Leviticus 23:20

20 And when the priest hath raised those (up, or waved them), with the loaves of the first fruits, (as a special gift) before the Lord, those shall fall into the priest's use (they shall belong to the priest).

Leviticus 23:20 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 23:20

And the priests shall wave them with the bread of the
firstfruits
The two loaves called the two wave loaves, ( Leviticus 23:17 ) ; with which were waved the two lambs of the peace offerings; and these alive, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom intimate. The Jewish doctors


FOOTNOTES:

F26 dispute, whether, in waving, the lambs were put above the bread, or the bread above the lambs; which some reconcile by observing, that the bread was put by the side of the lambs:

[for] a wave offering before the Lord;
being waved this way and that way, upwards and downwards, and towards the several quarters of the world, showing that the fruits of the earth were owing to the providential goodness of God everywhere:

with the two lambs;
not that all the above sacrifices were waved, or any part of them, along with the lambs, but the wave loaves, and they were waved together, as one wave offering to the Lord:

they shall be holy to the Lord for the priests;
both the loaves and the lambs, these were separated and devoted wholly to the Lord, and to be eaten by his priests; the peace offerings of a single person were light holy things, as Jarchi says; but the peace offerings of the congregation, as these were, are the most holy things, and so to be eaten only by the priests, and by the males only, in the court of the tabernacle.


F26 In Torat Cohenim, apud Yalkut in loc.

Leviticus 23:20 In-Context

18 And ye shall offer with the loaves seven lambs of one year without wem, and one calf of the drove, and two rams; and these shall be in(to) burnt sacrifice, with their flowing offerings, into the sweetest odour to the Lord. (And ye shall offer with the loaves seven lambs of one year, and one calf from the herd, and two rams, all without blemish, or without fault; and these shall be for a burnt sacrifice, with the proper grain offering, and the proper wine offering, to make the sweetest aroma to the Lord.)
19 Ye shall make also a goat buck for sin, and two lambs of one year, [the] sacrifices of peaceable things. (Ye shall also offer a goat buck for a sin offering, and two lambs of one year for a peace offering.
20 And when the priest hath raised those (up, or waved them), with the loaves of the first fruits, (as a special gift) before the Lord, those shall fall into the priest's use (they shall belong to the priest).
21 And ye shall call this day most solemn, and most holy; ye shall not do therein any servile work; it shall be a lawful thing everlasting in all your dwellings, and generations. (And on this day there shall be a holy gathering; ye shall not do any daily work on it; this shall be an everlasting law for all your generations, in all your dwelling places.
22 Forsooth after that ye have reaped the corn of your land, ye shall not cut it till to the ground, neither ye shall gather the ears of corn that abide, but ye shall leave those to poor men and pilgrims; I am the Lord your God. (And when ye harvest your land, ye shall not cut the corners of the land down to the ground, nor shall ye gather up all the ears of corn that be left, but ye shall leave them for the poor and for foreigners; I am the Lord your God.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.