FIRSTFRUITS
FIRSTFRUITS
Presents made to God of part of the fruits of the harvest, to express the submission, dependence, and thankfulness of the offerers. The portion given was instead of the whole, in acknowledgement that all was due to God. They were offered in the temple before the crop was gathered on the fifteenth of Nisan, in the evening, and threshed in a court of the temple. After it was well cleaned, about three pints of it were roasted, and pounded in a mortar. Over this was thrown a measure of olive oil and a handful of incense; and the priest, taking the offering, waved it before the Lord towards the four cardinal points, throwing a handful of it into the fire on the altar, and keeping the rest. After this, all were at liberty to get in the harvest. When the wheat harvest was over, on the day of Pentecost they offered as first fruits of another, in the name of the nation, two loaves, of about three pints of flour each, made of leavened dough, Lev 23:10,17 . In addition to these firstfruits, every private person was obliged to bring his firstfruits to the temple, but Scripture prescribes neither the time nor the quantity.There was, besides this, another sort of firstfruits paid to God, Num 15:19,21 Neh 10:37 : when the bread in the family was kneaded, a portion of it was set apart, and given to the priest or Levite of the place; if there were no priest or Levite, it was cast into the oven and there consumed.Those offerings are also often called firstfruits, which were brought by the Israelites from devotion, to the temple, for the feast of thanksgiving, to which they invited their relations and friends, and the Levites of their cities. The firstfruits and tenths were the most considerable revenue of the priests and Levites.Christians have “the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit,” 1Ch 8:23 ; that is, more abundant and more excellent gifts than the Jews; these were also a foretaste of the full harvest. “Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept,” 1Co 15:20, the forerunner of all those who, because he lives, shall live also, Joh 14:19 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Firstfruits
(See FIRSTBORN.) The whole land’s produce was consecrated to God by the consecration of the first-fruits (Rom 11:16); just as the whole nation by that of the firstborn. At the Passover, on the morrow after the sabbath, a sheaf of green barley (which is earlier than wheat), of the first fruits of the crop, was waved before the Lord. At Pentecost, 50 days later, two loaves of wheaten bread (Leviticus 23). The feast of tabernacles, on the 15th day of the seventh month, was itself an acknowledgment of the fruits of the harvest. Besides these national offerings the law required that the first of all ripe fruits and liquors should be offered by individuals (Exo 22:29). A cake of the first dough baked was to be a heave offering (Num 15:19; Num 15:21). The first-fruits of the oil, wine, and wheat were to be offered to Jehovah, for the benefit of the priests as His representatives (Num 18:11-13).
The Talmud fixed on the 60th as the least to be given of the produce, a 30th or 40th as a liberal offering. The individual presentation of the first-fruits in a basket took place at the temple or tabernacle. The offerer said: “I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers to give us.” The priest took the basket and set it down before the altar of the Lord. The offerer added: “A Syrian (Jacob) ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt,” etc. (Deuteronomy 26). The Talmud adds that companies of 24 used to assemble at evening m a central station, and pass the night in the open air; the leader in the morning summoned them, “Let us arise and go up to mount Zion, the house of the Lord our God.” On the road to Jerusalem they recited Psalm 122; Psalm 150. Each party was preceded by a piper and a sacrificial bullock with horns gilt and crowned with olive.
The priests met them, and the Levites singing Psalm 30. Each presented his basket, reciting the formula in Deuteronomy 26. King Agrippa, it is stated, once carried his basket as others. The offerings were either bichurim, raw produce, “first-fruits,” or tirumot, “offerings,” prepared produce. Times of apostasy brought a neglect of this duty; the restoration of the offering of both kinds was a leading point in the reformation under Hezekiah (2Ch 31:5; 2Ch 31:11), and under Nehemiah (Neh 10:35; Neh 10:37; Neh 12:44). The prophets insist on this duty (Eze 20:40; Eze 44:30; Eze 48:14; Mal 3:8). Fruit trees were to be regarded as uncircumcised, i.e. profane, for three years. The produce of the fourth was devoted to God, and only in the fifth year the produce became the owner’s (Lev 19:23-25).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
FIRSTFRUITS
According to Israelite law, the people had to present to God the first portion of the harvest, whether of grain or fruit, as an expression of thanks to him for the entire harvest (Exo 22:29; Exo 23:19). This offering may have been in the form of a cake made from the cereal, or in the form of a basket of cereal or fruit (Num 15:17-21; Deu 26:2).
In addition to the offerings of firstfruits by private individuals, there were offerings of firstfruits at Israels national festivals. These included the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:10-11), the Feast of Harvest, or Pentecost (Lev 23:15-17), and the Feast of Tabernacles, or Ingatherings (Exo 23:16; Lev 23:39). (For details see FEASTS.) The firstfruit offerings became the property of the priests and so formed one source of their food supply (Num 18:12-13).
Since people had to present their firstfruits before they could use the remainder of the harvest for themselves, firstfruits had a symbolic meaning. They were a sign of hope, a guarantee of greater things to come. This is the meaning of the New Testament illustrations of firstfruits. The risen Christ is called the firstfruits of believers who have died, because his resurrection guarantees the resurrection of all believers (1Co 15:20; 1Co 15:23). The Holy Spirit, whom believers have already, is the firstfruits, or guarantee, of future glory (Rom 8:23).
Just as the firstfruits of the Israelites were the finest from their harvest, so God wants Christians to be the finest creatures in all his creation (Jam 1:18). Like the firstfruits, they belong especially to God (Rev 14:4). Paul sometimes spoke of the first people who became Christians in a locality as the firstfruits of the church in that place (Rom 16:5; 1Co 16:15).