Revelation 14:4, firstfruits to God

Revelation 14:4

Revelation 14:4, in every translation this tool compares.

First, in plain English

The first loaf from a new oven is often set aside as special. In the Law the first part of the harvest belonged to God. Jeremiah 2:3 says Israel was set apart for the Lord, the first share of his crop, and that whoever devoured her was punished. John calls the redeemed a first share offered to God and to the Lamb. They are set apart as God's own, just before the harvest of the earth in verses 14-20.

What matches

God's people called the first of his harvest, holy to him. The Greek of Jeremiah 2:3 uses arche, beginning, where John uses aparche, firstfruits.

Why it doesn't match exactly

Jeremiah speaks of Israel from the exodus; John speaks of those bought from among people for God and the Lamb. Jeremiah's word is not John's exact word. John joins the image to the Lamb, and sets it beside the harvest of judgment.

What John does with it

Beale reads the firstfruits as the whole people of God, set apart from a world about to be judged. Others read them as a first share, with more to come. Either way, they belong wholly to God.

What this echo is not

Not Jeremiah's exact word. Jeremiah calls Israel the first of the harvest. John borrows the idea but uses the word for a firstfruits offering.

Go deeper

Beale says the holistic meaning of firstfruits fits Jeremiah 2:2-3, which calls the whole nation redeemed from Egypt holy to the Lord, the first of his harvest, and cites Philo and midrashim on the verse. He adds Ezekiel 20:40, where God accepts Israel's firstfruits on his holy mountain at the end. Keener says the term declares their holiness, citing Jeremiah 2:3. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible cites the firstfruits laws and Jeremiah 2:3; the CSB Study Bible cross-references Jeremiah 2:3. The grade is drawn here as possible: the idea is shared, the Greek word differs.

Where the sources disagree

Beale reads firstfruits as the totality of believers. Bauckham, as Beale reports, and the CSB Study Bible read them as a first group whose witness leads to a larger harvest. The ESV Study Bible says they foreshadow a greater harvest. MacArthur reads the 144,000 as Jewish evangelists set apart for special service, and reports that some see them as the first of a redeemed Israel, with more to follow.

The ancient world behind this passage

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-14-1-5\/","n":"Revelation 14:1-5, the Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion","s":"The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with 144,000 who bear his name and his Father's on their foreheads, singing a new song only they can learn. They have kept themselves pure, follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and are offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.","r":"Revelation 14:1-5"}

Sources

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 14:4b
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 14:4
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:4
CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:1-5 and cross-references at Revelation 14:4
ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:4-5
Septuagint, Jeremiah 2:3, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 14:4
John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 14:4 and 7:4