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God’s ultimate desire is family. Through Shavuot’s harvest themes, the Book of Ruth, and the gift of Yeshua, Father invites all into His eternal family.

Does God want a wheat harvest? Does God want souls?

No, no, no! He is our Father, the only True and Living God. Father wants a family!

This was His plan all along.  In the eternal realm, in our Father’s heart, He planned to send Yeshua to deal with the sin factor on planet Earth, once and for all, and to find a Bride for Yeshua so that you and I, we, could be part of His family. Hallelujah (praise the Lord)!  This is how good our Father God is, and He has made the way for us.

Faithful is He who calls you, who will also do it.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (HNV)

The biblical festival we celebrate this month is Shavuot (Feast of Weeks). This is a two-day Jewish holiday that falls on the Hebrew calendar dates of Sivan 6–7. Shavuot 2026 begins at sundown on Thursday, 21 May 2026, and concludes at nightfall on Saturday, 23 May 2026.

For Christian believers, the day of Pentecost on our calendar is Sunday, 24 May 2026.

Previous Articles

These are my previous Shavuot-related articles if you wish to read further:

• 2025 – Unpacking Shavuot: A Prophetic Call to Join God’s Great Harvest
• 2024 – Shavuot: The Feast of Sevens
• 2023 – Shavuot/Pentecost 2023: Harvest Has Begun
• 2022 – Festival of Weeks: Shavuot/Pentecost 2022
• 2021 – Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) – Shadow of Pentecost

A Harvest Festival

Although the Bible talks about Shavuot as being a harvest festival, the Rabbis have designated it to be the giving of the Torah – a marriage covenant. The changes are mentioned in the Talmud (The Talmud is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish law and theology).

Rabbinical Judaism calls Shavuot, the giving of the law on Mt Sinai, the marriage covenant. Shavuot is not explicitly named in the Bible as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai, although this is commonly considered to be its main significance.

Even though Deuteronomy 18:16 talks about an assembly to me, it is not really clear-cut about it being a “marriage day”.

According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
– Deuteronomy 18:16

Shavuot from the scriptures is a harvest festival.

Shavuot is known as:

Chag Shavuot: Festival of Weeks. In Hebrew, sheva means seven and shavu’ah means week. Shavuot is plural of shavu’ah and means weeks.

And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest,
and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
– Exodus 34:22 (NKJV)

Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.
– Deuteronomy 16:10 (NKJV)

Chag Ha Katzir: Feast of Harvest.

… and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
– Exodus 23:16

Yom Ha Bikkurim: The Day of First Fruits.

Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.
– Numbers 28:26 (NKJV)

(Not to be confused with the festival of first fruits. Leviticus 23:9-12)

Bikkurei Ketzir Chittim: This is the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.

And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest,
and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
– Exodus 34:22 (NKJV)

Shavuot Celebrations

Shavuot is celebrated in different ways.  Some of these things are from the scriptures, some come from Rabbinical Judaism, and some are cultural traditions.

• Shavuot is a day when a Jew does not work.
• People enjoy special meals and especially dairy products. The idea of dairy products seems to go back to the scripture that talks about a kid not being cooked in its mother’s milk. Cheesecake and similar foods are immensely popular.
• Tikkun Leil Shavuot. Some stay up all (or part of) the first night of Shavuot to study Torah.
• In synagogues, they read from Exodus about the Ten Commandments.
• Some communities read the Book of Ruth on this day.
• Biblically, they had two unleavened loaves as a wave offering. Today, some bake a special challah bread in the shape of the Ten Commandments, or in the shape of a Heavenly Ladder.

In biblical days, when they still had temple worship, two loaves were offered to the Lord as a wave offering:

From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.
– Leviticus 23:17 (NIV)

This wave offering is a part of the Shavuot feast.  There are different interpretations about what they represent.  Because the loaves contain chametz, yeast, I think it is speaking about people and possibly referring to the one new man, Jew, and Gentile in

For he is our shalom, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition.
– Ephesians 2:14 (HNV)

Yom Ha Bikkurim/Festival of First Fruits

The Festival of First Fruits, I believe, from scripture, is what the Lord intended for Shavuot to be.  This festival has an agricultural background.

Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the LORD, after your weeks be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.
– Numbers 28:26 (KJV)

When I was talking to the Lord about Shavuot and the harvest – I asked the Lord what He wanted me to emphasise, and the Holy Spirit simply said to me “now”.

For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
– 2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV)

Insights from the Book of Ruth

The harvest theme is quite strong in the Book of Ruth, which is read by the Jews at this time. It is very short and can be easily read.

There are many insights one can glean from the symbolism, but I will mention only a few that were meaningful to me.  Perhaps you might like to read the book of Ruth and see what the Holy Spirit says to you personally.

Chapter 1:

Naomi and Ruth returned to BETHLEHEM. Bethlehem means “House of Bread”. For us, Yeshua is the Bread of Life.

Chapter 2:

Boaz’s name: Strong’s says it means “fleetness/quickness”. Another word study talks about ‘in strength’ and ‘by strength’.  He also came from Bethlehem like Yeshua. He was a relative of Naomi’s.

Keywords:

STAY – water provided. FAVOUR – under whose wings you have come to seek refuge – Gentiles like Ruth are invited to stay, eat bread, roasted grain,  gleaned till evening.

I see the EVENING being our present time – NOW, now when it is getting dark, before night falls, when no man can work scripture.

I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day:
the night cometh, when no man can work.
– John 9:4

In this picture of Ruth, I see her gleaning at the edge of the fields. Each one of us has a corner of the harvest field designated to us.  Let each one of us be faithful to work and glean in the corner that the Lord has assigned.

Chapter 3:

WASH – Ruth, after repenting and turning to the God of the Jews, had to be washed before she was presented to Boaz. ANOINT – she needed the oil of the Holy Spirit. COVER – Ruth was to put Boaz’s coat or mantle over herself as a covering as she slept at his feet. This was the beginning of her entrance into Boaz’s family. Her message to him was, “I am available.” May you and I also send such a message to our Beloved, saying, “I am available.” Ruth was a woman of excellence.

Then the story moves on to the other relative who also had the right to redeem Naomi’s land. I noted the SIX measures of barley. One meaning for six is man and/or sin; however, in Hebrew thinking, six is the Hebrew letter Vav signified by the picture of a nail or spike, and has the meaning of being added or attached. So, in the gleaning of the barley, much was added. May many more sons and daughters be added to Father’s family in this season as we make ourselves available.

Chapter 4:

It was important to raise up the NAME of the deceased, so that the blessings of this family line would continue. So, the land that belonged to Naomi’s family was exchanged from one owner to another owner, by the exchange of the SANDAL. Because of what Yeshua has done for us, we are also released from one owner to another owner. Yeshua Himself gave more than a sandal; He gave His all so that we might be His.

Another blessing was that Ruth would be like Rachel and Leah. These women of God built the House of Israel together with their husbands and families. May the name of this new family become FAMOUS in Bethlehem. Something famous really did come from this family name, namely Yeshua. Other blessings were stated. Finally, Ruth’s son, held in Naomi’s lap, became Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of King David.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
– Romans 11:33 (KJV)

So many things can be gleaned from the story of Ruth. I see Ruth as a Gentile who is converted, then given a name amongst the righteous and a purpose to be the forebear of King David. How glorious is the Lord’s plan for each one of us as we yield to His greater purposes. As you and I obey our Heavenly Father God, He leads us on the path of life – Yeshua is the way. We remain in His truth, His steadfastness and find life and the meaning of life in our Father’s greater purposes.

Our Father’s Dream of Family is Happening

I believe that we are now living in one of these seasons where it is not just business as usual. We are experiencing the beginnings of a significant move of God, here in Australia and in the nations of the world.

When I was praying on a Canberra Declaration Zoom meeting the other night, I shared some thoughts from a time in the nineties.  One lady preacher shared with the congregation that she saw us all at the airport. She said, “Get your passports ready.”

As I spoke out this message in this Zoom session, there was a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit on this message of which I and others were aware. May we remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit and not miss our time of visitation. The Lord of the Harvest is sending out His workers into the field. The assignments will be tailor-made for each individual. May you and I be obedient to the word of the Lord. As we obey, I believe there will be signs and wonders done in the name of Your Holy Child Jesus, as it says in Acts.

Even my prayers have been changing, asking the Lord to make those of us who have sown seeds for years, also a part of bringing in the harvest. The harvest is not a harvest of abstract ‘souls’, it is a harvest of sons and daughters. Our Father longs for each person whom He has created to become a part of His “Forever Family”. May it be so, in the name of Yeshua – the son of the Most High God.

For both the ploughman as he ploughs, and the thresher as he threshes,
should have some hope of an ultimate share in the harvest.
– 1 Cor 9:7 (J.B. Phillips)

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