![]() The Pharisees explained that the Torah referred to the Yom Tov as “the sabbath” because it was a special festival day with Sabbath work-restrictions. The Pharisees maintained that “the day after the Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:11) referred to Nisan 16, the day following the Yom Tov of the festival of Passover. The Pharisees and the Sadducees disagreed about the correct day for the barley ritual. That day began the fifty-day count to the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost). Caiaphas concluded the ceremony by sacrificing a single male lamb as a burnt offering to accompany the new grain. The priests baked the remainder of the dough into loaves of unleavened barley bread to be shared among the priesthood. Then he touched the barley flour to corner of the altar.Īfter the morning sacrifice and the additional Passover sacrifices (described in Numbers 28:24), Caiaphas offered a portion of grain offering on the altar as a memorial portion. Caiaphas took the batch of dough in hand and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering. The priests mixed the flour into dough with olive oil and incense. Sunday morning, while the women discovered the empty tomb, the high priest was busy mixing the barley flour with oil and frankincense to prepare it as a bread offering. The same night that our Master left the tomb, the priests refined the freshly milled flour by sifting it through thirteen sieves. That same night, the priests in the Temple threshed, roasted, and ground the barley into flour. Until the people harvested and offered the first fruits of the barley in the Temple, the rest of the crops were not considered kosher. The commandment of the barley omer reminded Israel that the land and its produce belong first to God. The barley crop ripens first in Israel, so the priesthood always offered an omer of barley. The Torah prohibited using or eating any produce from the new year’s cereal crops until the priesthood offered up to the LORD the first of the new grain. He shall wave the omer before the LORD for you to be accepted on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. You shall bring in the omer of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. The baskets contained more than enough grain to constitute a full sheaf’s worth (an omer, עמר), enough to fulfill the Torah’s mandate: ![]() The reapers collected three seahs of barley in their baskets and carried it back to Jerusalem that same night. Three times the apostles from the Sanhedrin asked, “Shall we place the grain in this basket?” Each of the reapers asked, “Shall I begin to cut now?” Each time, the crowd responded enthusiastically, “Yes!” In this manner, the new harvest began. Then they asked three times, “Shall we cut with this sickle?” and the crowd responded with three enthusiastic affirmations. Brandishing sickles, the three apostles of the Sanhedrin addressed the crowd, asking, “Has the sun set?” The people replied, “Yes!” They repeated the question two more times, and they received a total of three affirmations from the villagers. Crowds from the local villages had gathered to witness the ceremony. Saturday night, they returned to the barley field after the conclusion of the first day of Passover. On the same day that the Romans bound and crucified the Master, the apostles from the Sanhedrin bound up the standing barley into bundles while it was still attached to the ground so that it would be easier to reap. On the same day that Caiaphas and his associates tried the Master, three apostles from the Sanhedrin went out to a barley field not far from Jerusalem. It is an obscure appointment on the Biblical calendar, sometimes called the First Fruits of the Barley Harvest, but better known simply by its Biblical name, “The Omer.” The Omer is a minor festival with major Messianic implications. The command to bring the first sheaf of the harvest to the Temple is of great significance to the disciples of Yeshua.
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