Firstfruits
The first sheaf of the barley harvest, waved before God — and the day the count to Pentecost starts.
A sheaf from the first of the barley is brought to the priest and waved, and until it is, none of the new crop may be eaten. It falls during the week of Unleavened Bread, and it starts the fifty-day count to the feast of Weeks. Exactly which day it lands on turned on a phrase — "the day after the sabbath" — that the Pharisees and the Sadducees read differently, so the two groups kept Pentecost on different days. Paul calls the risen Christ the firstfruits, which is this sheaf.
Disputed. "The day after the sabbath" in Leviticus 23:11 was read by the Sadducees as the day after the weekly sabbath, and by the Pharisees as the day after the first festival day. The two readings put Pentecost on different dates.
Where it appears
See also
- Weeks — The feast fifty days after this one