Out of your dwellings shall ye bring two wave-loaves, of two tenths of fine flour; with leaven shall they be baken; [as] first-fruits to Jehovah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And ye shall present with the bread seven he-lambs without blemish, yearlings, and one young bullock, and two rams they shall be a burnt-offering to Jehovah with their oblation, and their drink-offerings, an offering by fire of a sweet odour to Jehovah.
At this feast the priest brought God two loaves baked with leaven — yeast — and with them ten animals without blemish for a burnt offering. The loaves picture God's people rather than Christ, which raises a sharp question: how can anything with leaven in it come before God at all?
The feast of weeks pointed forward to a day the New Testament records, and the offerings listed here belong to that picture. One writer ties the loaves and the animals together in a single thought:
In the two loaves waved before the Lord, baked with leaven, we have a clear picture of the Church presented to God. It is made up of Jew and Gentile, and in both of them the leaven of the old nature is there. Yet they are presented to God not in themselves, but in connection with that perfect sacrifice pictured by the seven lambs, one bull, and two rams offered to God as a burnt offering.
The wording matters. Earlier in the chapter the priest waved the sheaf of firstfruits on its own. Here he never waves the loaves alone, and one writer weighs that difference:
The priest waved these sacrifices with the loaves, but he waved the sheaf by itself. The Lord Jesus was acceptable to God in Himself, apart from any question of sacrifice… With the wave loaves it was completely different. The appointed sacrifices were waved with them. The loaves could not be waved without them… There are saints whose standing before God is in resurrection, for the loaves were the firstfruits of the new harvest. God can receive them, and they are to be for God — but only in the closest connection with the sacrificial death of the Holy Son of God. Apart from Him and His death they would not be presented to God.
The loaves had leaven. The lambs had no blemish. Both stood before God at the same moment. One writer draws the lesson from that contrast:
So here, right alongside the leavened loaves, stands an unblemished sacrifice. It pictures the great and all-important truth that it is Christ's perfectness, and not our sinfulness, that is always before the view of God. Notice the words, "you shall present with the bread seven lambs… without blemish." Precious truth!… May the reader enter into it, make it his own, rest his conscience on it, feed and refresh his heart with it, and delight his whole soul in it. Not I, but Christ.
At the earlier feast a single lamb was enough. Here the list grows to ten animals, and that increase is read as meaning:
In the feast of firstfruits the focus is on Christ alone, so only one lamb was sacrificed (v. 12). But Pentecost involves the large number who are identified with Christ. So seven lambs — the complete number — were offered, besides a bull and two rams. The bull speaks of the strength of the offering and its power to atone for large numbers. The two rams stand for the witness that redemption is accomplished.
The verse ends by calling the whole thing a food offering with a pleasing aroma — and adds the grain and drink offerings that go with each animal. Each element is given a distinct sense:
All the offerings in this verse are said to be "of a pleasing aroma." This sets before our hearts what Christ always was in His pathway of obedience to death, in submission to His Father's will. The bull speaks of His patient endurance. He never once turned aside, but went on till the will of God was done at the cross… The two rams speak of His devotion to the will of God. The bull sets out His power to do that will, and the ram His desire to do it. "With their grain offering" speaks again of His perfect Manhood, which made everything He did effective… The drink offering again shows the joy God has received as the fruit of what Christ has done. We, dear friends, stand linked with all of this, for they were presented "with the bread."
Verse 18 gives acceptance; the sin offering of the next verse deals with the leaven. Writers hold the two side by side without letting one cancel the other:
Perfect acceptance is emphasized very strongly here, but so is the presence of sin in the accepted ones. That sin does not touch their acceptance, since God's grace puts it away according to perfect righteousness.
- With — the loaves never go up alone. The sacrifices rise with them, and apart from that death the loaves could not be presented at all.
- Without blemish — at the moment of presentation God looks at Christ's perfectness, not at our sinfulness.
- More — one lamb was enough where Christ alone was in view. Here the number rises to cover the many who are identified with Him.
- Each animal — the bull speaks of strength and patient endurance. The rams speak of devotion and of redemption accomplished. The seven lambs speak of completeness.
- Joy — the grain and drink offerings close the picture. They speak of Christ's perfect Manhood and of God's joy in what He has done. All who are presented "with the bread" share in it.
And ye shall sacrifice one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs, yearlings, for a sacrifice of peace-offering.
Leviticus 23:19 belongs to the feast of weeks. At that feast Israel brought two loaves baked with leaven and waved them before God. Why does this feast need a sin offering, when the wave sheaf fifty days earlier needed none? And what do the two lambs for peace offerings add?
The offerings of this feast stand in contrast with those of the wave sheaf, which pictured Christ raised. One writer follows the sequence from resurrection to Pentecost and shows where the difference falls.
So Jesus rose, and He was waved before the Lord. Then, fifty days later, matching Pentecost, the two wave-loaves, baked with leaven, were brought to God as the firstfruits. Notice this. A burnt offering and a meal offering went with the wave-sheaf, but no sin offering. In verse 19, though, you will find a sin offering going with the wave-loaves, to meet the leaven in them. The sin offering is what counteracts the evil of the church, or it could not be accepted.
Verse 18 has already piled up burnt offerings of sweet aroma. A reader might ask whether that alone could cover what the leaven stands for. The answer comes in verse 19 itself.
It is quite true that a burnt offering would not have been enough where "leaven" was in question. And so we read, "And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings." (Verse 19) The "sin offering" was the answer to the "leaven" in the loaves. "Peace" was made, so that communion could be enjoyed. And everything went up to the Lord in immediate connection with the "sweet savour" of the "burnt offering".
The loaves picture God's people, and the leaven in them is the evil God sees. The one goat does not leave His people's standing in doubt.
God recognises that evil is in the believer. But it is not supposed to be at work, and the blood of the sin offering meets its presence. No sin at all is charged against you. You stand before God in all the value of the work of Christ.
The way the loaves were made matters too. They were not raw dough when the priest waved them.
The sin offering was there to speak of atonement for the sin that the leaven pictured. But notice: the leaven in the Wave Loaves was baked, and so had lost its power.
The verse does not stop at the sin offering. Two lambs follow it, and one writer ties them to what came at Pentecost.
The sin-offering fully met the baked leaven. The peace-offering laid the basis for the blessed privilege of communion. Acceptance, the joy of communion, and divine testimony too — all of them waited for the Holy Spirit to come down, to be made good in the reality that the wave-loaves pictured. Acts 2 displayed this on a wide scale, in both communion and testimony, when the bonds of unity and oneness gave witness to its precious fruit.
The animals of this verse were not waved on their own. The sheaf had been, and one writer draws a lesson from the difference.
At the offering of the wave sheaf, as we said, no sin offering was required. The wave loaves could not be presented to God without one. The wave sheaf was also waved alone, without the sacrifices that went with it. The wave loaves were waved together with the sacrifices. The Lord Jesus needed no sacrifice beside Him to make Him acceptable to God. We could not be presented to God, or be owned as devoted to His service, apart from the sacrifice of His well-beloved Son on the cross. Saints now are to be for God as those risen with Christ.
- Leaven — The loaves of this feast were baked with leaven. That one fact calls for everything in the verse. The sheaf had no leaven, so it needed no sin offering.
- Goat — The one goat is the direct answer to the leaven. A burnt offering on its own could not deal with what the leaven stands for.
- Baked — The leaven had already been through the fire and lost its power. God owns that sin is there, but He does not charge it to the worshipper.
- Lambs — The two lambs for peace offerings lay the ground for communion and joy. The verse gives fellowship, not just forgiveness.
- Waved together — The sheaf was waved alone; the loaves never could be. Christ is acceptable in Himself. His people come to God only through the sacrifice of God's Son.
And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits as a wave-offering before Jehovah, with the two he-lambs; they shall be holy to Jehovah, for the priest.
34-word opener, heavy passive
The earlier wave sheaf went up before God on its own. The loaves are different, and one writer makes that contrast the key to the verse.
The priest waved these sacrifices with the loaves, but he waved the sheaf by itself. The Lord Jesus was in Himself acceptable to God, apart from any question of sacrifice. So the priest waved the sheaf before he dealt at all with the sacrifices appointed to go with it. With the wave loaves it was completely different. He waved the appointed sacrifices with them. He could not wave the loaves without them.
Why wave the offering at all? One writer gives the plain sense of the gesture.
The act of waving shows that the offering is given to the Lord. Some also see in it a sign of ascension (compare v.11). Christ risen ascended to heaven, and the church is a heavenly people that also has a heavenly destination.
Another writer reads the gesture as setting apart for God. He notes a detail that is easy to miss: the priest killed the animals first, then waved them whole.
Remember what these two loaves pictured: the Jew and Gentile offered together to God as the firstfruits of the harvest (James 1:18). Then we can see the reason for this unusual feature of that day's ritual. The whole animals were waved, but waved after death. Those who compose the church are in this way set apart to God as a whole. The church came into being only after the resurrection of the Lord, and its standing is in resurrection. So the animals were first killed and then waved.
The loaves stand for people, not produce. Notice what makes them acceptable.
The priest waved the two loaves before the Lord, and they were baked with leaven. In them we have a marked suggestion of the presentation of the Church to God, made up of Jew and Gentile. They are presented to God not in themselves, but in connection with that perfect sacrifice pictured in the seven lambs, one bullock, and two rams offered as a burnt offering to God, and in the sin offering of the goat, together with the peace offering.
So does the number two point to two groups kept apart? One writer answers with a flat no.
The two wave-loaves certainly do not mean two churches, one Jewish and one Gentile. One may add that this is the very worst idea possible, since it keeps up the old distinction. The very heart of the gospel, and of the one body too, is to break all this down — to unite as well as to save, in Christ.
The two lambs waved with the loaves were peace offerings, and a peace offering was eaten.
The "two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings" give us God's testimony of the place of communion into which He has now brought us through Christ's death and resurrection. How great is the grace that has brought us before God, where we have fellowship with the Father and the Son… The priests fed on these peace offerings. In the same way, we have the privilege of feeding on Christ, the Lamb of God, who gave Himself to bring us into this favoured place.
The verse ends by handing the waved offering to the priest.
Once the priest had waved these gifts, we are told they were "holy to the LORD for the priest." These are the things which sustain priesthood — Christ and all that He is in association with His people. He could not take up His priesthood apart from His people. There would be no point in this… With the wave sheaf it is Christ, the One who has gone in and opened the way of access into the presence of God. But this feast shows us that priesthood is active in relation to the Christian company.
- Sacrifice first. The priest could not wave the loaves without the offerings. He waved the sheaf alone, because Christ needed no sacrifice to make Him acceptable.
- Death first, then waving. The priest killed the animals before waving them whole. The company set apart to God stands in resurrection.
- Given, and upward. Waving hands the offering over to the Lord. It also points to ascension — a heavenly people with a heavenly destination.
- Leaven met, fellowship opened. Leaven is still in the loaves, but it is no hindrance. The peace offering brings us into communion and gives us Christ to feed on.
- Held by the priest. Once waved, the offering is holy to the LORD for the priest. Christ with His people sustains priesthood, and He will not take it up apart from them.