The plow was drawn by oxen, which were sometimes urged by a scourge (Is. x:26; Nahum iii:2) ; but oftener by a long staff, furnished at one end with a flat piece of metal for clearing the plow, and at the other with a spike for goad ing the oxen. The ox-goad might easily be used as a spear t Judg. iii :31 ; I Sam. xiii :2t ). Some times men followed the plow with hoes to break the clods (Is. xxviii:24) ; but in later times a kind of harrow was employed, which appears to have been then, as now, merely a thick block of wood, pressed down by a weight, or by a man sitting on it, and drawn over p.owed field.
(2) Sowing. The ground, having been plowed as soon as the autumnal rains had mollified the soil, was fit, by the end of October, to receive the seed ; and the sowing of wheat continued, in different situations, through No vember into December. Barley was not generally sown till January and February. The seed ap pears to have been sown and harrowed at the same time; although sometimes it was plowed in by a cross furrow.
(3) Plowing in the Seed. The Egyptian paintings illustrate the Scriptures by showing that in those soils which needed no previous preparation by the hoe (for breaking the clods) the sower followed the plow, holding in the left hand a basket of seed, which he scat tered with the right hand, while another person filled a fresh basket. We also see that the mode of sowing was what we call 'broad-cast,' in which the seed is thrown loosely over the field (Matt. In Egypt, when the levels were low, and the water had continued long upon the land, they often dispensed with the plow altogether ; and probably, like the present inhabitants, broke up the grniind nitht hoes, or simply dragged the moist mud with bushes after the seed had been thrown upon the surface. To this cultivation without plowing loses probably alludes (Dent. xi :tn), when he tells the Hebrews that the land to which they were going was nit like the land of F.gypt, where they 'sowed their seed and watered it with their foot as a garden of herbs.' It seems, however. that even in Syria, in sandy soils, they sow without plowing, and then plow down the seed (Russell's N. II. of Aloppo. i :73, etc.) It does not appear that any instrument resembling our harrow was known ; the word rendered to harrow, in Job xxxix :to means literally to break the- Hods, and is so rendered in Is. xxviii :24 Ilns, x:t t : and for this purpose the means used have been already indicated The tossnge in Job, however, is important. It shows that this break
ing of the clods was not always by the hand, but that some kind of instrument was drawn by an animal over the plowed field, most probably the rough log which is still in use.
(4) Harvest. It has been already tioned that the time of the wheat harvest in Palestine varies, in different situations, from early in May to late in June; and that the barley harvest is about a fortnight earlier than that of wheat. Among the Israelites, as with all other people. the harvest was a season of joy, and as such is more than once alluded to in Scripture (Ps. cxxvi :5; Is. ix:3).
(5) Reaping. Different modes of reaping are indicated in Scripture, and illustrated by the Egyptian monuments. In the most ancient times, the corn was plucked up by the roots, which con tinued to be the practice with particula. kinds of grain after the sickle was known. In Egypt, at this day, barley and dourra are pulled up by the roots. The choice between these modes of opera tion was probably determined, in Palestine, by the consideration pointed out by Russell (..V. H. of Aleppo., i :74), who states that 'wheat, as well as barley in general, does not grow half as high as in Britain ; and is, therefore, like other grain, not reaped with the sickle, but plucked tip by the roots with the hand. In other parts of the coun try, where the corn grows ranker, the sickle is used.' When the sickle was used, the wheat was either cropped off under the ear or cut close to the ground. In the former case, the straw was afterwards plucked up for use; in the latter, the stubble was left and burnt on the ground for manure. As the Egyptians needed not such ma nure, and were economical of straw, they gen erally followed the former method ; while the Israelites, whose lands derived benefit from the burnt stubble, used the latter ; although the prac tice of cutting off the ears was also known to them (Job xxiv :24). Cropping the ears short, the Egyptians did not generally bind them into sheaves, but removed them in baskets. Some times, however, they bound them into double sheaves; and such as they plucked up were bound into single long sheaves. The Israelites appear generally to have made up their corn into sheaves (Gen. xxxvii :7 ; Lev. xxiii :10-15 ; Ruth ii :7, 15; Job xxiv :to; Jer. ix :22; Mich. iv:12), which were collected into a heap, or removed in a cart (Amos ii :13) to- the thrashing-floor. The carts were probably similar to those which are still em ployed for the same purpose.