Exodus 9:31-32
flax ................. flax <06594> [flax.]
The word {pishteh,} flax, Mr. Parkhurst thinks may be derived from {pashat,} to strip, because the substance which we call flax is properly the filaments of the bark or rind of the vegetable, stripped off the stalks. From time immemorial, Egypt was celebrated for the production and manufacture of flax; and hence the linen and fine linen of Egypt, so often spoken of in scripture and ancient authors.
barley ......... barley <08184> [the barley.]
The Hebrew {se¢rah,} barley, in Arabic {shair,} and {shairat,} is so called from its rough, bristly beard, with which the ears are covered and defended; from {saƒr,} to stand on end as the hair of the head: hence {seƒr,} the hair of the head. So its Latin name {hordeum} is from {horreo,} to stand on end as the hair. Dr. Pococke has observed that there is a double seed time and harvest in Egypt; rice, India wheat, and a grain called the corn of Damascus, are sown and reaped at a very different time from wheat, barley, and flax. The first are sown in March, before the overflowing of the Nile, and reaped about October; whereas the wheat and barley are sown in November and December, as soon as the Nile has gone off, and reaped before May.
later crops <0648> [not grown up. Heb. hidden, or dark.]
Ezekiel 4:9
wheat <02406> [wheat.]
millet <01764> [millet.]
{Dochan,} in Arabic, {dokhn,} the {holcus dochna} of Forskal, is a kind of millet, of considerable use as a food; the cultivation of which is described by Browne.
spelt <03698> [fitches. or, spelt.]
{Kussemim} is doubtless [zea,] or spelt, as Aquila and Symmachus render here; and so LXX. and Theodotion, [olyra.] In times of scarcity it is customary to mix several kinds of coarser grains with the finer, to make it last the longer.
390 <07969> [three.]
