שערה, Exod. ix, 31; Lev. xxvii, 16, &c;; a well-known kind of
grain. It derives its Hebrew name from the long hairy beard which grows
upon the ear. Pliny, on the testimony of Menander, says that barley was
the most ancient aliment of mankind. In Palestine the barley was sown
about October, and reaped in the end of March, just after the passover.
In Egypt the barley harvest was later; for when the hail fell there,
Exodus ix, 31, a few days before the passover, the flax and barley were
bruised and destroyed: for the flax was at its full growth, and the
barley began to form its green ears; but the wheat, and more backward
grain, were not damaged, because they were only in the blade, and the
hail bruised the young shoots which produce the ears.
The rabbins sometimes called barley the food of beasts, because in
reality they fed their cattle with it, 1 Kings iv, 28; and from Homer
and other ancient writers we learn, that barley was given to horses. The
Hebrews, however, frequently used barley bread, as we find by several
passages of Scripture: for example, David’s friends brought to him in
his flight wheat, barley, flour, &c, 2 Sam. xvii, 28. Solomon sent
wheat, barley, oil, and wine, to the labourers King Hiram had furnished
him, 2 Chron. ii, 15. Elijah had a present made him, of twenty barley
loaves, and corn in the husk, 2 Kings iv, 22. And, by miraculously
increasing the five barley loaves, Christ fed a multitude of about five
thousand, John vi, 8–10. The jealousy-offering, in the Levitical
institution, was to be barley meal, Num. v, 15. The common mincha, or
offering, was of fine wheat flour, Lev. ii, 1; but this was of barley, a
meaner grain, probably to denote the vile condition of the person in
whose behalf it was offered. For which reason, also, there was no oil or
frankincense permitted to be offered with it. Sometimes barley is put
for a low, contemptible reward or price. So the false prophets are
charged with seducing the people for handfuls of barley, and morsels of
bread, Ezek. xiii, 19. Hosea bought his emblematic bride for fifteen
pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of barley, Hosea iii, 2.
grain. It derives its Hebrew name from the long hairy beard which grows
upon the ear. Pliny, on the testimony of Menander, says that barley was
the most ancient aliment of mankind. In Palestine the barley was sown
about October, and reaped in the end of March, just after the passover.
In Egypt the barley harvest was later; for when the hail fell there,
Exodus ix, 31, a few days before the passover, the flax and barley were
bruised and destroyed: for the flax was at its full growth, and the
barley began to form its green ears; but the wheat, and more backward
grain, were not damaged, because they were only in the blade, and the
hail bruised the young shoots which produce the ears.
The rabbins sometimes called barley the food of beasts, because in
reality they fed their cattle with it, 1 Kings iv, 28; and from Homer
and other ancient writers we learn, that barley was given to horses. The
Hebrews, however, frequently used barley bread, as we find by several
passages of Scripture: for example, David’s friends brought to him in
his flight wheat, barley, flour, &c, 2 Sam. xvii, 28. Solomon sent
wheat, barley, oil, and wine, to the labourers King Hiram had furnished
him, 2 Chron. ii, 15. Elijah had a present made him, of twenty barley
loaves, and corn in the husk, 2 Kings iv, 22. And, by miraculously
increasing the five barley loaves, Christ fed a multitude of about five
thousand, John vi, 8–10. The jealousy-offering, in the Levitical
institution, was to be barley meal, Num. v, 15. The common mincha, or
offering, was of fine wheat flour, Lev. ii, 1; but this was of barley, a
meaner grain, probably to denote the vile condition of the person in
whose behalf it was offered. For which reason, also, there was no oil or
frankincense permitted to be offered with it. Sometimes barley is put
for a low, contemptible reward or price. So the false prophets are
charged with seducing the people for handfuls of barley, and morsels of
bread, Ezek. xiii, 19. Hosea bought his emblematic bride for fifteen
pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of barley, Hosea iii, 2.