The Harvest

This morning as I stepped off of my front porch, I looked up and noticed a nearly half moon directly overhead.  Only seven or eight more days until the beginning of a new month according to the Hebrew calendar.  Not just any month, but possibly the first month of the year, Nisan.  I say possibly because the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar and every few years an extra month is added to keep the months in sync. with the seasons.  It is why we add an extra day every fourth year we call leap year.  The Hebrew month we are now in is Adar and if an extra month is added it is called Adar II or Adar Bet.  Modern Jews use a set formula to determine this but in Jesus’ day it was determined by the barley fields.  As the month of Adar drew to a close, the barley was watched closely for ripening heads of grain. If ripe barley was not found then the year would be extended another month.  Why was ripe barley so crucial for the New Year?  Nisan was the month of Passover and the first three of seven very important appointments with Yahwey (God).  We refer to these appointments as the feasts, but they were not manmade events, but established by Yahweh as appointed times.  One of the first feasts is the “feast of first fruits” and requires the first fruits of the harvest to be presented to the Lord.  Does that sound familiar?  For New Testament Believers this idea of “first fruits” is found several times in the New Testament.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order:  Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  I Corinthians 15:22-24

This feast of first fruits occurs on the “morrow after the Sabbath” which is Sunday morning during Passover.  This is great! On that morning as the priests were waving the sheaves of barley in the Temple, The resurrected Jesus was being glorified before the throne of His Father! Christ the Firstfruit! Wow! Sorry I got side tracked…..

There are still Jews today who follow this ancient custom. They are known as Karaite Jews and they can be found examining the barley fields around Jerusalem this time of year.  They even have a web-site that they post the condition of the barley harvest.  

Well I said all that to say this….. As I gazed upon the Moon this morning and anticipate Passover this year I wonder about the harvest.  One day the master of the harvest will call forth the reapers, and as the above scripture states, “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father…”