First Fruits
“Beginning or first portion”
Summary
The first portion of the harvest offered to God as an acknowledgment that all produce belongs to Him and as an expression of thankfulness for His provision.
☩Old Testament Practice
The law ordered that the first of all ripe fruits and liquors should be offered in God's house as an act of allegiance to God as the giver of all. No exact quantity was commanded, but it was left to the spiritual and moral sense of each individual. The offerings were presented at the tabernacle and belonged to the priests as their portion. Three annual feasts were connected with first-fruits: the Feast of Unleavened Bread (barley), Pentecost (wheat), and Tabernacles (vintage).
☩Types of Offerings
On the morrow after the Passover sabbath, a sheaf of new barley was brought to the priest and waved before the altar. Seven weeks later at Pentecost, two loaves made from the new wheat flour were offered. Individual offerings included a cake of the first dough baked as a heave offering, and the first-fruits of the threshing floor including wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Fruit trees were considered uncircumcised for three years, with the fourth year's produce devoted to God.
☩Spiritual Significance
Christians have the firstfruits of the Spirit as an earnest or pledge of still future and larger blessing. Christ, being raised from among the dead, is the firstfruits of them that sleep, guaranteeing the resurrection of all believers. The first converts gathered in any economy are called firstfruits, representing the finest of God's creation. Just as firstfruits were the finest from the harvest, God wants Christians to be the finest creatures in all His creation.
Related Verses25 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.George Morrish, "First-fruits," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 2.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Firstfruits," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Firstfruits," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 4.Edwin W. Rice, "First-fruits," in The People's Dictionary of the Bible (American Sunday-School Union, 1893).
- 5.John Kitto, "First-fruits," in A Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, vol. I (Mark H. Newman, 1845).
- 6.Don Fleming, "Firstfruits," in Bridgeway Bible Dictionary (Bridgeway Publications, 1990).
- 7.American Tract Society, "Firstfruits," in American Tract Society Bible Dictionary (American Tract Society, 1859).