The Counting of the Omer and the Sealing of the 144,000
The Counting of the Omer
and the Sealing of the 144,000
By
James Scott Trimm
The Counting of the Omer
The counting of the omer begins with one firstfruits offering and ands with another firstfruits offering. As we read in the Torah:
10 Speak unto the children of Yisra’el, and say unto them, When you are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the cohen.
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath, the cohen shall wave it.
12 And in the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt-offering unto YHWH.
13 And the meal-offering thereof, shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil: an offering made by fire unto YHWH for a sweet savour, and the drinkoffering thereof shall be of wine; the fourth part of a hin.
14 And you shall eat neither bread nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until you have brought the offering of your Elohim: it is a statute forever, throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 And you shall count unto you, from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving; seven sabbaths shall they be complete:
16 Even unto the morrow after the sabbath shall you number fifty days, and you shall present a new meal-offering unto YHWH.
17 You shall bring out of your dwellings, two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven, for first fruits unto YHWH.
18 And you shall present with the bread, seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams. They shall be a burnt-offering unto YHWH, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto YHWH.
19 And you shall offer one he goat for a sin-offering, and two he lambs of the first year, for a sacrifice of peace-offerings.
20 And the cohen shall wave them, with the bread of the first fruits for a wave-offering before YHWH, with the two lambs; they shall be Set-Apart to YHWH for the cohen.
21 And you shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a Set-Apart convocation unto you. You shall do no manner of servile work: it is a statute forever, in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
(Lev. 23:10-21)
From these verses we learn that the counting of the omer begins with the wave sheaf offering at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and it ends with the firstfruits wave loaf offering at Shavuot. These are each thank offerings for the spring (former rain) harvest. The harvest could not begin until the wave sheaf offering was made at Passover, and the wave loaf offering at Shavuot marked the end of the Spring (former rain) harvest.
The 144,000
The Scriptures plainly teach us that the 144,000 that are “offered as firstfruits to Elohim and the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4) they are the former rain harvest. Before the firstfruits (144,000) are harvested, they are sealed, and this period of sealing clearly then corresponds to the time of the counting of the omer. The “counting” of the omer is therefore an allegorical reckoning of the firstfruits, the 144,000 who are sealed. In Hebrew the words “firstfruits” and “firstborn” are the same word, so that the 144,000 may also be identifiable with the “firstborn” whom at Passover were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Just as Israel was redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and brought up out of Egypt at the first Passover, at the last days harvest of the 144,000 Israel is called out of Babylon.
We read of the sealing of the 144,000:
And after this, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth and holding the four winds so that the wind would not blow on the earth and not on the sea and not on any tree.
And I saw another angel who ascended from the rising of the sun and he had the seal of the living Eloah and he cried aloud with a loud voice to the four angles, those to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea.
And he said, Do not harm the earth nor the sea, not even the trees, until we seal the servants of Eloah between their eyes.
And I heard the number of those sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of Yisra'el:
(Rev. 7:1-4 HRV)
Note that these “sealed” ones are “firstborn” and are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, referring back to the imagery of the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorpost and the Mezuzah. This sealing of Israel on the forehead refers back to a section in the book of Ezekiel:
Then he called in my ears with a loud voice, saying: 'Cause you them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.'
And, behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his weapon of destruction in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn on his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
And the glory of the Elohim of Yisra’el was gone up from the cheruv, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn on his side.
And YHWH said unto him: 'Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Yerushalayim, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.'
And to the others He said in my hearing: 'Go you through the city after him, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have you pity;
(Ezek. 9:1-5 HRV)
Those being protected with the mark in Ezekiel 9 are those who sigh and cry over the “abominations” of Ezekiel 8. The abominations of Ezekiel 8 are all relate to Easter and that those who “sigh and cry because of the [Easter] abominations” do so because they have made Passover “a memorial between your eyes” (Ex. 13:9) and thus have received the mark/seal of YHWH on their foreheads.
Two of the passages concerning the wearing of Tefillin tell us that Tefillin are specifically worn as a remembrance of Passover:
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to YHWH.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with you, neither shall there be leaven seen with you, in all your borders.
And you shall tell your son in that day, saying: It is because of that which YHWH did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
And it shall be for a sign unto you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the Torah of YHWH may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand has YHWH brought you out of Egypt.
You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
And it shall be when YHWH shall bring you into the land of the Kena’anites, as He swore unto you and to your fathers, and shall give it you,
that you shall set apart unto YHWH all that opens the womb; every firstling that is a male, which you have coming of a beast, shall be YHWH’s.
And every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and all the first-born of man among your sons shall you redeem.
And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying: What is this? that you shall say unto him: By strength of hand YHWH brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage;
and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go that YHWH slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast; therefore I sacrifice to YHWH all that opens the womb, being males; but all the first-born of my sons I redeem.
And it shall be for a sign upon your hand, and for frontlets between your eyes; for by strength of hand YHWH brought us forth out of Egypt.'
(Ex. 13:6-16 HRV)
The other two passages concerning the Tefillin tie them closely to the Mezuzah:
And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates.
(Deut. 6:8-9; 11:18-20 HRV)
The Mezuzah is a piece of parchment normally contained in a decorative case and affixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home. I is inscribed with verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21).
The practice of affixing a Mezuzah to the doorpost seems to have been kept by not only Pharisees, but Essenes as well, in fact a Mezuzah parchment containing portions of Deut. 10:1-11:1 was found at Qumran.
The connection of the Mezuzah with Passover is obvious. Like the Mezuzah the blood of the Passover lamb was placed on the doorpost so that the “angel of death” would Passover the home.
Similarly the Mezuzah and Tefillin is seen as a guardian of a Jewish home, keeping the shedim (demons) outside, as we read in the Talmud:
R. Eliezer b. Jacob said, Whosoever has the tefillin on his head,
the tefillin on his arm, the tzitzit on his garment,
and the mezuzah on his doorpost, is protected.
He will not fall into sin, for it is written,
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken;(Eccl. 4:12)
and it is also written, The angel of YHWH encamps
round about them that fear Him, and delivers them. (Ps. 34:8).
(b. Menachot 43b)
This also recalls what we read in the Zohar concerning the Teffilin:
Prayer which is not whole-hearted is pursued by numbers of destructive angels, according to the Scriptural expression: “all her pursuers have overtaken her, etc.” (Lam. I, 3).Therefore it is well to preface one's prayer with the verse, “but he is merciful and forgiveth iniquity, etc.” (Ps. LXXVIII, 38). The word “iniquity” signifies Samael, who is the serpent; “he will not destroy” signifies the destroyer; “he turneth his anger away” refers to the demon Af (anger); “and doth not stir up all his wrath” refers to the demon Hemah (wrath). To these powers are attached many destructive angels, which are under seven chiefs with seventy under-chiefs, dispersed in every firmament, and under them are myriads of others. When an Israelite wearing tzitzit and tefilln prays with devotion, then the words of the Scripture are fulfilled: “All the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon thee and they shall fear thee” (Deut. XXVIII, 10). We have agreed that “the name of the Lord” refers to the tefillin of the head; and when the destructive angels see the name of YHWH on the head of him who is praying, they at once take to flight, as it is written, “a thousand shall fall at thy side” (Ps. XCI, 7).
(Zohar 1:23b)
Likewise the 144,000 are protected from the “locusts” by the seal:
And the fifth sounded and I saw a star that fell from heaven upon the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him.
And smoke went up from the pit as the smoke of a great furnace that is burning and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
And from the smoke locusts went out upon the earth, and the authority that is to the scorpions of the earth was given to them.
And it was told to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth or any herb, not even the trees, but only the sons of men who did not have the seal of Eloah between their eyes,
(Rev. 9:1-4 HRV)
Thus the marking in the Ezekiel 9 judgment of those who sigh and cry because of the abominations of Ezekiel 8 is the sealing 144,000 in Revelation 7. This sealing began with the firstfruits offering of Passover and the call to some out of Babylon, it is a period of reckoning and judgment, which is an allegorical fulfillment of the counting of the omer. The harvest has already begun.
and the Sealing of the 144,000
By
James Scott Trimm
The Counting of the Omer
The counting of the omer begins with one firstfruits offering and ands with another firstfruits offering. As we read in the Torah:
10 Speak unto the children of Yisra’el, and say unto them, When you are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the cohen.
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH, to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath, the cohen shall wave it.
12 And in the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt-offering unto YHWH.
13 And the meal-offering thereof, shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil: an offering made by fire unto YHWH for a sweet savour, and the drinkoffering thereof shall be of wine; the fourth part of a hin.
14 And you shall eat neither bread nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until you have brought the offering of your Elohim: it is a statute forever, throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 And you shall count unto you, from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving; seven sabbaths shall they be complete:
16 Even unto the morrow after the sabbath shall you number fifty days, and you shall present a new meal-offering unto YHWH.
17 You shall bring out of your dwellings, two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven, for first fruits unto YHWH.
18 And you shall present with the bread, seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams. They shall be a burnt-offering unto YHWH, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto YHWH.
19 And you shall offer one he goat for a sin-offering, and two he lambs of the first year, for a sacrifice of peace-offerings.
20 And the cohen shall wave them, with the bread of the first fruits for a wave-offering before YHWH, with the two lambs; they shall be Set-Apart to YHWH for the cohen.
21 And you shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a Set-Apart convocation unto you. You shall do no manner of servile work: it is a statute forever, in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
(Lev. 23:10-21)
From these verses we learn that the counting of the omer begins with the wave sheaf offering at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and it ends with the firstfruits wave loaf offering at Shavuot. These are each thank offerings for the spring (former rain) harvest. The harvest could not begin until the wave sheaf offering was made at Passover, and the wave loaf offering at Shavuot marked the end of the Spring (former rain) harvest.
The 144,000
The Scriptures plainly teach us that the 144,000 that are “offered as firstfruits to Elohim and the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4) they are the former rain harvest. Before the firstfruits (144,000) are harvested, they are sealed, and this period of sealing clearly then corresponds to the time of the counting of the omer. The “counting” of the omer is therefore an allegorical reckoning of the firstfruits, the 144,000 who are sealed. In Hebrew the words “firstfruits” and “firstborn” are the same word, so that the 144,000 may also be identifiable with the “firstborn” whom at Passover were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Just as Israel was redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and brought up out of Egypt at the first Passover, at the last days harvest of the 144,000 Israel is called out of Babylon.
We read of the sealing of the 144,000:
And after this, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth and holding the four winds so that the wind would not blow on the earth and not on the sea and not on any tree.
And I saw another angel who ascended from the rising of the sun and he had the seal of the living Eloah and he cried aloud with a loud voice to the four angles, those to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea.
And he said, Do not harm the earth nor the sea, not even the trees, until we seal the servants of Eloah between their eyes.
And I heard the number of those sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of Yisra'el:
(Rev. 7:1-4 HRV)
Note that these “sealed” ones are “firstborn” and are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, referring back to the imagery of the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorpost and the Mezuzah. This sealing of Israel on the forehead refers back to a section in the book of Ezekiel:
Then he called in my ears with a loud voice, saying: 'Cause you them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.'
And, behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his weapon of destruction in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn on his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
And the glory of the Elohim of Yisra’el was gone up from the cheruv, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn on his side.
And YHWH said unto him: 'Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Yerushalayim, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.'
And to the others He said in my hearing: 'Go you through the city after him, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have you pity;
(Ezek. 9:1-5 HRV)
Those being protected with the mark in Ezekiel 9 are those who sigh and cry over the “abominations” of Ezekiel 8. The abominations of Ezekiel 8 are all relate to Easter and that those who “sigh and cry because of the [Easter] abominations” do so because they have made Passover “a memorial between your eyes” (Ex. 13:9) and thus have received the mark/seal of YHWH on their foreheads.
Two of the passages concerning the wearing of Tefillin tell us that Tefillin are specifically worn as a remembrance of Passover:
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to YHWH.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with you, neither shall there be leaven seen with you, in all your borders.
And you shall tell your son in that day, saying: It is because of that which YHWH did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
And it shall be for a sign unto you upon your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the Torah of YHWH may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand has YHWH brought you out of Egypt.
You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
And it shall be when YHWH shall bring you into the land of the Kena’anites, as He swore unto you and to your fathers, and shall give it you,
that you shall set apart unto YHWH all that opens the womb; every firstling that is a male, which you have coming of a beast, shall be YHWH’s.
And every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and all the first-born of man among your sons shall you redeem.
And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying: What is this? that you shall say unto him: By strength of hand YHWH brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage;
and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go that YHWH slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast; therefore I sacrifice to YHWH all that opens the womb, being males; but all the first-born of my sons I redeem.
And it shall be for a sign upon your hand, and for frontlets between your eyes; for by strength of hand YHWH brought us forth out of Egypt.'
(Ex. 13:6-16 HRV)
The other two passages concerning the Tefillin tie them closely to the Mezuzah:
And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates.
(Deut. 6:8-9; 11:18-20 HRV)
The Mezuzah is a piece of parchment normally contained in a decorative case and affixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home. I is inscribed with verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21).
The practice of affixing a Mezuzah to the doorpost seems to have been kept by not only Pharisees, but Essenes as well, in fact a Mezuzah parchment containing portions of Deut. 10:1-11:1 was found at Qumran.
The connection of the Mezuzah with Passover is obvious. Like the Mezuzah the blood of the Passover lamb was placed on the doorpost so that the “angel of death” would Passover the home.
Similarly the Mezuzah and Tefillin is seen as a guardian of a Jewish home, keeping the shedim (demons) outside, as we read in the Talmud:
R. Eliezer b. Jacob said, Whosoever has the tefillin on his head,
the tefillin on his arm, the tzitzit on his garment,
and the mezuzah on his doorpost, is protected.
He will not fall into sin, for it is written,
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken;(Eccl. 4:12)
and it is also written, The angel of YHWH encamps
round about them that fear Him, and delivers them. (Ps. 34:8).
(b. Menachot 43b)
This also recalls what we read in the Zohar concerning the Teffilin:
Prayer which is not whole-hearted is pursued by numbers of destructive angels, according to the Scriptural expression: “all her pursuers have overtaken her, etc.” (Lam. I, 3).Therefore it is well to preface one's prayer with the verse, “but he is merciful and forgiveth iniquity, etc.” (Ps. LXXVIII, 38). The word “iniquity” signifies Samael, who is the serpent; “he will not destroy” signifies the destroyer; “he turneth his anger away” refers to the demon Af (anger); “and doth not stir up all his wrath” refers to the demon Hemah (wrath). To these powers are attached many destructive angels, which are under seven chiefs with seventy under-chiefs, dispersed in every firmament, and under them are myriads of others. When an Israelite wearing tzitzit and tefilln prays with devotion, then the words of the Scripture are fulfilled: “All the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon thee and they shall fear thee” (Deut. XXVIII, 10). We have agreed that “the name of the Lord” refers to the tefillin of the head; and when the destructive angels see the name of YHWH on the head of him who is praying, they at once take to flight, as it is written, “a thousand shall fall at thy side” (Ps. XCI, 7).
(Zohar 1:23b)
Likewise the 144,000 are protected from the “locusts” by the seal:
And the fifth sounded and I saw a star that fell from heaven upon the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him.
And smoke went up from the pit as the smoke of a great furnace that is burning and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
And from the smoke locusts went out upon the earth, and the authority that is to the scorpions of the earth was given to them.
And it was told to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth or any herb, not even the trees, but only the sons of men who did not have the seal of Eloah between their eyes,
(Rev. 9:1-4 HRV)
Thus the marking in the Ezekiel 9 judgment of those who sigh and cry because of the abominations of Ezekiel 8 is the sealing 144,000 in Revelation 7. This sealing began with the firstfruits offering of Passover and the call to some out of Babylon, it is a period of reckoning and judgment, which is an allegorical fulfillment of the counting of the omer. The harvest has already begun.
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