Firstfruits

Deuteronomy 18:2-5 – They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord’s name always.

Numbers 18:12 – “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the Lord as the firstfruits of their harvest.

Exodus 23:19 – “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Numbers 15:20 – Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor.

Application:

• ·         Since the best items of produce were to be given to the Lord, these became the special foods of the priests and their families.
• ·         Firstfruits were representative of the whole harvest. The offering of firstfruits was an acknowledgment that the harvest was from the Lord and belonged wholly to Him.
• ·         This concept of the firstfruits is a symbol that all blessing is from the Lord and all produce belongs to Him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV