I love it when the Jewish Passover and the commemoration of Jesus’ Passion week coincide on the calendar, and this weekend, it happens! Saturday evening begins Pesach, followed by seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread; and Sunday is Palm Sunday, followed by Holy Week leading to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Dear gardeners, let’s capture this divine timing in barley, a grain crop humble in the background of these Biblical histories and a garden plant we can grow. Barley has a poignant horticulture connecting to the call for unleavened bread, as it ripens in early spring and lacks rising power in its flour due to a low gluten content. May these garden and table elements come together to punctuate our senses in this holy time of remembrance.
We first read about barley in the Bible during the plagues sent to disrupt Egypt:
Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree…The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom. Exodus 9:25, 31 NIV
Barley stalks were mature, making them most vulnerable to lodging—the condition of the grain head being bent over and flattened to the ground and nearly impossible to gather. Yet by the horror of this hail detail, we know it was early spring, the time when barley’s firstfruits would have been ready to harvest. Therefore, barley yields a humble scenery to the Israelites’ epic escape from slavery in Egypt, retold as the Passover meal to this day.
Passover commemorates both the barley harvest and the Israelites’ redemption by God from slavery in Egypt… In this way the physical and spiritual worlds are bound together and interdependent.
Jo Ann Gardner, Seeds of Transcendence, 2014
Barley in the Garden
Barley and wheat were the central cereals of ancient Israel, yet barley is more adaptable to soil shortcomings, cooler temperatures, and water fluctuations; in other words, barley doesn’t have to be “babied.” It is hardy and resilient, standing firm to most inclement weather (except the intense hail at harvesttime, of course!). Here it is thriving in my spring garden, though not ready for harvesting yet. I love to sow barley seeds in fall’s cooler temperatures to fill in where summer plants are fading. These gaps green up brilliantly with barley’s strong foliage in the spring.
Learn more about growing barley in your garden in the Garden in Delight Plant Guide
When processed for flour, barley kernels do not contain the gluten content of wheat; thus barley is not designated with the delicacies of “finest wheat flour” for dainty cakes and pastries. Unrefined but rugged, not noble but unpretentious, barley gives its baked goods a more dense and rustic quality, a flavor of being close to the earth. See how this humble grain resounds this Word of Isaiah:
For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15 NIV
Barley is the perfect background to the work of the Lord to deliver, acknowledging and moving into our lowly places, patterned first in the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; and next, in all of us from the slavery of sin and the bondage of death through the passion of Jesus Christ.
Passover and Unleavened Bread
Let’s retell the Passover deliverance, which will activate God’s power from past to present, and discover unleavened bread.
Two plagues after the barley was flattened, the Lord called His people to eat a hasty meal and be ready to be finally rescued from the oppressive Egyptian rule: no time for bread to rise!
That very night they’re to eat the [lamb] meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs… This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it hurriedly—it’s the Lord’s Passover. Exodus 12:8, 11 ISV
The lamb’s blood, brushed by hyssop branches across the doorframes where God’s people dwelled, signaled to the angel of death assailing Egyptian households to pass over and spare them from death.
Take a bundle of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you is to go out of the doorway of his house until morning, because the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the doorway, and won’t allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. Exodus 12:22-23 ISV
The Israelites departed the devastated Egyptian countryside swiftly pursued by Pharaoh’s retaliatory army, which pressed them to the shoreline of the Red Sea. In this dead-end moment, God dazzled a miracle: We know the story! Almighty God parted the waters, and the people walked through the dry seabed to their freedom without getting mud on their garden clogs, LOL!
Celebrate with Unleavened Bread
God institutes this death-defying day as a feast to remember and celebrate and praise the God who hears the cries of His people and delivers them from bitter, oppressive misery.
This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread…And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ Exodus 12:14-15, 26-27 RSV
God’s history of deliverance is not meant to be celebrated by passive platitude, but in a passionate engagement of his pattern by tasting for ourselves—eating the unleavened bread and the other herbs and foods, eating the promise so it is taken inside us and becomes a part of us.
Jesus Celebrates the Passover
So it is no wonder that faithful Jesus celebrates the Passover in keeping with His Father’s decree, gathering His followers to the table, knowing all was prepared and aligned for the when and where of their fateful evening.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the passover for us, that we may eat it.” …And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you… Luke 22:7-8, 14-15 RSV
Jesus saw to it that the table was set, knowing the eternity of the moment was playing out in all that they did.
Jesus is Unleavened Bread
Breath deep this reality, that Jesus is unleavened bread, coming in a human body, even surrendering His Spirit.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19 RSV
Though not stated outright, the bread He took would have been unleavened bread because that’s what a Passover observance is, a reenactment of the night when God chose the menu and summoned his people to engage His promise. In the moment, He declares the purpose of the unleavened bread for all time, to reveal Himself as the One to take on our humble state—a body void of the Spirit’s rising power, our felled, earthy and contrite existence. Upon leaving the dinner, He will be lodged by a hail of soldier’s insults, abuse, lashings, and torture leading to death; it will be impossible to lift His head except by the miraculous power of the Lord Almighty.
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 NIV
The barley detail hints to us that the Lord would enter into the humble, common, poor places of enslavement. He willingly lives with us in our lowliness and lends His power to liberate us. Embracing Christ sets us free from death to live with Him, redeemed to remain with God forever.
I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? Hosea 13:14 NIV
Barley Worship Treasury
Didn’t Ruth know God’s redemption, returning to Israel during the barley harvest, redeemed by her kinsman Boaz? Was Christ whispering his deliverance when He multiplied the barley loaves for the crowd 5,000 strong? May these careful details delight us! May we be convinced of His plan from the beginning and smitten with His summons to taste the richness and earthy depth of His Word and its sustenance. Let the following Scriptures surround and remind you how He brings everything together.
These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Leviticus 23:4-6 NKJV
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” Exodus 9:1 NIV
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” Exodus 9:1 NIV
It is in connection with this will that we have been separated for God and made holy, once and for all, through the offering of Yeshua the Messiah’s body. Hebrews 10:10 CJB
It is in connection with this will that we have been separated for God and made holy, once and for all, through the offering of Yeshua the Messiah’s body. Hebrews 10:10 CJB
Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. Deuteronomy 16:3 NIV
The Lord has given you bread of distress and water of oppression; He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. Isaiah 30:20 LSB
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). John 20:16 NIV
Haven’t you realized yet that bread isn’t the problem? The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” Then they got it: that he wasn’t concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching. Matthew 16:12 The Message
Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious. 1 Corinthians5:7-8 The Message
He had to become as human as His sisters and brothers so that when the time came, He could become a merciful and faithful high priest of God, called to reconcile a sinful people. Hebrews 2:17 VOICE
And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. Exodus 12:27 RSV
Worship with a Weekly Loaf
Try this simple unleavened bread recipe, basically a barley flour tortilla, to interact with the story of Passover and Christ’s sacrifice of His body.
He had to become as human as His sisters and brothers so that when the time came, He could become a merciful and faithful high priest of God, called to reconcile a sinful people. Hebrews 2:17 VOICE
A Lenten Look at Bread is a 7-part series at the crossroads of bread and garden plants in God’s Word. Slicing into bread analogies draws us closer to Lord of the Sabbath, the Word, more life-sustaining than bread, and the Bread of heaven, for starters (yes, there will be sourdough!)—against a background of wheat, barley, coriander, and Israel’s best produce. Taste and see my goodness, the Lord beckons (Psalm 34:8), so we’ll be worshiping with a weekly loaf for hands-on help in grasping who Jesus is and what he has done for us, growing our hearts for a deep embrace of the ultimate metaphor, He is Risen!
Do you love connecting God’s Word to your gardening work and the trees and plants around you? You will love my new book, My Father is the Gardener, Devotions in Botany and Gardening of the Bible, order at this link.
Find barley in God’s Word for Gardeners Bible, in devotions on Sowing & Reaping series in Garden Work, beginning on page a-31
Learn more about barley for your backyard in Growing Barley’s Mystery from the Devotions Blog
Barley is in the Garden and Delight Plant Guide, one of the seven species from Deuteronomy 8:8
Photo Credits: ©Shelley S. Cramm
CJB notes Scripture quotations taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
ISV denotes Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible: International Standard Version. Release 2.0, Build 2015.02.09. Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
LSB denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org
NIV denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
NKJV denotes Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
RSV denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Message denotes Scripture quotations taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries
VOICE denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Voice™. Copyright © 2012 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
