The Ordinance of Firstfruits (5): Who Should You Give it to? (Cont’d)

The Ordinance of Firstfruits (5): Who Should You Give it to? (Cont’d)

“And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us… He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “and flowing with milk and honey”; and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. – Deuteronomy 26:1-3,9-10

In continuation of our meditation on whom the firstfruit offering is meant for, the above bible passage states in clear terms the process of offering the firstfruits. Firstly, the passage validates our earlier point about the quantity of what constitutes a firstfruit. It is a portion or a percentage of the first yields and not the entirety of it. The passage further provides some information on the portability of fruitfruits by mentioning that they should be placed in a basket. A basket certainly cannot contain all the first set of harvests. So that should settle the matter of quantity.

Also, this passage specifies the place firstfruits should be taken and whom it is meant for. The firstfruit is to be taken to the place of worship and offered to the LORD with the priest as a witness, not the primary beneficiary. The Bible did not say offer the firstfruit to the priest. He said offer the sacrifice to God: ’Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God’ (Deuteronomy 26:10).

Now, to the matter of the priest vis-à-vis other pastoral offices. God instructed that firstfruits be eaten only by the chief priest and his family. It is not a generic offering that any clergy can take. There can only be one chief priest in a dispensation. In biblical days, the priesthood was drawn from the lineage of Aaron; no other family could attain priesthood. Only someone from the lineage of Aaron could attain priesthood. The priests themselves are drawn from the tribe of Levi, the tribe that God set apart for Himself to serve Him at the Tabernacle, support the priests and minister to the spiritual needs of the other tribes of Israel.

While the priesthood office could still be well-defined in Judaism, practised mostly by modern-day Israelis, the office is blurry in Christianity, as it would be rare to find a descendant of Aaron among the leaders of present-day churches. However, for a church with multiple branches, the equivalent of a chief priest in that assembly would be the most senior pastor. If it is a one-branch church, the founder or the most senior pastor would be the equivalent of a chief priest there. These are the ones authorized to receive firstfruits on behalf of God and consume it.

Depending on their internal structure, however, they could delegate subordinate clergies to receive firstfruits from the people, but not as to themselves, but an offering unto God.

Again, it it worth emphasizing that firstfruits is not meant to be offered to pastors, bishops, priests, apostles, prophets, etc. it is an exclusive preserve of God. But God Himself then instructed that the chief priest and his household should consume it on His own behalf. But that is only after it has been properly offered to God.

Perhaps, the scriptures below will offer more clarification on this. Please note whom God was addressing.

And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, I Myself have also given you charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering and every sin offering and every trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. “This also is yours: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. – Numbers 18:8-13

Here also:

And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever. – Deuteronomy 18:3-5

Having settled the issue of whom the firstfruit is meant and what should be done with it, we will conclude this series by discussing practical applications of firstfruit offerings in our modern days of salaries, wages, revenues and other forms of income.

To be continued…

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

Also read:

• The Ordinance of Firstfruits (4): Who Should You Give it to?
• Men in the Bible: the Portrait of A Gossip and An Accursed
• How to Know for Sure You are Going to Heaven
• 45 Lessons of Life
• Genuine Identity in Christ

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