📖 Biblical Definition
A barn is the storage building for harvested grain. Scripture knows two kinds. First, the wise barn — the patient farmer’s ordinary tool, holding the increase against future need. "The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way"; the wise gather. Christ’s harvest parable promises: "Gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:30). Second, the foolish barn — the rich man’s idol: "I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:18-20). The Lord called him fool. Same barn; different soul.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
A covered building for storing grain, hay, flax, and other produce of the earth, and for housing livestock.
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BARN, n. A covered building for securing grain, hay, flax, and other productions of the earth.
Two famous biblical barn-passages: the rich fool's greater barns (Lk 12:18) and Christ's harvest barn into which the wheat is gathered (Mt 13:30; 3:12). Same word, opposite uses.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 13:30 — "Gather the wheat into my barn."
Matthew 3:12 — "He will gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff."
Luke 12:18 — "And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater."
Luke 12:24 — "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often quotes Luke 12 against any saving and Matthew 13 against any judgment; both readings are flat. Scripture lets barns be both wise tool and idolatrous trap, depending on the heart.
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The rich fool's sin was not having barns; it was making them his salvation. Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry — the soul cannot rest in a barn, only in God. The barns themselves are morally neutral; the heart is the question.
Christ's eschatological barn (Mt 13:30) is the harvest's gathering point: the wheat is brought in. The household's daily barn rehearses it: store wisely, give generously, look forward to the great Harvest.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew asam (storehouse, granary) and Greek apothēkē (barn, storehouse) carry the concept.
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Hebrew asam — storehouse, granary.
Greek apothēkē — barn, storehouse; same word in Mt 13:30 and Lk 12:18.
Usage
"The rich fool's sin was not the barn; it was the heart in it."
"The wheat is gathered into His barn; the chaff is burned."
"Store wisely; give generously; look forward to the Harvest."