What Does Leviticus 23:20 Mean?
The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-ripened for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be set apart to the LORD for the priest.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.THE KEY
The word for firstfruits shares its root with firstborn and birthright: this earliest yield is a portion with a claim, waved to the LORD and assigned to the priest.
THE MEANING
The first yield and two lambs stand together in a visible presentation before the LORD. What is set apart to the LORD is also named as the priest’s portion, so holiness here has a concrete destination.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Set apart does not mean removed from human life: this verse names the priest as the portion’s recipient.
THE ROOT
הַבִּכּוּרִים
habbikkurim
GROWS FROM
בכר
b-k-r
To be first or firstborn; to bring forth early.
English “firstfruits” can sound only agricultural, but בִּכּוּרִים (bikkurim, firstfruits) shares its root with בְּכוֹר (bekhor, firstborn) and בְּכֹרָה (bekhorah, birthright). Firstness carries a designated place and claim; here the first yield is presented to the LORD and assigned to the priest.
ALSO GROWS
bekhor: Firstborn.
בְּכוֹר
The shared root joins the earliest produce to the firstborn, both marked by their place at the beginning.
bekhorah: Birthright, the firstborn’s status or share.
בְּכֹרָה
This branch carries firstness into inheritance, echoing how the verse assigns the set-apart portion to the priest.
קֹדֶשׁ
qōdeš
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart or consecrate.
The same root names קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, set apart) and מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, sanctuary). Here being set apart is also an assignment: the portion belongs to the LORD and is for the priest.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective names the status given to the portion in the verse.
miqdash: Sanctuary, a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary branch shows how the root can mark a place, while this verse marks a portion and its destination.
וְהֵנִיף
veheniph
GROWS FROM
נוף
n-w-p
To move to and fro, swing, or wave.
The root links the action of waving with תְּנוּפָה (tenuphah, waving or wave offering), keeping the physical motion audible within the ritual name. The portion is moved before the LORD, then named as set apart for the priest.
ALSO GROWS
heniph: To wave or move to and fro.
הֵנִיף
This verb names the priest’s enacted movement in the verse.
tenuphah: Waving; a wave offering.
תְּנוּפָה
This noun names the offering by the same motion the priest performs.
THE PATTERN
A first portion is set apart before God as both a sign of what follows and a provision assigned to human service.
You shall bring out of your sitting places two wave loaves of two tenths. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with the sour. They are first-ripened to the LORD.All the fat of the oil, and all the fat of the wine, and of the wheat, the first-ripe of them which they bring near to the LORD, I have given to you.But now the Anointed One has been awakened from the dead, and has become the first portion of those who have lain down to sleep.THE THREAD
You set all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons, and you wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.The same Hebrew root for waving appears here with the wave-offering noun, and the portions are placed in Aaron’s and his sons’ hands before being waved. That makes the movement in Leviticus concrete: the priest’s share is presented before the LORD and assigned to human hands.
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