In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the two evenings, is the passover to Jehovah.
Israel's year of feasts does not open with a harvest festival, but with a lamb killed at dusk on a fixed date. Why did God begin His calendar here, and what was that evening meant to teach?
The chapter names these gatherings after God, not after the people who kept them.
His feasts are the value and power of the Person and work of Christ. That is why they are called feasts of Jehovah, not feasts of Israel. They were for Israel, who had the privilege of feasting, even if they saw their meaning only faintly. To call them feasts of Israel would have lowered their character. In them God had His own joy.
The Passover stands first in the list, and its place there is no accident.
Here, then, we have the first of the seven regular feasts — the offering of that Passover lamb. Its blood shielded the Israel of God from the sword of the destroying angel, on that terrible night when Egypt's firstborn died. This is the recognised type of the death of Christ, and God placed it in this chapter exactly where it belongs. It forms the foundation of all. We can know nothing of rest, nothing of holiness, nothing of fellowship, except on the ground of the death of Christ. It is striking that the moment God speaks of His rest, the next thing in the chapter is the blood of the Passover lamb. It is as much as to say, "There is the rest, but here is your title to it." No doubt work makes us fit for the rest, but it is the blood that gives us the right to enjoy it.
That night was a rescue, but it was also a judgment.
God stepped in to deliver His people from the house of slavery. It was not because of any good in them. At that time the children of Israel were worshipping false gods and were completely indifferent to the glory of the true God. Next, if God delivers them, He must deliver them righteously. Pay particular attention to this. It is not simply a matter of mercy forgiving wicked people. He will have them stand before Him on a basis of right. He is a just God and a Saviour… But one thing held back the hand of the destroying angel — the blood of the killed lamb. Where that blood was missing from the doorposts and the beam above the door, death ruled… By that blood Jehovah declared that only the death of a fitting substitute could hold back judgment.
The Hebrew behind "at twilight" reads "between the two evenings." Some have taken it to cover a whole day.
The passover was to be killed in the evening, at sunset. The daily evening sacrifice was also offered "between the evenings." So this phrase cannot mean, as some have said, the time between the evening of one day and the evening of the next… "Between the two evenings" was a set time on the fourteenth day of Nisan. Deuteronomy 16:6 defines it as sunset.
Even the number of the day teaches something about God's timing.
Notice first that He does not rush it. Many think it would have been better if God had given His Son to die for sinners at the very beginning. Instead He waited more than 4,000 years… "at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6)… God set up the passover — the great standing type of Christ killed for sinners — not on the first day of the first month, but on the fourteenth.
The New Testament names what the lamb pointed to.
Every year the Passover reminded Israel of the redemption and deliverance from Egypt. "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7). The passover lamb was a type of Christ. Every time they killed it, it pointed forward to Him who was to come — the Lamb of God, "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:14).
Israel kept this feast more than once, but the blood went on the doorposts only the first time.
They kept this ordinance as a remembrance in the wilderness (Num. 9). They kept it again as a remembrance when they got into the land (Josh. 5). But only once did they sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and lintels. This tells us again of the once-for-all application of the blood of Christ. It never needs to be repeated… The death of Christ has brought us to God and brought us out. It keeps us as pilgrims passing through this world. And it brings us in to the land, the divine inheritance.
- First — the Passover opens the year because God begins with redemption. Rest, holiness and fellowship all stand on it.
- His — God calls them His own feasts, not Israel's. He invited the people to share His joy in the work of Christ.
- Blood — deliverance came through judgment. Only a substitute's blood on the doorposts held back the destroying angel.
- Fixed — sunset on the fourteenth was an appointed hour. Christ died "at the right time," not by accident.
- Once — Israel sprinkled the blood once and never again. The death of Christ brings us out, keeps us on the way, and brings us in.
And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast of unleavened bread to Jehovah; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Leviticus 23 lists Israel's appointed festivals in order, and the second one opens here, the day after the Passover lamb died. Why does this feast press so close against the Passover, why did leaven have to go, and why did it run a full week?
The timing is deliberate.
The feast of unleavened bread followed the Passover at once. Not a single day was allowed to come between. As a general rule there was a space between these different feasts, but here is a plain exception to the rule... one being on the fourteenth, the other on the fifteenth of the same month. The New Testament treats the feast of unleavened bread as beginning with the killing of the Passover lamb. So the Christian's immediate response to Christ's blood is to walk in holiness. From then on God will not have him claim a single day for himself.
The order of the two feasts also carries a principle:
All holiness is grounded on redemption, and on knowing it in the soul. Christ's precious work comes first and stands alone for salvation, and holiness is the fruit of it in the saved soul.
Leaven is yeast, the one ingredient banned from this bread.
Leaven, as explained before, is a type of evil. It spreads, and it makes the whole mass take on its own character... To eat unleavened bread therefore means separation from evil — practical holiness... We are saved by the grace of God through the sprinkled blood of Christ. Our wretched hearts might then reason that we may indulge in sin so that grace may abound. "No!" says the Spirit of God. "As soon as you are under the value of the death of Christ, you are under the responsibility to be separate from evil."... To press this truth home, God told the Israelites to keep this feast "as a statute forever." It first reminded them that on this very day He had brought their armies out of the land of Egypt. It then taught them the duty that came with their new position.
The feast ran a full week, and that length carries its own meaning.
These seven days, one week, speak of a period of time. Seven is the divine number of perfection and completion... "Let us celebrate the feast" is not to be understood as celebrating the feast of the Supper, as is sometimes said. No. The feast here is the feast of unleavened bread, the whole week that follows the Passover — the whole week, and week after week after week. It is a type of our entire lives, a life marked by unleavened bread. Leaven, taken as a picture, is always a type of sin — sin that a person allows in his life and does not judge.
The command reached beyond what a person ate. No leaven could stay in the house either.
Leaven had to go from the house as well as from the individual. You often find people who rightly watch their personal walk, yet stay completely lax about impurity in the church. The Lord calls us to beware of allowing leaven anywhere. But corporate purity is a worthless pretension without proper regard to personal holiness... The feast of unleavened bread covers the whole journey, our whole course, public as well as private.
Removing the yeast is only half the command. There is bread to eat as well.
No one who grasps the death of Christ in relation to sin would want to see worldly things in the house. But all this, important as it is, is negative... These things will not feed our souls. There is not only a putting off in Christianity, there is also a putting on... If we are to produce a feast of unleavened bread to Jehovah, we must take Christ daily as food for the soul. What a feast it must be to God to see Christ reproduced in a saint who hates what is evil and feeds on what is good.
Verses 7 and 8 add more. The first and seventh days were holy gatherings, free of ordinary work. Offerings burned on the altar all seven days. The quote below uses an older translation, which calls it "servile work".
"You shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD." What a contrast! The servile work of man's hands set against the sweet savour of Christ's sacrifice! The practical holiness of God's people is not servile labour. It is the living unfolding of Christ through them by the power of the Holy Spirit. "For to me to live is Christ." That is the true idea.
- Foundation. Holiness rests on redemption, not the other way round. The lamb comes first, and the bread without leaven is its fruit in the saved soul.
- Immediacy. No day came between the fourteenth and the fifteenth. Once the blood shelters you, you keep back no day for yourself.
- Duration. Seven days is a complete period — a picture of the whole of life, week after week, not a single religious occasion.
- Extent. Leaven had to go from the house as well as the person. Personal purity and church purity stand or fall together.
- Substance. It is a feast, so clearing evil out is only half. Feed on Christ daily, or the soul has nothing to live on.
On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation no manner of servile work shall ye do.
Leviticus 23:7 opens the seven-day feast of unleavened bread: God calls His people together, and He forbids their ordinary work. Two questions sit inside that command — why does God gather the people He redeemed, and why does He stop their hands?
The unleavened bread does not stand on its own. It follows the lamb killed the day before. Even the usual opening line for a new subject is missing here:
It is worth noting that this feast springs out of the feast of the Passover and is joined to it. The usual introduction to a new subject — "the LORD spoke to Moses, saying" — is not mentioned here. This feast, then, is the corollary of the Passover. It is the putting away of all evil because Christ has died to sin once. It is the answer in us to the work of Christ on the cross. If He has died to sin, then we must die to it in a practical way in our Christian pathway. "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Start with the word "convocation." It names something God does:
Chapter 23 opens with God's desire to have the people He had redeemed assembled before Him. A "convocation" is a "calling together," and this was to mark the feasts of the Lord.
The word "holy" carries its own weight. It guards the gathering from man's own thinking:
"Holy convocations." These suggest collective gatherings. It seems that our God delights to have His people together with a single thought in their minds — to minister to Him together. He would guard them from any intrusion of the fleshly mind of man by reminding us that they are "HOLY"! We have to remember this, wonderful as the privilege may be. In our gatherings together we must always be conscious that He is there. We come together for His pleasure, subdued, dependent, with holy reverence in our souls.
God forbids work here because another work is already in view:
No work and no leaven were the divine rules for the Passover week. No work, because the great Calvary work of Christ was in view, and no human efforts must be placed alongside it. Christ is not a mere helper of sinners, making up for what they lack; He is Saviour, doing everything needed to save us from eternal ruin… No leaven, because leaven suggests evil all through the Scriptures.
The day is not empty. Hands rest, and the sacrifice rises in their place. Older translations call this work "servile work":
The people are here assembled around the Lord, in that practical holiness which rests on accomplished redemption. While they are assembled, the fragrance of the sacrifice rises from the altar of Israel to the throne of Israel's God… "You shall not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the LORD." What a contrast! The servile work of man's hands, and the sweet savour of Christ's sacrifice! The practical holiness of God's people is not slavish labour. It is the living unfolding of Christ through them, by the power of the Holy Spirit. "For to me to live is Christ." That is the true idea.
The first day opens a week, and that week covers a lifetime. Leaven must go from two places at once:
Leaven was to be banished from the house as well as from the individual. People are often rightly watchful about their own walk, yet completely careless about impurity in the assembly. The Lord calls us to beware of allowing leaven anywhere. But purity in the assembly is a worthless claim without proper care for personal holiness… The feast of unleavened bread takes in the entire pilgrimage, our whole course, public as well as private. To keep this feast is always our calling while we are here.
Clearing out is only half of it. The command is to eat unleavened bread:
These negative things, important as they undoubtedly are, will not feed our souls. In Christianity there is not only a putting off, there is also a putting on… They were to eat unleavened bread. If we are to produce a feast to the Lord of unleavened bread, Christ must be taken as food for the soul daily. Only as we feed on Him will we grow to be like Him, and so the features seen in Him will be reproduced in us.
- Cause — The feast has no fresh start of its own. It grows out of the Passover: holiness that follows a sacrifice already made.
- Call — "Convocation" means a calling together. God wants the people He redeemed gathered before Him, and "holy" guards what happens there.
- Hands off — No work, because Calvary's work was in view. Nothing human may stand beside it. Christ is Saviour, not helper.
- Hands full — God forbids labour but commands an offering: not the work of man's hands, but the fragrance of Christ's sacrifice.
- Seven days — One day opens the feast, but the week covers the whole pilgrimage. Clear leaven from the person and from the house, and feed on Christ daily as the bread itself.
And ye shall present to Jehovah an offering by fire seven days; on the seventh day is a holy convocation no manner of servile work shall ye do.
This verse closes the week of unleavened bread that begins two verses earlier. It raises three practical questions: why an offering every day, why work stops at both ends of the week, and what the seven days picture.
One writer sets the two seven-day commands side by side, and finds our once-a-week habit too small. (These writers use an older translation. It prints God's name as "Jehovah" and reads "servile work" where the ESV has "ordinary work.")
Along with the instruction to eat unleavened bread for seven days comes the direction to offer an offering by fire for seven days. This is a presentation of Christ to God. Why do we only think of offering once a week? Our God desires to have Christ presented every day. Not only in what we may be able to say, but also in what we are, as we show Him in this dark world. If we feed on Christ daily, something of His perfection is sure to come to light in us. That becomes "to Jehovah an offering by fire seven days."
One writer weighs the two commands against each other and finds in them the shape of a holy life.
The practical holiness of God's people is not servile labour. It is the living unfolding of Christ through them, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to think deeply about the contrast between "servile work" and the outflow of the life of Christ. The picture is vivid. All manual labour stopped throughout the whole assembly, but the sweet savour of the burnt offering went up to God. These were the two great marks of the feast of unleavened bread, and they picture a believer's life of practical holiness. What a triumphant answer this gives to the legalist on one side, and to the one who despises law on the other! The first is silenced by the words "no servile work." The second is confounded by the words "You shall offer an offering made by fire." The most elaborate works of man's hands are "servile." But the smallest cluster of "the fruits of righteousness" is to the glory and praise of God.
The ban on work on day one and day seven is not an arbitrary rule. It fixes where blessing comes from.
God wanted His people to understand that their rest and blessing did not come from their own efforts. So He commanded them to do no servile work on the days of holy convocation, the first and last days of the feast. They were to rest before Jehovah, knowing that all their blessings stood on the sacrifice of fire which they were to present to Him on the seven days of the feast. Israel will yet learn this great truth; they will know that their every blessing depends on the sacrifice of Christ, who gave Himself for them.
The week is more than a date on the calendar. One writer takes it as a picture of our whole life here, private and public.
The Lord calls us to beware of allowing leaven anywhere. But corporate purity is a worthless pretension without due regard to personal holiness... In short, what God has here at heart is that we should please Him in every relation, in what is collective as well as in our individual walk. ... The feast of "unleavened bread" takes in the entire pilgrimage, our whole course public as well as private. The feast was to begin the first day after the Passover, and the greatest care is taken to show that it was to continue right through our stay on earth. To keep this feast is always our calling while here.
The seventh day is a holy convocation, a holy gathering — so the week ends where it began. One writer turns that into the shape of an ordinary week.
You begin next Lord's day morning with Christ for God; go to work on Monday, but don't take off your first-day suit on Monday morning. In the history of your soul, you have every day to go over the same ground. It is to be Christ on the first day, and Christ all the week, and Christ on the seventh... How much of Christ do we bring to God in private, in our homes, and in the assembly? That is the question. The week begins with the liberty of Christ, and it closes with the liberty of Christ. It is feeding on Christ, and nothing but Christ.
- Sacrifice first. The seven days rest on the fire-offering — every blessing traces back to the sacrifice, not to effort.
- Daily, not weekly. God asks for Christ presented every one of the seven days, in what we are as much as in what we say.
- Not by effort. "No servile work" silences the legalist; "an offering made by fire" confounds anyone who despises law.
- Whole life. The seven days cover the whole journey here — private life and shared life, with leaven allowed in neither.
- Gathered to gathered. The week opens with a holy convocation and closes with one: begin with Christ, feed on Him all week, end with Him.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
The verse opens with a fresh word from God to Moses, and it marks a turning point in the chapter's calendar of feasts. The Passover and the days of unleavened bread are past. Now comes the sheaf of firstfruits, and commentators treat this fresh word as the pivot of all that follows.
The chapter could have run straight on from the unleavened bread. Instead God speaks again. Nothing in that fresh start is accidental.
This is on purpose — in fact a new word from Jehovah to Moses. Not exactly a new feast, but at any rate the opening of a new feast, and indeed the whole pivot on which it turns. We can take it for granted that the reader believes every word of God has a meaning, and a most important meaning.
Israel cannot keep this feast just anywhere. It waits until they are inside the land God gives them.
They had no land in Egypt, nor in the wilderness, but this feast views them as over the Jordan and in the inheritance which God gave to them… The resurrection of Christ has opened out to us the vast heavenly inheritance beyond the power of death… "The land that I give you" would show that we did not earn it or deserve it. It is the sovereign gift of God for the blessing of our souls.
The priest waved one sheaf, not the whole crop. Commentators see the risen Christ in that sheaf, and His resurrection morning in its date.
The Passover points forward to the death of Christ. The waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits is the blessed type of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was just one sheaf waved before Jehovah, the pledge of the harvest that was to follow. "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20)… And it was waved before Jehovah "on the day after the Sabbath." The day after the Sabbath is the first day of the week, the glorious resurrection morning.
The waving of the sheaf did something for the people who brought it, not only for the sheaf.
It is the resurrection of the Lord which brings out the acceptance of the believer without question before God. In His death our evil was dealt with by atonement. That is the only righteous basis on which sinful man can be forgiven. But Christ's resurrection declares that the sins are gone for ever for those who believe. "Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."
The sheaf does not go straight to God. It goes first to a priest.
Then this sheaf was brought to the priest. This is the first mention of a priest in the chapter. A priest is one who has been sanctified to draw near into the presence of God. Why bring the priest in here? Is it not to show that in the resurrection of Christ the way has been opened out for approach into the presence of God?
The first of the crop went up to God before Israel took any of it.
The sample of the harvest in the land He had given to Israel was offered to Him; then by the act of waving it was taken back from Him as a returned gift. By virtue of the wave sheaf, the harvest could be gathered in; without it, the harvest could not be touched. The firstfruits were holy, and so the whole was holy.
Commentators also point to what is missing from the offerings that went with the sheaf.
When it was offered, you will observe that there was a lamb without blemish for a burnt offering, and a grain offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Jehovah for a sweet savour, with its drink offering — but nothing more: there was no sin offering. Whenever Christ appears in what is brought before us, no sin offering is required, He Himself being in fact the true sin offering for others. So the sheaf of firstfruits became a type of Him who knew no sin.
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- New word. The fresh speech in verse 9 is not filler; it is "the whole pivot on which it turns," opening the feast that follows.
- New place. The sheaf can only be brought in the land God gives — not in Egypt, not in the wilderness, but in an inheritance no one earned.
- New life. One sheaf, waved the day after the Sabbath, pictures Christ risen — the firstfruits of a harvest still to come.
- New standing. The waved sheaf carries the people's acceptance. His resurrection declares the sins of believers gone for ever.
- New access. A priest receives the sheaf, and no sin offering stands beside it. The risen Christ opens the way into God's presence.
Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land that I give unto you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest.
The command looks ahead to a day Israel had not yet seen. They would live in the land, cut the first grain, and bring the first sheaf to the priest before touching any of it. Commentators read this small ceremony as a picture of Christ raised from the dead, and of the acceptance His people have in Him.
The verse looks to a future arrival. Israel could not make this offering in Egypt or in the desert. It came from what the land produced. One writer shows how God's claim on the first portion kept Israel thankful:
All of this required being in Canaan and reaping the produce of the land. Only then could Israel offer the firstfruits to Jehovah. He had pledged Himself to Moses in Exodus 3 not only to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, but to bring them "to a land flowing with milk and honey."... Whether grain, fruit, or any produce of the land they had just been given, He who gave it was to have the firstfruits. This should always keep their hearts conscious of the Divine Giver, and thankful toward Him.
Israel cut one sheaf only and lifted it before God. Writers tie that single sheaf, and the day it was waved, to the resurrection:
The Passover feast foreshadows the death of Christ. The waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits is the blessed type of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was just one sheaf waved before Jehovah, the pledge of the harvest that was to follow. "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20)... The grain of wheat had fallen into the ground and died. But He lives; the full ear of the sheaf waved before Jehovah pictures the abundant fruit which He brings to God. And it was waved before Jehovah on the day after the Sabbath. The day after the Sabbath is the first day of the week, the glorious resurrection morning.
The harvest belonged to Israel, yet God received its first portion. One writer weighs how much God gains from what the sheaf pictures:
What then is the Wave Sheaf? Christ, risen and accepted before God for us — it could not be anything else... The full harvest was coming on, but God gets the firstfruits of it. God gets a great deal more out of the death and resurrection of Christ than we do. We get a great deal, but God has infinitely more.
The sheaf was raw grain, waved just as it grew. At the next feast in the same chapter, the loaves contained leaven. One writer reads the contrast:
In the sheaf of firstfruits waved before Jehovah (Lev. 23:10-11) we have the definite character of Christ without sin, for in the ears of grain there could be no leaven. But when the church is offered, leaven is to be used (Lev. 23:17).
Verse 14 forbids eating any of the crop until Israel brings this offering. Everything else in the field depended on the one sheaf.
The Feast of the Firstfruits took place at the early barley harvest, on the day after the Passover. They picked enough early ears to make a sheaf, and this was the sheaf of the firstfruits. It was brought before Jehovah, presented to Him, and waved before Him. Israel offered Him this sample of the harvest from the land He had given them. Then, by the act of waving, they received it back from Him as a returned gift. By virtue of the wave sheaf, the harvest could be gathered in; without it, the harvest could not be touched (Lev. 23:14). The firstfruits were holy, and so the whole was holy.
The sheaf was waved so that the people would be accepted. Their standing rested on the offering, not on themselves. One writer follows that through to the believer today:
How blessed it is to see the type of the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits fulfilled in the resurrection of our Lord! It is the proof that God accepts our Lord as the One who satisfied Him about the question of sin at the cross. And by that act God pledges Himself that the whole harvest of precious souls — every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ — shall be raised on the day of His coming. If they fail to be accepted, it must be because He failed to be accepted. But we know He was accepted, and we, believers, are accepted in the Beloved.
- Land first. Israel could only bring this offering in the land God gave them, from what the land produced.
- Sheaf next. One sheaf, cut and waved before God, pictures Christ risen. The day named is the first day of the week.
- Sinless grain. No leaven could be in the ears of grain; leaven appears only later, when the loaves picture His people.
- Accepted for you. The sheaf was waved for the people's acceptance. So the believer's standing rests on God's acceptance of the risen Christ.
- Then the harvest. Without the sheaf, no one could touch the crop. With it, the whole field was holy — and the whole harvest of believers is pledged.
And he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you; on the next day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
The wave sheaf comes between the Passover and the harvest that follows. It is one bundle of the first-cut grain, lifted before God by the priest. Two details carry the weight of this verse: the day it had to fall on, and the purpose behind it — that the people may be accepted.
The days of this ceremony line up with the days of the week in which the Lord died and rose.
In fact the priest waved the sheaf on the first day of the week that followed the Passover. So the Lord was crucified on Friday, lay in the grave on the sabbath or last day of the week, and rose on the first day. He was raised from the dead on the very day the priest waved that sheaf before Jehovah. Little did the priest who waved it realise the power and character of the truth set out in the first-fruits he was presenting before the God of Israel. So the type of the wave sheaf begins a new order of things, as fits Him who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead. The church depends on Christ's resurrection.
The Sabbath closed the week. This ceremony waited for the day after it.
The day after the Sabbath speaks of life out of death. It speaks of a vast harvest for God out of death itself. For Christ is the Firstfruits, and afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming. It is the beginning of a new creation, and all who believe the good news have their part in it. In that new creation they begin with rest and peace they could never have won by their own work.
The sheaf was not waved for its own sake. Someone else gained by it. Writers tie that to where the believer stands today. (Older versions read "to be accepted for you," and the quotes below use that wording.)
The sheaf was waved "to be accepted for you," as verse 11 says. In keeping with this, Jesus our Lord was delivered up for our trespasses and "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). The believer today stands before God in the acceptance of the risen Christ; and indeed for any saint at any time no other acceptance is possible.
The same words answer a question that the cross alone leaves open.
Will that sacrifice be enough to take away our sins? Will that sacrifice be accepted before God? Yes, the Feast of Firstfruits answers these questions. The resurrection is the proof that God has accepted that sacrifice for sin. The resurrection is the receipt that proves that all my debt is paid, and that I am free.
One sheaf went up to God, but a whole field stood behind it.
How wonderful it is to see the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits fulfilled in the resurrection of our Lord! His resurrection proves that God accepts our Lord as the One who satisfied Him about the question of sin at the cross. And by that same act God pledges Himself that the whole harvest of precious souls — every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ — will be made alive in the day of His coming. If they fail to be accepted, it must be because He failed to be accepted. But we know He was accepted, and we believers are accepted in the Beloved. There can be no breakdown in this.
Later in the chapter a second firstfruits offering comes with a sin offering. This sheaf came with none.
You will see (v. 19) that with the first-fruits of the feast of weeks a sin offering was also offered, and a peace offering. But no such offering went with the sheaf of first-fruits. That sheaf pictures Christ's resurrection, on which the church and Jews rest for acceptance, as it is written (v. 11), "to be accepted for you."
The question is worth asking straight out. The answer shows how much God Himself gains.
What then is the wave sheaf? Christ, risen and accepted before God for us — it could not be anything else… The full harvest was coming on, but God gets the first-fruits of it. God gets a great deal more out of the death and resurrection of Christ than we do. We get a great deal, but God has infinitely more.
- One sheaf — the first-cut grain lifted before God pictures Christ risen. The priest who waved it had no idea what he was holding out.
- One day — the ceremony fell on the day after the Sabbath, the day the Lord rose. Rest now stands at the start of the week, not at the end of a week's work.
- One acceptance — the sheaf went up "for you." The believer stands before God in the acceptance of the risen Christ, and there is no other.
- One harvest — the sheaf pledged the whole field. Believers could only fail to be accepted if He had failed first.
- One portion — no sin offering went with this sheaf, and God gains more from the death and resurrection of Christ than we do.
And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, a he-lamb without blemish, a yearling, for a burnt-offering to Jehovah;
This verse ties a sacrifice to a date. On the day the priest waved the first sheaf of the harvest, a year-old male lamb went up to the Lord as a burnt offering. Commentators read that sheaf as Christ risen. So what offering belongs with a risen Christ, and what do its details say about Him?
The date is the first thing to notice. One writer lines up the days of that week.
So the Lord was crucified on Friday. He lay in the grave on the sabbath, the last day of the week. He rose on the first day, or Sunday as the Gentiles called it. He was raised from the dead on the very day the wave sheaf was waved before Jehovah. The priest who waved it little imagined the power and character of the truth set out in the firstfruits he was presenting before the God of Israel. … So the type of the wave sheaf begins a new order of things, marked off from all that went before, as suits Him who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead.
Commentators explain what the burnt offering pictures, and what it did for the one who brought it.
The burnt offering shows us the sacrifice of Christ. It pictures Him who gave Himself in death to do God's will: "a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph. 5:2). This sacrifice was wholly for the pleasure of Jehovah. Yet it also made atonement for the offerer, and was for his acceptance (Lev. 1:4). The male usually has to do with the position of the offerer, the female with the state. So the male lamb would emphasise the blessedness of the place the death of Christ has brought us into.
One writer asks why God chose this animal and not another.
A lamb speaks to us of His submission to the will of God, as Isaiah 53 so clearly teaches. This becomes a divine title of our Lord, as we know so well: "Behold, the Lamb of God." How often we have delighted to take this title on our lips in adoring worship. Yet have we ever considered why it was not the Bullock of God, or the Goat of God, but the Lamb of God? … We believe the reason is, as we have said before, that it presents the submission and obedience of our Lord to the will of His Father.
The verse asks for a lamb "without blemish" — not "without spot". One writer explains the difference.
A spot is something which is there and ought not to be there. A blemish is something not there which ought to be there. In the first, it is something extra. In the second, it is something lacking. Here we notice it is to be without blemish. Nothing is said about a spot. Instead, it sets out that every right quality to be found in man was found in Christ.
Another writer links the lamb's two details to two things in Christ.
Christ's perfection and holiness are pictured in the victim being without blemish, and His life of beauty and freshness in the age of the lamb.
What this verse leaves out matters as much as what it names.
When it was offered, there was a lamb without blemish for a burnt offering. With it came a grain offering of two tenth parts of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Jehovah for a sweet savour. There was a matching drink offering too. But nothing more: there was no sin offering. Whenever Christ appears in what is brought before us, no sin offering is required. He Himself is in fact the true sin offering for others.
The order settles whose claim comes first. One writer then asks to whom the risen Lord presented Himself.
These offerings had to be brought and accepted with the wave sheaf before Israel could eat of the grain of the land. That declared beyond mistake Jehovah's claim and portion first… To whom should the Lord present Himself, but to His God and Father who gave Him? … Who could measure all His devotion expressed in the burnt offering and the grain offering, to the One to whom it was rendered? And the drink offering, in the joy and delight He had in doing it?
- Day — The priest waved the sheaf on the first day of the week, the day Christ rose. This offering belongs to resurrection, not to the grave.
- Lamb — The animal speaks of submission to the will of God. It gives Christ the title we worship Him by: the Lamb of God.
- Blemish — Without blemish means nothing was lacking. Every right quality that ought to be in a man was found in Christ.
- Whole — The burnt offering was wholly for God's pleasure. That same offering made the one who brought it accepted.
- Silence — The verse names no sin offering. Where Christ Himself is pictured, none is needed: He is the sin offering for others.
and the oblation thereof two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering by fire to Jehovah for a sweet odour; and the drink-offering thereof, of wine, a fourth part of a hin.
The day in view here is the day of the waved sheaf, when the first cutting of the barley harvest went up before God — the morning after the Sabbath, which commentators read as a picture of the resurrection. Verse 13 names what went with that sheaf — fine flour mixed with oil, and wine — and it names no sin offering at all.
What is missing from this list is as telling as what is in it.
Christ was as much the waved sheaf as the paschal lamb. In this case notice what went with the sheaf when it was offered. There was a lamb without blemish for a burnt offering. There was a grain offering of two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD with a pleasing aroma. There was its proper drink offering — but nothing more: there was no sin offering. Whenever Christ appears in what is set before us, no sin offering is required. He Himself is in fact the true sin offering for others.
Each part of the grain offering points to something in the Lord's life. Oil mixed into the flour carries a different sense from oil poured on top.
"The oblation." In this we have the life of Christ. The meaning of oblation is a food offering. We may see this in John 6. There the Lord speaks of Himself as bread, and as bread with three distinct characters. "The bread of God." This is what He is to the heart of God. "Living bread." This is what He is in Himself. "Bread of Life." This is what He is to us… The oblation was to be "mixed with oil." Here, the conception of our Lord by the Holy Spirit is pictured. We may know from other parts that "anointed with oil" pointed to the banks of the Jordan, where our Lord was anointed in public. If so, "mixed with oil" pointed to His holy conception by the Spirit and His virgin birth. So the oblation here reminds us of the Son of God in His perfect Manhood in this world under the eye of God.
A lamb usually came with one tenth of flour. Here God doubles the flour and keeps the oil the same.
God fixed its measure: two tenths of fine flour with a fourth of a hin of oil. That was the usual amount of oil for a grain offering brought with a lamb. But it was double the measure of flour normally appointed where a lamb alone was offered. Why was this?… The measure of flour for this grain offering was the measure appointed for the two wave loaves at the feast of weeks (v. 17). The Lord Jesus Christ is the life of His people, and He alone, as risen, is that… Christ, and He only, is just as truly the sole life of those pictured by the two loaves.
Leviticus mentions a drink offering here for the first time. Commentators take that timing as deliberate.
This is the first time in the book of Leviticus we have mention of a drink offering… Wherever Scripture speaks of it, the drink offering seems to carry the idea of joy… Its coming in at this point would suggest the divine joy now established in Christ at the right hand of God in glory. It seems this joy waited for the resurrection of Christ.
The wine never stood alone. What was on the altar had to come first.
But no drink offering was commanded apart from the sacrifice. A whole Christ, as it were, must be before the worshipper before a drink offering would be in place. When that was before the eye and the heart, the drink offering was not to be held back. The wine which cheers God and man could then be poured out. It was a sign that in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived and died, there was something that gave joy to God — joy that those who brought the offering could share.
Lamb, flour and wine give three views of one Person, and God accepts His people in Him.
So in this risen Man, head of the new creation, we are accepted. In Him we have all the pleasing aroma of His work finished on the cross (the burnt offering). We have all the pleasing aroma of His life on earth, seen in its general, not its Jewish character (the grain offering). And we have all that He is as He now stands before God in heaven (the wave offering).
- Sheaf — The waved sheaf pictures Christ risen. Every offering in verse 13 hangs on that one event.
- Lamb — God commands no sin offering here. Christ Himself is the true sin offering, so none is needed.
- Flour — Fine flour mixed with oil pictures His perfect humanity, conceived by the Spirit. The doubled measure matches the two wave loaves: He alone is the life of His people.
- Wine — The first drink offering in Leviticus speaks of joy, and it arrives with the resurrection. It was never poured out apart from the sacrifice on the altar.
- Accepted — His life, His death and His place in glory now meet in one risen Man, and God accepts us in Him.
And ye shall not eat bread, or roast corn, or green ears, until the same day that ye have brought the offering of your God [it is] an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.