Wheat Grain
Wheat is a grain that was used for food for men and for Pure, choice, clean, and beloved grain used for food for men and offerings for the LORD God. It is superior to barley and held in high esteem as a grain. It is used symbolically representing the righteous, Godly, morally excellent, virtuous and holy nature of the chosen heirs of the LORD God. Wheat can represent that which supports life, it can also serve as a symbol for life itself. Wheat also symbolizes righteousness. The Prophets of old used threshing as a symbol of judgment, with the LORD God as the thresher.
The cultivation of wheat
Sowing wheat
The plowman plow all day to sow and has to open and break the clods of the ground. He casts abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place. For his God does instruct him to discretion, and does teach him. (Isaiah 28:24-26).
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD. (Jeremiah 12:13).
The growth of the plant
Moses said unto Pharaoh that as soon as he was gone out of the city, Moses would spread abroad his hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that Pharaoh may know how that the earth is the LORD’S. Moses knew that Pharaoh and his servants would not fear the LORD God. The flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. The wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. (Exodus 9:31-32).
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn or a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. (John 12:24).
The wheat harvest
And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. (Genesis 30:14).
And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. (1 Samuel 6:13).
It was in the wheat harvest when Samuel called unto the LORD and told him to send thunder and rain so the Children of Israel would see their wickedness for asking for a king to rule over them. (1 Samuel 12:16-18).
It was in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. (Judges 15:1).
Ruth gleaned from the wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother in law. (Ruth 2:23).
Joel prophesized to lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. (Joel 1:8-11).
Threshing wheat
There came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. (Judges 6:11).
Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD. Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. David asked Ornan for the threshing floor so he might build an altar for the LORD. David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. (1 Chronicles 21:18-28).
The parable of the wheat and the weeds
Jesus spoke in parables saying the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. When the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. The servants of the householder came and was upset because the enemy sew the weeds with the wheat. Instead of gathering up the weeds the servant was told to allow them to grow together until the harvest. Then the reapers will gather together the tares first and bind them in bundles to burn them. Then gather the wheat into the barn. (Matthew 13:24-30).
Jesus spoke unto the multitude in parables; then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. Jesus interpreted the parable: He that sowed the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13: 36-43).
Wheat as food
The LORD God shall fed His people who have hearkened unto Him. And the people of Israel who have walked in His ways. The LORD shall fed with the finest of the wheat. And with honey out of the rock should satisfy. (Psalms 81:13-16; Psalms 147:12-14).
The LORD God brought the children of Israel into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey. (Deuteronomy 8:7-8).
When David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,
brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. (2 Samuel 17:27-29).
Ezekiel was told by the LORD to take wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make bread thereof, according to the number of the days that Ezekiel shall lie upon his side, three hundred and ninety days shall he eat thereof. (Ezekiel 4:9).
Offerings of wheat
This is the thing that you shall do unto those to consecrate, that is to sanctify, dedicate, be holy, be sanctified, or be separate those, to minister unto the LORD God in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish. And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams. (Exodus 29:2-3).
The image of wheat also plays an important role in Israel’s thanksgiving to the LORD God for a good harvest. Through Moses, the LORD God instructs Israel to observe the Feast of Weeks, during which the people offer the first fruits of the wheat harvest to God (Exodus 34:22).
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have the LORD God given them. (Numbers 18:12).
The LORD God also gave a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; (Deuteronomy 8:8).
This is the oblation that you shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley: (Ezekiel 45:13).
And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail: (Ezra 6:9).
King Artaxerxes made a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of them, it be done speedily. The king gave up to a hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. King Artaxerxes told them whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven. (Ezra 7:21-23).
The thanksgiving offering of wheat is a token of the vast bounty God has showered upon Israel. Likewise, in examining his past deeds for any wrongdoing, Job likens the contrast between blessing and judgment to the contrast between wheat and briers. (Job 31:40).
Wheat as payment or tribute
When King Solomon purchases cedars from Lebanon to build a temple for the Lord, he pays in part with wheat. (1 Kings 5:11).
King Solomon offered to pay the servants of Huram, the King of Tyre, and the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil. (2 Chronicles 2:10, 15-16).
Jotham reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third. (2 Chronicles 27:5).
A steward to a rich man was accused of wasting his goods. And was told to give an account of his stewardship or he may not be a steward any longer. The steward went to every one of his lord’s debtors to find out how much he owed one debt was a hundred measures of oil. The steward told him to take the bill and write fifty. Then another, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take your bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. (Luke 16:1-8).
Symbolic references to wheat
Wheat can represent that which supports life, it can also serve as a symbol for life itself. The psalmist declares that God will feed an obedient Israel with the finest wheat and honey. (Psalm 81:16).
Wheat also symbolizes righteousness. Being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The Holy Ghost will purge thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. (Luke 3:16-17).
The Prophets of old used threshing as a symbol of judgment, with the LORD God as the thresher. Hosea likens an idolatrous Israel to “chaff swirling from a threshing floor” (Hos 13:3-4). The judgment of the LORD on Babylon leads the prophet Jeremiah to describe that fallen empire as a trampled threshing floor. The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. (Jeremiah 51:33).
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:11-12).
When the hour came that the Son of man should be glorified Jesus said except a corn or grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. (John 12:24).
The fool which you sow does not produce life except it dies. That which you sow you sow not the body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or some other grain. It is the LORD God that gives it a body as it pleased Him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. (1 Corinthians 15:36-38).
Jesus warned Simon that satan has desired to have him, that he may try one’s faith to the verge of overthrow you as wheat. Jesus has prayed for us, that our faith may not fail. Jesus says when we are converted that is to turn to the worship of the true LORD God when we are to bring strength to our brothers. (Luke 22:31-32).
John heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Revelations 6:6).
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buy their merchandise any more. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble. And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. (Revelations 18:11-13).
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MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne ” Wheat Grain:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2356,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) ” Wheat Grain:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2356,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) ” Wheat Grain:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2356, (accessed).
