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Known since early times, barley is sown in varied climates. It ripens quickly and is resistant to heat. In Israel gathering came in the spring around the Passover Feast. A second sowing comes when winter is past. There are two varieties, one with two rows of grain and another with six rows (Walker).
Hired workers building Solomon's Temple were paid twenty thousand measures of barley as food ration. Nelson says barley was first associated with Egypt according to Exodus 9:31. Numbers 5:15 refers to it as an offering of jealousy. 1 Kings 4:28 tells us barley was used for fodder. Lastly, of course it was used for food according to Judges 7 and John 6. Mostly it was a food of slaves and the very poor (Nelson). The book of Ruth cites barley used in baking bread. References about the Hebrews and barley are Leviticus 27:16, Deut. 8:8, Judges 7:13, and, 2 Kings 4:42.
According to Smith's Bible Dictionary barley was harvested about one month earlier than wheat in Egypt, which makes it logical reading Exodus chapter 9 that hail totally destroyed the crop.
In the New Testament, John chapter 6, Jesus fed barley loaves to the multitudes.
Exodus 9:24 (KJV) So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very
grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it
became a nation.
Exodus 9:27 (KJV) And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
Exodus 9:31 (KJV) And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley
was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
Deuteronomy 8:8 (KJV) A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
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