Unleavened barley the bread of affliction
Dear Children,
This year (2017) I will be keeping the Week of Unleavened Bread with barley matzot. It was not something I had ever considered doing until yesterday. The change came because Elohim spoke to me. Many times when Yah speaks to me it is a phrase, an idea, or a thought that comes into my thinking. Most of the time, this results in a process. He plants a ‘seed’ and then comes back to tend that ‘seed’ until I bear fruit by finally saying “I really need to check on that”.
Last week He kept saying “the bread of affliction”. Yesterday I said, “I really need to check on that”. When He speaks to me in this manner, I can always pick up His Writings and find what He is pointing me to. I’ll share this with you but not in the order it was revealed to me because I started with Deuteronomy and worked my way around to the beginning. Here we go:
“Ex 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. 19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. 20 He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: 21 And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. 22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. 23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. 27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28 Intreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. 29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. 31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.”
This was the seventh plague. The first thing I want to point out is that the barley in Goshen would not have been smitten because the hail was withheld in Goshen (vs 26). Goshen was the choicest of all the land in Egypt (Gen 45:18). Joseph had placed his sheepherder brothers away from the Egyptians in Goshen because by their trade they were an abomination to the Egyptians (Gen 46:31-34). In Ex 8:26 Moses reminds Pharaoh of this abomination.
A quick internet search will show you that the elevations in the area of the Nile Delta or Goshen are 500 feet above sea level down to 0 feet above sea level. There are plenty of online sources that show this area is still beautifully green in a sea of brown barren dirt or sand. As Yehovah would have it, this is the same elevation as the field that has had Aviv barley for the last two-year (2016-2017).
The Aviv field is sea level, which is slightly higher than the land around the Jordan River just a few meters away. Both Goshen and the Aviv field are in fertile river regions; both areas are sea level and higher. Goshen would have been a haven for growing barley.
If we look at the second photo below of our Aviv field it will give you an idea of the barley’s ability to survive being smitten but not broken as the trees were. Barley also sheds its seeds from top to bottom as seen in the photo below.
I do believe that since the Israelites were an unclean abomination to the Egyptians that the Israelites would have had their own grain fields and would not have eaten from the Egyptian side. There is also the consideration of the logistics of growing grains close to their Goshen Community that was out of the common area of the Egyptians. IF Goshen had no planted grains, no barley, according to the scripture the barley on the Egypt side was not destroyed. The barley in Egypt was smitten .נ.כ.ה nakah disable, strike blows and not destroyed as the trees in verse 25 brake .ש.ב.ר shabar break up into small pieces; detail small numbers. My meager two years with wild barley in Israel has taught me that when the barley is Aviv it drops its grains from the top of the head first. It’s common to see half barley heads on standing stalks in the field when the grains are Aviv to mature. They are simply going what their Creator created them to do. They are falling to the earth and dying. John 12.24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn (kernel) of wheat (grain, wheat) fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. It is possible that shattered half heads from the barley plants would have been found in the field; the tops would have been missing.
A total destruction of the barley does not fit the Messianic symbol of the Messiah. His body fell down in death, but that same body got back up after three days.
This year (2017) in our Aviv field we had a situation that the barley had grown very tall from the added lunar cycle needed to allow the grains to mature. They grew so tall the stalks of barley actually laid down in the fields with the last of the rains and winds. This field is in an area where two valleys merge so you can imagine there would be a lot of winds coming through from those two valleys into this field. I mention this to you because even though the barley was smitten by the winds and heavy rains this year the grains were able to mature to Aviv and even to karmel kernels.
The Israelites walked out of Egypt with plenty of barley cakes. In fact, the Bible says they ‘spoiled Egypt’ Ex 12.36b-39 “And they spoiled the Egyptians. 37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. 38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.”
I needed to paint this word picture for you because it is important to what I want to share with you.
Deut 16:3 says “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.” Unleavened bread was called the ‘bread of affliction’ in this passage. Affliction has a root of .ע.נ.ה anah respond; make dependent. In modern Hebrew the same root forms ‘oneh; this is a word we use when we can’t oneh, respond or answer our cell phone. The specific word in Deut 16:3 is עני meaning depression. Isn’t it amazing that the word for being depressed from affliction is tied to receiving a response? The richness of Hebrew’s root system is a pleasure to study.
Col 1.18 tells us the Yeshua was the ‘rosh habikkurim’ it is the rosh habikkurim that is ‘ground into flour, mixed with oil an offering made by fire’ in Lev 23.13-14 this offering was unleavened. When we look at the offering for Shavuot we see that the offering was leavened in Lev 23. 17 “Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.” All of you reading this probably know that ‘leaven’ as sin, that’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5.6-7 “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” And that Jesus was ‘unleavened’ or ‘without sin’ as is says in 2 Cor For 5.21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” So we can say with confidence that Yeshua was the original unleavened bread.
Now I want to take you back to Exodus and read some more about the Week of Unleavened Bread there.
These verses are all found in Ex chapter 12. “15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel 16 And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.” and in verse “39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.” The only thing that they had to eat the entire Week of Unleavened Bread was….unleavened bread, the bread of affliction.
Well, I have to tell you. This reminded me of Lev 16:29 where the command is given for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur ” And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:” and it is the same word ע.נ.ה In the Ex 12 passage we are told 1) we will eat unleavened bread, if we don’t want to be cut off 2) we can make ‘our daily bread’ on the first day and that last day 3) the Israelites didn’t carry other food with them out of Egypt.
Exodus 13 has a lot to say about the Week of Unleavened Bread. Let’s look:
“6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. 8 And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. 9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. 10 Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. 11 And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, 12 That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord’s. 13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. 14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: 15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. 16 And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt.”
Two times in the passage we are told that the Week of Unleavened Bread is a ‘token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes’ to remember the strong-arm of Elohim that delivered them. I believe it was also prophetic of the one who would come, The Barley Rosh HaBikkurim, and deliver mankind from bondage. That man was Yeshua.
Imagine for a moment, their daily work that sustained their life was daily grinding and baking bread from the wild barley that grows on the land of Israel. One of the things I learned this year in my kitchen while I was teaching myself about the natural barley flour is if you don’t want moths and the larva the moth lays in flour then you don’t grind the grains before it’s time to make the bread. You don’t want the moths and larva in your flour, it’s an unclean animal. For a while there my kitchen fluttered with moths every time I opened my kitchen cabinets. It was good lessons about ‘daily bread’ in the Bible.
Brian introduced me to this strain of barley this year. Maybe it was here on the land last year and I just wasn’t tuned in enough to notice it. I saw it absolutely everywhere I turned this year. I looked for it everywhere I went. It reminds me of Isa 53.
Linen, The Word Made Flesh is about the flax in Exodus 9:31
Another study on barley Leviticus 2:14 ‘green ears of corn’ King James English
A blog on Unleavened Barley