Joe 1:11 | KingComments | STEP | The groups addressed here are those most directly affected in their livelihood security. Wheat and barley are the main grains from which bread is baked. We can think of two types of people: rich and poor. Barley bread is the bread for the poor, while people who are better off can buy wheat bread. Barley is used as food for horses ( ) and as food for people if wheat is not available or payable. From 2 Kings 7 it appears that barley costs half of wheat ( ). The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, in his book The Fall of Jerusalem , mentions the same in his description of one of the sieges of Jerusalem: ‘Many rich gave all their wealth for a measure of wheat, the more poor for a measure of barley, after which they locked themselves in a hidden corner of their house and kneaded the grain or ate it ungrounded.’ In Revelation 6, the price of barley is one third of the price to be paid for wheat ( ). But if both are no longer available, it does not matter if you are rich or poor. Rich and poor meet in the misery of hunger ( ). When both come to the acknowledgment that they are to blame for the chastisement God had to bring because they did not recognize Him as their Maker, He has achieved His goal with that chastisement.

‏ Joel 1:11

Poor and Rich Meet Each Other

The groups addressed here are those most directly affected in their livelihood security. Wheat and barley are the main grains from which bread is baked. We can think of two types of people: rich and poor. Barley bread is the bread for the poor, while people who are better off can buy wheat bread. Barley is used as food for horses (1Kgs 4:28) and as food for people if wheat is not available or payable.

From 2 Kings 7 it appears that barley costs half of wheat (2Kgs 7:1 ; 16). The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, in his book The Fall of Jerusalem, mentions the same in his description of one of the sieges of Jerusalem: ‘Many rich gave all their wealth for a measure of wheat, the more poor for a measure of barley, after which they locked themselves in a hidden corner of their house and kneaded the grain or ate it ungrounded.’

In Revelation 6, the price of barley is one third of the price to be paid for wheat (Rev 6:6). But if both are no longer available, it does not matter if you are rich or poor. Rich and poor meet in the misery of hunger (Pro 22:2). When both come to the acknowledgment that they are to blame for the chastisement God had to bring because they did not recognize Him as their Maker, He has achieved His goal with that chastisement.