Jewish Feasts - Feast of First Fruits

Scripture: Leviticus 23:9-14

This past Sunday was Feast of First Fruits. This feast was originally celebrated when the Israelite's entered their land, on the day after the Sabbath (the first day of the week).

The feast commemorates God as their supplier and is done during the barley harvest in the land of Israel. Barley was the first crop reaped from the winter sowing. The first portion of the harvest was brought to the Temple as an offering before the Lord. It was then given to the priest who would then wave it before the Lord. They would also bring an unblemished lamb, a grain offering with oil and a drink offering of wine. The people were forbidden to eat of the crops until the “First Fruits” were celebrated.

First Fruits marks the start of Israel’s grain offering and the beginning of the count for the Feast of Weeks, which is Pentecost (Lev 23:15-16). I will get into this on my next email.

This was a thanks offering, giving thanks to the Lord for the harvest to come. Get this, they were giving thanks to God for something that hadn’t fully taken place yet.

Here are the details of this celebration back in the day. The priest had their own field to harvest, and each year they would set aside a portion of their field to be sheaved for First Fruits. Three members of the Sanhedrin would come to the field with three sickles and three baskets. However, they would not be the ones to do the cutting, the bundles of barley would have already been prepared. They would gather them and bring them to the Temple. I know, you are going to ask why would they bring the sickles if they weren’t going to use it? I don’t know, maybe they were lazy, maybe they were too good to actually do the work, maybe that was just the custom, I am not sure. Let’s move on.

When the barley was brought to the Temple, it was then to be threshed with rods to separate the grain from the rest of the plant. It was then parched (cooked by dry roasting) and winnowed in the wind to remove the chaff. The barley was then milled and sifted until it was very fine. A small portion was then mixed with olive oil and frankincense. The priest would wave this before the Lord, and then burn some and give the rest to the Levite's for their portion.

First Fruits requires the Temple, and since the Temple is no longer here, it is not celebrated. Instead, the counting of the omer is what’s celebrated.

Regarding Jesus and First Fruits, read Matthew 28:1-10. Pay close attention to verse 1. Stop here, and read that verse, don’t go on if you haven’t read it. Did you catch it? The two Mary’s went to the tomb, “after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week.”. This was the day First Fruits was supposed to be observed. Jesus was resurrected on First Fruits. Now read 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. The original Feast of First Fruits anticipated the full harvest to come, the resurrection of Jesus anticipates the full resurrection of His people. Now read Job 19:25-27, this whole thing was foretold and promised there.

You can’t make this stuff up.

FYI, Leviticus wasn’t the first time First Fruits was introduced; do you know when that actually was? The first time we see this offering is actually in Genesis when Cain and Able were bringing their harvest to the Lord. (Gen 4:2-7)