Is there a significance to the types of sacrifices offered at the Feast of Weeks, especially those of leavened bread?
The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) fell 7 weeks after Passover, about 50 days. Pentecost is the Greek word for fiftieth, the fiftieth day after the Passover. During Passover, the Israelites offered unleavened bread to the Lord. But in the Feast of Weeks, they offered leavened bread (Leviticus 23:17).
The difference between these two Feasts is that during Passover the Israelites stressed the quickness with which they had to leave Egypt. Because they left so quickly, their ancestors could only make unleavened bread. There was no time to wait for the bread to rise so they baked it without yeast.
It showed how they were under duress to leave Egypt, the house of slavery. They had no time for the normal process of rising dough. They ate the food and left because it was their only chance to get out of Egypt.
On the other hand, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, is a completely different situation for the Israelites. This is the time of the harvest, happening in Israel around May-June. This is the time where farmers harvest their grains and crops.
As part of their worship to Yahweh, the farmers would gather everything into the storehouse. Then they would offer the first fruits of their harvest to him in sacrifice and offering. They would travel to Jerusalem to the Temple and offered animals and crops.
One of the ways that they would offer their grain was through wave offerings. The priest put the grain in a pan and waved it back and forth before the Lord. The wind picked up the grain and it would be blown toward the sky. It was symbolic of God accepting the sacrifice, a very visual approach to seeing the grain disappear into the heavens.
