Leviticus 23:10

SHEAF OF FIRSTFRUITS, Leviticus 23:9-14.

10. When ye… come into the land This verse plainly indicates a state of expectancy suited to a sojourning people looking forward to a permanent home. It shows that the Levitical code was given in the wilderness, and was not a fabrication of a later period.

Ye shall bring a sheaf This command is not addressed to each tiller of the soil, but to the whole nation. It was the custom for a deputation of the Sanhedrim to go forth into some field near Jerusalem on the eve of the festival and tie the standing stalks of grain in bunches, and then cut enough for a sheaf with great formality, and, in the most public manner, carry it to the temple, and give it to the priest to be waved before the Lord. It was threshed, winnowed, bruised, roasted, mixed with oil, sprinkled with frankincense, waved by the priest in all directions, and eaten by ceremonially pure priests, after a handful had been thrown on the altar-fire. Then the harvesting might lawfully be done. Josephus tells us that the sheaf was barley. Barley ripens about the middle of April; wheat ripens in Palestine two or three weeks later. (Robinson’s Palestine, 2: 263, 278.)

Firstfruits… unto the priest The revenue from this source was nearly two per cent. of the entire produce of the field. See note on Leviticus 2:14. The sheaf was only a representative of the forthcoming abundance of firstfruits of all kinds. The pious Hebrew could not relish any thing which he did not share with Jehovah. He was thought of first. His portion was offered first. How this rebukes the hurried Bible-reading, the hasty prayers, the doled-out ministerial support, and the reluctant and niggardly beneficence of many professed Christians with whom self is first and Christ is last!