The Feast of Firstfruits (called Bikkurim in Hebrew) is the third of the Seven Feasts of Israel commanded by the L-RD to be celebrated by Israel. "And the L-RD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the L-RD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the L-RD. And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the L-RD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings" (Leviticus 23:9-14).

The Feast of Firstfruits was a designated time when Israel was to bring a sheaf (Hebrew, omer) of the firstfruits of the harvest to be waved by the priests before the L-RD. Along with the sheaf of firstfruits, a lamb was sacrificed as well as unleavened bread and wine (Leviticus 23:12-13). The feast occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Though the mandated Seven Feasts of Israel were prescribed by G-d as law for the nation of Israel, only a heart of love to G-d would keep the commandment. Yeshua said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21).

Israel's males were commanded to appear before the L-RD three times a year to celebrate the appointed feasts. All three feasts were agricultural in nature. Passover was the time of the barley harvest. Pentecost was the wheat harvest. Tabernacles was the final harvest. The first appointed time for Israel to celebrate (occurring in the month of Nisan-- March/ April) was Passover. Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits were collectively called Passover (Pesach). The second appointed time (occurring usually in the month of Sivan-- May/ June) was Pentecost (Shavuot). The third appointed time (occurring in the month of Tishri-- September/ October) was the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before Me empty:) And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the L-RD G-D" (Exodus 23:14-17).

"The feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours" (Exodus 23:16) is Pentecost-- celebrated in late Spring, and it is sometimes mistaken for the Feast of Firstfruits. The other two feasts would be the "feast of unleavened bread"-- collectively called Passover, celebrated in the Spring-- (Exodus 23:15), and the "feast of ingathering" (or, Feast of Tabernacles)-- celebrated in the Fall-- (Exodus 23:16).

The resurrection of Yeshua is the New Testament fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His Coming" (1Corinthians 15:20-23).