Leviticus 23:10

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, etc.] 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 <020931>Exodus…”

“THE SHEAF OF FIRST FRUITS. (Lev 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…”

“These verses contain a distinct command regarding the religious services immediately connected with the grain harvest, given by anticipation against the time when the people were to possess the promised land. Leviticus 23:10 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…”

“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 Lev 2:14-16, purged from the chaff, and dryed, and beaten out. Leviticus 23:11”

“23:10-14 Just as the burned portion of each sacrifice represented the whole offering and the tithe symbolized that all of a person’s money belonged to God, so also the first portions of each harvest, or first crops, symbolized the entire harvest, and even the land itself (25:23), as belonging to the Lord. In the barley harvest, the first portions were offered as part of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (23:6, 10-12). The first portions of the wheat harvest were offered during the Festival of Harvest (23:15-21; Exod 34:22). These gifts to God recognized God’s prior gifts to Israel (see Lev 2:1). The entire offering of first crops became the property and food of God’s representatives, the…”

“When: Lev 14:34 and shall: Lev 2:12-16; Exo 22:29, Exo 23:16, Exo 23:19, Exo 34:22, Exo 34:26; Num 15:2, Num 15:18-21, Num 28:26; Deu 16:9; Jos 3:15 sheaf: or, handful, Heb. omer, the first fruits, This offering was a public acknowledgment of the bounty and goodness of God for the kindly fruits of the earth. From the practice of the people of God, the heathen borrowed a similar one, founded on the same reason. Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10; Eze 44:30; Rom 11:16; Co1 15:20-23; Jam 1:18; Rev 14:4 Leviticus 23:11”