(20) And the priest shall wave them . . . with the two lambs.--During the second Temple this was done in the following manner :--The two lambs were brought into the Temple, and waved together or separately by the priest while yet alive. Whereupon they were slain, and the priest took the breast and shoulder of each one (see Leviticus 7:30-32), laid them down by the side of the two loaves, put both his hands under them, and waved them all together or separately towards the east side forwards and backwards, up and down. He then burned the fat of the two lambs, after which the remainder of the flesh, which became the perquisite of the officiating priest, was eaten by him and his fellow-priests. Of the two loaves the high priest took one, and the other was divided between the officiating priests, who had to eat them up within the same day and half the following night, just as the flesh of the most holy things. After these prescribed sacrifices had been offered, each individual brought his free-will offering, which formed the cheerful and hospitable meal of the family, and to which the Levite, the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger, were invited.
23:15-22 The feast of Weeks was held in remembrance of the giving of the law, fifty days after the departure from Egypt; and looked forward to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. On that day the apostles presented the first-fruits of the Christian church to God. To the institution of the feast of Pentecost, is added a repetition of that law, by which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields. Those who are truly sensible of the mercy they received from God, will show mercy to the poor without grudging.
And the priests shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits,.... The two loaves called the two wave loaves, Leviticus 23:17; with which were waved the two lambs of the peace offerings; and these alive, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom intimate. The Jewish doctors (z) dispute, whether, in waving, the lambs were put above the bread, or the bread above the lambs; which some reconcile by observing, that the bread was put by the side of the lambs:
for a wave offering before the Lord; being waved this way and that way, upwards and downwards, and towards the several quarters of the world, showing that the fruits of the earth were owing to the providential goodness of God everywhere:
with the two lambs; not that all the above sacrifices were waved, or any part of them, along with the lambs, but the wave loaves, and they were waved together, as one wave offering to the Lord:
they shall be holy to the Lord for the priests; both the loaves and the lambs, these were separated and devoted wholly to the Lord, and to be eaten by his priests; the peace offerings of a single person were light holy things, as Jarchi says; but the peace offerings of the congregation, as these were, are the most holy things, and so to be eaten only by the priests, and by the males only, in the court of the tabernacle.
for a wave offering before the Lord; being waved this way and that way, upwards and downwards, and towards the several quarters of the world, showing that the fruits of the earth were owing to the providential goodness of God everywhere:
with the two lambs; not that all the above sacrifices were waved, or any part of them, along with the lambs, but the wave loaves, and they were waved together, as one wave offering to the Lord:
they shall be holy to the Lord for the priests; both the loaves and the lambs, these were separated and devoted wholly to the Lord, and to be eaten by his priests; the peace offerings of a single person were light holy things, as Jarchi says; but the peace offerings of the congregation, as these were, are the most holy things, and so to be eaten only by the priests, and by the males only, in the court of the tabernacle.
(z) In Torat Cohenim, apud Yalkut in loc.