WHAT IS THE STAGE OF THE BARLEY FOR THE WAVE SHEAF?

Ex. 23:20-33. An Angel was in the lead as Israel settled the land of Canaan. Jerusalem in time became the center for the Temple. This was to become the place for the wave sheaf to be brought before GOD.

Lev 23:10-14, "10 Speak 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 (Strong's #6016) of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. 13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." (KJV)

Num 18:12-13, 12 "All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee. 13 And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it." (KJV)

Only after the wave sheaf was presented could the law of firstfruits take effect and only after the individual offered a firstfruit could the individual eat of the crop.

Lev. 2:14 tells us this barley was not dry grain but at a stage maturity. The wave sheaf would have been of a lesser stage of maturity. Lev 2:14, "And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears." (KJV)

Deut. 26:1-4 tells us there was to become a time when you take of the first of the firstfruits of the fruit of the land and bring it to a priest to place and offer before the Lord.

Deut 26:1-4, 1 "And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; 2 That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there. 3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us. 4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God." (KJV)

Green or matured products could be used for food only after the offering of firstfruits. Green corn, green beans, green peas, etc. or dry seeds of what ever was good for food was eaten.

If man has done his part in locating the beginning of the Abib 1 dark new moon or month that will place Passover in the new solar year; the barley for the wave sheaf offering on Sunday during the seven Days of Unleavened Bread will be ready there in the Jerusalem area.

The following stages of development below are from an agriculture extension office. Any good barley farmer now or in ancient times would have this as common knowledge.

Development and maturity: Once head emergence and pollination have occurred, kernels begin to develop (figure 11). The length of the barley kernel is established first, followed by its width. This helps explain why thin barley developed under stress conditions is usually as long as normal grain, but is narrower. Figure 11 shows the physical changes as a kernel develops. The first period of kernel development, designated the "watery ripe" and "milk" stages, lasts about 10 days. Although the kernels do not gain much weight during this phase, it is extremely important because it determines the number of cells that will subsequently be used for storing starch. Kernels crushed in this stage initially yield a watery substance which later becomes milky. Kernels that are storing starch and growing rapidly are characterized by a white semi-solid consistency termed "soft dough." This period usually lasts about 10 days following the milk stage. Finally, as the kernel approaches maturity and begins losing water rapidly, its consistency becomes more solid, termed "hard dough." This is when the kernel also loses its green color (figure 11).

When kernel moisture has decreased to about 30 to 40 percent, it has reached physiological maturity and will not accumulate additional dry matter. The final yield potential has been established at this time. An easily identified field indicator of physiological maturity is 100 percent loss of green color from the glumes and peduncle. (figure 12). Although the moisture content of the grain is still too high for direct combining, it can be swathed and windrowed. When kernel moisture has decreased to 13 to 14 percent, the barley kernel is ready for combining and threshing.

The green ears are a span of time, not a point of time. They will be in stages of green for over 3 weeks. The wave sheaf will consist of enough barley plants to produce one omer of barley when dry enough to be thrashed. You will need a few stalks of the plant that is green enough to wrap around the plants and tie it into a bundle of cut stalks of grain called a sheaf. (#6016 will allow for an omer of dry grain or a sheaf being the first stage of harvest to be used for the # and it will all depend on the context of the sentence before or after the word.) The stage of the barley will change from year to year. That change will come because the day it is waved changes. This is caused by the new moon as it sets the 14th day that sets the Passover. This all happens with the sun setting the growing season for the Holy Days.

The barley wave sheaf is the first of the firstfruits and Jesus Christ is the first of the firstfruits of them that slept.

Concluding Thoughts:

1 The cycles of creation happen as they were set in motion.

2 The 14th day sets the timing for Passover and the wave sheaf offering that occurs on Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

3 The stage of barley on the 14th day of the new moon in Egypt was a different stage in Jerusalem on that same day.

Earl McDowell