Verse 16
16. Firstfruit The first product of the autumn of any kind offered to God was called firstfruit. Here, as the word lump indicates, it means the first dough for baking. In Numbers 15:20, the Israelites were commanded to offer a cake of their first dough for a heave offering. This ceremony indicated their gratitude to God for his gift of bread. And this first dough so offered was representative of the whole; upon the whole dough was now a consecration by which it could be gratefully and piously eaten, and in that sense holy. Firstfruit and whole lump were all of a piece.
Lump The entire mass of dough for baking. In the apostle’s figure the Jews were to their first ancestors what the lump was to the first dough, sacredly set apart.
Root and branches are of the same nature. The root is the holy ancestry of the Jews; as branches they remain consecrated. And upon that changeless consecration the apostle bases the assurance of the restoration of the later generations.
Be the first to react on this!
