First-fruits

1 definition found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  First-fruits
     The first-fruits of the ground were offered unto God just as the
     first-born of man and animals.
     
       The law required, (1.) That on the morrow after the Passover
     Sabbath a sheaf of new corn should be waved by the priest before


     the altar (Lev. 23:5, 6, 10, 12; 2:12).
     
       (2.) That at the feast of Pentecost two loaves of leavened
     bread, made from the new flour, were to be waved in like manner
     (Lev. 23:15, 17; Num. 28:26).
     
       (3.) The feast of Tabernacles was an acknowledgement that the
     fruits of the harvest were from the Lord (Ex. 23:16; 34:22).
     
       (4.) Every individual, besides, was required to consecrate to
     God a portion of the first-fruits of the land (Ex. 22:29; 23:19;
     34:26; Num. 15:20, 21).
     
       (5.) The law enjoined that no fruit was to be gathered from
     newly-planted fruit-trees for the first three years, and that
     the first-fruits of the fourth year were to be consecrated to
     the Lord (Lev. 19:23-25). Jeremiah (2:3) alludes to the
     ordinance of "first-fruits," and hence he must have been
     acquainted with the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers,
     where the laws regarding it are recorded.