Bible History
Bible History
Choose a Category

Manners & Customs

Ploughing After the Rain

Getting ready for ploughing. The farmer gets ready for ploughing after the first rain starts falling, if he has not already done so before. He will spend the time making sure that his plough is in good repair and ready for action. He may need to cut and point a new goad to use in prodding his team of oxen. He must also see to it that his yoke is sm...

Read More

Oxen

ANIMALS USED IN PLOUGHING Use of oxen. In Bible times oxen were used almost exclusively for ploughing. For this reason the expression "a yoke" was used by the Hebrews to mean the measure of land which a yoke of oxen could plough in a day (cf. I Samuel 14:14, and Isaiah 5:10). "Oxen" as the Hebrews used the term, meant both sexes of the animal, cow...

Read More

Kinds of Grain

SOWING THE SEED Kinds of grain sown. There are various kinds of grain used in the Orient. The word "corn" as used in English translations of the Bible, is actually the family name for cereal grains, because the "maize" or "indian corn" of modern days was doubtless unknown to Bible writers. The two principal grains cultivated in ancient Israel were...

Read More

Birds

ENEMIES OF THE GRAIN Birds. The birds of the air are foes of the grain. In the East, large flocks of birds often follow the farmer as he sows his seed in order to snatch up, if they can, what he has scattered. Some of the grain is therefore lost before the plough can succeed in covering it up. That which chances to fall on the path would readily b...

Read More

Early and Latter Rains

The Israel grainfields are largely dependent upon the rain that falls, for their fruitfulness. No rain falls in the land from May to September. The former rain, spoken of in scripture, falls in the latter part of October or the first part of November usually. It is this rain that is the signal for the farmer to begin his ploughing and plant his see...

Read More

Ancient Yokes

The yoke. The yoke is a rude stick that fits the necks of the cattle. Two straight sticks project down each side, and a cord at the end of these sticks and underneath the cattle's necks holds the yoke on the necks. These yokes of wood are often spoken of in the Scriptures (Jeremiah 28:13, etc.). [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]...

Read More

Passover Lamb

The offering of the Passover Lamb was the most important religious act of the year. This lamb had to be a male, which was selected after minute examination, in order that it be free from any blemish, and it was to be a first year lamb. It was killed on the fourteenth of the month Abib (after the Babylonian captivity Nisan, about the equivalent of o...

Read More

Separating Sheep and Goats

Separating goats from sheep. At certain times it becomes necessary to separate the goats from the sheep, although they may be cared for by the same shepherd that cares for the sheep. They do not graze well together, and so it frequently becomes necessary to keep them apart from the sheep while they are grazing. Dr. John A. Broadus, when visiting Is...

Read More

Scapegoat and Goat Sacrifices

Use of goats for sacrifices. The Levitical Code often allowed the Hebrews a choice of a sheep or of a goat for the offering. "If his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice" (Leviticus 1:10). On the Day of Atonement, it was required that a goat be sacrificed by the high priest, and that another goat s...

Read More

Waiting for Rain Before Ploughing

PRELIMINARY PREPARATION FOR PLANTING THE GRAIN Waiting for rain before beginning to plough. In Israel, ploughing is done after the early rains have softened the earth (cf. Psalm 65:10). These rains usually come the latter part of October or the first part of November. If they do not come then, the farmer must wait for them before he can plough his...

Read More

61 Bible Translations

Popular Articles

Explore the Bible Like Never Before!

Bible History Online

Bible Study Tools

Top Tags