In Luke 6:1, Luke wrote that Jesus went through the grainfields on the “second Sabbath after the first”.  What is meant by this term?

Luk 6:1  Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

The Greek phrase translated “second Sabbath after the first” is “deuteroprotos sabbaton”.  A literal translation is “second first sabbath” or “second Sabbath of the first rank or order”.  The Sabbaths of the first order or rank are the annual Sabbaths, which are listed in Leviticus 23.  In fact, the entry in Thayer’s Greek Definitions for “deuteroprotos” is:

1. second-first
2. the second of the first Sabbaths after the feast of the Passover.

The first annual Sabbath is the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the 15^th of the first month.

Lev 23:5  On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover.
Lev 23:6  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7  On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.

The second annual Sabbath is the Last Day of Unleavened Bread.

Lev 23:8  But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’ “

The “second Sabbath after the first” is the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Luke clearly records that Jesus and the disciples went through the grain fields on the second annual Sabbath, which was the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.