Bible Studies

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The First and the Last
By David Wiseman
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
It says that He created in the beginning. In the beginning of what? “Beginning” is one meaning of the word “reshit” which appears here, but it is not the most basic meaning. More properly, “reshit” means “first,” or “first product” (first fruit). This is how it is clearly used in Genesis 49:3, “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my vigor: Excellency of dignity, and Excellency of strength.” (Darby)
The first things created were heaven and earth. However, that is not the only thing this word says about creation. “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.” Leviticus 23:10 (NKJV)
The word “firstfruits” here is the word “reshit.” This is referring to the feast of Firstfruits described in Leviticus 23:10-14. So creation was at the Feast of Firstfruits, and is associated with firstfruits.
Isaiah 4:5-6, “And Hashem will create over every structure of Mount Zion and over those who assemble in it a cloud by day, and smoke and a glow of flaming fire by night, for this will be a canopy over all the honor. And there will be a tabernacle as a shade from heat in the daytime, as a protection and refuge from storm and from rain.” (Stone)
This is in the context of “It will happen in the end of days:” Isaiah 2:2 (Stone).
The word for “canopy” is the Hebrew word “chupah” which is specifically a wedding canopy, or a wedding chamber. The word “tabernacle” is the Hebrew word “sukka” which is referring back to the Feast of Sukkot, described in Leviticus 23:34-36. Sukkot is the feast of ingathering, the end of the harvest.
Zechariah 14:16, “It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Yerushalayim will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to keep the feast of booths.” (HNV) Again, we clearly see Sukkot associated with the end times.
“And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.” Lamentations 2:6 (KJV)
At the beginning Adam and Chava were put in the Garden of Eden. At Sukkot men live in tabernacles. The phrasing of Lamentations 2:6 is interesting; taking down a tabernacle as if it were a garden. It seems like the other way around would make more sense. It is important to remember that a sukka is made out of branches. The word for “tabernacle” in Lamentations 2 is “suk” which is from the same root-word as “sukka.” The root is “sakak.” Sakak means “protector,” “shield,” “weave together,” “cover,” or “clothe.” The word for “garden” is the same used to refer to the Garden of Eden; “gan.” The root-word of gan is “ganan.” Ganan means, “cover,” “defend,” or “surround.”
These words both mean “defense” and “cover/clothe.” Firstfruits is about the Garden, and Sukkot is about returning to the garden. In Isaiah 4 it is talking about rebuilding Eden. The garden is the defense from the sun and the rain.
The first marriage covenant was made in Eden. The last marriage covenant is made in a sukka, according to Isaiah 4.
The entire book of Ruth is also based on these feasts. While Ruth is a literally true story, it is also a parable about Jerusalem. Ruth was a member of the nations. She was unholy, and was married twice. All of this corresponds to Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16:3-6, “and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water for cleansing; thou wast not rubbed with salt at all, nor swaddled at all. No eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, from abhorrence of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And I passed by thee, and saw thee weltering in thy blood, and I said unto thee, in thy blood, Live! Yea, I said unto thee, in thy blood, Live!” (Darby)
And in Revelation 21:2 points out, Jerusalem is the Bride of Messiah. “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Lamsa)
Ruth and Naomi first return to Israel at Firstfruits. “And Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.” Ruth 1:22 (LITV)
This is the same time as the festival of Firstfruits. “Also the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, at the end of the year, at your gathering your work from the field.” Exodus 23:16 (LITV)
What are the first fruits? Those harvested at the beginning of the harvest. Then it goes on through the end of the harvest, “So she kept fast by the maidens of Bo`az, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.” Ruth 2:23 (HNV) and also Ruth 3:2, “Now isn't Bo`az our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor.” (HNV)
Both of these verses show that this is at the end of the harvest. And what is Sukkot? “You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress,” Deuteronomy 16:13 (HNV)
Sukkot is also the feast of the ingathering from the threshing floor. This is exactly what Boaz was celebrating in Ruth chapter 3. Nearly the entire book of Ruth happens in this time from Firstfruits to Sukkot, and it is the love-story of Jerusalem, of Israel!
Ruth lines up perfectly. Ruth is among the nations, and marries. (Ruth 1:4) Her husband is not walking with YHWH, because they were commanded not to live among the Moabites. Her husband dies, and she is left destitute. (Ruth 1:5) Then she comes out of the nations. (Ruth 1:16) She is then seen and redeemed by her kinsman redeemer. (Ruth 3:9) Then, she is put in the lineage of the great king of Israel. (Ruth 4:17)
Is this not exactly like Jerusalem? Jerusalem was among the nations according to Ezekiel 16:3, “And say, ‘So says the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.”’” (LITV) She was defiled among the nations by a husband or lover, and then left destitute. “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.” Ezekiel 16:6 (KJV) She is brought out of the nations, and covered by her kinsman redeemer, “Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.” Ezekiel 16:8 (HNV) And she is in the lineage of the great King of Israel.
All of this happens between Firstfruits and Sukkot. While Sukkot is the last feast, lining up with its hidden significance, Firstfruits is the third feast, after Passover and Unleavened Bread. Why? Revelation 13:8, “And all who dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, even those whose names are not written in the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Lamsa)
Passover happened at the foundation of the world when the Lamb was slain. Then came Unleavened Bread, the time without sin before the fall, and in the middle of this was Firstfruits. Then the weeks are counted to the Feat of Weeks, or Shavuot, which is counted the same as the years of the Jubilee. Why is it the same as the Jubilee? Because Jubilee is the time of setting free, the time of redemption. Shavuot represents the coming of the Messiah. Then is the feast of Trumpets, or Yom Taru’a, the sign of the return of the Messiah. Next, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, symbolizing the day of judgment. Finally, Tabernacles, or Sukkot, which speaks of the final marriage of Jerusalem to the Messiah. Halleluyah!
Amein.

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