First Fruits
Chag Ha-Bikkurim
The Hebrew term bikkurim derives from the same root as bekhor - firstborn. In the Torah, the general principle that the firstborn of man (and beast) belonged to Yahuah is also applied to the first fruits to ripen each agricultural season, beginning with a sheaf of the new barley harvest (omer) on Reishit KafZir, and culminating in the celebration of Shavu'ot, also called Chag ha-Bikkurim — “the first fruits festival,”
Feast of “Firstfruits”
The day following the first day of Unleavened Bread is called Reishit Katzir, the “beginning of the harvest” (sometimes confusingly called the Feast of Firstfruits). In ancient times, on this day a sheaf (omer) of barley (the first grain crop to ripen) was waved before Yahuah in a prescribed ceremony to mark the start of the counting of the omer, thereby initiating the forty-nine day countdown to the harvest festival of Shavu'ot: And Yahuah spoke to Moses, saying, "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 (omer) of the first (reshit) of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahuah, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 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 Yahuah.’ (Lev. 23:9-12). In other words, on this day the priest would wave a sheaf (omer) of green barley before Yahuah as a symbolic gesture of dedicating the coming harvest to Him.
- Proverbs 3:9 says Honor Yahuah with thy substance, and with the FIRSTFRUITS of all thine increase: Verse 10 says So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
- Rom.11:16 says for if the FIRSTFRUITS be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
- Leviticus 23:10 says “When you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest,” Leviticus 23:10. It is to be set apart as holy unto Yah!
The offering of first-fruits came on the third day of the Passover feast. The fourteenth day of the month Abib, or Nisan, the Passover was eaten, the fifteenth day was the Sabbath, and upon the sixteenth day, or as the Bible states it, "On the morrow after the Sabbath," the first-fruits were waved before YHVH. (Lev. 23:5-11)
YAHUSHA THE MESSIAH OUR FIRST FRUITS
Although not happening coincidentally, the Wave Offering and the Resurrection of Yahusha are linked together prophetically by the Apostle Paul:
But in fact HaMashiach has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in HaMashiach shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: HaMashiach the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to HaMashiach. (1 Cor. 15:20-23)
Here the emissary clearly links the firstfruit offering with the resurrection of Yahusha our Mashiach. Yahusha's resurrection was like a “wave offering” presented before the Father as the "firstfruits" of the harvest to come! Moreover, Yahusha presented His firstfruits offering to the Father on this day:
The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matt. 27:52-53)
Our Messiah offered to the Father the “early crops” of what will be an overwhelming harvest at the end of the age (acharit hayamim). Yahusha is the first-begotten of the Father (Heb. 1:6); the Firstborn of Creation (Col. 1:15- 6); the first-begotten of the dead (Rev. 1:5) and is the Firstfruits of those who are to be resurrected (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Baruch YAHUAH.