Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

 7 Fruits of Israel: Barley 

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe 

Deuteronomy 8: 7-8 "For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and date honey.” 

These seven fruits make up the Bikkurim, the first fruits offered in thanksgiving to the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem during the Appointed Times of the Lord: Passover (Pesach), Pentecost (Shavuot) and Tabernacles (Sukkoth).  

The first of the Bikkurim was offered on the First Fruit of the Passover season. This Feast of First Fruits came 3 days into the Feast of Unleavened Bread which followed the day of Passover.  Jesus died on Passover and rose on the Feast of First Fruits. 1Corinthians 15: 20. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”   

The offering at that time included the first fruits of the barley harvest. Barley is one of the first cultivated crops. It was widely used as animal fodder and was also considered as food for poor people. It came to symbolize God’s provision in the severity and harshness of life. It pictures the severity and harshness of the life and death of Jesus Christ who “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:7-9).

Barley is a picture of Jesus humbling Himself to provide for our salvation and deliverance from the severity and harshness of judgment. We receive victory when we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and allow Him to lift us up. (James 4:10) 

Read the stories of Gideon and Ruth to see the victory that comes when we humble ourselves in obedience to the Lord.