【Barley – Kokia House Visitors Center, Jerusalem】【大麦—耶路撒冷美地展览馆】

Deuteronomy 8:8 “A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees with oil and of honey.”
John 6:13 “So they gathered them and filled twelve handbaskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over among those who had eaten.”

Barley is one of the seven sacred species in the land of Israel. One of the first cultivated grains as early as 10,000 years ago, barley is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It has been used as animal fodder, as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods. It is used in soups and stews, and in barley bread of various cultures.

It is commonly believed that eating whole-grain barley, as well as other grains with lots of fiber, improves regulation of blood sugar. However, like wheat, barley contains gluten, which makes it an unsuitable grain for consumption by people with gluten-related disorders.

申命記8:8 『那地有小麥、大麥、葡萄樹、無花果樹、石榴樹；那地有出油的橄欖樹，有蜜。』
約翰福音6:9,13 『這裏有一個孩童，他有五個大麥餅、兩條魚，只是供給這麼多人，還算甚麼？…他們便將那五個大麥餅的零碎，就是眾人喫了剩下的，收拾起來，裝滿了十二籃子。』

大麥(Barley)是以色列美地七種作物之第二項，它的希伯來文是שערה，原意為「長髮或長鬚」，指的是大麥的細長茫鬚，是大麥的特徵之一。在猶太地，大麥成熟最早，是初熟的穀物。在聖經中，大麥豫表復活的基督這初熟的果子。大麥生命力極強，長得比小麥快，耐旱，氣候適應性強於其他穀類作物。