We are in chapter thirty-four of Exodus with our word for today. בִּכּוּרִים first-fruits. It is used 17 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense of the first fruit of a harvest or season. A good example of this is when the spies went in to check out the promised land and Nahum’s prophecy. Numbers 13:20 Now the time was the season of the בִּכּוּרֵ֥י first ripe grapes … And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes. Nahum 3:12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with בִּכּוּרִ֑ים first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. Most of the time our word is used in reference to giving back to God from the first of one’s harvest. This gift can come from a variety of places. Exodus 23:16, 19 The best of the בִּכּוּרֵי֙ firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. We have a specific reference to this gift being wheat. Exodus 34:22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the בִּכּוּרֵ֖י firstfruits of wheat harvest. We also have a specific reference to the gift being fresh ears of the plant. Leviticus 2:14 You shall offer for the grain offering of בִּכּוּרֶֽיךָ your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. And another specific reference to this gift being bread. Leviticus 23:17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as בִּכּוּרִ֖ים firstfruits to the Lord. Our word is used in the same way in our chapter today. Exodus 34:26 The best of the בִּכּוּרֵי֙ firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. Notice that it is not just the first fruits but the best from the first fruits. God gives us his best so he asks us to give our best that he has allowed us to have in the first place. He not only gives us everything we need for our physical life but also provides for our spiritual and eternal life. John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Romans 8:31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? We know that God doesn’t need anything from us. Psalm 50:10-12 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. So the practice of giving to God is not because God needs it. It is for our benefit to help us to remember that our relationship with God is worth everything. When I give something valuable for his work and release it out of our hands it helps us value our relationship with God more than whatever it was that we gave up. I’ll close with this encouraging passage. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 ,17-19 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. … As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
