Offerings of the produce of the land, being the first and best of the crops, given in acknowledgment of God's abundant blessings. The term is also used metaphorically to indicate the first of a much larger group that is to follow, such as those who will be raised from the dead.
Offering firstfruits
Exodus 23:19 See also Exodus 34:26; Leviticus 2:11–16; Deuteronomy 26:1–11; Nehemiah 10:35–39, Nehemiah 13:31; Proverbs 3:9–10; Romans 11:16
Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Firstfruits given to priests and Levites
Numbers 18:8–13 See also Deuteronomy 18:1–5; 2 Chronicles 31:2–5; Nehemiah 12:44–47; Ezekiel 44:28–30
Then the LORD said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute. A portion of the most holy offerings reserved from the fire will be yours. From all the offerings they render to Me as most holy offerings, whether grain offerings or sin offerings or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. You are to eat it as a most holy offering, and every male may eat it. You shall regard it as holy. And this is yours as well: the offering of their gifts, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given this to you and your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat it. I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits. The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD will belong to you. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat them.
Firstfruits offered at feasts
The Feast of Firstfruits
And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil — a food offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma — and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live.
The Feast of Weeks (Harvest)
See also Exodus 23:16, Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15–20; Numbers 28:26
Firstborn of human beings and animals regarded as firstfruits
Psalm 78:51 See also Exodus 13:1–2, Exodus 13:11–16; Numbers 18:14–19; Psalm 105:36
He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.
Metaphorical use of firstfruits
Firstfruits of God's harvest
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.
Jesus Christ the firstfruits of the resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:20–28 See also Acts 26:22–23
Firstfruits of salvation
James 1:18 See also Romans 8:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Revelation 14:1–5
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.