feast of first fruits..

Leviticus 23:9-21 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 ‘He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 ‘Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 ‘Its grain offering shall then be twotenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 ‘Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the - 1 - day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 ‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. 17 ‘You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. 18 ‘Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. 19 ‘You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 ‘The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD; they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 ‘On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. Deuteronomy 16:9-12 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 “Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you; 11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name. 12 “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes." The command to count the Omer is referred to as Sifrat HaOmer. We find this concept for the counting of the sheaf or omer in Leviticus 23:15 above. What is interesting is that many scholars find the use of Shabbatot in our Levitical passage to refer to weeks, or periods of seven days. In Deuteronomy we find the more typical word for "weeks" which is Shavuot, תֹעֻ בָ שׁ .This word is used throughout the description in Deuteronomy. You count weeks in Deuteronomy from the time you begin to put the sickle into the standing grain.

The theme of the first fruits of the Barley Harvest as the Resurrection is quite strong, and should not be overlooked. If we accept that the day for first fruits is the day after the weekly Sabbath, then the first day of the week or Sunday should be the day to think of first fruits and the Resurrection. Interestingly enough, the gospel accounts tell us that Yeshua was risen as the women came to the tomb early on the first day of the week, Matthew 28:1-7; Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:1-10. So one of the confusing things is that many people want to always make it on a first day of the week, and always on the third day. This is not always possible at the same time! That is because the 14th of Nisan could fall on any day of the week!

There is a huge question, discussion and debate concerning when is the first fruits of the Barley Harvest, and the beginning of the counting of the Omer. And this is vitally important, for this determines when we celebrate Shavuot.

What we do know is that in the days of Yeshua, there were at least three different methods for determining what is meant by “the day after the Sabbath.” The Sadducees, or as some believe, a further sub-group of the Sadduccees, the Boethusians, held that this Scripture referred to the weekly Sabbath. This meant that the counting of the Omer, and the celebration of Shavuot would always be on the first day of the week.

The Qumran sect, which we regard as Essenes, understood this to refer not the weekly Sabbath during Passover and Unleavened Bread, but to the weekly Sabbath after the last day of Unleavened Bread. Thus they also began on the first day of the week, but a week later than the Sadducees. The Karaites also held to the concept of the weekly Sabbath. Interestingly, the Karaites believe in only using the Written Word of God, the Torah as their source of Halachah, rejecting the concept of an Oral Torah, and therefore rejecting the Mishnah and the Talmud. The Pharisees, however, held that the day of the first of the harvest, when they waved the Omer of Barley, and thus the Counting of the Omer, was after "the Sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread." Thus it would begin on the 16th of Nisan. If you go with the idea of this day, then the first fruits of the Barley would always occur on the 3rd day. This would coincide with the idea of the third day being a constant. However, if we accept this understanding, then the weekly Sabbath could be 3 days and sometimes 7 days after Passover. It would always be a floating day, dependent upon the timing of the Passover. So it would be the third day of the week of Passover, but seldom a first day of the week.

The Scripture of Leviticus 23:15 seems straightforward enough. First fruits of Barley and the Counting of the Omer was to be on the first day after the Sabbath and the Festival of Shavuot was to be on the first day after the 7th Shabbat. There is literally no way to come up with the "day after the 7th Sabbath" without the counting beginning and ending on the first day of the week if you take this literally. This has been our reckoning of the text since I have been here at Chavurah, so that we Count the Omer from the first day of the week after the weekly Shabbat during Passover. As early as Deuteronomy 16:1-8, it seems as if the two festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread are rolled together into one self-same event. The Deuteronomy passage also clearly states a counting for seven weeks, and does not use the idea of seven shabbatot. Joshua 5 has become critical for some, for the mandates of Leviticus has to do with coming into the land and taking of the first of the harvest, Leviticus 23:14. Until the sheaf is waved before the Lord, and the first fruits are offered, none of the new growth of that year’s harvest could be eaten. Joshua 5:10-11 indicates they ate from the produce of the land on the day following the Passover. Joshua 5:10-12 While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. 11 On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year. So here goes our understanding. As they ate Passover, they entered into the First Day of Unleavened Bread. So the day after would be the next day, or the first day of Unleavened Bread. Thus they in essence harvested the first of the land and offered it up, and then received some to eat, all on the first day.

The manna ceased with the eating of this produce of the new land. While this does not exactly fit the Levitical picture to offer it up on the day after the sabbath, it is nonetheless held up to indicate the first day of Unleavened Bread that becomes critical. It could be that this was the first day of the week, if Passover that year was on Shabbat. It could be as we have already noted, that in Deuteronomy 16 Passover and Unleavened Bread was reckoned together as one event, that it meant after it was over, which could be again the first day of the week. It just isn’t spelled out in that great detail. But this is an argument for the day after Unleavened Bread began. Additionally, the Pharisaic understanding of the use of "shabbat" in our Leviticus passage in the first century is that it represents seven periods of seven days, to mean the day after the seventh week. Appeal is made to the idea of "complete" shabbatot. It is argued that an incomplete shabbat does not make sense, so that it must refer to an full and complete week of 7 complete days. Appeal is also made to Leviticus 25:8, and the counting of sabbaths of years to come up with the Shemittah, the seventh year, the year of release. Leviticus 25:8 ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. This passage however, has a qualifier, a word pair for you Hebrew students, that indicates something other than a weekly Shabbat.

This is something that does not occur in our Leviticus passage concerning the counting of the Omer. There is some concern to bring the passages of Deuteronomy and Joshua into interpreting just exactly what was meant in our Leviticus passage. Many indicate that such use of Shabbat or Shabbatot to refer to a period of seven days greatly influenced the Gospel accounts which regularly use sabbaton, σαββατον, to refer to a week in the Apostolic Scriptures. The root meaning of the terms is related to the - 5 - number seven in the original languages. Another aspect of the Pharisees interpretations which gave rise to the Rabbinic calendar which is in wide use today is the reference to every Festival day as a "Shabbat," or a day like a "Shabbat." This is typically based upon the use of the word Moed, a Divine Appointment, and the phrase Mikra Kodesh, a Holy Convocation. Because the Shabbat, the weekly time set apart unto God each week, was described by these two terms, then the assumption is that all of the Festivals which are referred to by the terms "Moed," and "Mikra Kodesh" are then also like a "Shabbat." Now a great deal is made about the term "shabbaton," meaning a holy day, one that is treated like Shabbat.

There are a number of terms we deal with in considering the Festivals of Leviticus 23, and the other places they are mentioned. We find the following terms: Moedim - Divine Appointments Mikra Kodesh - Holy Convocation or Assembly Shabbat - Rest, Stop Work Shabbaton - a day like a Shabbat Shabbat Shabbaton -a complete and total rest, do no work at all Chag - a Feast Mikrah is considered to be somewhat synonymous with Moed. Moed is more precisely an appointed time and mikrah is an appointed gathering. Mikrah comes from the verb karah – to call out, to call together. Mikrah kodesh then, is a holy gathering, a time for coming together, and designates the weekly Sabbath, and the seven festivals mentioned in Leviticus 23. Each mikrah Kodesh is a formal summoning of the people to worship by the blowing of the shofar.

Shabbaton is a day of complete rest, a day of the week treated like the Shabbat. At least that is what I have always understood. Interestingly, in listing the moedim, the 7th day of the week is called a Shabbat shabbaton, and Yom Kippur is called a Shabbat Shabbaton. No other days has this doubling of the idea of rest. a sabbath of complete rest - Hebrew shabbat shabbaton is superlative, literally “the most restful cessation” from assigned tasks. The Sabbath is to be observed by a greater abstinence from daily tasks than is required on the festivals. On seasonal festivals, one refrains from work primarily to be free to celebrate, whereas on the Sabbath, the very object is rest. The term shabbat means “to desist, cease, be idle.” The Sabbath day is, consequently, a hiatus in the regular progression of daily labor. It enables a person literally to “catch his breath” (hinnafesh), the verb used to describe God’s rest on the Sabbath of Creation. In other contexts, the term shabbat may connote a “sabbath,” namely, an occasion that resembles the Sabbath, such as the last year in the seven-year sabbatical cycle or a week, which ends on the Sabbath day. Hebrew shabbaton expresses that which is like the Sabbath and as such designates the Day of Atonement and other occasions, including the first and seventh days of festivals.- -JPS Torah Commentary. Yom Teruah is called a Shabbaton, and the first and seventh days of Sukkot are called Shabbaton. However, although the first and last days of Unleavened Bread are called a mikrah kodesh, it does not have the term "shabbaton" associated with it. The Feast of Weeks or Shavuot is also called a mikrah kodesh, but it does not have the word "shabbaton" associated with it either.

Neither Passover nor the fiirst of the harvest, as important as they are, carry the term "shabbaton." We would have to consider them moedim, and perhaps even mikrah kodesh because of the introduction of v. 4. But they are not identified as a "shabbaton." This is seen to be a very special and holy term which is applied only to Shabbat, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Only twice is the concept doubled as a "Shabbat shabbaton," and that is for the 7th day of the week, and Yom Kippur. Additionally, later in Leviticus 25:4, the 7th year, the Shemittah, is considered a complete rest for the land. Concerning both the Shabbat and Yom Kippur, our Scripture is careful to raise the bar to "no work at all." We are quite familiar with the ideas of levels of holiness in relationship to the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) and the Temple. There are the outer courts, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. It would seem to me that there are also levels of holiness in regard to these festivals.

The Messianic Community is mixed in its keeping of the timing of the "First of the Harvest," or the waving of the Omer of Barley. For some the trump card is the fact that Yeshua followed the Pharisaic calendar, or order of things in the 1st Century. That goes without saying, for even the Sadducees had to follow the Pharisaic calendar for the events at the Temple. It is highly unlikely that they would have allowed lambs to be sacrificed at a different time, or the Omer of Barley to have - 7 - been waved at a different time. After all is said and done, it seems the more natural understanding of Leviticus 23:15 is that it is after the weekly Shabbat. That is what we have continued to follow during my time at Chavurah. There will be times when we are far removed from the Day of Passover as we are this year.

Does that change in any way that Yeshua rose from the dead as the first fruits of our Resurrection? Of course not! Yeshua died as our Atonement with God and this event was nowhere near the Day of Atonement! The figure nonetheless sticks! But for now, back to the Waving of the Omer of Barley! In the 2nd Temple Period, a priest would meet a group of pilgrims on the edge of the city, bring them up to the Temple mount carrying their first fruits, and lead them in worship with music, psalms of praise, and dance. As they entered the Temple compound, the priest would take the sheaves, lift them in the air as a wave offering to the Lord. This acknowledged God’s provision and sovereignty over all the earth.

The purpose was to remind the people of God of the connection between the Passover, which commemorates the Exodus, and Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai 50 days later. This was basically One Event in several stages. For in the Exodus, ADONAI brought out from the rest of the world, a People for His Name. In this Iron Furnace of Egypt, ADONAI forged a people, and called forth a nation: Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Jeremiah 11:4; Ezekiel 22:18, 20. While they had already expressed faith in God, and had applied the blood of the Lamb to the doorposts of their homes, it was at Sinai that the Covenant was enacted with Israel. There in a most unique and complete way, this budding nation was made to be a Holy People unto God. There was a complete covenant ceremony there, with the sprinkling of blood, the taking of an oath, and a covenant meal. Here they truly became God's Possession. For us as Messianic Believers, these festivals commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah, who was our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7, was our First Fruits, 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23, and the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh on Shavuot.

Traditionally this period is a time of partial mourning during which weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing are not conducted, in memory of a plague during the lifetime of Rabbi Akiva. The 33rd day of the omer, called Lag B’Omer, is a break in the mourning. The Hebrew Lag represents the number 33. It - 8 - commemorates the lifting of the plague. John 12 occurs at the time of the Passover. John 12:23-24, 32 could be a possible reference to the lifting up of the Omer, the First Fruits, and Waving it before God, a symbol of the acceptance of the death, burial and resurrection of Yeshua and the guarantee of the resurrection of all who believe on Him, just as the acceptance of the firstfruits of the barley was an indication of the acceptance, blessing and fulfillment of the coming wheat harvest at Shavuot.

John 12:23-33 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. 27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. 30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. Our passage in John begins with the idea of Yeshua's glorification. But when we come to v. 32, there is a reference to Him being lifted up. Our first inclination is to go to the Execution Stake, and with the concept of "cursed is he who is hung on a tree," along with the lifting up of the Brazen Serpent by Moshe in the wilderness; Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Galatians 3:13-14; Numbers 21:4-9. While we don't want to ignore the other, more typical connections, this is at Passover, and Yeshua IS our First Fruits. The Omer, the sheaf of barley, was to be lifted up and waved before God, Leviticus 23:9-14. The analogy to a grain of wheat is astounding! This does really tie things into the concepts of the Hebrew Agricultural Calendar. The first of all the harvest period was the Barley. Once this had been lifted up, and waved before ADONAI, the acknowledging of God as the source of the blessings of the rain and the grain, the - 9 - rest of the Harvest is then assured. First Messiah as our First Fruits, and then the time for the Harvest. In this passage, the harvest included the coming in of the Gentiles. For that is the context of our passage. The Kingdom of God has broken out upon mankind, and not only upon the Jew, but to all who would receive Yeshua as the Promised Messiah. It was time for the Gentiles to come in!

HARK! said:

I don't regard them as Essenes. I regard them as the Aaronic Priesthood, who took their writings with them; when they had been ousted from the Temple.

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Could be.