This day of Early First Fruits is the day of the first offering of the first harvest in the spring - the barley harvest - and the day from which the counting to Shavuot begins. The literal Biblical term for this day is Yom HaOmer (the Day of The Omer), sometimes simply called "HaOmer" (as an event based on the Omer offering).
HaOmer - Yom HaBikkurim - The Day of the Early First Fruits
The theme of this day is the first harvest of the year. On this day, the first day after the Sabbath in the Holy Week of Yeshua's / Jesus' death, Yeshua was found to be risen. It is the Holy Day preordained in the Torah to point to the resurrection of our Lord.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Sh'mot (Exodus) 23:19
Yeshua's resurrection was the beginning (firstfurit) of the harvest of all mankind. Those who belong to Mashiach will be resurrected unto life at His coming. Baruch HaShem.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. I Corinthians 15:20
This day also begins S'firat HaOmer the countdown leading to the Holy Day of Shavuot, or Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. As Believers, we know the day of Shavuot/Pentecost was the day in which the Holy Spirit was poured out at the Beit HaMikdash / Temple in Yerushalayim / Jerusalem. That day many became followers of Yeshua HaMashiach and went out into the world to spread the Good News.
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Acts 1:3-5
For 10 days after Yeshua returned to the Father the followers waited and prayed for that which He promised to be fulfilled. During the 40 days of His presence and teaching and during the 10 remaining days they would have been counting the Omer as was taught in the Torah. Surely they would have been in anticipation of Shavuot as the day in which something wonderful would occur.
Yom HaBikkurim is to be observed the first day after the Shabbat / Sabbath of Hag HaMatzot / the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This has presented some confusion over the years as to which Sabbath, as the first and last days of Hag HaMatzot are Sabbaths and the week of Unleavened Bread contains a weekly Sabbath.
Some Believers agree that based on the understanding of the timing of Yeshua's resurrection and other factors, the Sabbath referred to is the weekly Sabbath (putting Yom HaBikkurim on the first day of the week (Sunday) after Pesach). Other Believers agree that based on the timing of Yeshua's resurrection and other factors, the Sabbath referred to is the first Sabbath of Unleavened Bread (16th of Aviv/Nisan).
In Biblical times the Early Feast of Firstfruits / Yom HaBikkurim (HaOmer) was observed at the Beit HaMikdash. The Temple priests would have already marked a portion of the growing barley to be their offering to the Lord. In the evening of Early Yom HaBikkurim they would march to the field where it was growing and ask the crowd questions to verify the process. They would then reap one ephah (about 2/3 bushel) of barley.
They would return to the temple court and thresh the grain with rods (instead of oxen drawn sledges) so the barley corns would not be damaged.
And they smote him on the head with a reed... Mark 15:19
The priests then lightly toasted the barley over an open flame and milled and sifted the barley until it was a very fine flour. The morning of HaOmer/ Early HaBikkurim they would present an Omer (about 5 pints) of barley flour to the Lord in a wave offering. An Omer is a tenth of an Ephah which is the approximate measure of the volume of a man.
And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. ... And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:11,14
Each household throughout the land also set aside their firstfruits and brought them in their Pesach pilgrimage to the Beit HaMikdash as an offering to the Lord. As each presentation was made the offerer said the offering prayer.
...I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. ... A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression: And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me... D'varim (Deuteronomy) 26:3-10
The priest would put a handful of the total offering on the altar to the Lord, the rest would be set aside for the use of the priesthood (Levites).
They would then begin the counting of the Omer (S'firat HaOmer) which would continue 49 days until the Feast of Shavuot (Feast of Weeks / Latter First Fruits).
Today there is no Temple so the offerings are not made but the day still marks the beginning of S'firat HaOmer. Each evening from Yom HaBikkurim/ HaOmer until Shavuot we recite the B'rakhah for the Omer.
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvohtav v'tzi-vanu al S'firat HaOmer.
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has set us apart by your commandments and has commanded us to count the Omer.
Today is the ___ day of the Omer, that is, ___ week(s) and ___ day(s) in the Omer count.
We whose lives are changed by the life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua HaMashiach observe this day as a celebration of His resurrection. Many have parties or picnics to mark the day.
Torah reading for Yom HaBikkurim
Torah - Leviticus 22:26-23:44, Numbers 28:16-25
Hatarah - II Kings 23:1-25
B'rit Chadashah - I Corinthians 15:20-28
Torah reading for S'firat HaOmer "Omer Wave Offering"
Torah - Leviticus 23:9-14, Numbers 28:19-25
Hatarah - II Kings 23:1-25
B'rit Chadashah - Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-53, John 20:1-21:25
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Shemot (Exodus) 23:14-19
As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. Vayikra (Leviticus) 2:12-14
Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:17-20
And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD. Melechim Beit (II Kings) 4:42-44
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD. Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 2:2-3
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. I Corinthians 15:20-23
