Barley in the Bible, part 13
We are in the midst of another chapter of the stories of Bible incidents involving barley. This one is found in Jeremiah, chapter 41, verse 8.
Jeremiah 41: 8 But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
We pick up where we left off in part 12.
For many years there has been a very tiny minority of Christian Israelites who have understood from the Bible that we are in captivity. When they first came to that understanding that we as a nation are in bondage, their first reaction—a natural one—is that they become angered.
They want to do something to regain our lost freedoms. In the 1980s and 90s their numbers have grown somewhat (although it is still a tiny minority in comparison to the total population) and many of them have decided to try to “come out of Babylon,” usually citing this verse.
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her [i.e., Mystery Babylon], my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
They called themselves “Christian patriots,” an accurate self-identification, but it is a term which the antichrists in and behind the fake news media try to turn into a term of scorn, denigration, ugliness, and unlawfulness—with some success, unfortunately.
More recently, the Babylonian Medianites have added “white nationalists,” as though it is something evil to be a white person who loves his nation. Those smear tactics are what we have come to expect from the lying legacy media. It is straight out of the satanic Saul Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals.
The “coming out of Babylon” takes many forms: Some realize that Babylon’s medical science is drug-centered, so they search out more natural ways of healing—through herbs, homeopathy, nutrition, etc.
They give birth to their children at home, if at all possible. They homeschool those children, if possible, ideally through high school, but at least for the elementary and middle-school years. They teach their children a biblically-centered worldview.
Thus, they teach their offspring how to be discerning when confronted with the world’s ways on television (and now on the web and social media). In practical terms, this usually results in very little TV-watching—some decide to banish the tube completely from their lives.
These patriotic Christians also often feel spiritually unfed from the Babylonian religion which is now commonly known as “Judeo-Christianity,” with the emphasis on the “Judeo” portion. They realize that term is an oxymoron.
The word “Babylonian” literally means “confusion by mixing.”
Numerous exponents of Judaism have also decried such attempted mongrelization of these two religions. Those in Judaism who decry it realize what the masses of nominal Christianity are oblivious to; namely, that the two religions are polar opposites, that there can never be a blending of the two without the destruction of true Christianity.
Many “Christian-patriots” also realize that ordinary supermarket food is less than optimal for maintaining health amidst today’s polluted environment on every side, so they opt to grow their own food and/or to obtain more wholesome food from “health-food” stores.
Most also realize that even that falls short, so they supplement their diet with various herbs, minerals, etc. Some attempt to exit from Babylon financially by foregoing credit cards, bank accounts, insurance policies, etc. Some attempt to avoid entanglement with the IRS by various means.
More often than not, this has resulted in poverty-level subsistence for these families. Many who have tried financial disentanglement have found it extremely difficult, virtually impossible.
Some have even gone to jail, and in effect, have left behind poverty-stricken families. While we admire the determination of those trying to fully escape from modern Babylon, we have learned (by experience) that perhaps this is not what God requires or expects of us at this time.
After all, a close reading of Revelation 18 will reveal that the exhortation for God’s people to “come out of Babylon” is in verse 4, which is after Babylon has fallen in verse 2.
Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
While I personally am not aware of any “Christian patriots” being involved in any violent activities like Ishmael was, there is unfortunately a minuscule number of individuals who might have leanings towards violence, and who would think they are doing the righteous and godly thing, i.e., they sincerely might believe they are doing their “Christian” and “patriotic” duty.
Again, we cannot fault their sincerity and zeal, but we believe they are sincerely and potentially tragically mistaken in their understanding of how and when God wants us to “come out of her.”
Let us continue following the story of Ishmael circa 587/586 B.C.
Jeremiah 41:4 And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it,
5 That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, [these were signs of distress] and having cut themselves [an unlawful pagan practice; would that include tattoos?], with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD [Yahweh.].
6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah [who had just assassinated Governor Gedaliah] went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went:
This was a ruse, of course, to set the trap for the next victims of his rage.
6b and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.
7 And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.
8 But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
So here was a case of this Judahite named Ishmael who was determined to throw off the yoke of Babylon before the time appointed by God. And in doing the “Christian patriot” thing, he assassinates the governor and he now slays a number of others.
However, ten men were spared. Allegorically and prophetically, do these ten represent the ten tribes of Israel after conversion to Christ? In other words, they were delivered; they were saved (from physical death) due, in part, to their possession of barley.
In the literal interpretation of this incident, we might assume that these ten men had secretly stashed away some barley and other food for hard times. This was the ancient Israelite version of what we in America have known as “survivalists,” and who are now called “preppers.”
Food was evidently scarce—not surprising in a time of being conquered, the vast majority of the population being deported, and the few remaining in the land being in servitude. Thus the barley became their deliverance and salvation, in the physical sense.
The barley, you recall, is symbolic of Christ in His resurrection and symbolic of the entire Barley Company, aka the Firstfruits Company. Figuratively, oil represents the Holy Spirit and/or His anointing. Honey represents the sweetness and purity of God’s Word.
So, metaphorically, the ten tribes of Israel are saved by identification with Christ (as believers, either of the Barley Company or the Wheat Company), who have the anointing of the Holy Spirit and have the Word of His testimony.
Another phrase in that verse should have jarred our memory: “treasures in the field.” Do you recall the one-verse parable of our Lord in Matthew 13? We have more recently done an extensive study of the parables of the kingdom which are part of our 52-lecture series, The Kingdom of God. See the Order Form here which contains synopses of all those lectures.
Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
With those in-depth lectures available we shall only hit the high points here. You have probably heard the standard “Judeo-Christian” interpretation of this verse. It goes something like this:
The ‘‘man’’ is you and me, a sinner. When we find the treasure (salvation), we are so happy about it that we will give up everything (money, family, etc.) to follow Jesus, and so on.
However, this is not a true biblical interpretation of this parable. Let’s let the Bible be its own interpreter.
Notice first, that this parable is concerning not heaven itself, but the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus likens it to “a treasure hid in a field.” Verse 38 of the same chapter tells us that “The field is the world;”
Hence, the kingdom of heaven is in the world! After all, do we not pray in the Lord’s prayer that His kingdom will “come on earth, as it is in heaven ...”? Next, what about the treasure? What does that represent? The answer is in a number of places in Scripture where Israel is designated as God’s “treasure.”
One place is in the covenant giving of the law ceremony—actually, it was a marriage ceremony—on Mount Sinai after the Israelites had come out of Egypt. God was taking the nation of Israel as His bride-wife. He called her His treasure.
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye [Israel] shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Next, who does “the man” in the parable represent? We contend that “the man” refers to Jesus, who often referred to Himself as “the son of man.” Thus, the parable tells us that Jesus found Israel hidden in the world.
Psalm 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people [Israel], and consulted against thy hidden ones.
By the time of Christ’s first advent, the ten tribes of Israel had become “lost.” The Greek word translated lost means “put away and punished,” which is exactly what had happened.
The northern, ten tribe House of Israel had been “put away,” in the process of being divorced from Yahweh. They were sent “out of His house,” the old promised land. They were punished for their disobedience and idolatry (spiritual adultery). And when Jesus came, He said:
Matthew 15:24b … I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
So Jesus comes to redeem Israel. He finds them. He, of course, knew all along that his treasure, Israel, was hid in the world, and He knew exactly who they were and where they were.
“I know my sheep,” he said in John 10. The parable tells us that “for joy thereof [Jesus as God] goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” The whole universe is bound up in God. “By him all things consist and have their being.”
So if He “selleth all that he hath,” that statement would be appropriately fulfilled by God sending His son (i.e., Himself in the person of His son) to purchase the field where the treasure was. And that is exactly what He did.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world [the field], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God loved the world because His special treasure, Israel, was in it. And in the process of buying back (redeeming) Israel, He bought the entire world, blessing them, too.
Then, after His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus sent out His disciples to carry the good news to “lost” Israel all over the known world. But their identity as Israel was to remain hidden for yet a long period of time (nearly 2,000 years so far).
That is what is meant by the otherwise puzzling statement that once He had come to Israel in the world, Jesus hid them (Israel) again for a period of time. “ ... the which [the treasure] when a man hath found, he hideth ...” So with this understanding, let us look once more at the verse in Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 41:8 But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
There we have the conclusion of the matter. This single verse represents the story of the salvation of ten-tribed Israel. Prophetically, over the centuries A.D., as Israel became Christians (of either the barley or the wheat companies), they would be saved and “slain not” among their brethren.
“Their brethren” would be those of Israel who did not accept Christ and thus lost their opportunity to partake in the barley or wheat resurrections. Instead, they will be slain in the second death, the lake of fire. Which, we hasten to add, does not mean eternal hell fire. They, too, will ultimately be saved, after undergoing the lake of fire.
But that is too long a story to share here. But I have taught it in great detail in our lecture series of four albums comprising 38 lectures, collectively entitled God’s Plan for Man. See descriptions and Order Form here. Praise God for His great mercy towards us!
(The Barley series will be continued.)
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