The Laodicean times


  WAVE SHEAF OFFERING

 There have been many explanations as to the meaning of the Wave Sheaf Offering, some more speculative than others, however the biggest mystery surrounding this day involves the actual day it took place,  for without a clear date it becomes impossible to determine the day to observe the Feast of Weeks.  At first glance it seems fairly simple to deduce that if the Wave Sheaf Offering is to take place after the "Sabbath", it would be held on the next day, the first day of the week. (Sunday)  This view is held by many and seems to be the outcome of other doctrines which under more intense scrutiny, (the proverbial) "just doesn't hold water" applies.  So lets look at the reasons for the Sunday view and see how it has lead to this view.

   Some have tried to translate the Bible in what they call a literal translation, but the Hebrew language cannot be literally translated into a classical language.  Hebrew is an idiomatic language, and one Hebrew word may have from three to ten different meanings depending on the context.  At times opposing meanings.

   Strongs #7676 is the word used here and means day of rest.  This word is usually used when referring to the seventh day of the week.   It is also used when referring to a high day. That is a holy day that falls on a week day  other than the seventh day.  However as in most Hebrew words, it could have other meanings.  This #7676 could mean "week" depending of course on the contexts. 

The New Westminster Bible Dictionary, on page 989, under "Weeks, Feast of." has the following:

...This sheaf was waved on the morrow after the Sabbath (Lev. 23: 11).  The Boethusians (associated with the Sadducees interpreted this Sabbath as meaning the weekly Sabbath which occurred during the Festival of Unleavened Bread; and some modern scholars have adopted this view.  The opinion has even been held that it denoted merely the weekly Sabbath which fell immediately before the harvest.  The older and better opinion is that it denotes the 1st day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.  The Greek translators understood it so
(Lev. 23: 7, 11, LXX), as did also those who directed the services of the 2d Temple (Jos. Antiq. iii. 10, 5); this 1st day was kept as a Sabbath: no work was done on it and there was a holy convocation; and such rest days, no less than the 7th day of the week were called Sabbath (Lev. 23: 32;  25: 2); on the morrow after the Passover the new grain was used, which could not be eaten until the sheaf had been waved before the Lord (Lev. 23: 14;)...

See also: Dead Sea Scrolls Prove Pharisees Controlled Temple Ritual!
In the book The Temple:  Its Ministry and Services, by Alfred Edersheim, we read of the reaping of the wave sheaf, and its presentation.  At the end of the 15th of Nisan, says Edersheim, just as it was growing dark,

                                 "a noisy throng followed delegates of the Sanhedrin outside the city and

                                            across the brook Kidron. . . . [They] emerged amidst loud demonstrations,

                                            in a field across Kidron, which had been marked out for the purpose.  They

                                            were to be engaged in a service most important to them. . . . The law had

                                            it, 'Ye shall bring a SHEAF [literally the omer] of the FIRSTFRUITS of

                                            your HARVEST unto the priest [who typified, or represented CHRIST];

                                            and he shall wave the omer before Jehovah [God the Father], to be accepted

                                            for you:  on the morrow after the Sabbath shall ye wave it.'  This Passover-

                                            sheaf, or rather omer, was to be accompanied by a burnt-offering, of a 'he

                                            lamb, without blemish, of the first year,' with its appropriate meat- and

                                            drink- offering, and after it had been brought, but not till then, fresh barley

                                            might be used and sold in the land.  Now, this Passover sheaf was reaped

                                            in public the evening before it was offered, and it was to witness this ceremony

                                            that the crowd gathered around 'the elders,' who took care that all was done

                                            according to traditionary ordinance" (p.256-57).

 

            Notice!  In the past, many have ASSUMED -- and many STILL assume -- that the "wave sheaf" offering referred to Jesus Christ, who was the offering for our sins upon the stake (II Cor.5:20).  But does this make any sense, when we stop to think about it?  It was accompanied by the offering of a male lamb without blemish -- which itself typified Christ!  It was waved by the high priest before God, to be accepted of the Father -- and the high priest typified Christ, our "high priest" in heaven (Heb.7:24-28; 9:24; 10:10).  Furthermore, this "wave sheaf" was offered AFTER the sacrifice of Christ our Passover Lamb (I Cor.5:7-8).  The Passover lambs were slain in the afternoon of Nisan 14 -- the precise time when Yeshua the Messiah was slain for us! 

 

         Clearly, then, the wave sheaf -- contrary to what many have assumed and believed -- does NOT refer to Christ at all -- but rather is made possible BY the Sacrifice of Christ, which precedes it in time sequence!

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