Encouragement

The Barley Loaves

by Maria Franco
07/31/24
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Barley loaves have always had a specific biblical mention since thousands of years. Barley loaves made from barley grain had a rich flavour and was the staple diet in Egypt. In Israel too, Barley loaves were consumed as a daily diet.
In most of the significant miracles that Jesus performed with Barley loaves, the one that draws a parallel with prophetic signs in the Old Testament is when a man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the Prophet, twenty Barley loaves made from the first fruits and fresh grain in the ear.
Elisha instructed him to give it to the people to eat but his servant objected, as to how could he set it before a hundred people. But Elisha insisted that he should give it to the people to eat it. He exclaimed, "For thus says the Lord, They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'"And indeed when they had eaten, there was some left over as the Lord had said.

Elijah the prophet too was fed with Heavenly Bread when he was utterly exhausted and depressed at being a prophet. He went into hiding and slept off in his tiredness but an angel commanded him to get up and eat for there was a hearth cake and  a jug of water. After he had eaten this twice, again being woken up by the angel, his strength renewed and he continued on his journey walking for forty days and nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Centuries later, Jesus performed the miracle of the Multiplication of the loaves and fishes not once but twice.
Once he multiplied five barley loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand people with twelve baskets of remaining leftovers.
In another miracle, he multiplied seven loaves and  few fishes to feed four thousand people with seven baskets remaining over.
The significance of these Miracles pointed out to Jesus being the Bread of Life. The Living Bread that came down from heaven where whoever eats of this bread shall live forever and the Lord promised to raise him up on the last day.

A loaf of barley bread also featured in a dream mentioned in Judges 7:13: a Midianite man dreamt that a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed;   When Gideon, the Israelite leader overheard about this dream, he was assured of a victory over the Midianites.

In the garden of Eden, when God created Adam and Eve, he blessed them and told them to be fruitful and multiply. To have dominion over the fishes in the seas and the birds in the air.
St. Peter in his 2nd letter, 1:2 remarks, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
Truly, it is the grace of God that multiplies our joys and removes our sorrows.

Today we all are intent on the Lord multiplying our blessings but how about we multiplying the blessings of others?
This will in turn keep increasing our own blessings as St. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20-21,  "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen."
Believe this in your heart and it will happen and come to pass in our lives!

Maria Franco