Messiah in the Feast of First Fruits
By: Glenn Kay

Biblical Institution of the Feast
Key Passages:
Lev 23:9-14
I Cor 15:20-24

Just how theses two passages are related will be understood as we go through the passages and the teachings contained in them.

Name of the Feast

Reishit Katzir - or "Beginning of the Harvest”

• The first products of the grain harvest
• The beginning of the production of the harvest season
• It can be viewed as "the promise of more to come" - which will be a key to our understanding of this feast day as we go on.

Biblical Instructions

The day following the first day of Unleavened Bread is called Reshit Katzir (רֵאשִׁית קָצִיר) the "beginning of the harvest". In ancient times, on this day a sheaf (omer) of barley (the first grain crop to ripen) was waved before Yehovah 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 Shavuot:

And Yehovah 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 (katzir) to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before Yehovah, 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 Yehovah.' And its grain offering two tenth portions of fine flour mingled with oil: it is a sacrifice to Yehovah, an aroma of sweet savor to Yehovah, and its drink offering the fourth part of a hin of wine. (Lev. 23:9-12)
 

In other words, on this day the priest would wave a sheaf (omer) of green barley of the new harvest before Yehovah (north, south, east, then west) as a symbolic gesture of dedicating it to Him. A male lamb was then sacrificed as a burnt offering to Yehovah (olah) along with a minchah (unleavened bread mixed with oil) and wine (Lev. 22:13). Only after the wave offering was performed, could the crop could begin to be used (Lev. 23:14).

It is altogether remarkable that on this day a defect-free male lamb was to be offered along with bread and wine - the very symbols Yeshua used to recall His sacrifice...

The feast was to be celebrated on "the day after the Sabbath..." or "on the morning of the first day", as the Septuagint puts it. This will be important as we look at how this applies to Messiah and resurrection day. They were to reap the harvest - and then bring "the sheaf of the First Fruits of your harvest to the priest" - notice here it does not say - "a sheaf" but rather - "the sheaf" - it is one marked off as the First Fruits of the harvest. This too will come into play as we relate this to Messiah and His resurrection. The priest would then - "wave it " before Yehovah. Torah also stipulated that when Israel entered the land - no fruit was to be gathered from newly-planted trees for the first three years, and that the Firstfruits of the fourth year were consecrated to Yehovah (Lev. 19:23-25). This too has Messianic implications.

Traditional Jewish Observance

Modern Jewish observance excludes the elements of the ceremony which were dependent on the existence of the Temple:

• Offerings
• Processionals
• Sacrifices

The rabbis state that the counting of the seven weeks is still to be performed even if the waving of the offering cannot take place at the Temple.

The contemporary celebration involves:

• Prayers and blessings from special prayer books.
• Reflecting on the symbolic meaning of the day.
• Counting the days from the barley to the wheat harvest at Shavuot (Pentecost) some fifty days later. In essence, Sfirat Haomer is not a countdown, but a count-up in anticipation of the next great work of Elohim at Shavuot.
• Many congregations read from - Psalm 67 because it consists of seven verses and forty-nine words, to correspond to the 7 weeks, and fifty days of Sfirat Haomer

Messianic Significance of First Fruits

First Fruits - Occurs on the 17th of Nisan - tradition holds that a number of other events of redemptive nature took place on that date:

• Noah's ark safely came to rest on Mt. Ararat - Gen 8:4
• Moses led the Israelites through the parting of the Red Sea - Ex 3:18; 5:3
• Walls of Jericho fell - Joshua 5:13
• Hebrews delivered from Hamman's plot to destroy all Jewish people in the book of Esther - 3:12; 5:1

The odds of all these events occurring on the same date have been calculated to be : 783 quadrillion, 864 trillion, 876 billion, 960 million to: 1

Let us see how some of the Biblical instructions give us clues to the Messianic themes of this feast

Clue #1 - Let us start with the stipulation in - Lev 19:23

• In this passage we see Israel was told they must not eat of the fruit of the trees for the first three years
• Now is there anything to this other then an environmental concern?
• Yeshua's ministry on earth if we look at the gospel accounts took how long? Three years! Why that specific length of time? Could it be Elohim is trying to get our attention - in pointing out the symbolic nature of the Feast of First Fruits - that possibly First Fruits is not simply about giving thanks to Elohim for the grain harvest?

Clue #2 - Yeshua's Parable in John 12:23-24

• The instructions for the feast of First Fruits stipulated that a sheaf of grain be waved by the priest before Yehovah as a testimony of Elohim's provision.
• We can think of this as the grain which had come from the earth now being lifted high for all to see. Yeshua alluded to His own death and resurrection in similar terms in the parable He told in (Jn. 12:23-24)
• Is the timing of His telling this parable just a coincidence, or is He seeking to make a point here?
• The parable is spoken just as the disciples have come to celebrate the Passover; and as such is just prior to the Feast of First Fruits (Jn. 21:1;20).
• Could it be that Yeshua is pointing to the fact that His resurrection is the fulfillment of First Fruits?

Clue #3 - The Sheaf of the First Fruits

• This may seem as rather insignificant - but the way this is phrased is very important.
• the passage could have read -"bring a sheaf " - but it says - "bring the sheaf."
• According to the Mishnah - a Jewish Commentary of Scripture - we read; "when a man goes down to his field and sees for the first time ripe grain, he binds it with reed-grass and says, 'This is the First Fruits' ."
• The idea being that this sheaf is set apart from all the rest - it is singled out and it becomes the First Fruit.
• How is this important? It helps us to understand just what Paul is talking about in (I Cor. 15:20,23).
  He is not just stating that Yeshua was the first to rise from the dead, but by so doing , He is the direct fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits, and as such points to the fact that this festival should be important for all believers in Messiah.
• The theme of this passage is also that of part of the meaning of First Fruits, "it is the promise of more to come", summed up by Paul in (I Cor.15:53-58).

Clue # 4 - The timing of the Feast

• This is our last clue in the Messianic significance of the feast
• This is the only feast in Scripture which gives the time of celebration as such; "on the day after the Sabbath..." Some have interpreted the "day after the Sabbath" as being the day after the Sabbath of Nisan 15, which is the day of Unleavened Bread that could occur on any day of the week. However, the Scriptures reveal that the Feast of First Fruits must also align 50 days forward to the Feast of Seven Weeks (50th day), the day of Pentecost according to Lev. 23:15-16. The Feast of Seven Weeks must also happen on the "day after the Sabbath", which is the first day of the week or (Sunday). In the seventh week, there is no possibility of a Sabbath to occur on a weekday. The only possible Sabbath day during the seventh week is the seventh day Sabbath, Saturday. Therefore, the Feast of First Fruits always occurs on "the first day of the week", a Sunday according to Scripture.
• Now how is this a clue? This feast always follows the pattern : Passover/ Sabbath/ First Fruits. But what does that tell us?
• Yeshua is called in (I Cor 5:7-8) our Passover lamb, as such He died for our redemption - He died on Passover. After this He rested - that is the meaning of the word - Sabbath - in the tomb.
  Then on the first day of the week - Sunday - "on the day after the Sabbath", He was resurrected, and as such He is The First Fruits - the fulfillment of the Feast, and the promise that all who believe in Him would be raised again on the last day.
• Is it any wonder that this feast with it's singular importance should be the only one specifically laid out in terms of when it is celebrated?

Rav Shaul (Paul) explains in 1Cor 15 that Yeshua’s death and resurrection mirrored the planting and harvesting of the barley harvest on Reshit Katzir, while the coming resurrection of Yeshua’s followers will be as the wheat harvest at Shavuot:

“But now the Messiah has risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. And as by a man came death, so also by a man came the resurrection of the dead. For as it was by Adam that all men die, so also by the Messiah they all live: Everyone in his order; the Messiah was the first-fruits; afterwards, they that are the Messiah’s, at his coming. And then will be the completion (of this phase), when he will have delivered up the Kingdom to Elohim the Father; when every prince, and every sovereign, and all powers will have come to nothing. (1Cor15:20-24 AENT)

Yeshua himself also referred to His coming death and the future resurrection of his followers as a harvesting cycle when he explained in Yochanan (John) 12:24 that “I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest.”

So if Yeshua’s resurrection is a picture of the barley harvest on Reshit Katzir, his tomb represents the field after harvest: empty! Just as the barley harvest foreshadows the wheat harvest yet to come on Shavuot, so His resurrection foreshadows a greater one that is yet to come.

But what about the Wave Sheaf Offering? We find in Yochanan (John) 20 the scene where Miryiam came upon Yeshua outside of his tomb. After realizing who he was, he tells her in verse 17:

Yeshua said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am going up to my Father and your Father, and my Elohim and your Elohm”

He says this because he had not yet fulfilled the mitzvot of appearing before Yehovah and offering Him the glory, thanks and praise due Him for Yeshua’s resurrection. Just as no one could partake of the grain until the Wave Sheaf Offering, no one could partake in the joy of his resurrection until he appeared before his Father.

What’s the point of an empty tomb? It is a fulfillment, a prophecy and a promise. It is a fulfillment of Reshit Katzir, a prophecy of a future harvest when Yeshua returns, and a promise that the dry bones of Ezekiel 37, as well as ours, will be resurrected and assembled together in the Promised Land of Israel. We eagerly await that day, just as we eagerly await the bountiful harvest sure to come on Shavuot!

But it also plays a key role in the symbolism of what Elohim is trying to teach each of us with the four spring feasts:

• Passover - Yeshua the Passover Lamb, died for our sins. When we put our trust in Him as the Israelites did in Egypt , we are redeemed.
• Unleavened Bread - teaches us to put off the old nature , ruled by sin (Eph. 4:22-25).
• First Fruits - teaches us to put on the new nature (Eph. 4:24) to live the victorious life empowered by the power the resurrection. Also the promise of our resurrection on the last day.
• Shavuot - finally the feast of weeks - when the omer is finished being counted - Pentecost - the way in which we can live the new life, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal.2:20).

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