Political Unrest on Shavuot

Josephus

The Jewish War 2.41-42

ca. 75

It was the subsequent arrival of Sabinus which gave the Jews a cause for revolution. [ . . . ] So when it was time for Pentecost (which is the name Jews give to the festival occurring seven weeks after Passover, so called from the number of intervening days), what brought in the crowds was not the familiar ritual but a collective outrage.

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Josephus writes of an uprising in Jerusalem on Shavuot while Herod the Great’s sons Archelaus and Antipas vie for power after his death. For the larger context of this passage, see Antipas Contests Archelaus’ Rule.

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Shavuot in Early Judaism

2nd Century BCE–6th Century CE

The biblical festival of Shavuot marks the beginning of the wheat harvest. Ancient Jews debated the date of the festival, which came to be associated with revelation in both rabbinic and Christian tradition.

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4th Century BCE–6th Century CE

The Israelite annual festivals originated as agricultural celebrations marking seasonal cycles. Over time, these observances were mythologized into a nation-forming narrative centered on the Exodus from Egypt and the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

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Creator Bio

Josephus

37–100

Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

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Philo’s Explanation of Shavuot

On the Special Laws 2.176–187 (selections)

This passage explains several features of Shavuot, including the fifty days of the omer and the offering of two leavened loaves of wheat bread.

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