17 Take from your houses two cakes of bread, made of a fifth part of an ephah of the best meal, cooked with leaven, to be waved for first-fruits to the Lord.
Say to the children of Israel, When you have come to the land which I will give you, and have got in the grain from its fields, take some of the first-fruits of the grain to the priest;
And at the time of the first-fruits, when you give an offering of new meal to the Lord at your feast of weeks, there is to be a holy meeting: you may do no field-work:
Take the first-fruits of your land as an offering to the house of the Lord your God. Let not the young goat be cooked in its mother's milk
And you are to keep the feast of weeks when you get in the first-fruits of the grain, and the feast at the turn of the year when you take in the produce of your fields.
But now Christ has truly come back from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are sleeping.
These are they who have not made themselves unclean with women; for they are virgins. These are they who go after the Lamb wherever he goes. These were taken from among men to be the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
Do not keep back your offerings from the wealth of your grain and your vines. The first of your sons you are to give to me.
And not only so, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we have sorrow in our minds, waiting for the time when we will take our place as sons, that is, the salvation of our bodies.
Give honour to the Lord with your wealth, and with the first-fruits of all your increase: So your store-houses will be full of grain, and your vessels overflowing with new wine.
Now when you have come into the land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage, and you have made it yours and are living in it; You are to take a part of the first-fruits of the earth, which you get from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place marked out by the Lord your God, as the resting-place of his name.
Then, when you take for your food the produce of the land, you are to give an offering lifted up before the Lord. Of the first of your rough meal you are to give a cake for a lifted offering, lifting it up before the Lord as the offering of the grain-floor is lifted up. From generation to generation you are to give to the Lord a lifted offering from the first of your rough meal.
You may give them as an offering of first-fruits to the Lord, but they are not to go up as a sweet smell on the altar.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 23
Commentary on Leviticus 23 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 23
Hitherto the levitical law had been chiefly conversant about holy persons, holy things, and holy places; in this chapter we have the institution of holy times, many of which had been mentioned occasionally before, but here they are all put together, only the new moons are not mentioned. All the rest of the feasts of the Lord are,
Lev 23:1-3
Here is,
Lev 23:4-14
Here again the feasts are called the feasts of the Lord, because he appointed them. Jeroboam's feast, which he devised of his own heart (1 Ki. 12:33), was an affront to God, and a reproach upon the people. These feasts were to be proclaimed in their seasons (v. 4), and the seasons God chose for them were in March, May and September (according to our present computation), not in winter, because travelling would then be uncomfortable, when the days were short, and the ways foul; not in the middle of summer, because then in those countries they were gathering in their harvest and vintage, and could be ill spared from their country business. Thus graciously does God consult our comfort in his appointments, obliging us thereby religiously to regard his glory in our observance of them, and not to complain of them as a burden. The solemnities appointed them were,
Lev 23:15-22
Here is the institution of the feast of pentecost, or weeks, as it is called (Deu. 16:9), because it was observed fifty days, or seven weeks, after the passover. It is also called the feast of harvest, Ex. 23:16. For as the presenting of the sheaf of first-fruits was an introduction to the harvest, and gave them liberty to put in the sickle, so they solemnized the finishing of their corn-harvest at this feast.
To the institution of the feast of pentecost is annexed a repetition of that law which we had before (ch. 19:9), by which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields, and the corn that grew on the ends of the butts, for the poor, v. 22. Probably it comes in here as a thing which the priests must take occasion to remind the people of, when they brought their first-fruits, intimating to them that to obey even in this small matter was better than sacrifice, and that, unless they were obedient, their offerings should not be accepted. It also taught them that the joy of harvest should express itself in charity to the poor, who must have their due out of what we have, as well as God his. Those that are truly sensible of the mercy they receive from God will without grudging show mercy to the poor.
Lev 23:23-32
Here is,
Lev 23:33-44
We have here,