FirstFruits – GRAFTED

If you are a traditional Christian and this blog doesn’t offend you, then I’m doing something wrong. Easter should be the most important holiday for Christians. It’s great that Yeshua was born, but if he didn’t rise from the dead then none of the rest of it means anything.

I want to examine the festival that Yahweh proscribed and contrast it with the practices that Christians have adopted to celebrate the most important day in human history (so far) since the creation of man.

Much of this is taken from my book Grafted: Embracing Torah (yes, a shameful plug for my book – I wrote it to be read, so I need to let people know it is out there) which has an entire chapter reviewing the differences between the festivals that Yahweh mandated and the ‘Christian substitutes’ that are celebrated today.

First Fruits (Bikkurim)

⁹And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ¹⁰Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: ¹¹And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:9-11)

The first fruits of everything are considered the provision of Yahweh (e.g., grain, livestock, children, etc.). This offering commemorates the blessings and follows the first of the grain harvests. It appears the grain (in this case, barley) is literally “waved” before the altar and then the Priests would keep the offering (the Levites have to eat, also).

This sacrifice is not burned as the animal sacrifices are and takes place to be on the day after the first Sabbath after Passover. This is played out in the narrative of Yesuha’s death and resurrection.

The year of Yeshua’s crucifixion is similar to last year (2020 AD) in that Passover was (is) on the fifth day of the week (Thursday). This means that First Fruits was celebrated on Sunday morning – a little over 80 hours after the Passover meal was eaten.

This year (2021 AD), Passover is on Saturday at sunset and First Fruits is on Monday morning

Why is this important? Yahweh’s prescribed days all had present significance and future significance. Israel knew this, as did Yeshua, who before he was arrested, schooled the people on what was to soon unfold:

³⁸Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. ³⁹But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: ⁴⁰For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:38-40).

This is not the Friday night to Sunday morning crap that is taught from the pulpit. When you read these verses, you probably questioned it yourself, but decide that thousands of preachers cannot be wrong (they can and they are – they are human, after all).

I made the same mistake for decades.

Let the evidence convince you:

“three days and three nights” literally mean three 24-hour periods. 72 hours.
Friday 4:00 (Christ died at 3:00 – give an hour for Joseph of Arimathea to plead with Pilate to get the body and then place in the sepulcher) to Sunday 6:00 (When Mary came to the tomb, it was yet dark – John 20:1) is 38 hours – barely half of what is needed to fulfill the scriptures.
Yeshua is the ultimate Passover lamb (if you don’t believe this, then I’m not sure why you would read any of my blogs). The Passover lamb is killed during the day before Passover -in this case, Wednesday afternoon because Passover begins at Sunset.
Wednesday 6:00 (Christ died at 3:00 – I’m going to give Joseph of Arimathea three hours to plead with Pilate to get the body and then place in the sepulcher – this gives him enough time to return and celebrate Passover) to Saturday 6:00 (it could be any time after 6:00) is a minimum of 72 hours – fulfilling the scriptures.

Christ rose Saturday night, probably after sunset (the beginning of a new day and of First Fruits). The priest would have knowingly celebrated Yahweh’s blessing of their harvest and unknowingly celebrated the resurrection of Christ, the First Fruit of a new people who will have the Word written in their hearts.

Joseph of Arimathea was so vital to all that transacted this day (see my blog “What did Joe know . . . and when did he know it”). Joseph was a Pharisee, but more importantly, he was a believer. He risked the fury of the other Pharisees who were trying to quash the upstart, Yeshua and his followers.

Criminals that were sentenced to death were generally tossed into Jerusalem’s garbage dump – The Valley of Hinnom (also known as Ge-henna). The valley was the site of child sacrifice that was sanctioned by earlier Israeli kings, so the land was defiled and had no other purpose. The fires in Gehenna never went out because people were constantly fueling the flames by throwing their trash into the valley. This was the image that Yeshua gave his disciples when he spoke of everlasting punishment (Mark 9:44, 46, & 48 – quoting Isaiah 66:24).

Yeshua’s body would have been tossed into the valley after his crucifixion if not for the intervention of Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:50-53). Joseph begged Pilate for the body and placed it in his own sepulcher so this ‘wave offering’ of the firstfruits would not burn. It also allowed for the sign of Jonah to be fulfilled and provided a perfect evidence for the resurrection: the empty tomb.

Easter

Easter is usually celebrated with a sunrise church service (a day and a half after ‘Good Friday’ – also discussed in my book . . . which is also another shameless plug) and then a feast (customarily featuring ham – clean and unclean foods are examined in my book, also). Children are given Easter baskets with chocolate bunnies and other candies. Later the children will search for colored Easter eggs.

The word “Easter” comes to us from the Babylonian goddess “Ishtar” (not to be confused with the 1987 movie starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman). She is also known as ‘Mrs. Nimrod’.

Nimrod (great-grandson of Noah – Genesis 10) was the first great king of the world. His capital was Babylon and he built the Tower of Babel. His wife was Semiramis, an ambitious woman who enjoyed sharing power with Nimrod. The Book of Jasher tells us Esau killed Nimrod (Esau ran from Nimrod’s soldiers and sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of pottage because he had no strength left to continue his flight) and Nimrod’s wife had her husband deified. After his death, Semiramis became pregnant and declared that the sun god (the deified Nimrod) had impregnated her with his heavenly rays (similar imagery to the virgin birth).

Tammuz was born and when he became of age, his mother, Semiramis, married him so she could continue as joint ruler. When she died, it is said that she went to Nimrod but he was not ready for her, so he sent her back to Earth inside an egg. When it landed, it cracked open and Semiramis – who was now a bird – turned into an egg-laying rabbit. She thus became the goddess of fertility (Ishtar).

Tammuz (also a great hunter like his father) later died in a hunting accident when he was killed by a wild boar. He, also, was deified (becoming a ‘son of the god’) and became the Mesopotamian god of fertility (pagans like having lots of gods associated with fertility) and is associated with shepherds. His life was honored by prayer and fasting for 40 days prior to Ishtar Sunday (first day of the week following the Spring equinox).

These false gods found their way into multiple cultures (probably due to the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel):

Babylon	Nimrod	Tammuz	Semiramis
Assyria	Ninus	Bacchus	Ishtar
Egypt	Ra	Osiris	Isis
Canaan *	Ba’al	Tammuz	Ashtoreth
Greece	Zeus	Dionysius (Eros)	Aphrodite
Rome	Jupiter	Cupid	Venus

* – Judges 2:13

During the Ishtar service, the priests would impregnate young virgins on the altar. Following this, three-month-old children (the offspring of the Ishtar service the previous year) were sacrificed on the same altar and eggs would be dipped in the infant’s blood. After the service, a feast featuring a wild boar (in honor of Tammuz), would be eaten.

Let us stick with the Passover and First Fruits celebrations because Yeshua is our Passover lamb. If you celebrate with a Seder supper, be sure to incorporate the death and resurrection of Yeshua into the stories of Salvation from oppression in Egypt.

It is interesting that the “Holy Week” this year replicates the week that Christ died. This is not always the case since Christians insist on holding Resurrection Day on Sunday every year. Let’s examine this coincidence of the Calendars and see how Yahweh’s proscribed days foretold man’s salvation through the annual celebration of Passover and Yeshua’s merciful act of his sacrifice as the perfect Passover lamb, without blemish.

Much of the following comes from my book Grafted: Embracing Torah, available at Amazon (yes, it’s a shameless plug for my book, but I wrote it to be read . . . who is gonna read it if they don’t know its out there).

Yeshua’s death is celebrated on the wrong day of the week. He told his disciples:

³⁹But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: ⁴⁰For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)

“Three days and three nights” is 72 hours. The Talmud insisted that graves be watched for three days to ensure actual death (a person might only be in a temporary coma). Unless Yeshua was dead for three complete days, the Jews could argue he had not actually been dead when he was laid in the sepulcher.

Good Friday evening to Easter Sunday morning (Mary arrived before dark and the stone was already removed) is less than 40 hours. Wednesday evening to Saturday evening is, at the least, 72 hours (three days and three nights).

Passover was (as it is this year – 2020) on Thursday in the year Yeshua died. Remember the Hebrew day starts at sundown, so the lamb is slain on Wednesday before sunset.

³⁰When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. ³¹The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (John 19:30-31)

“. . . that sabbath day was an high day” meaning that it was not the normal Saturday Sabbath. Passover is a Sabbath no matter what day of the week it falls on. Mary comes to the tomb after the normal weekly Sabbath (three days after the crucifixion).

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. (John 20:1)

“Three days and three nights” is 72 hours. The Talmud insisted that graves be watched for three days to ensure actual death (e.g., a person might only be in a temporary coma). Unless Yeshua was dead for three complete days, the Jews could argue he had not actually been dead when he was laid in the sepulcher.

Good Friday evening to Easter Sunday morning (Mary arrived before dark and the stone was already removed) is less than 40 hours. Thursday evening to Saturday evening is, at the least, 72 hours (three days and three nights).

On Sunday, when Christians are eating chocolate bunnies (mmmmm . . . chocolate); hunting eggs and celebrating Resurrection Sunday. Torah believers are celebrating Yahweh’s proscribed day of First Fruits (Bikkurim) which takes place THREE days (and three nights) after Passover.

⁹And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ¹⁰Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: ¹¹And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:9-11)

This sacrifice is not burned as the animal sacrifices are and appears to be on the first day of the week after the first Sabbath after Passover. This is played out the narrative of Yesuha’s death and resurrection.

Yeshua’s body may have been tossed into the valley after his crucifixion if not for the intervention of Joseph of Arimathæa (Luke 23:50-53). Joseph begged Pilate for the body and placed it in his own sepulcher so this ‘wave offering’ of the first fruits would not be burned. It also provided a perfect evidence for the resurrection: the empty tomb.

We celebrate Yeshua’s sacrifice on Wednesday – which is in conformity with Yeshua’s revelation to his disciples in Matthew 12. We remember Yahweh saving Israel in Egypt with the Passover lamb AND we remember Yeshua’s sacrifice as the perfect, Passover lamb – without spot or blemish – at a Seder meal Wednesday after sunset.

Finally, on Sunday (“. . . on the morrow after the sabbath . . .”), we celebrate Yeshua’s resurrection as the First Fruit of Yahweh’s redemption of man.

This is why we choose to celebrate Yahweh’s prescribed days. They foretold of the coming of His son; the sacrifice he willingly accepted for us; and they also foretell of his second coming and the judgment of the world. Choose Yahweh’s days rather than the ‘Christian’ holidays that have been corrupted over time by Pagan rituals.

This corruption is examined in detail in my book Grafted: Embracing Torah (yes! Another shameless plug).

Notice the photo has five crosses (I had to add two). There is a very interesting study you can do concerning harmonizing the verses covering the crucifixion. My book gives more details on how you can easily do this (third and final shameless plug of my book). Or you can ask about it in the comments.

May your faith be strengthened during this holy season – and continue to grow as long as you live.

First Fruits (Bikkurim)

Easter