Where did the word Pentecost come from?

Answer 1

Pentecost (Greek: πεντηκοστή [‘ημέρα], pentekostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth day") is an important feast in the Christian liturgical year, celebrated the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday (the tenth day after Ascension Thursday), Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Pentecost is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, or Whit Sunday in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking areas.

"Pentecost" is derived from the Greek name for Shavuot, one of the three Pilgrimage Festivals required in the Law of Moses. It is described mainly in Leviticus 23:5-21 and Deuteronomy 16:8-10. In Leviticus we read that the Pesah (Passover) will begin "in the fourteenth day of the first month (14 Aviv) at even", and the next day begins "the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD" which lasts for seven days (servile work being prohibited). This celebration also marks the beginning of harvest activities, therefore "a sheaf of the firstfruits" of the harvest will be waved by the priest before Yahweh "on the morrow after the sabbath". Then, verses 15 and 16 state:

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:/ Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbaths shall ye number fifty days (Hebrew: hamishshim yom; Greek: πεντήκοντα ‘ημέρας, pentekonta hemeras) and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

The "new meat offering" consisted in two loaves made from the new wheat (to be waved). Sacrifices for the feast consisted of "seven lambs without blemish of the first year", one young bullock, two rams (this is the burnt offering), the sacrifice of "one kid of the goats for a sin offering", and "two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings". This hamishshim yom or pentekonta hemeras marked the end of the harvest. On the other hand, we can read in Deuteronomy 16:8-10:

Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein./ Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number seven weeks from such time as thou beginest to put the sickle unto the corn./ And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks [Hebrew: khag shavuot; Greek: ‘εορτην ‘εβδομάδων, heorten hebdomadon] unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

It is interesting to note that the Hebrew name khag shavuot became the best-known name of the feast, while the Greek heorte hebdomadon remains practically unknown. This feast is also named in Hebrew texts khag hakatsir (feast of the harvest) and yom habbikurim (day of the first fruits).

It is well-known that the date of Pesah was changed during history in the month Nisan, but the procedure of calculating khag shavuot remained the same. However, a debate ignited between Sadducees and Pharisees regarding this procedure. The debate was due to the interpretation of the words "the morrow after the sabbath". The Sadducees considered the sabbath as the usual weekly day and, therefore, calculated the date of Pentecost as the fiftieth day from the Sunday after passover, a formula used today by the Christian Church. The Pharisees decoded the word "sabbath" from Leviticus 23:15 as referring to the first day of "the feast of unleavened bread", which was, at that time, 15 Nisan. Therefore, they numbered fifty days from 16 Nisan, no matter what day of the week it was. Their formula is nowadays in use in Judaism.

From the fact that this feast marked the end of harvesting we must not link it exclusively to agriculture, because it is a feast celebrating the relation between Yahweh and His worshippers; but we can note that the quoted Biblical texts are addressed to an agricultural civilization.


Significance
During history, the Pentecost has acquired great meanings. The Rabbinic Judaism (Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim, 68b; Midrash, Tanhuma, 26c) commemorated through khag shavuot the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, because, according to Exodus 19:1, this event took place on the fiftieth day after the departure from Egypt. Some Christians place on the day of Pentecost the birth of the Church, a phenomenon characterized by the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The harvest itself can be a metaphor of the Final Judgement, as shown by Jesus in Matthew 9:37-38:

Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;/ Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.

Christians understand Pentecost as a powerful feast of the salvation, because it speaks about the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, about the founding of the Church, and about the Final Judgement. Pentecost is parallel to Shavout, just as Easter is parallel to Passover. At Passover, the Jews were delivered from slavery in Egypt; at Easter, mankind was delivered from slavery to sin. At Shavout the Children of Israel received the Law; at Pentecost, the "New Israel" (the Church) received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Some basic numerology will enlighten us more: hamishshim yom is day 72+1. 72 points to the Creation after eschaton, i.e. the "new heaven" and the "new earth" from Revelation 21:1; while the +1 shows Who is involved in the process: Yahweh, the Lord of the covenant (the mûlâ, Jewish circumcision, which is "a token of the covenant", must be done on the 7+1 day from birth), in Jewish mentality; Yahweh, the Lord of the covenant, through Jesus resurrected (the Resurrection took place in the 7+1 day of the week), in Christian mentality.

The events experienced by the Apostles in Jerusalem during khag shavuot were understood by the Apostles as the sending of the Holy Ghost, which had been promised by Jesus (John 14:26):

But the Comforter [παράκλητος], which is the Holy Ghost [το πνευμα το ‘άγιον], Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

The Apostles were very aware that what happened to them was a Descent of the Holy Spirit, so, in his sermon, Peter quotes the entire 3rd chapter of the Book of Joel. There are, in fact, three major prophetic texts which speak about the Descent of the Holy Spirit: Ezekiel 36:27, Isaiah 44:3 and, of course, Joel 3:1-5 (KJV has Joel 2:28-32). The Christian dogma, based upon John 14:20, affirms that the Descent of the Holy Spirit signifies the extension of the divine body of Christ in all the believers, being the last fundamental act of the objective salvation (i.e. the salvation of mankind). The phenomenon was closely linked to the eschaton (the end of the world) by Joel and it is very symptomatic that Peter quoted, on this matter, no other but Joel:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:/ And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit./ And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke./ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come./ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Among Eastern Christians, in addition to the obvious historical events and the prophesies leading up to them, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is also understood as a reversal of the events at the Tower of Babel. There, mankind was divided by the confusion of tongues; here, mankind is united by the gift of tongues.


The events

The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The events took place on the day of the Pentecost, in Jerusalem, at 09:00 ("the third hour of the day", according to Jewish timekeeping). The community of Christ's disciples, approximately 120 people, was gathered "into an upper room" in a building that Tradition locates on Mount Zion. The Tradition also says that it was the same room where Jesus ate His Last Supper. The tremenduous phenomenon is very well described in Acts 2:1-4:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
The phrase "a rushing mighty wind" is almost a literal translation of the Hebrew word ruah, meaning in Hebrew texts the Spirit of God. The experience is a powerful mystic one, hence the sensation of sacred possession (misinterpreted by passers-by as drunkenness) and the advent of supernatural gifts: the speaking with other tongues (glossolalia) and prophesying. During the Apostolic times, many of the people who received Christian baptism experienced the same extraordinary gifts. Therefore, according to some, the real Christian baptism is a personal Pentecost. Some Christians (especially Pentecostals) believe that individuals that did not experience the Pentecost gifts through baptism cannot be sure of having received the Holy Ghost and, therefore, are in great spiritual danger, despite any other claim or justification. Other Christians strongly disagree with this assertion.


The Baptism of the three-thousand
According to the Book of Acts, the experience of the Pentecost was noticed by all in the large crowd, causing confusion and inspiring awe.

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language…. Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? …Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Acts 2:6-12

Then the Apostle Peter, standing with the eleven other apostles, spoke to the crowd. He explained that these strange events had been predicted by the prophet Joel, and that Jesus' resurrection from the dead and exaltation to heaven had been prophesied by David. Peter explained that these events confirmed David's prophecy. Peter then exhorted his listeners to turn to Christ. When Peter was asked what men should do he responded by saying "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." About three thousand responded to Peter's sermon.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Pentecost (Greek: πεντηκοστή [‘ημέρα], pentekostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth day") is an important feast in the Christian liturgical year, celebrated the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday (the tenth day after Ascension Thursday), Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Pentecost is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, or Whit Sunday in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking areas.

Answer 3

answer: Neither - that wasn't prophecy about the Jewish Messiah. There are very few actual prophecies of the Messiah * The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26) * Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4) * The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17) * He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via King Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10) * The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2) *****In other words - this must all be accomplished in a human lifetime***** * Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4) * Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9) * He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10) * All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12) * Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8) * There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8) * All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19) * The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11) * He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7) * Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5) * The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23) * The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55) * Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9) * The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvot * He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together (Zephaniah 3:9) * Jews will know the Torah without Study (Jeremiah 31:33) * He will give you all the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4) * He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9). Thanks to Mark S, myself (Aravah) and Plushy Bear

Answer 4

Pentecosia is the Greek word for fifty. The Spirit descended upon the apostles and disciples on the fiftieth day after the resurrection, as detailed in the Acts of the Apostles. Greek was the language in which the scriptures were written.

Answer 5

Pentecost comes from the Greek: πεντηκοστή [‘ημέρα], pentekostē [hēmera], meaning "the fiftieth day". It marks the descention of the Holy Spirit and is celebrated the fiftieth day after Easter.

Answer 6

It is a Christian feast observed on the7th Sunday after Easter, commerating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles as they celebrate the ancient Jewish feast of Shabuoth

Answer 7

the bible...a Christian feast on the seventh Sunday after Easter commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles

Answer 8

1

Answer 9

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15614b.htm