Ancient Israelites offered the firstfruits of the grain harvest unto the Lord at the temple: “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God” (Ex. 23:19; see also Lev. 23:9–15). According to Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, women also brought the firstfruits to the temple and would ceremonially wave them together with the priest, “back and forth, up and down”; then they would bow down, facing the temple.109 President M. Russell Ballard explained that “the firstfruits that were offered remind us that Christ was the firstfruits of the Resurrection.”110 1 Corinthians 15:20 reads: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Verse 23 straightforwardly declares “Christ the firstfruits.”