The seed of cereals. Together with wine and oil, it was one of the three basic commodities in biblical times. Grain offerings were central to Israelite religion and tithes and firstfruits of grain were also given to God.
Grain was a basic foodstuff
Deuteronomy 7:12–13 See also Deuteronomy 11:13–15, Deuteronomy 28:49–51, Deuteronomy 33:28; Ruth 2:14; 1 Samuel 17:17, 1 Samuel 25:18; 2 Samuel 17:27–29; Nehemiah 5:1–3, Nehemiah 5:10–11
If you listen to these ordinances and keep them carefully, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant and the loving devotion that He swore to your fathers. He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land— your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks— in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
Harvesting and threshing grain
Deuteronomy 25:4 See also Leviticus 19:9–10; Deuteronomy 24:19; Judges 6:11; Ruth 2:2–9, Ruth 2:15–17, Ruth 3:2
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
Storing grain
Genesis 41:47–49 See also Genesis 41:33–36; 2 Chronicles 32:27–28; Proverbs 11:26; Jeremiah 50:26; Joel 1:17; Luke 12:16–21
During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully. During those seven years, Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In every city he laid up the food from the fields around it. So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
Tithes and firstfruits of grain
Leviticus 27:30 See also Leviticus 23:9–11; Deuteronomy 12:17, Deuteronomy 14:23, Deuteronomy 18:1–5; 2 Chronicles 31:4–5; Nehemiah 10:37–39, Nehemiah 13:12
Thus any tithe from the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
The grain offering
Leviticus 2:1–16 See also Leviticus 6:14–23, Leviticus 23:15–16; Numbers 5:11–28, Numbers 15:1–12; 1 Kings 8:64
Barley as grain
The cultivation of barley
2 Samuel 14:30 See also Exodus 9:31; Leviticus 27:16; Deuteronomy 8:7–9; Ruth 1:22, Ruth 2:17–18, Ruth 2:23, Ruth 3:2; 2 Samuel 21:9; 1 Chronicles 11:13; Job 31:38–40; Isaiah 28:24–25; Joel 1:11
Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
Trade in barley
Hosea 3:2 See also 2 Kings 7:1, 2 Kings 7:16–18; 2 Chronicles 2:10, 2 Chronicles 2:15–16, 2 Chronicles 27:5; Ezekiel 13:19; Revelation 6:6
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.
The consumption of barley
Ezekiel 4:9–12 See also Judges 7:13; Ruth 3:15–17; 2 Samuel 17:27–29; 1 Kings 4:28; 2 Kings 4:42–44; Jeremiah 41:8; John 6:5–13
But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side. You are to weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day, and you are to eat it at set times. You are also to measure out a sixth of a hin of water to drink, and you are to drink it at set times. And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”
Offerings of barley
Ezekiel 45:13 See also Numbers 5:11–15
This is the contribution you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.
Other kinds of grain
Corn
Psalm 72:16 See also Genesis 37:7; Psalm 65:13; Hosea 14:7
May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, the people of its cities like the grass of the field.
Millet
Spelt
Isaiah 28:24–25 See also Exodus 9:22–32; Ezekiel 4:9
Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil? When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, and rye within its border.
Wheat
Ezekiel 27:17 See also Judges 6:11; 2 Chronicles 27:5; Psalm 147:14; John 12:24
Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith, cakes and honey, oil and balm for your merchandise.
Allusions to grain in the teaching of Jesus Christ
Mark 4:26–29 See also Matthew 13:1–9 parallel Mark 4:3–8; Matthew 13:18–23 parallel Mark 4:14–20; Matthew 13:24–30, Matthew 13:36–43; Luke 12:13–21, Luke 16:1–9, Luke 17:35; John 12:24
Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how. All by itself the earth produces a crop— first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within. And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.