WHEAT (hwet), (Heb. khit-tawh'), occurs in various passages of Scripture, as enumerated by Celsius (Gen. xxx:14; Exod. ix:32; xxxiv:22; Deut. viii:8; Judg. vi:z I; xv:t ; Ruth. n:23; I Sam. vi:13; xii:17; xvii:28; I Kings v:II; I Chron. xxi:2o, 23; 2 Chron. ii:t 5; xxvii:5; Job xxxi:4o; Ps. lxxxi:16; cxlvii:14; Cant. vii:2; Is. xxviii:25; Jer. xii:13; xli:8; Ezek. iv:9; xxvii:17; xlv:13; and Joel I).
There can be no doubt that the word so ren dered has this signification. Grains of wheat have been found in Egyptian tombs, showing its use in remotest antiquity. Wheat having been one of the earliest cultivated grains, is most probably of Asiatic origin, as no doubt Asia was the earliest civilized, as well as the first peopled, country. As both wheat and barley are cultivated in the plains of India in the winter months, where none of the species of these genera are indigenous, it is proba ble that both have been introduced into India from the north; that is, from the Persian, and perhaps from the'Tartarian region, where these and other species of' barley are most successfully and abun dantly cultivated. Different species of wheat were no doubt cultivated by the ancients, as Triticunt conttositum in Egypt, T. (rstivum, T. hibernunt in
Syria, etc.; but both barley and wheat are too well known to require further illustration in this place. J. F. R.
Figurative. (I) Jesus Christ is compared to a "corn of wheat;" he brings forth to men pleasant fruits of righteousness and blessings in conse quence of his death and resurrection (John xii : 24). (2) The saints are called "wheat," to mark their solidity, usefulness and good fruit, accepta ble to God through Jesus Christ (Matt. iii :12). (3) The word of God is likened to "wheat ;" how sweet, substantial, and nourishing is the fullness of Jesus therein included and communicated to our soul ! (Jer. xxiii :28). (4) To be "fed with the finest of the wheat," is to possess great happi ness and comfort (Ps. lxxxi :16). (5) The Jews "sowed wheat" and "reaped thorns;" when their apparently well-planned schemes of alliance with Egypt and the nations around, and the like, did but, in the issue, increase their vexation and mis ery (Jer. xii :13).