1.   Barley is first mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 9:31.  It is during a time of judgment, just before Passover:- "And the flax and the barley was smitten for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled."
 
2.   The barley (Jesus and the Bride?) and the flax ripen together.
 
3.   Flax is a plant whose fibers were used in the making of linen, and its root contains an oil used as cattle food.  This brings to mind the robe of righteousness and the oil of the Holy Spirit.
 
4.   Barley is the hardiest of all cereal grains and was used for baking into bread, chiefly among the poor.
 
5.   "Jesus went up into a mountain," when "the Passover was nigh," and multiplied "five barley loaves" into enough bread to feed a multitude (John 6).  Is this not an example of Jesus being made into bread to feed "the poor in spirit"?
 
6.   Ruth "came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest" (Ruth 1:22).  Naomi told Ruth (a bride type) that Boaz (a Jesus type) "winnoweth barley to night in the threshing floor.  Wash (be sanctified by the Word), anoint thee (in the oil of the Holy Spirit), and put thy raiment (the righteousness of Jesus) upon thee, and get thee down (positioned) to the floor" near Boaz (Ruth 3:3).  The Bride "hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7).  "And it came to pass at midnight" (Ruth 3:8), Boaz chose his bride.  In versus 14-15 Ruth "rose up" removed her veil into which Boaz measured six measures of barley (for 6,000 years?).
 
7.   The barley harvest takes place in Israel during March and April and always precedes the wheat harvest, in some places by a week, in others by a full three weeks.
 
8.   "And the flax and the barley WAS ("was" being singular, meaning the two have become one), smitten, (beaten, punished, destroyed): for the barley was in the ear (ripe), and the flax was bolled (ready).  But the wheat and the rye were not smitten; for they were not grown up (matured)" (Ex. 9:31-32).
 
9.   Before the first Passover the barley (Jesus) was "smitten" and removed.  Will this happen again, just before another Passover, when the barley (the Bride) is taken out and the wheat and rye are left behind to mature?
 
In Christ,
 
Susie and David Parker