Barley
First mentioned in Exo 9:31, which shows the barley harvest was earlier than the wheat, a month earlier in Egypt. Neither is found wild. Cereals and the art of converting them into bread were probably God's direct gift to man from the first. The worship of Ceres was probably a corruption of this truth. Canaan was "a land of wheat and barley" (Deu 8:8). Barley was a food for horses (1Ki 4:28), but also for men.
The hordeum distichum, or "two rowed barley" was that usual in Palestine (Jdg 7:13; Eze 4:12). Its inferiority to wheat is marked by the jealousy offering being of barley, whereas the ordinary (minchah) meat, offering was of fine wheaten flour (Lev 2:1), and the purchase price of the adulteress (Hos 3:2). The scanty supply, marking the poverty of the disciples, but multiplied by Jesus, was five barley loaves (Joh 6:9).
The people in Palestine still complain that their oppressors leave them nothing but barley bread to eat (Thomson's Land and Book, p. 449). A measure of wheat is made equivalent to three of barley (Rev 6:6). Barley rapidly ripens. Some was sowed at the autumnal rains in October or November, other barley seed immediately after winter.
Barley harvest was a note of time; as when it is said Rizpah, the afflicted widow of Saul, watched over her seven sons' bodies "from the beginning of barley harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven" (2Sa 21:9-10), i.e., from May until September. In the Midianite's dream Gideon was regarded as a mere vile barley cake, yet it is just such whom God chooses to overthrow the mighty (Jdg 7:13; 1Co 1:27).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Barley
Barley bar'-li (se`orah): ⇒See a list of verses on BARLEY in the Bible. (1) In the Bible, as in modern times, barley was a characteristic product of Palestine--"a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees," etc. (De 8:8), the failure of whose crop was a national disaster (Joe 1:11). It was, and is, grown chiefly as provender for horses and asses (1Ki 4:28), oats being practically unknown, but it was, as it now is, to some extent, the food of the poor in country districts (Ru 2:17; 2Ki 4:42; Joh 6:9,13). Probably this is the meaning of the dream of the Midianite concerning Gideon: "Behold, I dreamed a dream; and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came unto the tent, and smote it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel" (Jg 7:13 f). Here the barley loaf is type of the peasant origin of Gideon's army and perhaps, too, of his own lowly condition. Barley was (Eze 4:9) one of the ingredients from which the pr…
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Barley
Barley (.'\riib. .iha'ir) is a well-known grain, of whidi several varieties are cultivated, Ilordeurn dis- tirhum, //. tetrastichum, and //. hcxa.itichu77i, the wild originals of which are not known. One of I he wild species of the genua Ifordcum in Pal., however, approaches the cultivated species near I'nough to make it possible that it may be the "lock, or a partial reversion of cultivated barley to tv])e. It is //. ith'ihuren.'ic, IJoiss (//. spontancum, Koch), whidi grows aliTiiidantly in Galilee, in the region of Merj 'Ayftn, and in jilaces in the Syrian desert between I'aliiiyra and llamath. It ditfers from H. distiihiim by the smaller size of its spikes and grains, and the great length of its awns, which are sometimes a foot log. Barley is eultivatcil .-verywhere in Palestine, principally as provender foi horses (1 K 4**) and SiSaes. It takes the place of oats in Eoiope and America, as the cut straw of barley and wheat takes the place of hay. It is also used among the poor for bread, as in ancient times (Jg 7", 2 K 4^", Jn C- ", and cakes Ezk 4"). It was mixed with other cheap…
Smith's Bible Dictionary on Barley
is one of the most important of the cereal grains, and the most hardy of them all. It was grown by the Hebrews, (Leviticus 27:16; 8:8; Ruth 2:17) etc., who used it for baking into bread chiefly among the poor, (Judges 7:13; 2 Kings 4:42; John 6:9,13) and as fodder for horses. (1 Kings 4:28) The barley harvest, (Ruth 1:22; 2:23; 2 Samuel 21:9;10) takes place in Palestine in March and April, and in the hilly district as late as May. It always precedes the wheat harvest, in some places by a week, in others by fully three weeks. In Egypt the barley is about a month earlier than the wheat; whence its total destruction by the hail storm. (Exodus 9:31)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia