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The Feast Of Firstfruits THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS was the
third feast Israel celebrated during the passover
festival Speak
to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you the
priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath' Leviticus 23:10-11 Passover week, in
the days of the Temple,
originally consisted of three The Sadducees at the
time of our Lord disagreed with this chronology.
Some modem Commentators also
disagree. The difference is due to a misunderstanding of the words "on the
day after the Sabbath" (Leviticus 23: 11). The
word "Sabbath" not only refers to the
seventh day of the week; it also
clearly refers to the day of the festivals
themselves (see Leviticus 23:24-25, 32, 39). The Sadducees, however, believed that
the first sheaf was always offered on the day following the weekly Sabbath of
the Passover week. The testimony
of Josephus proves beyond a doubt that the word "Sabbath" in this
instance is the fifteenth of Nisan, on whatever day of the week it fell.
But on the second day of unleavened
bread which is the Sixteen day
of the month, they first
partake of the fruits
of the earth, for before that day they do not touch
them. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3, X, 5.) Firstfruits: The Temple Service The Feast of Firstfruits
was not just a harvest festival it was an acknowledgment of God's bounty and
providence to Israel. The order of service for the presentation of the
firstfruits during temple days is fascinating and
instructive. Remember, the day
began at sundown. Alfred
Edersheim details the order
of service: Already, on
the fourteenth of Nisan, the spot
whence the first sheaf was to. be reaped had been marked out by delegates
from the Sanhedrin, by tying together
in bundles, while still standing the barley
that was to be cut down. Though,
for obvious reasons, it was customary to choose
for this purpose the sheltered Ashes Valley across Kedron, there was no
restriction on that point provided the barley had grown in an ordinary field
in Palestine itself, and not in garden or orchard land and that
the soil had not been manured nor yet artificially
watered. When the time for
cutting the sheaf had arrived, that is, on the evening of the fifteenth of Nisan
(even though it were a Sabbath), just as the sun went down,
three men, each with a sickle and basket formally set to work. But in order clearly to bring out all
that was distinctive in the ceremony, they first asked
of the bystanders three times .each of these questions:
"Has the sun gone down?" With this sickle?" "Into this basket?" "On
this Sabbath (or first passover day)?"
and lastly, "Shall
I reap?"
Having each
time been answered in the affirmative, they
cut down barley to the amount of one ephah, or
ten omers, or
three seahs, which is equal to about three pecks and three pints of our English
measure. ·The ears were brought into the
court of the Temple and thrashed out with canes or stalks, so
as not to injure the corn; then “parched on a pan perforated with
holes, so that each grain might be touched by the fire, and finally exposed
to the wind. The
corn thus prepared was ground in a barley mill which left the hulls whole. According
to some the flour was always successively
passed through thirteen sieves, each closer than the other. The statement
of a rival authority, however, seems more rational-that
it was only done till the flour was sufficiently fine,
which was ascertained by one of
the Gizbarim (treasurers)
plunging his hands into it, the sifting process being continued
so long as any of the flour adhered to the hands. Though one ephah, or
ten omers, of barley was cut down, only one corner of
flour, or about 5.1 pints of our measure, was
offered in the Temple on the second paschal, or
sixteenth day of Nisan.? (Edersheim, Alfred, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, pp. 223·224.) By the consecration
of the firstfruits, the people of Israel joyfully proclaimed that they not
only offered the firstfruits to the Lord, but that the whole harvest belonged
to Him. Firstfruits: Its New Testament Fulfillment The New Testament tells
of another harvest. But
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who
have fallen asleep. For since death came through a
man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ
all will be made alive. But "Christ has indeed been
raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who
have fallen asleep." We
rejoice in the fact of our Lord's resurrection. He is risen
from the dead. There is a vast
difference between the teaching of the immortality
of the soul and the resurrection of the body.
Paganism gladly accepts
the truth of the immortality
of the soul, but
that is not our hope.
Our hope is not in an immortal, disembodied
soul. It
is in the resurrection of the body.
Our Lord really died; His body was buried; He rose from the
dead. The body of our Lord, which
was resurrected, was the same body
that died for us. Since He is the
firstfruits of the harvest, so also is the harvest: "But each in
his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong
to Him" (I Corinthians 15:23).
This truth gives us abundant comfort. We
should be clear in our thinking about the meaning of the word ‘resurrection" as
it applies to the Lord Jesus Christ and as it
will apply to believers. It
means more than to reanimate, to resuscitate,
or to reinvigorate. There were several resurrections
before our Lord rose from the dead. In. the
Old Testament, the Lord heard Elijah's prayer and raised
the widow s son from the dead (1 Kings 17:17.23). In the New Testament, our Lord raised
from the dead the daughter of Jairus (Luke
8:41·56), the son of the widow of Nain
(Luke 7:11·15), and Lazarus (John 11:43.44). There is a remarkable study in contrasts
concerning these three resurrections found in the
New Testament. The body of each
was in a different condition. The
girl appeared to be sleeping; the young man
was being carried to his grave, decay already begun in the warm climate;
Lazarus had been dead four days and decay was advanced. Our Lord used a different method in
each case: He took the little girl by her hand; He didn't touch the body of
the young man, He touched the bier which was bearing
him to the grave; and He cried to Lazarus with a loud voice. His care for each was different: He
fed the girl; He gave the son to his mother; and He had Lazarus released from
his grave clothes. Here the
contrasts end. The comparisons
are equally vivid: they were all dead, they were all raised from the dead, it
was our Lord who raised them, and they all died again. Our Lord’s resurrection was different.
He rose to die no more! "Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to
Him." The contrasts and comparisons between our
Lord's resurrection and that of Lazarus are especially instructive.
The stone had to be
rolled away to let Lazarus come out of the tomb. The angel
rolled the stone away from our Lord's tomb, not
to let the Lord out, but to permit the disciples to enter:
Lazarus "came out, his hands and feet wrapped with
strips of linen, and a cloth around his face" (John
11:44), and the disciples had to take off the
grave clothes and let him go. How different
it was with the resurrection of our Lord!
He is the Prince
of Life. It was utterly impossible that He should be holden
of death. He arose. And although His body had been bound
by grave clothes, neither the grave clothes, nor the walls
of the tomb, nor the walls of the room could confine
His glorious body. It
is His resurrection that comforts us in our sorrow. "Because He lives, we too
shall live." It was "after
the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day
of the week, [when] Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went
to look at the tomb" (Matthew 28: 1) and learned that the Lord Jesus Christ
had indeed been raised from the dead and become the firstfruits of those who
belong to Him. The firstfruits were
representative of the entire harvest. There is yet to be another harvest: "Christ, the
firstfruits; then, when He comes, those
who belong to Him" (1 Corinthians 15:23). Our
faith
in the future is not in
philosophical vagaries concerning
the "immortality of the soul." It is firmly embedded in the
fact of our Lord's resurrection.
The resurrection of the believer is not
patterned after that of Lazarus.
We shall be raised in our Lord's likeness.
It is human for us to
wonder about the resurrection body of our loved
ones. With what body will they be
raised? He is the firstfruits.
Like Him, the
resurrection bodies of our loved ones (and ours too) will be the same bodies
that were buried in the grave, but with splendid
differences. They
will be our loved ones; we shall see and recognize them. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old
order of things has passed away" (Revelation
21:4). Have you received your Redeemer, the Stone whom the builders
rejected? In Him is life, light and joy and in His sacrifice is
forgiveness of sin. Reprinted
for educational purposes ISRAEL’S
Holy Days, In type and Prophecy, Daniel Fuchs, chapter 3 Chosen
People Ministries www.chosenpeople.com And
other publication sources. For
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