Wave Offering

Biblical Text and Content

The term "wave offering" refers to an offering presented by waving. The priest held the offering in his hands and waved it before the LORD, signifying that it was being given to God. Rather than being an independent sacrifice, it was closer to an act of presentation performed within other sacrifices. It appears in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers in the following cases.

• Consecration of the priests: When Aaron and his sons were installed as priests, portions of the ram and the bread were placed in their hands and waved (Exodus 29:24; Leviticus 8:27).
• The breast of the peace offering: The breast of the peace offering (a sacrifice expressing peace between God and humanity) was presented as a wave offering and then became the portion of the priest. The right thigh was presented as a heave offering (an offering lifted up) (Leviticus 7:30–34).
• The sheaf of firstfruits: At the beginning of the harvest, a sheaf of the firstfruits was waved on the day after the Sabbath (Leviticus 23:10–11).
• The loaves of the Feast of Weeks: Seven Sabbaths were counted from the day the firstfruits were offered, and on the following day—the fiftieth day—two loaves baked with leaven were presented as a wave offering (Leviticus 23:15–17). This is the Feast of Weeks.
• Other cases: The trespass offering of a person cleansed of leprosy (Leviticus 14:12), the meal offering brought by a husband who suspected his wife (Numbers 5:25), and the offering of a Nazirite at the completion of the vow (Numbers 6:20) were presented as wave offerings. When the Levites were set apart for service at the tabernacle, the Levites themselves are described as being offered as a wave offering (Numbers 8:11–21).

Terminology and Background

The original term is the Hebrew tenufah, derived from a verb meaning "to wave." Scripture does not describe the precise motion involved. The explanation that the offering was moved back and forth comes from later Jewish tradition. Some scholars and English translations understand the word as "an offering lifted up." The portions presented as wave offerings generally became food for the priest and his family (Leviticus 10:14–15). The wave offering thus also had the character of an arrangement in which what had been given to God was returned by God to the priests.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The New Testament does not use the term "wave offering." However, 1 Corinthians 15:20–22 calls the risen Christ "the firstfruits of them that slept." Many interpreters connect this expression with the sheaf of firstfruits offered on the day after the Sabbath. Because the Feast of Weeks corresponds to Pentecost in the New Testament, it is also read in connection with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

The reading of Old Testament sacrifices as a shadow of Christ (Hebrews 10:1) is widespread across many denominations, though the extent of the connections drawn differs among traditions. The covenant theology tradition generally reads them as types of Christ's work and of the church as a whole. Some within the dispensationalist tradition correlate the sequence of feasts in Leviticus 23 with the sequence of events in redemptive history. Some interpret the two loaves of the Feast of Weeks as the church composed of Jews and Gentiles, but this is an interpretation rather than something the text states directly. It is also sometimes said in sermons that the motions of the wave offering and the heave offering together form the shape of a cross, but this has no basis in the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

Because Korean churches observe Harvest Thanksgiving Day in connection with the Feast of Weeks (the Feast of Harvest), the firstfruits and the wave offering of Leviticus 23 are often mentioned in sermons around that time. The dedication of the Levites in Numbers 8 is also used as a sermon text on consecration and service in church office.