What is an Omer?

Shalom Torah fans.

Many of you may have heard the term Omer but perhaps have no idea what it means. Others know that it is something that represents the days that we count between Passover and Shavuot, but may not have an idea of what the word originally means. And this is what we will learn in this audio blog.

If you have been celebrating the Biblical Feasts for at least a year, you have probably noticed that one of the most important Feasts, in fact, one of the three so-called Pilgrimage Feasts in which every man had to go up to Jerusalem, is the Feast of Shavuot. This is called Pentecost, or Feast of weeks (Shavuot means weeks). What is unusual about this Feast is that its celebration does not fall on a specific day of the Biblical calendar, but rather it is celebrated on the fiftieth (50th) day of what is usually called “the counting of the Omer” (s’firat haOmer in Hebrew).

Why is it called “the counting of the Omer”, and what is an Omer?

The best place to start our search is in Leviticus 23.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest” (Leviticus 23:10).

The word sheaf in Hebrew is Omer (עֹמֶר), and we are talking about the Omer of the “first fruits”. This is an important detail, since it determines the moment in which the seven weeks began to be counted, which is from the day the first fruits were presented.

This is why we call it “the counting of the Omer.” It could also be called “the count (of the days) from the offering of the Omer (of the first fruits)”.

We now understand why it is called the counting of the Omer, but we still need to understand what an Omer is.

The simple answer would be that it was a unit of measurement that was used in biblical times. As in our days, there were then ways to quantify measures of length, weight and liquids among others. An Omer is part of the measurement to quantify the volume of dry things, such as a measure of flour for an offering, or, in this case, the amount of barley that had to be presented on the day of first fruits.

An Omer was one tenth of an ephah (Exodus 16:36). Another known measure was the se’á, which was one-third of an ephah. An ephah is approximately 22 liters in modern measurements. Note: Although liters is a unit of measure for liquids, it is also used in modern times to determine the volume of something, for example, the space in a travel backpack. In the same way, the measurement of the Omer refers to “the amount of something” according to the capacity of a container of an Omer (the weight can be different according to the density of different elements).

The first time this word appears in Scripture is in Exodus 16:16, where the word Omer was not even translated in some versions of the Bible (!!!):

“This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts (an Omer) per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.”

As we count down the 49 days of the counting of the Omer, we also remember the manna that Yehovah fed the children of Israel with, from which each family took exactly one measure of an Omer per day.

In a more spiritual sense, the counting of these 50 days represents a conciliation between the individual and the Creator. This can be correlated to the bible passage regarding the children of Israel that traveled from Egypt to Mount Sinai. They were slaves, representing the lowest spiritual level; upon reaching their destination they heard the voice of the Almighty himself – the highest spiritual level that can be reached. During these days of the counting of the Omer, it is a great opportunity for each of us to get in tune with this ascending path of personal and spiritual development.

What Does Hallelujah Mean?

Hallelu is simply the imperative form of the verb halel and Yah is the first part of the name of the Creator.

From the “elel” that is shouted in traditional Ethiopian festivals, to the sound of early instruments, to the “halleluyah” that is shouted in Pentecostal churches today- whether we know it or not, they are all related to the concept of praise in ancient Israel.

The word halel, where halleluYah comes from, is usually translated as “praise” or “to give glory.”

Hallelu is simply the imperative form of the verb halel and Yah is the first part of the name of the Creator. Therefore, the meaning of this ancient word would be “praise Yah” or “give glory to Yah.”

The problem that arises is that the concept of praising or giving glory is not something concrete in English. To delve into the meaning of this word, and the concept of praise, in Biblical Hebrew we must go back to its first usages in the Scriptures.

“when His lamp shone (hilo, הִלֹּו) on my head, when I walked in the dark by His light.”
– Job 29: 3 ISR

In this example we have the shortened root of halel and we see that it has the meaning of illuminating or shining- the same action as the glowing of a candle.

The following is a very interesting Biblical example since it has brought about much confusion in different translations:

Have we learned something wrong again? Not quite.

The reality is, thematically speaking, that the “beginning of the harvest,” those fruits of the barley harvest offered during the week of Chag haMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread), from when we began to count the fifty days until Shavuot may also be called bikurim.

So, if we want to define the terms correctly and accurately, it is important to understand that the Day of First Fruits is NOT called ‘Yom haBikurim’ in the Torah. On the contrary, the day that is called ‘Yom haBikurim’ is Shavuot, as we saw above.

Finally, I will share the meaning of this word. Bikurim is the plural of the word bikur, which is literally “first,” related to organic elements such as animals, fruits and plants.

It is related to the root bakr which means “firstborn.” In Egypt, for example, the tenth plague was called makat haBechorot, “plague of the firstborn.”

As expressed biblically, the first “fruit of the womb” of a woman is linguistically related to the first fruits of the earth.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (heilel, הֵילֵל), son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”
– Isaiah 14:12 KJV

In this verse of Isaiah, the word heilel, which is related to halel also gives us that image of “shining” or “giving light.” In this case, it is the light that a star gives, the brightest star seen in the sky just before sunrise.

The context of this chapter tells us that we are talking about the king of Babylon and his pride. The word heilel was translated into the Vulgate of Jerome as Lucifer in Latin. “Lucifer” is simply something that gives light, such as a star, but being one of the words with which hasatan is denominated (“the angel of light”), this verse is often taken out of context.

In fact, many translations in English and other languages ​​preserved here the Latin word Lucifer (capitalized, as if it were a name) instead of the most adequate translation of the word: the shining one.

In the Jewish tradition, halel is also the name given to Psalms 113 through 118, which were sung in the Temple at the time that the lambs were sacrificed at Passover and, most likely, the hymns that Yeshua and his disciples would have sung at the end of the “Last Supper” (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26).

In conclusion, we see how the word halel is connected with the action of shining, such as a light, either from the fire of a candle or a star. Lights (fires) and stars were used in ancient times as reference points, that is, as objects of orientation that could be followed to reach a specific destination safely.

Beyond the basic and loosely accurate translation of “praise” or “glory”, the next time you say or think of the word halelu-Yah, keep in mind these ancient meanings and connections, which give a deeper meaning to everything that we should attribute to Yah.