Leviticus 23:9-14
Some of you might be thinking, this seems a strange sort of reading for resurrection Sunday, but hopefully by peering through our Hebraic glasses today we can see things a little bit clearer and understand the gospel in the way that the disciples in the early church did. Why is our reading from Leviticus today relevant to our celebration here this morning on this wonderful occasion? Well, if you said to a Jewish believer in the early church, was Jesus yeshua raised on Easter Sunday, he or she would look at you in a perplexed way and probably reply, “No, no, no. it was on the festival of first fruits.” And indeed it was, they would be telling the truth. Now the command given in Leviticus was something that God had ordained Moses and Israel to carry out once they entered the promised land. At this time, when it was given, they were still outside of that land, so this was something that had to be implemented when God had taken them in and they had possession of the territory. If you like, the Lord here was laying down a blueprint for their future. Now in Hebrew this day is called Yom HaBikkurim, the day of the first fruits or alternatively is known as Reshit Ha’Katzir the first fruit of Harvest. This occurred on the very first day after the event of unleavened bread. Misha unpacks Leviticus 23:9-14
