10 "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its the harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest:
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
When ye be come to the land. Moses now lays down rules as to the second day of festival, which was dedicated to the offering of the first-fruits. The ceremony is described that they should deliver a handful into the hand of the priest; though some think that the measure is signified which was the tenth part of an Ephah. The word Omer [1] means both. But in this passage the expression "handful" is most appropriate, since it represented in a lively manner the beginning of the harvest; inasmuch as it was not lawful to taste even of parched grain before the offering of the firstfruits. The priest lifted it up before the altar, but with a waving motion; for thus the Hebrews distinguish between the two modes, [2] trvmh, therumah, which was lifted up, and tnvphh, thenuphah, which is mentioned here, and which was waved towards the four points of the compass, and then a sacrifice and libation were made. We know that heathen nations [3] thus invented gods and goddesses presiding over the fruits, so that the earth was the great and common mother of gods and men. Into this error the Jews would have straightway fallen, or would have gorged themselves without thinking about God, unless they had been reminded by this ceremony that the Father of their subsistence was in heaven, whose minister the earth was for providing their food. For since the whole harvest was consecrated in the single handful, it was as if they had shewn that whatever the earth produced altogether belonged to God. But thus the admirable goodness of God was conspicuous, when, in claiming what was His own, He did not at all diminish the food of the people; afterwards they received, as if from His hand, whatever each individual had stored at home, just as though it had come out of His sanctuary. Paul's statement is well known, "For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy," (Romans 11:16,) wherein he alludes to this ancient ceremony of the Law. The word which they translate "unto your acceptance," [4] is the same which interpreters elsewhere render "good pleasure," and refer to the people, as if it were said, "at your own will," or "ad libitum," as it is barbarously said. But I have before shewn that it must be understood of the favor and good-will of God, although it is transferred in a passive sense to the people, as in Psalm 106:4, rtsvn, ratson, or the favor of the chosen people, means the gratuitous love wherewith God regards His Church. But Moses signifies that the fruits of the earth cannot otherwise be eaten with a clear conscience, because they would not feel that God accepted them, and looked upon them with paternal affection. The ceremony, now abolished, still remains in full force amongst us as regards its substance, for nothing but the acknowledgment of God's bounty, which springs from faith and thanksgiving, sanctifies whatever we receive of His hand. Next to the first-fruits comes the feast of seven weeks, which the Greeks have rendered Pentecost, having reference to the same object; for after they had offered the first-fruits from the standing harvest, they added another token of gratitude in the shape of the loaves and the greater sacrifice. It must however be observed, that the two loaves are required of every family, and that they consist of two-tenths; but that the sacrifices of seven lambs, one bullock, and two rams, and also of a goat and two lambs, is enjoined upon the whole people. This is in fact the legitimate acknowledgment of God's liberality, because the waving of the sheaf, as being performed in haste, was but a trifling one; since we have seen that before they touched the grain, God required that the first-fruits should be offered to Him, until at leisure and in a more convenient season they might more fully discharge their duty. Thus what we have above observed respecting the first-fruits, was only a preparation for the day of Pentecost, on which the holy oblation was not ears of wheat, but loaves made of the new wheat.
1 - "The word mr, gomer, was both a measure, which was the tenth part of an ephah, as also a sheaf, or handful, (dragmata, LXX.,) as it is taken where Ruth is said to have gathered among the sheaves; and the reason is, because usually that which was beaten out of a sheaf might fill a ghomer." -- Willet, in loco.
2 - Vide ante, [30]p. 132.
3 - Compare Virgil, Georgic 1:-- Vos, O clarissima mundi Lumina, labentem coelo quae ducitis annum, Liber et alma Ceres; vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista, Poculaque inventis Acheloia miscuit uvis, etc -- 5:5-9.
4 - See [31]note "284
Sheaf - The original word, "omer", means either a sheaf Deuteronomy 24:19; Ruth 2:7, or a measure Exodus 16:16. Our version is probably right in this place. The offering which was waved Leviticus 7:30 was most likely a small sheaf of barley, the grain which is first ripe. The first fruits of the wheat harvest were offered seven weeks later in the loaves of Pentecost. See Leviticus 23:15-17. The two offerings thus figure the very commencement and the completion of the grain harvest; compare Ruth 1:22; Ruth 2:23.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... What is next observed, it being incumbent on them to do what is enjoined:
when ye be come into the land which I give unto you: the land of Canaan, which God had given by promise to their fathers and to them, and which they were now going to inherit: as yet they were in a wilderness, where there were no sowing nor reaping, nor any harvest; so that the following law, though now given, could not take place till they came into the land of Canaan:
and shall reap the harvest thereof; the barley harvest, which was about this time, the month Nisan, and which had the name Abib, from the barley being then in the ear, see Exodus 9:31; for the wheat harvest was not till seven weeks after:
then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest; to with it as after directed: this is called an omer in the text, which was the tenth part of an ephah, Exodus 16:36; and so Jarchi interprets it here; according to the Jewish writers, when the sheaf was reaped, the corn was beat out and winnowed, and dried by the fire, and then ground in a mill, and an omer, or a tenth part of an ephah of the flour of it was taken, and oil and frankincense put upon it, an handful of which being put upon the altar, the rest was the priest's; and with this pretty much agrees the account Josephus gives, who says, on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth (day of Nisan), of the fruits they have reaped they take a part; for they do not touch them before, accounting it just to honour God first, from whom they receive the plenty of these things; and bring the firstfruits of the barley after this manner, having dried the handful of ears, and bruised them, and cleansed them from the bran, they bring to the altar a tenth part to God, and casting one handful of it on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests; and from thence forward it is lawful to reap publicly and privately (k): this has been in some part imitated by the Heathens: the Egyptians, who ascribe the invention of the fruits of the earth, particularly wheat and barley, to Isis and Osiris, in memory of it, and as a testimony of their gratitude for it, at the time of harvest, bring an handful of the first ears of corn, and beating themselves near them, call upon Isis; and in some cities, at the feast of Isis, vessels of wheat and barley were carried about in great pomp, as Diodorus Siculus (l) relates.
(k) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 10. sect. 5. (l) Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 13.
THE SHEAF OF FIRST FRUITS. (Leviticus 23:9-14)
ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest--A sheaf, literally, an omer, of the first-fruits of the barley harvest. The barley being sooner ripe than the other grains, the reaping of it formed the commencement of the general harvest season. The offering described in this passage was made on the sixteenth of the first month, the day following the first Passover Sabbath, which was on the fifteenth (corresponding to the beginning of our April); but it was reaped after sunset on the previous evening by persons deputed to go with sickles and obtain samples from different fields. These, being laid together in a sheaf or loose bundle, were brought to the court of the temple, where the grain was winnowed, parched, and bruised in a mortar. Then, after some incense had been sprinkled on it, the priest waved the sheaf aloft before the Lord towards the four different points of the compass, took a part of it and threw it into the fire of the altar--all the rest being reserved to himself. It was a proper and beautiful act, expressive of dependence on the God of nature and providence--common among all people, but more especially becoming the Israelites, who owed their land itself as well as all it produced to the divine bounty. The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the whole harvest (Romans 11:16). At the same time, this feast had a typical character, and pre-intimated the resurrection of Christ (1-Corinthians 15:20), who rose from the dead on the very day the first-fruits were offered.
An omer - They did not offer this corn in the ear, or by a sheaf or handful, but, as Josephus, 3. 10 affirms, and may be gathered from Leviticus 2:14-16, purged from the chaff, and dryed, and beaten out.
*More commentary available at chapter level.