Eliyahu said:
YOur souces must be flawed. Day of First Fruits are always the First day of the Week. ( Lev 23:11-12), it was the next day after the Sabbath, not the Sabbath.
With all respect, Eliyahu and Gerhard Ebersoehn (and all other BB'ers following this thread as well, for that matter), I repeat what I said about Matt. 12:39-40 here and say the same thing about Lev. 23. Let the Scripture speak for itself, in its own context, and not attempt to read into it what we may wish to see. This was written by Moses, who was quoting a pretty good source, I think.
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.
The Sabbath
3 ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
The Passover and Unleavened Bread
4 ‘These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’”
The Feast of Firstfruits
9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The Feast of Weeks
15 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD. 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD. 18 And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the LORD. 19 Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. 20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’”
The Feast of Trumpets
23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.’”(Lev. 23:1-23 - NKJV)
I could have quoted the whole chapter, but this will suffice to show a couple of things. There were multiple "feast days" referred to as a "Sabbath", and they all are called "holy convocations" with attendent 'restrictions' incumbent upon them. There are some that are referred to as "holy convocations", but not specifically described as "Sabbath" but that seems to be the gist, even so, as an example, 15 Nisan (Abib) or "Firstfruits", which I believe to be identical with the "High day", named in John 19:31. All "Sabbaths" were holy convocations; why was it necessary to designate this particular one (15 Nisan) as "a High day", if not for the first feast day of "unleavened bread" ? (Lev. 23:6-7) Also, two 'feast days were specifically not said to be "holy convocations", namely Passover [14 Nisan, "when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed" "between the evenings" (Lk. 22:7 - HCSB; Lev. 23:5, Num. 9:3 - YLT)] and 'firstfruits', normally, apparently observed, as another has noted, 16 Nisan. However, the text does not give this specific date, but merely references it as "after the sabbath". It is not 'on a sabbath', hence ruling out its occurring on the 'seventh day sabbath', as well as any other 'Sabbath'.
Hence if, as I contend,
14 Nisan (and the ensuing crucifixion of the Lord) occurred from "sundown Wednesday to sundown Thursday (or
the fifth day of the Hebrew calender week),
15 Nisan (or "
first of Unleavened Bread" - a Sabbath ) was on
the sixth day of the Hebrew week,
16 Nisan was from sundown Friday thru sundown Saturday,
the seventh day of the Hebrew week -
a "
Sabbath", and our Lord came forth from the tomb
the first day of the (next) week, on "
Firstfruits", which was that year
17 Nisan.
(FTR, and I won't go into this in any depth, here, but both a 'Friday' crucifixion or a 'Wednesday' crucifixion require the Lord to 'violate' the prohibition of traveling a greater distance than a "Sabbath days' journey" on the Sabbath, as well. And I will also note that it took 2000 years for the phrase "between the evenings" to become clear, as to the meaning, as well.)
Our Lord fulfilled all the types, including being our "Firstfruits" by being both the Passover Lamb slain, and presenting himself, the priest, as the firstfruits of the dead, as well. (I Cor. 5:7; Rev. 5:12; Lev. 23:19-12; Ps. 110: 4; Heb. 5: 6, 10; I Cor. 15:20, 23)
Ed