Why a 50-Day Span?

Starting with the day of the wave-sheaf offering, God's people are to count 50 days, then observe Pentecost as a day holy to God. But why count 50 days?

The Greek word Pentēkostē means "fiftieth" (day being implied).

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Starting with the day of the wave-sheaf offering, God's people are to count 50 days, then observe Pentecost as a day holy to God (Leviticus 23:15And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
See All..., 16).

Pentecost symbolizes major events in God's plan for mankind, including the granting of His Spirit to mankind and the beginning of the Church of God through Spirit-led Christians (see "The Lesson of the Feast of Firstfruits "). As recorded for us in Acts 2, both of these events took place on the first Pentecost after Christ's resurrection.

Every fiftieth year was called the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:28But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
See All...), also called the year of liberty (Ezekiel 46:17But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them.
See All...). Every 50 years, at the Jubilee, properties reverted to their original owners (Leviticus 25:8-38 [8] And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
[9] Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
[10] And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
[11] A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
[12] For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
[13] In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
[14] And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
[15] According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
[16] According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.
[17] Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.
[18] Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
[19] And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
[20] And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
[21] Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
[22] And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.
[23] The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
[24] And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
[25] If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.
[26] And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;
[27] Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.
[28] But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
[29] And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.
[30] And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.
[31] But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile.
[32] Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
[33] And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.
[34] But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
[35] And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.
[36] Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
[37] Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.
[38] I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

See All...). This prevented poverty from plaguing successive generations of the same families. The Jubilee was celebrated as a time of liberty and freedom (verse 10).

The number 50 implies complete freedom from captivity, a theme frequently found in God's festivals and Holy Days. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread marked ancient Israel's freedom from Egyptian slavery, as well as our freedom from sin and death through Jesus Christ. The theme of freedom from captivity also continues in the wave-sheaf offering and the Feast of Pentecost.

The meanings of Jubilee (50 years) and Pentecost (50 days) are designed to illustrate similar blessings. God marvelously reveals His awesome plan of salvation for all humanity through symbolism such as ceremonies, harvests and holy festival seasons, and understanding of that plan is available to those who keep the Holy Days God commanded.