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§ 58. DIFFERENT KINDS OF GRAIN.

mentioned, by means of ashes; to which the straw, 7, the stubble, p, the husks, 7, the brambles and grass, that overspread the land during the sabbatical year, were reduced by fire. The burning over the surface of the land had also another good effect, viz. that of destroying the seeds of the noxious herbs, Isa. 7: 23. 32: 13. Prov. 24: 31. Finally, the soil was manured with dung, Ps. 83: 10. 2 Kgs. 9: 37. Isa. 25: 10. Jer. 8: 2. 9: 22. 16: 4. 25: 33. Luke 14: 34-35.

§ 58. DIFFEREnt kinds of Grain.

The Hebrew word, 7, which is translated variously by the English words, grain, corn, &c, is of general signification, and comprehends in itself different kinds of grain and pulse, such as wheat,

millet, 202; spelt, 29; wall-barley, 7; barley,

peppers ; כַפּוֹן meadow-cumin : עֲדָשִׁים,ientils ; פּוֹל,beans ;שְׁעָרָה -to these may be add ; פַּשְׁתֶּה־עֵץ ,cotton ;פִּשְׁתֶּה ,flax ; קְצַד ,wort

ed various species of the cucumber, and perhaps rice . Rye and oats do not grow in the warmer climates, but their place is, in a manner, supplied by barley. Barley, mixed with broken straw affords the fodder for beasts of burden, which is called Wheat, which by way of eminence is also called, grew in Egypt in the time of Joseph, as it now does in Africa, on stalks or branches,, each one of which produced an ear, Gen. 41: 47. This sort of wheat does not flourish in Palestine; the wheat of Palestine is of a much better kind. Cotton, y, grows not only on trees of a large size, which endure for a number of years, but also on shrubs, which are annually reproduced. It is enclosed in the nuts of the tree, if they may so be called from their resemblance to nuts. The nuts, when they are ripe, fall off; they are then gathered and exposed to the sun, which causes them to increase to the size of an apple. When opened, they exhibit the cotton. There are a few seeds found in each of these nuts, which are sown again the following year. The cotton of the shrub, called y, fuocos, is celebrated for its whiteness.

59. INSTRUMENTS OF AGRICulture.

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14.

§ 59. INSTRUMENTS OF AGRICULTure.

The culture of the soil was at first very simple, being performed by no other instruments than sharp sticks. By these the ground was loosened, until spades and shovels, n, and not long after ploughs, n, were invented. All these implements were well known in the time of Moses, Deut. 23: 13. Gen. 45: 6, Job 1: The first plough was doubtless nothing more than a stout limb of a tree, from which projected another shortened and pointed limb. This being turned into the ground made the furrows; while at the further end of the longer branch was fastened a transverse yoke, to which the oxen were harnessed. At last a handle was added, by which the plough might be guided. So that the plough was composed of four parts; the beam; the yoke, in,

, which was attached to the beam; the handle, and what we should call the coulter, . D, 2, 1 Sam. 13: 20, 21. Micah 4: 3. (Pliny, N. H. xviii. 47, speaks of ploughs constructed with wheels, which in his day were of recent invention.) It was necessary for the ploughman constantly and firmly to hold the handle of the plough, which had no wheels, and, that no spot might remain untouched, to lean forward and fix his eyes steadily upon it, Luke 9: 62. Pliny, N. H. xviii. 49, nro. 2. The staff by which the coulter was cleared served for an ox-goad. In the East at the present day, they use a pole about eight feet in length; at the largest end of which is fixed a flat piece of iron for clearing the plough, and at the other end a spike 777, xevrov, for spurring the oxen. Hence it appears that a goad might answer the purpose of a spear, which indeed, had the same name 727, 1 Sam. 13: 21. Jud. 3:31. Sometimes a scourge bi,was applied to the oxen, Isa. 10: 26. Nah. 3: 2. There seems to have been no other harrow than a thick clump of wood, borne down by a weight, or a man sitting upon it, and drawn over the ploughed field by oxen; the same which the Egytians use at the present time. In this way the turfs were broken in pieces, and the field levelled; an operation which the word 7 seems properly to signify, viz, to level, since, in Isa. 28: 24, 25, it is interchanged with. At a later period wicker-drags came into use, which Pliny mentions N. H. xviii. 43.

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§ 60. ANIMALS USED IN AGRICULTURE.

, מִרְכֶּבֶת מֶרְכָּבָה, מֶרְכָּב so pleasure carriages

The modern orientals, except in India, are unacquainted with the cart; but formerly, not only waggons na, na, Gen. 45: 19, 27. Num. 7: 3, 6, 7. 1 Sam. 6: 7, 8, 10, 11, 14. Amos 2: 13, Isa. 5: 18. 23: 23, and warlike chariots, 77, but alwere used, Gen. 41: 43. 45: 19, 21. 2 Kings 5: 9. 2 Sam. 15: 1. Acts Ap. 8: 28. All the ancient vehicles were moved upon two wheels only. Covered coaches are known to have been used by ladies of distinction; though this circumstance is not mentioned in the Bible.

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The beasts of burden, that endured the toils of agriculture, were bulls and cows, he-asses and she-asses, Job 1: 14. 1 Sam. 6: 7. Isa. 30: 24. 32: 20. But it was forbidden to yoke an ass with an ox, Deut. 22: 10. Those animals which in the scriptures are called oxen, were bulls, for the Hebrews were prohibited from castrating, although the law was sometimes violated, Mal. 1: 14. Bulls in the warmer climates, especially if they are not greatly pampered, are not so ungovernable, but that they may be harnessed to the plough. If indeed any became obstinate by rich pasturage, their nostrils were perforated, and a ring, made of iron or twisted cord, was thrust through, to which was fastened a rope; which impeded his respiration to such a degree, that the most turbulent one might easily be managed, 2 Kings 19: 28. Isa. 37:29. Ezek. 19: 4. Job 40: 24. By this ring also camels, elephants, and lions, taken alive, were rendered manageable. When bulls became old, their flesh was unsuitable for aliment; for which reason they were left to die a natural death. For the old age of these animals, who had been their companions in labour, was treated by the Hebrews with kindness. Whence it is said, that, in the golden age, the slaughter of an ox will be equally criminal with the slaughter of a man, Isa. 66: 3. Pliny, N. H. vii. 45, 56. Hence too among the Hebrews bulls possessed their appropriate dignity, so that tropes were drawn from them, by no means destitute of elegance, Num. 22: 4. Deut. 33: 17.

$61. PREPARATION OF THE LAND.

§ 61. PREPARAtion of the Land.

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Sowing commenced in the latter part of October; at which time, as well as in the months of November and December following, the wheat was committed to the earth. Barley was sown in January and February. The land was ploughed,

, b, and the quan

tity which was ploughed by a yoke of oxen, 72, in one day, was called a yoke, or an acre, 1 Sam. 14: 14. The yoke,

in,

, was laid upon the necks and shoulders of the labouring animals, and with ropes,,, was made fast to the beam of the plough. The ox beneath the yoke afforded metaphors expressive of subjugation, Hosea 10: 11. Isa. 9: 4. 10: 27. Jer. 5: 5. 27: 2, 8-12. 30: 8. Nahum 1: 13. Ps. 129: 3, 4. Math. 11: 29, 30. The Syrians, according to Pliny xviii. 3. ploughed shallow. The furrows, b, and the ridges between them were harrowed and levelled, y, Job 39: 10. Isa. 28: 24,25. Hosea 10:11. The seed was most probably committed to the soil in the harrowing, as Pliny relates. Yet it seems to have been customary in some cases formerly, as it is at present, to scatter the seed upon the field once ploughed, and cover it by a cross furrow. When it was prohibited by law to sow, either in field or vineyard, seed of a mixed kind, and crops of this nature became sacred,i.e, were given to the priests, without doubt the seed-grain was carefully cleansed from all mixture of tares so often spoken of, and which we find denominated in the New Testament SiSaviov, in Arabick,

زوان

in Syriacki, in the Talmud D, and in Hebrew N

and . This law by no means referred to a poorer sort of grain, as the Talmudic writers suppose, but to what may be called the intoxicating tare, from which the bread and the water in which it was boiled received an inebriating quality, and became very injurious to soundness of mind. The beverage formed by boiling tares and water was called ", water of tares, also

poison water, Deut. 29: 18, 19. Ps. 69: 21. Jerem. 8: 14. 23: 15. Hos. 10: 4. The tares then, such were their injurious qualities, are very properly said to have been sown by an enemy, while the labourers were indulging sleep at noon, Matt. 13: 25—40.

Consult, in reference to the law mentioned in this section, Lev. 19: 19, and Deut. 22: 9.

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§ 62. HARVEST.

In Palestine the crops are as far advanced in the month of February, as they are in this country in the month of May. At that time, when the grain has reached about a cubit in height, it

is frequently so injured by cold winds and frost, that it does not ear. The effect, thus produced upon the grain, is called izzi

or blasting. The common name for it in Arabick is not

w

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as Niebuhr declares, but, Gen. 41: 6. Deut. 28: 22. 2 Kgs. 19:26. Sometimes, even in November, the crops are so annoyed by easterly winds, as to turn yellow, and never to come to maturity. This calamity is denominated ip, mildew, Deut. 28: 22. Amos 4: 9. Hag. 2: 17. 1 Kgs. 8: 37. 2 Chron. 6: 28. But whether the opinion of the orientals, that these effects are occasioned by winds, is founded in truth, cannot, as it seems, be determined.

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The crops, in the southern parts of Palestine and in the plains, come to maturity about the middle of April; but in the northern and the mountainous sections, they do not become ripe, till three weeks after, or even later.

The cultivated fields are guarded by watchmen, who sit upon a seat hung in a tree, or on a watch tower made of planks, and keep off birds, quadrupeds, and thieves, Jer. 4: 16, 17. Isa. 24: 20. It was lawful for travellers, Deut. 23: 25, to strip ears from another's field and to eat; but they were not to use a sickle. The second day of the passover, i. e. the sixteenth from the first new moon of April, the first handful of ripe barley was carried to the altar, and then the harvest, commenced, comp. John 4: 35. The barley was first gathered; then the wheat, spelt, millet, &c. Exod. 9: 31, 32. Ruth 1: 22, 2: 23. The time of harvest was a festival. It continued from the passover until Pentecost, seven

שָׁבָעוֹת חַיּוֹת קְצִיר weeks ; and accordingly went by the name

Deut. 16:9-12. Jer. 5: 24.-The reapers were masters, children, men-servants, maidens and mercenaries, Ruth 2: 4, 8, 21, 23. John 4: 36. James 5: 4. Merry and cheerful, they were intent upon their labour, and the song of joy might be heard on every

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