The number 50
Pentecost, Jubilee, release
Fifty is Scripture's number of release by appointment. Seven sevens of days are counted from the sheaf of firstfruits, 'and ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day' the feast of weeks — the fiftieth day (Leviticus 23:15-16); on that calendar the Spirit falls in Acts 2 ('when the day of Pentecost was now come'). Seven sevens of years likewise lead to the fiftieth — the Jubilee: 'ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land' (Leviticus 25:10), when debts release, slaves go free, and land returns. The tabernacle's curtains are joined by fifty loops and fifty clasps into one dwelling (Exodus 26:5-6).
In Hebrew and Greek
Greek
Pentēkostē — 'fiftieth' — is simply the Greek ordinal (Acts 2:1).
First occurrence
The breadth of the ark: fifty cubits.
The pattern in Scripture
- Jubilee — the fiftieth year of liberty (Lev 25:10)
- Pentecost — the fiftieth day from firstfruits (Lev 23:15-16; Acts 2)
- Fifty loops and clasps uniting the tabernacle (Exod 26:5-6)
- David's ark-error corrected: fifty thousand? — see 1 Sam 6:19's textual note
Key verses
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you.
Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meal-offering unto Jehovah.
And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.
And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps: and the tabernacle shall be one.