This week, as we look to Leviticus 23: 9-14, we are going to see what God told His people concerning the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks
Through the Feast of Passover from last week, the emphasis was on remembrance. They were to look back and even reenact the Passover on the very night it took place on their new calendar.
The two feasts I’d like to cover today are the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks. Both of these feasts are agricultural in nature. This is important because it shows God’s faithfulness. For God to tell His people when you get to the Promised Land, I want you to commemorate My work in bringing about the beginning of the harvest and the full harvest God is going to bring them into the land. Give them peace from other nations and keep His promise for some time because crops don’t grow overnight.
Feast of Firstfruits: The Promise of the Future
Leviticus 23:9–14 (ESV)
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
This feast was to be a commemorative feast where the Israelites gave thanks for the early harvest of barley. God’s provisions are to be praised and thanksgiving to God offered up. The early harvest was also prophetic in that it pointed to the harvest that would come later.
1. God’s People Should Give to God the First and the Best (23:9-11)
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
If there was to be a harvest as God promises then God is going to have to bring them into the land, keep them in the land and protect them while in the land if they are to have a harvest. There is the growing season of waiting that God is working.
They were to acknowledge God, be thankful, and praise Him for their crops. They were told to bring the very first fruit to God give it to the priest and he then waves it before the Lord praising God for all He has done for them.
In these OT accounts, we can see the sense in which we are to give to God. While things are different now there still is the acknowledgement in our giving that we should acknowledge that what we have all came from God so we should give thanks and praise Him. We should give God our firstfruits and our best. Our giving also is a thanksgiving offering and there is a prophetic nature as well. We by faith rest in God’s provision for the future.
2. Thanksgiving and Praise Must Accompany Worship (23:12-14)
12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
In this setting we see the congregation of Israel all gathered celebrating the fact that God had worked and had given them this first fruit of the harvest and also praising Him for the rest of the harvest that He would also bring.
The thrust of this section is that when God’s people bring Him the first fruit of the harvest then God releases the rest to them.
14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
When we are faithful to give thanks and praise to God for our needs being met then He adds more to us…He releases the rest.
Beloved when we are faithful to God He will reward us. When we give thanks to God for what we have He will give us more. That principle is taught throughout the Bible. If we are faithful with little God will give us more.
Matthew 25:21 (ESV)
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
The Feast of Firstfruits was a wonderful time for God’s people to tell God thank you and to trust Him for the future.
Looking to Christ, we see that the Apostle Paul calls Him the Firstfruit.
1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV)
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Throughout 1 Corinthians 15, Paul uses the analogy of a seed being planted in the ground and then in it’s time, it sprouts forth in a better body than that which was planted.
Jesus was buried and He came forth in resurrection, a better body than that which was buried. Jesus was raised in a glorified body.
Just as the Feast of Firstfruits was prophetic that by this token, God was promising a greater harvest so too when Paul calls Jesus the Firstfruits he is reminding us that Jesus’ resurrection His sprouting forth in a better body, this is God’s promise to all His people that we too one day will also be raised with a glorified body like His.
We are called to give thanks for our Firstfruit (Jesus Christ) and we are to also view His resurrection as prophetic for our resurrection which is promised by God that will come later.
The Feast of Weeks
Now, all the crops have been harvested and God has set a festival for His people to celebrate.
There was the day when the Firstfruits were brought in as a wave offering and now 50 days later, after the crops have been harvested a festival celebrating all that God had promised when the first fruits were harvested has been fulfilled.
This is called the Feast of Weeks because God tells them to mark off seven weeks (49 + 1). In the Greek Bible, it’s called Pentecost due to being 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits.
Leviticus 23:15-22
15 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord. 18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
Here was the celebration for the bounty they had received. The wave offering of praise here is found to be loaves of bread. Here these loaves are made to be eaten and enjoyed. They were not unleavened but leavened…made for eating
1. God’s People are to Express Thankfulness to Him for His Provision (23:15-17)
15 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.
They were to show thankfulness to God for His bounty.
Two festivals, one celebrating the beginning of the harvest and the other to celebrate the end of the harvest. The first sign of God’s provision and the second celebrating the full harvest.
It seems very fitting that the Israelites did not bring grain for a wave offering but loaves of bread. This was the food that the harvest produced. This was not just grain but grain made into fine flour and baked into bread…now they were to use leaven. Not like on the night of the Passover when they had no time to let it rise but when God brings them into the Land, they will have time to let their bread rise.
2. God’s People are Called to Express Their Thankfulness Together (23:18-21)
18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
God calls His people to observe certain ways in which He is to be thanked and worshipped. First God commands His people to worship in a prescribed manner.
Notice the three main components here…
-There were prescribed sacrifices made
– They were to gather into a congregation
– They were to refrain from work
3. God’s People Were to Show Their Thankfulness to God by Providing for the Poor (23:22)
22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
God shows us here that the evidence of true thankfulness is found in making provisions for the poor. Generosity is the mark of thankfulness. God’s people are called to be givers and not be greedy.
The Israelite was called by God not to harvest their entire field but leave some for those who had no field to harvest…these were the poor, foreigners and sojourners in the land.
The Book of Hebrews tells us that generosity is part of worship and praise…
Hebrews 13:15–16 (ESV)
15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Looking now to the NT we see that Acts 2 begins with these words…
Acts 2:1–8 (ESV)
2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
Why did God give the Holy Spirit, give the disciples special language abilities and raise Peter up to preach the Gospel to them on the Day of Pentecost?
God wants us to connect the dots a little here.
We saw that Paul calls Jesus the Firstfruit of the resurrection. We could see Jesus as the Firstfruit that was brought to God as a wave offering that in the OT symbolized the very beginning of the harvest. Pentecost, 50 days later was the celebration that the harvest was full. The people that gathered on the Day of Pentecost heard the Gospel message from the Apostles and especially from Peter in His sermon. They were cut to the heart and cried out for salvation. The believers, that day represent the beginning of the full harvest that the Holy Spirit would bring about. Now the full harvest is continuing and includes us. All who come to Christ will rise from their graves. On the last day, the trumpet will sound and all who have died will rise together with new bodies like Jesus’. He being the Firstfruit and we being the harvest at Pentecost.
Jesus is the Firstfruit and we are the harvest at Pentecost. Jesus was the first resurrection which was prophetic in nature. Just as the firstfruit represented the full harvest to come, so too, Jesus is the Firstfruit of the resurrection and there will be a full harvest at His return…all will be raised.
Prophetically, we have been given the Firstfruit of the harvest, Jesus has risen from the grave. Many have gone on before us and their spirits are waiting, like a seed ready to sprout. One day we too will be added to the ground planted as a seed. Just as sure as God gave us Jesus Christ, the Firstfruit of the resurrection so to we will join Him with brand new resurrected bodies. Never to die and never to sin again!
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