Greetings and Shabbat Shalom!

Today may close a key season, and tomorrow will tell. According to the Lord's calendar, we are on the final day of the barley harvest season. (See references below) It is technically considered complete on Shavuot at the conclusion of the omer count, which I believe begins tonight at sunset. Today is the seventh Shabbat as counted from the wave offering during the barley harvest feast. As I have made frequent reference since that time, you may be aware that I had eagerly anticipated the Bride theft on the last day of the barley harvest festival that ended on the 21st day of the first month. I continue to watch, and, according to the appointed holy day schedule, we have now arrived at the time I believe has potential for a prophetic fulfillment. Will the Bridegroom come now? Or, will a season arrive after the pattern of the giving of the law at Sinai, or the anointing with power as presented in Acts 2? I pray you and I are ready for what may come in this season of transitions!

I'm going to briefly discuss the potential for these events, but first, here is the key passage of scripture from Leviticus revealing the Lord's commands.

Bride Theft Potential

The Bride Theft may yet come in association with this season's barley harvest, as it has not yet come to full completion. In the classic work by Alfred Edersheim called The Temple the following appears in the section about Pentecost: "The 'Feast of Unleavened Bread' may be said not to have quite passed till fifty-days after its commencement, when it merged in that of Pentecost, or 'of Weeks.'" (p. 87) In the popular reference work The Jewish Holidays A Guide & Commentary Michael Strassfeld writes the following in the chapter about Shavuot "Many scholars speculate that originally Shavuot had no connection with the revelation at Sinai and was simply an agricultural festival. Indeed, in biblical times, Shavuot was a day marking the end of the grain harvest (which began with the bringing of the omer on Pesah), a one-day festival during which two loaves of leavened bread were brought to the temple as a concluding rite." (p. 70) Since the season for harvesting the barley that is symbolic of the Bride people is about to end, it may be the Bride Theft will occur at this time.

Along this line of reasoning there is an intriguing provision in the law (See Leviticus 15) that may apply. The church is always pictured as a woman, and the status of the woman with regard to being ceremonial clean is most definitely relevant. If the Bridegroom comes for his Bride now at this time, this provision will become known as the Lord's having made a way by much mercy and grace for as many as possible to come to a state of readiness! In the quoted material you are about to read the nation of Israel is referenced but consider how it may apply to the Bride. This insight is from Eitan Mayer's parsha on the Yeshiva University Website: "A similar perspective, heavily laced with Kabbalistic motifs, is presented by Or Ha-Hayyim, Rav Hayyim Ibn Attar, a biblical commentator whose work may be found in the standard Mikra'ot Gedolot edition of the Torah: OR HA-HAYYIM, VAYIKRA 23:15 -- "You shall count" -- the reason why Hashem commanded us to count seven weeks: Hazal tell us that they [Bnei Yisrael] were suffused with the impurity of Egypt. Since Hashem wanted "zivug" [i.e., to unite with] with the nation, He treated her as a menstruant woman, who must count seven clean days [and then she may become pure]. He commanded that they count seven weeks, for then they would be prepared for their entrance as a bride to the bridal canopy. And though in the other case [i.e., the menstruant woman] it is only seven days, here it is seven weeks because of the extreme nature of the[ir] impurity. [This explains why the Torah says] the counting is "for you" -- in order to purify you, for if not for this [their impurity], Hashem would have given them the Torah right away."

With regard to prophetic announcements, a recent posting on the fivedoves.com letters forum (Jim Bramlett (13 June 2008) "Stunning rapture testimony!!!") suggests this may be the appointed season for a harvest. Is this it? Lord?

The giving of the law / the anointing with power

If it comes to be that the Bride Theft is for a time yet future, perhaps another season of preparation will arrive on Shavuot. If so, what Joseph Herrin has written recently about what he calls the Joseph company may become the focus of attention as a people receive an anointing and appointment of authority during a period of judgment on the church. There are two historical events relating to Shavuot that give us a pattern. It is widely accepted that the giving of the law at Sinai is associated with Shavuot, whether it occurred on the very day that would become Shavuot or just close to the day. The anointing with power presented in Acts 2 is a very clear picture of the appointment of genuine apostolic authority we expect in the near future, which came on the day of Shavuot had "fully come," with reference to the omer count that points back to the barley offering. Although it may not be immediately obvious to you, the fruit of receiving the law may look like what was pictured in Acts 2 because of what the giving of the law means as a legal grant. Consider the passages in the context of scriptures like Romans 3:20, 4:15, 5:20 and 7:1-4, 1 Corinthians 9:21 and 1 Timothy 1:9.

If any of these scenarios are appointed for tomorrow, it will surely be a new day, my dear friends. Watch and pray!

Blessings in Y'shua!

Bob Schlenker
TheOpenScroll.com