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:

Wesley's Notes

23:10 An omer - They did not offer this corn in the ear, or by a sheaf or handful, but, as Josephus,
3. 10 affirms, and may be gathered from Lev 2:14,15,16, purged from the chaff, and dryed, and beaten out.

King James Translators' Notes

sheaf: or, handful: Heb. omer

Scofield Reference Notes

[4] first fruits

The feast of Firstfruits, Lev 23:10-14. This feast is typical of resurrection--first of Christ, then of "them that are Christ's at His coming" 1Cor 15:23 1Th 4:13-18.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest-A sheaf, literally, an omer, of the first-fruits of the barley harvest. The barley being sooner ripe than the other grains, the reaping of it formed the commencement of the general harvest season. The offering described in this passage was made on the sixteenth of the first month, the day following the first Passover Sabbath, which was on the fifteenth (corresponding to the beginning of our April); but it was reaped after sunset on the previous evening by persons deputed to go with sickles and obtain samples from different fields. These, being laid together in a sheaf or loose bundle, were brought to the court of the temple, where the grain was winnowed, parched, and bruised in a mortar. Then, after some incense had been sprinkled on it, the priest waved the sheaf aloft before the Lord towards the four different points of the compass, took a part of it and threw it into the fire of the altar-all the rest being reserved to himself. It was a proper and beautiful act, expressive of dependence on the God of nature and providence-common among all people, but more especially becoming the Israelites, who owed their land itself as well as all it produced to the divine bounty. The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the whole harvest (Ro 11:16). At the same time, this feast had a typical character, and pre-intimated the resurrection of Christ (1Co 15:20), who rose from the dead on the very day the first-fruits were offered.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:4-14 The feast of the Passover was to continue seven days; not idle days, spent in sport, as many that are called Christians spend their holy-days. Offerings were made to the Lord at his altar; and the people were taught to employ their time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation. The sheaf of first-fruits was typical of the Lord Jesus, who is risen from the dead as the First-fruits of them that slept. Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the first-fruits were offered. We are taught by this law to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, Pr 3:9. They were not to eat of their new corn, till God's part was offered to him out of it; and we must always begin with God: begin every day with him, begin every meal with him, begin every affair and business with him; seek first the kingdom of God.