The Divine Ministry of Jesus Christ 

making Sunday, March 29 the first day of Nisan. (And any delay based on a calendar rule would push the first 

day of Nisan forward another day, not backwards.) 

The Second First Sabbath 

     On the second first sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some 

ears of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, `Why are you doing what is not 

lawful to do on the sabbath?'  And he said to them, `The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.'   (Lk 6:1 2, 5). 

    The above quote is from the Revised Standard Version Bible, but with the words  On the second first 

sabbath  taken from the footnote, which states:  Other ancient authorities read On the second first sabbath (on 

the second sabbath after the first).  The usual text is the less specific:  On a sabbath .  The King James 

Version has a similar wording:  And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first .  The Darby 

Translation and Young s Literal Translation both read:  on the second first sabbath.  

    Knowing which Sabbath is the second first Sabbath is important to the understanding of this passage. In the 

book of Leviticus, God commanded the Israelites not to eat bread, parched grain, or fresh grain, taken from 

the harvest at the time of the Passover, until the first fruits of the harvest had been offered to God.  And you 

shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of 

your God: it  is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.  (Lev 23:14). The first 

fruits of the harvest, in the form of sheaves of grain, were offered to God on the morning after the Sabbath. In 

ancient times, this was most likely the Sabbath occurring during the Passover. In more recent times, the Jews 

interpreted this passage to refer to the first holy day of Passover, which is a day of solemn rest and a type of 

Sabbath. In some years, the first holy day of Passover (Nisan 15) coincides with the Sabbath; this was the case 

in 

A.D.

 16 and in 

A.D.

 19.

441

 The last day on which the Jews could not eat grain (from the spring harvest) was 

the Sabbath of the Passover. The first day on which they could begin to eat grain from that harvest was the day 

after the Sabbath, the day on which the first fruits were offered to God. That day, Sunday, was also the first 

day in the count of the 50 days to the Feast of Weeks (the Jewish feast of Pentecost). 

     And you shall count from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the 

wave offering; seven full weeks shall they be, counting fifty days to the morrow after the seventh sabbath; then 

you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to the L

ORD

. You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves of 

bread to be waved as first fruits to the L

ORD

.  (Lev 23:15 17). 

    The first fruits of the grain harvest (barley) were offered on the Sabbath during Passover because the grain 

harvest in Israel begins in late March or early April, at the time of the Passover in the spring.

442

 Then, 50 days 

later, a second offering to God, this time of loaves of bread, was made from the fruits of the same harvest. 

Notice that the first offering to God is sheaves of grain, taken from the beginning of the harvest, which have 

not been threshed or ground into flour or baked into loaves here the harvest has just begun. Then, 50 days 

later, the harvesting of the fields is complete; the grain has been threshed, ground into flour, and baked into 

loaves. The second offering, the loaves, signals the completion of the harvest. God is thanked at the beginning 

and at the end of the harvest time. 

    The count of the 50 days is 7 full weeks (counted as 7 Sabbaths) plus one day. The first day of the 50 days is 

the day after the first Sabbath of the Passover. Then seven more Sabbaths are counted, which is 7 full weeks 

(each week ending with a Sabbath), and the 50th day, the day after the seventh Sabbath, begins the Feast of 

Weeks. 

    So, which is the first Sabbath in this counting of the Sabbaths at the time of the grain harvest? The Sabbath 

of the Passover is the first Sabbath used to determine the start of the count, because the following day is the 

first day of the 50 days. But the first Sabbath of the Passover is not one of the seven Sabbaths contained within 

the 50 days; it is the Sabbath before the 50 days begins. The Sabbath after the Passover has ended is the first 

Sabbath in the count of 7 Sabbaths to the Feast of Weeks. Thus there are two first Sabbaths:  the Sabbath of 

the Passover and the Sabbath following the Passover. The  second first Sabbath  must therefore be the 

Sabbath after the Passover. There are only seven days in the Feast of Passover (not counting the preparation 

day), so there can be only one Sabbath during Passover. The second first Sabbath is always the Sabbath 

immediately after the Passover. 

109