When the Israelites came into the land, YHWH commanded them to perform a ritual of profound significance before beginning the spring harvest on the day after the Sabbath within Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23: 11, 15). This Sheaf of Firstfruits Ceremony marked the start of the spring harvest in Israel. After the Sabbath had closed, the public bore witness to an appointed Israelite cutting a sheaf of barley from the field between sundown and dark¹. They brought it to the priests to meticulously prepare for a morning wavesheaf offering. In the Court of the Temple, the priests thrashed the barley stocks with canes, collected the grain in a sieve, parched it with fire, and then exposed it to the wind². They ground the grain in a barley mill, sifted the flour multiple times to ensure its purity, and mixed an omer with oil³. After sprinkling frankincense upon it, a priest waved the offering before YHWH for His acceptance, usually about mid-morning⁴. Not until the priests waved the sheaf of firstfruits could the people of Israel harvest that year’s new grain (Lev. 23:14).

Leviticus 23:9-14 provides a detailed description of the firstfruit harvest ceremony. The text does not say it was a holy convocation feast day when no work could be done, but a wave ritual that started the spring harvest. In addition to the wavesheaf offering, the priests offered a male lamb of the first year without blemish on that day with a two-tenths grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil and its drink offering of one-fourth hin of wine. With its exclusive offering, the wave ritual marked the first day of the weeks, the beginning of the count of the seven Sabbaths to the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). And like a bookend to the first, a specific two-tenths wave offering also ends the seven-week spring harvest. Besides the Day of Atonements and Sukkot, only these two harvest wave offerings are “statutes forever.”

Let’s delve into the specifics of this Sheaf of Firstfruits Ceremony. Israel was to observe the day after the Sabbath within the Unleavened Bread week when they entered the land YHWH gave them and reaped its harvest. Significantly, the Israelites sowed and grew the grain, a holy people living in the Holy Land. The people and the land were holy because a holy God dwelt there. Everything offered to YHWH had to be holy. Just like at Passover, YHWH’s claiming the firstborn of each Israelite family as holy unto Him made the entire nation holy, so also when Israel offered the first of the harvest to YHWH, then the rest of the harvest was considered holy. Notably, the Israelites were not to consume any of the harvests until YHWH accepted the holy wave offering that declared the spring harvest holy, and they, afterward, had brought their own firstfruits of the field to Him on the same day. YHWH declared this ritual “a statute forever” because it pointed to Yeshua, the firstborn among many brethren.

The first belongs to God as holy. When dedicated to Him for His purposes, it acknowledged God’s sovereignty over His creation and recognized Him as the source of blessing in all work. Due to Israel’s redemption price (the slain Lamb of God), the first portion of every crop was deemed holy, belonging to God, and given to Him as a firstfruit offering (Exo. 22:28, 23:19, Num 15:17–21, Eze. 44:30, Neh. 10:38). By setting apart the first as holy to God, God considered the entire harvest sacred, causing “a blessing to rest upon his house” (Eze. 44:30). Even the firstborn sons belonged to God, making the entire people a nation of “holy men” (Exo. 22:29,31). God called Israel His son, His firstborn (Exo. 4:22). “Israel was holiness to YHWH, the firstfruits of His increase” (Jer. 2:3).

What was unusual about the burnt offering on the wavesheaf day? When the priest took Israel’s sheaf of firstfruits and waved it before YHWH to be accepted, he then offered a unique burnt offering, a lamb with its two-tenths grain offering instead of the usual one-tenth grain offering for a lamb (Lev. 23:11-13). The two-tenths measure of grain is also highlighted in the wave offering at the conclusion of the harvest (Lev. 23:17). Two-tenths is 20% and appears frequently in association with the firstfruits⁵(Gen. 41:34; 2Ki. 4:42). And omer is one-tenth, or a tithe, of an ephah, and two-tenths is a double tithe. The two wave loaves of two-tenths at the harvest end were only for the priest. As the firstfruit/firstborn, Yeshua was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance to take care of the Father’s family. On the first day of the weeks (plural, Shavuot), the resurrected Yeshua told Mary Magdalene, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father and to My God and your God'” (Jhn. 20:1, 17-18). They were no longer just servants, but full-fledged brothers, the firstfruits, with the same Father. After the Father accepted Yeshua as the Wavesheaf offering, Yeshua appeared to His disciples later that day, sending them as He had been sent to the harvest of humanity (Jhn. 20:19-21). The two-tenths of the two-grain spring harvest is His priestly portion.

Takeaway:
The Sheaf of Firstfruits Ceremony was a momentous event marking the Father’s acceptance of Yeshua, the Firstfruits Wavesheaf, and His believers bringing the spring harvest’s firstfruits to YHWH, making the rest of the harvest holy and a blessing to humanity. Because Yeshua died for all, all died to sin in Him and are raised, healed, to no longer live for ourselves but to live for righteousness. As His full brothers and sisters, we are cleansed and purified by His blood so that we, bearing His holiness, may have ready access into the Father’s holy presence at any time as we work alongside Yeshua in the harvest.

Fun Factors:
Leviticus 23:9-14 has 328 letters, (8 × 41, 18² + 2²); 83 words (23^rd P); sum 24168, 3 × 8 × 19 × 53. The numbers metaphorically point to Wavesheaf Yeshua, the certainty (3) of a new beginning (8) of living (23) life (18) tabernacling (41) for a time cycle (19) so we may dwell (2²) in the Garden of God (53).

Commanding the wavesheaf cutting, Leviticus 23:10 has 87 letters in 24 words that sum to 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 multiplied by 37 (YHWH’s name constant), totaling 7770. The first four prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7 also form the sequence of weekdays upon which the Feast of Trumpets is declared: Monday (2), Tuesday (3), Thursday (5), or Sabbath (7), regulating the Feasts. And the same integers comprise the week’s seven-day lunar calendar parts, 181,440 equal 2⁶ × 3⁴× 5 × 7. Because Yeshua was the Wavesheaf, the rest of humanity’s harvests, set within the Holydays of Eden’s eternal Sabbaths, are holy unto YHWH. “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” (letter sum 7770, 2 × 3 × 5 × 7 × 37, Rev. 22:17).