The season of Barley.
Famines in the Bible, in most cases, meant something was off track or God was not pleased with something. This could be in one’s personal life or even in the land or its people.
In the Bible, what comes after a famine, many times, is the barley season.
I studied on the word barley and what occurs during the barley season. Barley is simply a grain, but the etymology or root wood means … to be caught in a whirlwind, a horrible time, to dread, to sweep away, to be tempestuous, or come like a storm. It means to shudder or quiver and have your hair stand on end. Fear is one thing … terror is another.
So, what comes before a harvest? A storm?
In Gideon's time, the Midianites ravished their land causing a famine for 7 years. Why? Because Israel set up idols and broke covenant with God. Finally, they began to cry out to the Lord and He sent them a Prophet to instruct them on what was wrong and how to heal the land. Plain and simple … repent (change what you are doing) and pray.
After many questions, Gideon did as God instructed. The part I want to highlight has to do with the barley. God gave one of Gideon’s men a dream and as the man was sharing the dream Gideon heard this:
When Gideon arrived, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.” (Judges 7:13)
A cake of barley rolled into the camp and flatten the tent and the victory was Gideon’s. Remember what barley represents? Divine provision after the storm.
The Message Bible says the Midianites “came in and took over, like an invasion of locusts”
God’s promise to restore all that the locusts have eaten:
So what I’d like to say to you is “After years of being impoverished and imprisoned due to famine, a barley season will set you free and restore all that was taken.” (Joel 2:25)
America, we need to cry out to God, repent, and pray … it will then be harvest time once again in our land.
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