Homer

Occurrences in Scripture

The homer is a unit of volume used to measure dry goods such as grain. In the Old Testament of the New Korean Revised Version, the word appears in the following passages.

• Leviticus 27:16: The value of a field dedicated to God is assessed according to the amount of seed sown in it. A field sown with a homer of barley is valued at fifty shekels of silver. The verses that follow adjust this value according to the number of years remaining until the Jubilee.
• Numbers 11:32: When the quail came in the wilderness, the people gathered them. The text states that "he that gathered least gathered ten homers," indicating how great the quantity was (see Manna and Quail).
• Isaiah 5:10: This declaration of judgment follows the Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1–7). It depicts crop failure by saying that a homer of seed will yield only an ephah (one tenth).
• Ezekiel 45:11–14: This passage prescribes just weights and measures. Taking the homer as the standard, it specifies that the ephah (a dry measure) and the bath (a liquid measure) each hold one tenth of a homer. Verse 14 speaks of "the cor, which is an homer of ten baths," treating the homer and the cor as the same quantity.
• Hosea 3:2: Hosea buys a woman for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

Background and Terminology

The Hebrew word is pronounced ḥōmer. A widely known explanation holds that the name derives from the load a single donkey (Hebrew ḥămôr) could carry, but this etymology is not certain. Another word written with the same consonants means "clay" (Isaiah 45:9, Jeremiah 18:1–10), but scholars generally regard it as a separate word from the name of the unit.

The relationships among the units are attested in the biblical text. One homer equals ten ephahs (Ezekiel 45:11), and one ephah equals ten omers (Exodus 16:36). One homer therefore equals one hundred omers. Although the names look similar, the omer is a distinct word with a different Hebrew spelling. The modern equivalent of a homer in liters cannot be determined precisely. Scholarly estimates vary widely, so it is difficult to fix it at a specific figure.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The homer is used mainly to indicate quantities of grain or the abundance or scarcity of a harvest. Ezekiel's presentation of the homer as the standard of measure is connected with the command to use just balances and measures (Ezekiel 45:10). The passage shows that honest dealing was treated as a matter of faith in the Old Testament. The homer does not appear as a unit in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Issues

• The price in Hosea 3:2: Some interpreters hold that the fifteen pieces of silver and the homer and a half of barley together amounted to about thirty shekels of silver, comparable to the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32). The text does not state a total, however, so this remains conjecture. Other interpreters connect the payment of part of the price in barley, an inexpensive grain, with Hosea's poverty or with the woman's low status.
• The woman of chapter 3: Because the text does not name her, interpreters differ on whether the woman in Hosea 3 is the same person as Gomer in chapter 1. Traditionally, however, she has often been identified as Gomer.

In the Korean Church

The scene in which Hosea pays a price to bring the woman back is frequently used as a sermon text to illustrate the love of God, who seeks out His unfaithful people again. In such preaching, the phrase "a homer and a half of barley" is often quoted as well.