The verse opens the Lord's direction to Moses concerning the firstfruits offering belonging to the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed the Passover. The first day and the seventh day of that feast were days of holy convocation on which no servile work was to be done. On the second day of the feast the firstfruits of the year's harvest were to be presented before God. The offering was a sheaf of barley, the earliest grain in Palestine and just beginning to ripen as the feast opened, waved by the priest before God's altar in acknowledgment that all belonged to Him. No part of the harvest was to be gathered until after this waving ceremony had been performed.
The verse opens the Lord's direction to Moses concerning the firstfruits offering belonging to the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed the Passover. The first day and the seventh day of that feast were days of holy convocation on which no servile work was to be done. On the second day of the feast the firstfruits of the year's harvest were to be presented before God. The offering was a sheaf of barley, the earliest grain in Palestine and just beginning to ripen as the feast opened, waved by the priest before God's altar in acknowledgment that all belonged to Him. No part of the harvest was to be gathered until after this waving ceremony had been performed.