Numbers 15:20

Num 15:20 Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough [for] an heave offering: as [ye do] the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.

Ver. 20. Ye shall offer up a cake.] As a homage penny, as acknowledging God the chief Lord of all; and as craving his leave to partake of his creatures.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which is made of the first corn ye gather.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

heave offering of the threshing-floor--meaning the corn on the threshing-floor; that is, after harvest.

so shall ye heave it--to the priests accompanying the ceremony with the same rites.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. Ye shall offer - the first of your dough] Concerning the offerings of first-fruits, See Clarke on Ex 22:29.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) Of the first of your dough.—Or, mixed meal. The word arisoth is used only in the plural number, and is found only in Neh_10:37 and Eze_44:30, besides this and the following verse.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. the first of your dough] The word rç’shîth ‘the first’ need not necessarily mean ‘first-fruits,’ which were offered annually. It may be simply ‘the first part,’ i.e. a small fixed amount, perhaps at the getting in of each fresh supply for the household.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of the first of your dough shall ye give unto the Lord,.... As an acknowledgment of his being the sovereign Lord and possessor of heaven and earth, and of his being the owner and proprietor of the land of Canaan; and by way of thankfulness to him for the plenty of bread corn he had given them; and wherefore this cake was to he heaved or lifted up towards him in heaven, as follows:

an heave offering in your generations: for this respected not only the first time of their entrance into the land of Canaan, but was to be observed every year when they made their first dough, and was to continue as long as the ceremonial law lasted: this cake was anciently given to the priest, which is meant by giving it to the Lord, but now the Jews take it and cast it into the fire and burn it (s) the apostle seems to allude to this cake of the first dough in Rom 11:16.

(s) Buxtorf. ut supra, (Synagog. Jud. c. 34. p. 602.) & Leo Modena, History of the present Jews, par. 2. c. 9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dough - “Coarse meal” Neh 10:37; Eze 44:30.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Eat. Hebrew and Septuagint, "of your dough." They elevated a part towards heaven, and gave it to the priest or Levite, who lived nearest them; and, in case none could be found, as at the present day, they were to burn it in honour of God. Tradition determines the quantity to be between a 40th and a 60th part. (St. Jerome in Ezec. xlv.) This they do every time they bake, according to Philo, and Leo of Modena, (2. 9,) though the law be not clear, and some might think it sufficient to give a part, the first time they baked with new flour.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. Of the corn in the threshing-floor, as Deu 16:13, when you have gathered in your corn.

So shall ye heave it, i.e. you shall offer this in the same proportion, to the same persons, i.e. the priests, and with the same rites.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. The first of your dough — This command is not addressed to the nation as in the case of “the sheaf of the firstfruits,” (see Lev_23:10, note,) but to every private family, and the Jews consider a woman as very culpable who neglects it. They interpret the command as requiring not merely a portion of the first dough made from the new harvest, but a portion of every bread-making through the year, whenever the lump of dough exceeds the bulk of forty eggs. This sacred portion was given to the priests or Levites in order to sanctify the rest. In the absence of any of these it was thrown into the fire. Paul refers to this usage in Rom_11:16. See note. Its symbolism is thus explained: “The cake signified in mystery the congregation of Israel, called the firstfruits of the world; which, when it is put into the oven that burneth with the fire of the blessed God, it is necessary to separate therefrom a cake, that it be not partaker of severe judgment; and therefore is a blessing reserved in the world.” — Rabbi Menahem. A still wider mystical import is found in the sons of God by adoption, who “are a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Jas_1:18.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A cake of the first of your dough. tsori, only used here and in the two passages which refer to this enactment. (Neh_10:37 Eze_44:30) It probably means whole meal coarsely ground, the first preparation of the new corn available for baking and eating. Septuagint has aparch furamatov , an expression used by St. Paul in Rom_11:16.

As...the heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall ye heave it, i.e., the offering of bread from the home was to be made in addition to the offering of ears or grains from the threshing-floor, and in the same manner. No doubt this latter offering was a very ancient (Gen_4:3) and general one, but it is not clearly described in the Law. (see, however, Lev_2:14 Lev_23:10) All these heave offerings were the perquisite of the priest.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The threshing floor - That is, of the corn in the threshing floor, when you have gathered in your corn.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the first of your dough

Possible meanings are that this refers to 1) the first grain that they would gather during the harvest or 2) the dough that they would make from the first of their grain. (See: Metonymy)

a loaf

Calling it a loaf implies that they would cooked the dough first.

to raise it up as a raised offering

This idiom "raise it up" refers to offering it as a gift. AT: "to offer it as a gift" (See: Idiom)

a raised offering from the threshing floor

The offering is spoken of as being from the threshing floor because this is where they would separate the grain from the other parts of the plant.

translationWords

raise

thresh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ראשית ערסתכם OF THE FIRST OF YOUR DOUGH [YE SHALL HEAVE A CAKE] — This means: when you knead as much as is now your dough (ערסתכם), i.e. the quantity which you are accustomed to knead in the wilderness — and how much is this? You may learn it from the statements (Exodus 16:18) “And they measured with the Omer” and (Exodus 16:16) “An Omer a head”, — you shall set apart at its very beginning (ראשית), meaning, before you eat from it its first portion, one cake (חלה) shall you set apart, as a heave-offering in honour of the Lord (תרימו תרומה לה׳) (Eruvin 83a).

חלה is tourteau in O. F., (Engl = cake).

כתרומת גרן EVEN AS THE HEAVE OFFERING OF THE THRESHING FLOOR for which no minimum quantity is stated in the Torah, so shall ye heave it, and not as the “Heave-offering of the Tithe (תרומת מעשר, the priest’s share in the Levite’s tithe) for which a minimum quantity is stated (cf. Numbers 18:26) (Sifrei Bamidbar 110:1). — The Sages, however have stipulated a minimum quantity for it (the portion set aside) — for a private person (lit., the owner of a house) one twenty-fourth, and for the baker one forty-eighth of the dough (Sifrei Bamidbar 110:1; Mishnah Challah 2:7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.