7602. 'And the barley' means its good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the barley' as the good of the exterior natural. The reason why 'the barley' means that good is that it is a product of the field and is a grain that serves for food. For 'grain' in general means the good of truth, 3580, 5295, 5410, 5959, as do 'barley and wheat' in particular - 'barley' the good of the exterior natural, and 'wheat' the good of the interior natural. The former is meant by 'the barley' in Joel,

The minchah has been cut off, and the drink offering, from the house of Jehovah; the priests have been mourning, the ministers of Jehovah. The field has been devastated, the land has been mourning because the grain has been laid waste, the new wine has failed, the oil languishes. Farmers have been put to shame, vine dressers have wailed over the wheat and over the barley, for the reason that the harvest of the field has perished. Joel 1:9-11.

The prophet is referring at this point to a laying waste of what is good and true, as is clear from what follows it there. Not those products therefore are meant by 'the grain', 'the new wine', 'the wheat', and 'the barley', but spiritual things; that is, 'the wheat' means interior good, and 'the barley' exterior good. 'Barley' has a similar meaning in Ezekiel 4:9 and Deuteronomy 8:8. In the Book of Judges,

When Gideon reached the camp, there was a man recounting a dream to his companion. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread rolled towards the camp of Midian, and came all the way to a tent, and struck it so that it fell, and overturned it, and so the tent collapsed. Judges 7:13.

'Midian' means those who are guided by the truth that goes with simple good, and in the contrary sense those who fail to lead a good life, 3242, 4756, 4788, 6777. This good is the good of the exterior natural and is meant by 'barley bread'. But sensory pleasure, if this is what a person has in view instead of that good, is what is meant by 'a cake of barley bread'. This is the state that the Midianites described here represented on that occasion.

3058. The reason 'drawing water' means instruction and also consequent enlightenment, as in later verses of this chapter, is that 'water in the internal sense means the truths of faith, 2702. Thus 'drawing water' is nothing else than receiving instruction in the truths of faith and so being enlightened, as is also the meaning elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah,

With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation, and [you will say] or that day, Confess Jehovah. Isaiah 12:3-4.

'Drawing water' stands for receiving instruction, having intelligence, and being wise. In the same prophet,

To the thirsty bring water, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. Isaiah 21:14.

'Bringing water to the thirsty' stands for giving instruction. In the same prophet,

The wretched and the needy are seeking water, and there is none; their tongue is parched with thirst. Isaiah 41:17.

'Those seeking water' stands for those desiring instruction in truths, 'and there is none' stands for the fact that nobody had any. In addition 'drawers of water' in the Jewish Church represented those who constantly seek to know truths but to no other end than just knowing them, and who consequently pay no attention to their purpose. Such persons were rated among the lowest of all. The Gibeonites mentioned in Joshua 9:21, 23, 27, represented them.