CHITTAH - WHEAT

Petra Hadžidaova
11 minutes ago
3 min read

A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; ...

Deuteronomy 8: 8 (KJV)

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INTRODUCTION

Humans are created of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. All three aspects are important, and we need to nurture them, especially the spirit. Bread has been the staple in each home since antiquity. In most cases, even more so nowadays, it was made from wheat. Wheat is considered the best harvest in the Hebrew agricultural calendar. But biblically, wheat also has a hidden meaning. God's people are considered wheat. Even more so, the bride who will be snatched away at a future wheat harvest. The Hebrew word for wheat is chittah.

CHITTAH - HEBREW WORD FOR WHEAT

The Hebrew word for wheat is chittah. (2) It derives from the verb chathath, which means dismayed, shattered, terrified. It conveys the meaning of prostrating, or breaking down either (literally) by violence or (figuratively) by confusion and fear. (3)

THE BEST HARVEST

In the Hebrew agricultural calendar, there are three major harvests:

barley harvest
wheat harvest
wet harvest (4)

Each one of them is important in its own way, but the wheat harvest was always considered the best harvest. Without a good wheat harvest, it was very hard to survive through the year. (4)

THE WHEAT AND THE TARES

The seeds were sown; the first signs of a harvest were peeking from the earth. With a hopeful heart, the farmer watched on as the saplings emerged and steadily grew and grew. Sadly, as it happened year after year, he realised quite a bit of his field was housing tares instead.

Yeshua told us a similar parable in Matthew 13: 24- 30: "Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”.

Yeshua was not speaking of wheat and tares literally. He was talking about people. God's people, more precisely His Bride, is likened to wheat several times in the Bible. The tares are satan's seed. Together they are growing, but in the end only one shall remain. The tares will be collected and burned, while the wheat will be gathered into God's house on a future Shavuot.

CONCLUSION

Wheat has been a staple in every kitchen since antiquity. In the ancient biblical lands, there were three major harvests in the agricultural calendar. The wheat harvest happened to be the best one. Without it, it was hard to survive. The Hebrew word for wheat is chittah. It derives from the verb chathath. God's people are likened to wheat in the Bible, more precisely, His bride. One day on Shavuot, Yeshua will come for His bride.