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Passover began sunset of Wednesday, April 1, 2026 and ends nightfall of Thursday, April 9, 2026.
- Messiah in Pesach
- Messiah in Chag HaMatzot
- Firstfruits
- The Offering of the New Harvest
- Tenufat HaOmer
- Nisan 16
Firstfruits:
In the time of the tabernacle and the first and second temples of Jerusalem, Habikkurim was the day when a sheaf (omer) of barley (the first grain crop to ripen) was waved before Adonai in a prescribed ceremony. This day marks the start of the counting of the omer that starts the forty-nine day countdown to the festival of Shavuot:
וַיְדַבֵּר ה’ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּֽי־תָבֹאוּ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וּקְצַרְתֶּם אֶת־קְצִירָהּ וַהֲבֵאתֶם אֶת־עֹמֶר רֵאשִׁית קְצִירְכֶם אֶל־הַכֹּהֵֽן׃ וְהֵנִיף אֶת־הָעֹמֶר לִפְנֵי ה’ לִֽרְצֹנְכֶם מִֽמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת יְנִיפֶנּוּ הַכֹּהֵֽן׃ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם בְּיֹום הֲנִֽיפְכֶם אֶת־הָעֹמֶר כֶּבֶשׂ תָּמִים בֶּן־שְׁנָתֹו לְעֹלָה לַ ה’׃
“And Adonai (the LORD) spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf (omer) of the first (re’shiyth) of your harvest (katzir) to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before Adonai so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to Adonai'” (Leviticus 23:9-12).
The Offering of the New Harvest:
On Habikkurim the priest would wave a sheaf (omer) of green barley of the new harvest before Adonai (north, south, east, then west; i.e. the Sign of the Tav) as a symbolic gesture of dedicating it to Him. A male lamb was then sacrificed as a burnt offering to Adonai (olah) along with a minchah (unleavened bread mixed with oil) and wine (Leviticus 23:13):
וּמִנְחָתֹו שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשֶּׁמֶן אִשֶּׁה לַ ה’ רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ וְנִסְכֹּה יַיִן רְבִיעִת הַהִֽין׃
Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Adonai for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Only after the wave offering was performed could the crop begin to be used (Leviticus 23:14):
וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹֽאכְלוּ עַד־עֶצֶם הַיֹּום הַזֶּה עַד הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת־קָרְבַּן אֱלֹהֵיכֶם חֻקַּת עֹולָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם בְּכֹל מֹשְׁבֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃
Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of Eloheikha, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
On this day (the first day of the week) a male lamb without defect was offered along with bread and wine. These are the very same symbols the Suffering Messiah ben Joseph used to give remembrance to His once-in-eternity sacrifice.
Tenufat HaOmer:
The wave offering, called tenufat HaOmer, was performed “the day after the Sabbath” on Yom Rishon (Sunday). This was the interpretation of the Tzedukkim (צְדוּקִים-Sadducees) priests who interpreted the Torah ‘literally.’ The Wave Offering, therefore, occurs on the first Sunday after the regular weekly Sabbath. Since the Tzedukkim (lit. Righteous Ones) controlled the Temple worship schedule we know that in the time of Messiah’s first appearance the Wave Offering would have occurred on the Sunday immediately following his sacrifice as the Korban Pesach; literally ‘the day after’ the weekly Sabbath.
This is the day when the resurrection of the Mashiach occurred.
At the time of the Wave Offering is when Messiah first appeared to His disciples. In other words, the morning appearances of the Resurrected Messiah to His disciples and the time of the morning Wave Offering at the temple both occurred at about the same time.
Nisan 16:
The wave offering occured on Nisan 16, the day following the High Sabbath of the first day of Chag HaMatzot (Joshua 5:11). Messiah was raised from the dead on Nisan 16 (16th-seen, 17th-not seen; explanation given later). Messiah is the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (death is referred to as sleep in the Tanakh). Through the first Adam we inherited death. Through the New Adam (Messiah) we inherit eternal life. In the first Adam all are appointed once to die. In the Anointed One, the last Adam, all are made alive, never to die again. Each is resurrected in his own order. Messiah is the Firstfruits. At His coming, all who belong to Messiah will be resurrected to eternal life. According to the Tanakh and the Brit Chadashah the following events occurred on the 16th day of Nisan:
Nisan 16. Israel entered Promised Land and ate the first fruit of Eretz Israel (Joshua 5:10-12).
Nisan 16. King Hezekiah completed the cleansing and rededication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 29:1-28).
Nisan 16. Queen *Esther hosted the ‘first’ of two banquets with the King of Persia and wicked Haman attending (Esther 5:4-8).
Nisan 16. was the day of the resurrection of King of Glory (as seen without counting the hidden day of Messiah).
*As you undoubtedly know the Festival of Pesach follows Purim for good reason. The spiritual understanding that we acquire in our observance of Purim is what prepares us for the greater revelation that follows in our observance of the Festival of Pesach; a festival that includes Chag HaMatzot and Yom HaBikkurim. For this reason, before going any further in this study, it is necessary that we go back and revisit some of the material that we covered in the previous document, the Messiah in Purim. Therefore, the next four chapters (2-5) are provided as a necessary review to provide us an adequate prophetic foundation for this study. Thereafter, in chapter six we will return to the study of the Messiah in HaBikkurim.
Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 2 >>
Counting the Omer 2026 begins Thursday, April 2, 2026 and ends at nightfall on Thursday, May 21, 2026.
- Counting the Omer and the 49 Meshalim of Messiah
- Blessed are you that your eyes see and your ears hear
- Measuring our lives by the true Manna from Heaven
- Counting the Omer and the 49 Meshalim of Messiah (Jewish Calendar)
Counting the Omer and the 49 Meshalim of Messiah:
A Sefirat HaOmer 2025 calendar is provided in the table below that includes the Jewish Calendar dates (Nisan 16, 5786 – Sivan 5, 5786) for Counting of the Omer and studying the *forty-nine meshalim (parables) of the Messiah.
The 2026 secular dates for Counting the Omer are provided in Chapter 19 of the Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim.
Counting the Omer, Sefirat HaOmer (ספירת העומר), sometimes abbreviated as Sefira or the Omer is a important verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the Jewish holidays of Pesach (חג הפסח) and Shavuot (חג השבועות).
The 49 meshalim (משלים, משלי of the Messiah that we will be reflecting upon this year during the 49 days of Counting the Omer are presented in their proper chronological order as we believe they were actually taught by the Messiah.
Blessed are you that your eyes see and your ears hear:
נגשו התלמידים ושאלו: מדוע אתה מדבר אליהם במשלים? השיב ואמר: מפני שלכם נתן לדעת את סודות מלכות השמים, אך להם לא נתן. כי מי שיש לו נתון ינתן לו ושפע יהיה לו, אך מי שאין לו, גם מה שיש לו ילקח ממנו. לכן במשלים אני מדבר אליהם, כי בראותם אינם רואים ובשמעם אינם שומעים אף אינם מבינים. ומתקימת בהם נבואת ישעיהו לאמר: שמעו שמוע ואל-תבינו וראו ראו ואל-תדעו. השמן לב-העם הזה ואזניו הכבד ועיניו השע, פן-יראה בעיניו ובאזניו ישמע ולבבו יבין, ושב ורפא לו. אשרי עיניכם הרואות ואזניכם השומעות. אמן. אומר אני לכם, נביאים וצדיקים רבים נכספו לראות את אשר אתם רואים ולא ראו, ולשמע את אשר אתם שומעים ולא שמעו.פ
The talmidim came and asked, “Why do you speak to them in meshalim?” He answered and said: “Because to you it is given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For to one who has, it will surely be given, and he will have abundance; but for one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken from him. That is why I speak to them in meshalim. For in their seeing they will not see, and in their hearing they will not hear, nor do they even understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Yeshayah (Isaiah):
“Listen well, but you will not understand. Look closely, but you will not know. Fatten the heart of this nation (Israel), and make its ears heavy and seal its eyes, so it will not see with its eyes or hear with its ears or understand with its heart or repent and be healed.”
“Blessed (אשרי-ashrei, happy) are you that your eyes see and your ears hear. For I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and have not heard. “
Measuring our lives by the true Bread out of Heaven:
Question: How do we daily measure our lives by the life of the Messiah?
Answer: We accurately measure the content of our lives by conforming ourselves to the teaching of the Messiah.
What way could we better count the 49-days than to examine ourselves by the 49-meshalim of Messiah? What better way could we count the seven weeks that prepared our Jewish ancestors for receiving the gift of the Father, His Living Torah, the Indwelling Presence of the Spirit of the Holy One, than to meditate on the teachings of M’shicho (God’s Messiah). Regarding this matter keep in mind four points:
Point #1. The truth that precedes all other truths, the key (singular) mystery (סוד) of the kingdom of G-d (מלכות האלהים) that precedes our receiving the keys (plural) that unlock all of the secrets (סודות) of the kingdom of heaven (מלכות השמים) is that M’shicho is the true Manna from Heaven!
Point #2. The Omer is a derivative measurement of the volume of a one day portion of manna. Therefore, the Omer derives its spiritual messianic meaning and purpose from the Torah meaning of the manna.
Point #3. When using the Omer we are asking, “How does this measure up with that?” We are asking, “How does something measure up to the manna?”
Point #4. Therefore, from a literal point of view when we retrace our journey out of Egypt to Mount Sinai – Israel and the Commonwealth of Israel – we are daily measuring the contents of our own inner-life by the measure of the manna. Since Messiah is the Manna from Heaven it only makes sense that we would be reading and meditating on his teaching during this very special time of the year.
Counting of the Omer and the 49 Meshalim of the Messiah (Jewish Calendar):
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