What is the Wave Sheaf Day & when is it?

Greetings,

I hope everyone is having a great week of Unleavened bread. It's hard to believe it will be over Sunday at sunset.

Sunday also marks another day, the Wave Sheaf day. This can be found in Lev. 23:9-14. I happened to find this by accident one evening when I was doing a bible study. My husband came in & sat by me. I set my bible down between us & I asked him "What's this?" (pointing to the verses I just mentioned. His reply was "That's Pentecost." I said "No, this is Pentecost, pointing to the next set of verses." His reply was after looking at how the sections were marked, "I'm not sure what that is." This led to a long bible study after the Feast of Tabernacles leading up to the Spring festivals. The next Spring, we observed our first Wave Sheaf Day.

First off, let's read what Lev. 23:9-14 says -

Offering the Firstfruits

9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect, 13 together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah[a] of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin[b] of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

The barley was the first of the first fruits in the Spring. So, we aren't to eat of the grain until we give an offering the morning of the Wave Sheaf day. This day falls on the Sunday during the week of Unleavened Bread. And 95% of the time, the Wave Sheaf day falls on Easter. Once you've made an offering, then you can eat of the grain. I know one group makes a loaf of bread with the two-tenths of an ephah & olive oil. The loaf barely fits in an oven. They wave it before the load in the great outdoors & then eat of it.

What does this have to do with Yeshua?

John 20:17-Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

This was after Yeshua had risen from the dead the night before just before sunset. He was perfect. He needed to ascend to the father in his perfect state. Once he ascended to heaven & then returned again, then he allowed his followers to touch him. (John 20:27) Yeshua was the first of the first fruits.

Sometimes, the Wave Sheaf day & one of the high sabbaths during the week of unleavened bread will fall on the same day. But it always falls on the Sunday during the week of unleavened bread.

This day also starts the 50 day count to Pentecost which falls on June 8th this year.

I hope you have a great rest of the week of Unleavened bread & Wave Sheaf day.

Until next time,

Lori