Barn

Barns were associated with industry and prosperity

Full barns were a sign of blessing

Proverbs 3:9–10 See also Deuteronomy 28:8; Psalm 144:12–15

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Empty barns were a sign of poverty

Haggai 2:15–19

Now consider carefully from this day forward: Before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the LORD, from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty. I struck you— all the work of your hands— with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD. Consider carefully from this day forward — from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid — consider carefully: Is there still seed in the barn? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet yielded fruit. But from this day on, I will bless you.”

The priority of spiritual over material prosperity

Luke 12:15–21 See also Matthew 6:25–26; Luke 12:23–24

And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’ This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

God's barn is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven

Luke 3:16–17 parallel Matthew 3:11–12 See also Matthew 13:24–30

John answered all of them: “I baptize you with water, but One more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”