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”

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:

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: 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:

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

Clue #2 - Yeshua's Parable in John 12:23-24 Clue #3 - The Sheaf of the First Fruits Clue # 4 - The timing of the Feast

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:


- Return Home -