Leviticus 23:15-16

Before we get to the instructions for the Wavesheaf offering, we must recognize and follow through on our individual responsibility within this. It says to count “for yourselves.” The instructions are for each individual. If you were to analyze all the times “you” and “your” are used in this chapter, you would see that the instructions here are for the individuals within the nation, not just the priests. Thus, the date of Pentecost is not an administrative decision. God wants each one of us to go through this exercise.

Now, as it says, the sheaf of the firstfruits is to be waved by the priest on the day after the Sabbath. That is clear as far as it goes, but there is also enough that is not directly stated within these verses that several different interpretations developed.

The first question that arises is, which Sabbath? There are 52 weekly Sabbaths and seven annual Sabbaths, but verses 11 and 15 just say “the Sabbath.” That seems like a lot of possibilities. In reality, though, most of the Sabbaths cannot be candidates here. By using the rest of Scripture, as well as the context, we can start eliminating Sabbaths.

Deuteronomy 16, which we will turn to later, says the count, and thus the day of the Wavesheaf offering, begins when the Israelites start to the put the sickle to the grain. The first grain that ripens each year is barley, so that is the grain they would put the sickle to first each year. So, we know the Wavesheaf is in the context of the early barley harvest.

We can confirm this beginning by noticing something about the end of the count. Exodus 34:22 says that the Feast of Weeks is at the beginning of the wheat harvest, which is in late spring. When we overlay the basic facts of two different grain harvests with seven weeks between them onto the agricultural calendar, the only way for this to work is for the Sabbath in question to be within the month of Abib. In fact, the name Abib refers to the green ears of barley.

But we can narrow it down even more because Leviticus 23 is sequential. It lays out the annual feasts in the order they occur during the year. So, notice what comes immediately before the instructions for the Wavesheaf: verses 6-8 are the instructions for Unleavened Bread. That’s the context in which God instructs His people to offer a sheaf of the firstfruits on the day after the Sabbath.

The next question that arises is, which Unleavened Bread Sabbath is the anchor here? The first and last days of Unleavened Bread are annual Sabbaths, and Unleavened Bread also has a weekly Sabbath within it. The Jews never reached a consensus on this matter.

But there is a related question that must be considered, and that is, which Sabbath did Christ and the apostles and the first century church use as their anchor? This question will help to hedge us in and keep us from going off track in our conclusion, so keep it in mind and we will return to it later.

Getting back to what is meant by “the Sabbath,” the Hebrew in verses 11 and 15 has the definite article (ha) before the word “Sabbath.” In roughly 95% of the places the definite article is used in relation to the word “Sabbath,” it refers to the weekly Sabbath. So, that usage strongly suggests the weekly Sabbath within Unleavened Bread is the anchor.

Now, let’s look at the surrounding context again. This may be surprising, but the first and last Days of Unleavened Bread are not called “Sabbaths” in this chapter. The Days of Trumpets and Atonement are called Sabbaths in this chapter, as well as the first day and the 8^th day when we get to the instructions for Tabernacles. Now, the first and last Days of Unleavened Bread are called Sabbaths elsewhere, but there is a notable absence in this chapter. They are not referred to as Sabbaths here. So, if we are looking for “the Sabbath” that precedes the mention in verses 11 and 15, we have to go back to verse 3, which is about the weekly Sabbath.

So, this gives us the first method for counting to Pentecost. We identify the Sabbath that is within Unleavened Bread, and then the next day is both the first day of the week and also the first day of the count.

Leviticus 23:14-16

We are here on the seventh day of this feast in response to this command, as we find there in verse 8, to keep this day. But on its heels comes instruction about another feast, a separate feast. That is the Feast of Firstfruits, as it is called here, we often called it the wave sheaf offering. But on the day of the wave sheaf offering, or the Feast of Firstfruits, a sheaf of barley is waved before the Lord for acceptance. And this signals, as we saw there in verse 14, the beginning of the early grain harvest. They could not eat any of the other grain until this particular ceremony was completed. It marked the opening that on that day they could go out and harvest their early grain, mostly barley, and bring it in. So it is called the Feast of the Firstfruits. Those were usually the sheaf that was cut and offered and was the first ripe grain of the season and it was also, we could say, the whole harvest was the first harvest of the year. So it is the firstfruits of all their labor.

Now, it says this occurs the day after the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, the day after it would be the first day of the week, and so this wave sheaf offering was always to be made on a Sunday, the first day of the week. The only real clue we have as to which Sabbath this should be counted from, or which Sabbath should be the one after which we make the grain offering, is that this command appears immediately after the command to keep the Days of Unleavened Bread. And so it is only reasonable and logical to think that the Sabbath that God is mentioning here is the one that the people have just passed through, as it were, during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

This year the first Day of Unleavened Bread was a Sabbath and so that was the day, the Sabbath day, the weekly Sabbath that we should use as the start of this particular account. It is only one day, but it is on the day after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. So that meant that the Feast of Firstfruits for this year (2018) was last Sunday, which just happened to be the same day that the people of this world were keeping Easter Sunday. And as we see in verses 15 and 16, this particular day, the Feast of Firstfruits, is the first day of the count to Pentecost. So fifty days from that day, fifty days after the Sabbath, seven weeks then from that day, is the Feast of Pentecost.

Leviticus 23:9-21

Leviticus 23:9-21 outlines God's instructions for the wave sheaf offering, the seven-week count, the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. And when we understand the purpose of God's holy days and how they outline God's plan of salvation, we see that this entire period focuses on what the first of the firstfruits has made possible by preparing the saints for God's spiritual harvest. Now the full impact of the wave sheaf offering on God's people becomes clear when we recognize the importance of the counting required for observing Pentecost.

So the wave sheaf consisted of an omer of barley still on the stalk and cut at the start of the spring harvest. Now because it came from the very beginning of the firstfruits, it is called the first of the firstfruits. So each Israelite with a harvest was required to offer an offering. Then a priest would lift and wave each sheaf before God for acceptance. Now in the Old Testament, the wave sheaf offering represented a thankful acknowledgment to God as the Giver of the harvest. In this way, it was sanctified or dedicated to Him.

Now in the New Testament, the spiritual purpose of this offering is revealed. The Old Testament places God's festivals within the agricultural harvest. But in the New Testament, these agricultural harvests become types of God's spiritual harvest of people into His Kingdom. So this period begins with the offering of the barley sheaf symbolizing Christ and then ends 50 days later with two leavened loaves representing God's people, imperfect yet accepted into His Kingdom. Together, these elements illustrate the full scope of God's work with His firstfruits, from Christ's perfect sacrifice to inclusion of His followers in His Family.

Leviticus 23:15-16

Here in Leviticus 23 and verse 15, it begins the instructions for keeping the joyful day of Pentecost.

So God does not change that counting rule. The count is always from the day after the Sabbath, that is, the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. It is a rule God has set, a command He has set, and we follow it every year. As we continue in Leviticus 23, we will see that on the fiftieth day, special offerings were to be brought. One concerns the significance of the Pentecost prophetic meaning and the other concerns the offerings we are to take up.