Commentary - Leviticus 23:9-14

Bird's-eye view

In Leviticus 23, God lays out the calendar for Israel's corporate worship. These are not man-made holidays, but divinely appointed times, each one a lesson, a shadow, a prophecy. The Feast of the Harvest, or First Fruits, is particularly potent. It is a forward-looking command, given to a people wandering in the wilderness, promising them a future harvest in a land they do not yet possess. This is a command dripping with promise.

The central principle is simple and profound: God gets the first and the best. Before the people may enjoy the fruit of the land God gives them, they must first acknowledge the Giver. They are to bring the very first sheaf of the harvest to the Lord. This act of worship is not merely a "thank you" note; it is the consecration of the entire harvest. By dedicating the first fruits, the whole lump is made holy. And as we will see, this feast is a stunningly accurate prophecy of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the first fruits from the dead. This passage teaches us about faith, gratitude, the necessity of atonement, and the absolute centrality of Christ's resurrection to our acceptance before God.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus is the handbook for holiness. After establishing the sacrificial system and the priesthood, God, through Moses, now outlines the sacred calendar. These feasts are the rhythm of Israel's life with God. They are not optional add-ons but are integral to the covenant relationship. The Feast of First Fruits is situated right after Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, forming a crucial part of the spring feasts. Passover remembers redemption from bondage. Unleavened Bread remembers the haste of their departure and the need for purity. And First Fruits looks forward in faith to the provision of God and celebrates the beginning of the harvest, which is ultimately a celebration of life triumphing over the deadness of winter.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

Verse 9-10: "Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, '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."'"

The instruction begins, as all true worship does, with a word from God. This is not a human suggestion. God institutes the terms of His own worship. The command is given in the wilderness, but it is for the land of promise. This is an exercise in faith. God is teaching them to live now in light of a future He has guaranteed. He says "when you enter," not "if." The harvest is His gift, and the land is His gift. The first response to this gift is not consumption, but dedication. The very first sheaf belongs to God. This sets a pattern for all of life. God is not to be given the leftovers, the surplus, the convenient. He is to be given the first, the best. By giving God the first, they acknowledge that the entirety of the harvest is His, and they are merely stewards.

Verse 11: "And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it."

The priest acts as the mediator. He takes their offering and presents it, or waves it, before the Lord. The purpose is stated plainly: "for you to be accepted." Our offerings, our works, our gratitude do not, in themselves, make us acceptable. They must be presented through a mediator. The sheaf represents the people and their entire harvest. Its acceptance signifies their acceptance. And then we have the timing, which is of monumental importance. "On the day after the sabbath." This is the first day of the week. For centuries, Israel performed this ritual, rehearsing a future event they could not have foreseen. The apostle Paul tells us plainly that Christ is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:20). When did Christ rise from the dead? On the day after the Sabbath. The waving of the sheaf was a dress rehearsal for the resurrection. Christ, our great high priest, presented Himself before the Father as the first fruits of the new creation, securing our acceptance.

Verse 12: "Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without blemish for a burnt offering to Yahweh."

Here we see that gratitude and atonement are inextricably linked. You cannot come before a holy God with a thank-offering without first dealing with the sin problem. Alongside the sheaf of the harvest, a symbol of life and provision, must come a lamb without blemish, a symbol of substitutionary death. This burnt offering signifies total dedication and consecration. It reminds the people that their acceptance, and the blessing of the harvest itself, is not earned. It is all of grace, and that grace is bloody. The lamb, of course, points directly to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Our resurrection life in Christ is only possible because of His atoning death.

Verse 13: "Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Yahweh for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine."

God is interested in the details. The worship He prescribes is specific. The grain offering represents the fruit of man's labor, sanctified and offered back to God. The oil speaks of the Spirit's anointing, and the fire consumes it, sending it up as a "soothing aroma." This is language of divine pleasure. When worship is offered according to God's word, founded on the blood of the lamb, God is pleased. The drink offering of wine is an expression of joy. This is not a dour, grim-faced religion. It is a festival, a celebration of God's abundant goodness.

Verse 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 places of habitation."

This is the practical application of the "God first" principle. You do not partake of the blessing until you have honored the Blesser. This is a powerful discipline against the sin of presumption. It cultivates a heart of gratitude and dependence. We are tempted to grab first and give thanks later, if we remember. God commands the opposite. Worship first, then feast. This is declared to be a "perpetual statute." While the specific ceremonial elements are fulfilled in Christ, the underlying principle is timeless. We do not live for ourselves first. We offer our lives, our work, our resources, our families, the first fruits, to God, trusting that He will sanctify and bless the rest.

Application

The Feast of First Fruits is not an archaic agricultural ritual for us to observe sentimentally. It is a foundational gospel truth that shapes our entire Christian life. First, it teaches us that our acceptance before God is based entirely on the finished work of another. Christ is our first fruits. He was "waved" before the Father in His resurrection, and in Him, we are accepted. We do not work to be accepted; we work because we are accepted.

Second, this feast establishes the pattern of Christian gratitude. God is the source of every good gift. Our natural inclination is to consume His gifts for our own pleasure. But the principle of first fruits calls us to dedicate the first and best of all we have back to Him. This applies to our money, certainly, but also to our time, our energy, our talents. When we give to the Lord first, we are acting in faith, trusting that He who provided the first sheaf will also provide the full harvest.

Finally, this feast anchors our hope in the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus was not just a one-off miracle; it was the beginning of the great harvest at the end of time. Because He was raised as the first fruits, we have a sure and certain hope that we too will be raised. This ancient feast, therefore, is a call to live as resurrection people in the here and now, ordering our lives around the reality that Christ is risen, and we are risen with Him.