abridged account in Sh'mot 17:1ff omits the stops at Dofkah and Alush, but hints at a cross-reference to the full account in the B'midbar passage...

“Then the whole congregation of Yisraél travelled away from the Sin Desert l'mas'eihem al pi adonai (‘on their journeys [as dictated] by Adonai’s Mouth’), and camped at R'fidim...” (Sh'mot 17:1)


because the opening words of the account in B'midbar include exactly the same phrase,

Moshĕh wrote down all their departures l'mas'eihem al pi adonai—‘on their journeys [as dictated] by Adonai’s Mouth’.” (B'midbar 33:2)


Leaving R'fidim after the battle with 'Amalék (Sh'mot 17:8-13), who launched an unprovoked and cowardly attack on them targeting the old and the weak who were travelling at the rear (D'varim 25:18), Yisraél moved on into the Sinai Desert, where they arrived on 1st Sivan...

On [the first day of] the third month, reckoned from the Yisraél’s departure from Egypt—on that exact day—they arrived in the Sinai Desert. They had left R'fidim and entered the Sinai Desert where they camped in the desert—Yisraél camped there opposite the Mountain. Then Moshĕh climbed up to God... (Sh'mot 19:1-3)


On his first ascent of the Mountain, Moshĕh was given preliminary instructions to pass on to the people about the “agreement” that God was going to make with them. He descended the next day (the 2nd of the month) and passed these on (Sh'mot 19:4-7), and climbed the mountain again on the 3rd of the month to report back to God their response—

“We will do everything that Adonai has said” (Sh'mot 19:8)


On the 4th of the month, God sent Moshĕh back yet again with a warning they had that day and the next day to prepare themselves for the Divine Revelation that was going to take place two days later (Hebrew: “on the 3rd day”—Sh'mot 19:10-11), i.e. on the 6th of the month.

The sequence of events was therefore as follows

  • 1st SivanYisraél’s arrival at Ḥorév; Mosheh immediately climbs the Mountain for the first time
  • 2nd SivanMoshĕh returns to give the people their preliminary instructions: they reply “We will do everything that Adonai has said”)
  • 3rd SivanMoshĕh’s second ascent of the Mountain (to report back to God the people’s response)
  • 4th SivanMoshĕh returns again to warn the people they have that day and the following day to prepare themselves
  • 5th Sivan—second day for preparations
  • 6th Sivan—the Divine Revelation takes place.


What happened on that first Shavu'ot, 6th Sivan 2448 (about 15th May 1476BCE) at Mount Ḥorév in the Sinai Desert, was, and remains, without precedent or parallel in the history of the World. The Midrash Sh'mot Rabbah (ch.29, para. 9) describes it like this:

“Heralded by an awesome pyrotechnic display of thunder, lightning, fire, smoke and a fanfare of horns, the Sh'chinah (‘Holy Presence’) descended onto Mount Ḥorév. The scene was set for the most awe-inspiring moment in the history of the World: no insect chirped, no bird flew, no creature made a sound, even the Ministering Angels surrounding the Divine Throne interrupted their continuous chant of kadosh, kadosh, kadosh (‘Holy, Holy, Holy’). The seas froze, the winds were stilled and the vastness of the entire Universe fell quiet. Only when there was absolute silence did a Voice issue forth from Heaven, proclaiming to the assembled Jews:
‘I AM ADONAI, YOUR GOD’!”


To be continued...


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Last Edited By: ProfBenTziyyon Wed, 9-May-12 19:03:35. Edited 4 times.