For the answer to this question we will look at several scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments:

Judges 7:13 
HEB: ק) לֶ֤חֶם שְׂעֹרִים֙ מִתְהַפֵּךְ֙ בְּמַחֲנֵ֣ה
NAS: a loaf of barley bread
KJV: and, lo, a cake of barley bread

לֶ֤חֶם שְׂעֹרִים֙

barley

שְׂעֹרִים֙

Strongs # 8184 

seorah: barley

Original Word: שְׂעֹרָה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: seorah
Phonetic Spelling: seh-o-raw’
Definition: barley

לֶ֤חֶם

Strongs # 3899

lechem: bread, food

Original Word: לֶחֶם
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: lechem
Phonetic Spelling: lekh’-em
Definition: bread, food bread (188), food (87), fruit (1), loaves (3), meal (7), meal* (1), meals (2), prey (1), provision (1), showbread* (4), something (1).

Greek:

Strongs #740  artos: bread, a loaf

Original Word: ἄρτος, ου, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: artos
Phonetic Spelling: ar’-tos
Definition: bread, a loaf
Usage: bread, a loaf, food.

740 ártos – properly, bread; (figuratively) divine provision; all the sustenance God supplies to yielded believers scene-by-scene to live in His preferred-will (2307/thélēma).

bread, loaf.

From airo; bread (as raised) or a loaf — (shew-) bread, loaf.

(The shew bread that was in the tabernacle)

The common bread was made of

barley – seorah

שְׂעֹרִים֙ –

and was eaten by the very poor and unfortunate folks

and by everyone in times of famine.

The sons of the prophets in the days of Elijah & Elisha ate

barley bread.

 42 HEB: עֶשְׂרִֽים ־ לֶ֣חֶם שְׂעֹרִ֔ים וְכַרְמֶ֖ל בְּצִקְלֹנ֑וֹ NAS: loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain 

lechem …

 bread, the ordinary food of early Hebrews.

2 Kings 7:1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this …

… tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” Elisha replied, “Listen to this …

Ruth 3:17 And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back …

… and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.” and she added, “He gave me these six scoops

Ezekiel 4:12 And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried …

... Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of … Prepare and eat this food as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching,

There was famine in the land in the days of Second Kings.

We are told In verse six that they brought Elijah bread and flesh each morning and evening; meanwhile, he drank of the brook. Birds were used by God to provide food and water!

Later, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath.

He commanded a woman there to sustain him.
Interesting to note that she only had

a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse

for her and her son,

and was gathering sticks for the fire.

Elijah, the man of God, instructs her to not only make a cake, but to make it for him FIRST.

The cakes the widow of Zarephath made for Elijah with a handful of meal, (l Kings 17:13), were baked on hot stones and covered with hot embers. 

Thin wafers of dough spread with oil (Exodus 29:2), sometimes strewn with seeds, were baked in an earthenware oven.

Sometimes cakes would be baked with honey,

Ezekiel 16:13, 19

and these tasted so good that the manna of the desert was compared to them. Exodus 16:31; Numbers 11:8. 

The dough was kneaded in a stone mortar or it would be rolled.

It was not uncommon for the people to complain that their oppressors had left them nothing but barley bread to eat. The Bedouins often called their enemies “eaters of barley bread.”

The diet of the East has always been plain, light and simple. The contrast between their diet and that of the west is the very small amount of animal food they consume and the variety of things used with bread; but the most important thing to note is the huge consumption of bread. This reference would immediately mean something with those listening and no doubt this is one reason Jesus/Yeshua used bread in many of His parables and miracles. He also included it in His instruction concerning prayer, when His disciples asked how to pray; He said,

give us this day our daily bread.

Preparations of their bread were simple yet varied; sometimes after being carefully picked, the fresh grains were roasted in a pan over a fire, and eaten as “parched corn” This was and still is part of an ordinary diet.

In Syria women make bread by first, making a fire of dried dung and vine branches which have withered, they are then laid on the hearth; the bread is spread out with the hands like a pancake, and baked over the hearth. Each flat cake was very thin, and could then be rolled up and placed in the mouth.

Many times unleavened wafers were made, smeared with olive oil, they were then baked in a plate or pan. Genesis 18:6 tells us that Sarah made upon the hearth for the three angels, and it is very likely the cakes she made were of this type.

Genesis 18:6 KJV

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.

Sometimes the grain was bruised and then dried in the sun; it was eaten, either mixed with oil, or made into soft cakes. This was the dough of the Old Testament scriptures. The common people who were poor by western standards did not, and still don’t, have much other food than durra bread, this durra bread, is made of a sort of coarse millet, it is kneaded with camel’s milk, oil, butter, or grease.

The best bread was always made of wheat, it was ground and sifted and formed the fine flour, such as was used in the sacred offering.

Leviticus 2:4 (KJV) »
And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

The ground but un-sifted wheat would answer to the “flour” and “meal” of Judges 6:19.

Judges 6:19 KJV

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

Gideon prepares food (a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour) for the angel. Judges 6:19-20

Another reference to barley cakes and Gideon is in Judges 7:13-15

KJV:  And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.

“Gid‘on got there just as a man was telling a comrade about a dream he had had: ‘I just now dreamt that a loaf of barley bread fell into the camp of Midyan, came to the tent and struck it so hard that it overturned the tent and knocked it flat.‘  His comrade answered, ‘This can only be the sword of Gid‘on son of Yo’ash, a man of Isra’el. God has given Midyan and all its army into his hands.’ When Gid‘on heard the dream and its interpretation, he fell on his knees in worship. Then he returned to the camp of Israel and said, ‘Get up! because Adonai has handed Midyan’s army over to you.’”

Why would a Midianite soldier see

a barley cake as symbolizing Israel?

In those days, bread made out of barley was considered the food of the poor people which is what Israel was during their time of oppression.

It was also the season when the nomad tribes came to attack Israel.

In Judges 6:11, it is recorded that Gideon was given his divine assignment by the Angel of the Lord, when he was threshing wheat in a wine press.

The invaders came during the wheat harvest and not the barley harvest. In general, wheat tends to ripen slightly before barley. Most translations in English Bibles read as a

loaf of barley

that tumbled into the camp.

Maybe this is not the best translation, because the original word being used here in Hebrew is:

tselil or צְלוּל.

Strongs 6742

Literally it means a: round loaf.

The word tselil not referring to a typical squared shaped loaf of bread which is the image most people have.

The barley cake most likely looked similar to those in the picture below:

It was a flat bread that was cooked on a griddle and was round like a thick pancake or Middle Eastern pita bread.

This was the main food of the Bedouins in the ancient Middle East.

There is also an interesting play on words, that can only be seen in the original Hebrew.

It seems the word tselil

was meant to be paired with the Hebrew word

haphak or הָפַךְ.

Strongs 2015 happek or hapkehu as indicated below.

According to Strong’s concordance,

haphak

means: to turn or overturn.

The word tumbled is also a correct translation.

The image being suggested here is of:

a round barley cake tumbling into the enemy tent.

After Gideon overheard what the soldier had dreamt, he was greatly strengthened and he fell to his knees in worship to the Lord.

Gideon was now ready to place all his faith and trust in God’s promises to him and to Israel.

Shouldn’t this be our response too when our Heavenly Father sends us an encouraging message? Just as the widow in 1Kings our Fathers promises can always be relied on. 

What possible significance can of 

a lump of barley bread

have?

Obviously by itself, nothing, however for Gideon and the armies of Israel, it won the victory!

Gideon was an unassuming, humble and unpretentious man. Exactly the kind of individual our Father looks for, through whom He can perform great exploits.  However like all humans, Gideon did have some issues.

He had doubts concerning God’s power and ability to work in his life.  We know this, because Gideon was a sign-seeker and asked God to give him signs, not once, but three times… to prove to him that He, God, was really going to use him to destroy Israels’ enemies.

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.

Finally Gideon didn’t ask for another dream…

because he knew what the

barley bread meant.

Barley bread –  A weak and contemptible thing, and in itself as unable to overthrow a tent as to remove a mountain; but, being thrown by a divine hand, it bore down all before it. ~ Benson

That barley bread,

the bread of the poor,

the least of all breads,

was Gideon.

He said, 

My family is poor in Manasseh, and

I am the least in my father’s house.

This is very encouraging to all of us, that our Heavenly Father would choose to use someone of such low standing.

Little is much

when the Creator of the universe is involved in it!

Truly God will exalt the humble…

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10

and He hasn’t changed.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Corinthians 1:26-28)

We are not to serve simply because we see with physical eyes but, with the eyes of our heart, the eye of faith.

a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.

Matt. 16:4.

We have our sign, Messiah Jesus was resurrected and He lives…we need no other sign to trust in and have faith in than our Heavenly Father and His Messiah!

In those days there were no kitchens. Food was cooked in the open in front of the tent, in the closed courtyards of houses in the cities or in the communal living room. In villages the bread is either baked on cakes of dried dung, or by means of clay ovens, built on the floor of the house.

Except for the very poor, each household had an oven, and one oven often served for several families.

It was heated with dried twigs and grass and thorns.

The bread to be baked was placed both inside and out.

A team from the Tell Halif archaeological excavation made their own tannur,

a traditional oven referenced in the Hebrew Bible, and baked bread in it.

An Iraqi woman baking with a tannur.

J. Gordon [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

The bread dough in the picture below, was made from stone ground wheat, barley, oat, and rye flours, mixed with whey, honey, and nuts.

The dough would then be flattened and cooked on a flat pan over the coals of an open fire (below).

The bread would have been eaten warm, since such loaves turn rock hard when cooled.

Pancakes made of a sour dough and filled with a tasty mixture were fried in oil (2 Samuel 13:8) or baked on hot stones pulled out of the embers of a fire. (1 Kings 19:6).

Many baking pans have been found on which the dough of bread and cakes was laid and cooked.

Providing bread for Israel in the wilderness—is reminiscent of God’s supernatural feeding of the Israelites with manna in the wilderness in the days of Moses. Jewish tradition had come to expect the Messiah to repeat this miracle of provision. Messiah/Jesus was revealing Himself as the spiritual redeemer of Israel to all who would accept Him.

The people were as “lost” as their ancestors who wandered in the desert during the Exodus, when God provided manna to feed them.

Messiah/Jesus was superior to Moses because He not only provided physical food but also spiritual food, as the bread of life.

When Messiah Jesus/Yeshua, miraculously fed 5000, it is the only one recorded in all 4 Gospels.

He fed the hungry multitude with five barley loaves which belonged to a small boy.

For 5,000 Matthew 14:13-21;

Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1- 15.

Some scholars believe that the crowd could have been between 15,000 and 20,000 people to include all the women and children.

Matthew 15:32-39 features the feeding of the 4,000

& Mark 8:1-10 the 4,000.

John 6:8–13) One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

Everyone, men, women and children ate as much as they wanted! Jesus/Yeshua miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes so there was more than enough.

Then He told His disciples/talmidim to gather the leftovers so nothing was wasted.

The disciples collected enough broken pieces to fill 12 baskets; which some believe may symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel. This event tells us that our Heavenly Father is not only an extremely generous provider, but that His resources are limitless.

Possibly over 20,000 on 2 separate occasions ate their fill.

There were baskets of food left over that no one could eat.

Do you still not understand?

Do you not remember the five loaves for the 5,000 and now many basketfuls you gathered or the 7 loaves for the 4,000 and now many basketfuls you gathered?

There were 12 basketfuls of broken pieces from the 5000 and in

Mark 8:20 And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did … pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” also in John 6:12

There was abundance but nothing was wasted! 

This was because according to halakhah, traditional Jewish law, (shabbat 50b), the destruction of food was prohibited, in feeding the multitudes, Messiah honors the edicts of Judaism by stating,

Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted.

This is a timely reminder for us as shortages are on the rise, along with prices, that we are to good stewards of the resources and daily provision that we receive; and to be mindful of the true source of every provision in our lives.

In all these biblical accounts, the individuals were

eaters of barley bread

for one reason or another. They all had needs that only our Heavenly Fathers intervention could supply. When they yielded in humble obedience to Jehoveh Jireh, they A:LL received miracles. Provision in abundance yet with no waste!

If we remain humble and obedient, we too can be counted among

the eaters of barley bread

and be included with Gods’ mighty men and women!

In Matt. 4:4. He reminds us that

we cannot live on bread alone.. and later tells us:

I am the bread of life.

If we eat of Him we will not perish but have everlasting life…

see also Matt. 14 :17,19 and 15:34,36.

We are so very blessed when we simply go to the nearest store and buy a loaf, of which ever bread we desire. We don’t have to plough the ground, plant the seed, grow the wheat, harvest it or process it by grinding the grains. Nor do we have to prepare the flour or cook the dough – we just eat the bread of our choice….

May we not ever take for granted what our Heavenly Father supplies as we continue to thank Him for our daily bread…let’s remember the eaters of barley bread and learn to put our faith and trust in the only One Who is the Bread of Life everlasting. The Bread Who came down from Heaven for each and every one of us.

Eat of Him today and live forever in His presence. Meanwhile we are still on earth where He promises to supply all our needs…not desires so it’s possible that what we don’t have right now we don’t need today!

and when you NEED that Miracle,

be like a

Barley Bread Eater –

simply receive it by faith!

Shalom, shalom mishpachah/family

and cheverim/friends!

It’s all about Life and Relationship,

NOT Religion.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

NOT SURE?

YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.