Feast of Firstfruits
The Feast of Firstfruits or HaBikkurim is God’s third biblical feast. On this day, the Israelites brought their firstfruits barley offering to priests at the Temple. On this same day of the year, Jesus or Yeshua resurrected as the “firstfruits” from the dead. This chapter in the Feast Book transports you to a first century, barley-cutting ceremony and the holy processing of barleycorns in the Temple precincts.
The Firstfruits chapter in the Feast Book explains the 2,000 year old controversy surrounding the date for the Feast of Firstfruits. It also suggests biblical ways to celebrate Yeshua’s Resurrection Day with scripture readings and traditional prayers.
Counting the Omer marks the days between the Feast of Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks, fifty days later. Six minor feasts of the people occur during this season. In this season of the year, Yeshua resurrected, walked through walls, appeared to disciples, and rose in the clouds. Join the barley season by learning to Count the Omer at home, and prepare dishes that include barley.
In Scripture
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. —Leviticus 23:9-14 [ESV]