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Post by chrisg on Apr 23, 2016 8:06:00 GMT -8
Couldn't see a separate heading for this, so as it's part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it seemed appropriate to put it here.
I was so focused on Passover that I forgot that it is Firstfruits tomorrow - or is it next week? It ought to be the first Sunday after the sabbath during the week of Passover. As Sabbath and Passover coincided this year, I have no idea when Firstfruits is. Or if we should celebrate it. Or how? There is no harvest of any kind of grain at this time of year in the UK - it's far too early and cold yet. But it commemorates the day Jesus became the 'firstfruits from the dead', so should I be doing something and if so, what (and when)?
Moderator note: moved to its proper classification. Dan
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Post by alon on Apr 23, 2016 14:54:00 GMT -8
I was so focused on Passover that I forgot that it is Firstfruits tomorrow - or is it next week? It ought to be the first Sunday after the sabbath during the week of Passover. As Sabbath and Passover coincided this year, I have no idea when Firstfruits is. Or if we should celebrate it. Or how? There is no harvest of any kind of grain at this time of year in the UK - it's far too early and cold yet. But it commemorates the day Jesus became the 'firstfruits from the dead', so should I be doing something and if so, what (and when)?
Leviticus 23:9-14 (ESV) The Passover
4 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8 But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”
The Feast of Firstfruits
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “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 of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 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 the Lord. 13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Pesach itself is a Shabbat, so it appears the Shabbat being spoken of here is Pesach and not the weekly Shabbat. So the 16th of Nissan would be S’firat HaOmer aleph, the first day of reciting the evening prayers counting the Omer. It literally means “counting the sheaf.” The early harvest in Israel is the barley harvest, and on this day the cohen would wave a sheaf of barley before the Lord as an offering of the firstfruits of the harvest. Thus another name for this day is Early Firstfruits.
Counting the Omer is Biblically commanded, and a very important observance for Messianics. We now see Yeshua as the Firstfruits of the resurrection and the guarantee of our own resurrection. All of His post-crucifixion appearances as a man were during this time of the Omer. And the conclusion of the Omer count is Shavuot, also called Pentecost. It took seven weeks of weeks (49 days) for the Hebrews to get from their Pesach exodus to Mt. Sinai , and on the 50th day we were given  amidst great winds/voices and fire. On Pentacost, these same signs appeared tying the Disciples to Moshe and the renewed covenant to the old one at Sinai.
Leviticus 23:15-21 (ESV) The Feast of Weeks
15 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord. 18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
Contemporary observance of S’firat HaOmer is primarily prayers and blessings which focus us on the symbolism of this time as we count the days from the barley to the wheat harvest. A traditional blessing is said:
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvoh v’tzi’vanu al sifrat ha’omer.
Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has set us apart by Your commandments and has commanded us concerning the counting of the sheaf.
The next is read every day with an adjustment for each day:
Ha’yom, yom echad l’omer.
Today is the first day of the sheaf.
This is an easy site for figuring the names of replacement numbers in Hebrew. Alternatively, you could just do the b’racha in English.
www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_Eight/Letters_as_Numbers/letters_as_numbers.html
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 (ESV) But in fact Christ 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 Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
This is one reason this is so important for we as Meshiachim to remember Firstfruits and the counting of the Omer. We remember Yeshua as the fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits. This feast, according to Yeshua, always pointed straight at Himself being crucified and then lifted up in new life.
John 12:23-24,32 (ESV) And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. … And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
The wave offering of the Firstfruits is symbolic of HaMoshiach.
Dan C
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Post by chrisg on Apr 24, 2016 7:27:52 GMT -8
Thank you
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Post by alon on Mar 29, 2018 19:17:46 GMT -8
Don't forget that the day after Pesach, (evening of 31 March and day of 1 April, 2018) is Firstfruits and the starting of the counting of the Omer.
Dan C
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- there are 70 faces to 
