Barley

Barley in the Topics

A grain much cultivated in Egypt (Ex 9:31) and in Palestine (Lev 27:16; Deut 8:8). It was usually the food of horses (1 Kgs 4:28). Barley bread was used by the poorer people (Judg 7:13; 2 Kgs 4:42). Barley of the first crop was ready for the harvest by the time of the Passover, in the middle of April (Ruth 1:22; 2 Sam 21:9). Mention is made of barley-meal (Num 5:15). Our Lord fed five thousand with “five barley loaves and two small fishes” (John 6:9).

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.