Agriculture in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Who is Agriculture?
AG'RICULTURE
In its special sense, and as here employed, the term denotes the cultivation of grain and other field crops. In a broader meaning, the threefold business of many agriculturists includes, besides such cultivation, the keeping of flocks and herds, and horticulture. History. -- To dress and keep the garden of Eden was the happy employment given to man at his creation. After the Fall, Adam was driven forth to till the ground as the first farmer. This was also the employment of Cain, but Abel was a keeper of sheep. After the Flood, "Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard." The patriarchs and their descendants, till their settlement in Palestine, gave little attention to agriculture. Joseph's words comprehensively describe their occupation; "The men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle." With the possession of the cultivated lands of the Canaanites, the Hebrews adopted a more strictly agricultural life, and, in general, the methods of farming of those whom they conquered. Pastoral employments were, however, never wholly abandoned. The tribes east of the Jordan were possessed of "a very great multitude of cattle," and in Judaea and all the more hilly districts shepherds always abounded. Soil. -- Palestine is divided agriculturally, and as to all its physical conditions, into four districts : 1. The maritime plains, including the rich coast lands of Gaza, Sharon, etc., with a mild and equable climate, under which even the orange and banana flourish. 2. The valley of the Jordan, reaching from the waters of Merom to the southern end of the Dead Sea, having a tropical temperature. 3. The hill-country between these divisions eastward of Carmel, bisected by the rich plain of Jezreel, and bosoming many fertile vales, such as those of Nazareth, Shechem, Samaria, Hebron, but often rising, especially southward, into bleak moors and highlands, where snow sometimes falls in winter. 4. Peræa, the rolling and often mountainous plateau east of the Jordan valley, not very different in climate from the last division, but in soil more fertile. In this last region Dr. Merrill reports the tillable area of the Hauran (ancient Bashan) to be 150 by 40 miles in extent, and one vast natural wheat-field. Here he has "seen a peasant plough a furrow as straight as a line, one and even two miles long." In Argob and Trachonitis he saw one of the largest lava-beds in the world, covering 400 or 500 square miles, and the source of inexhaustible fertility. Of Palestine west of the Jordan, which is less in extent than the State of Vermont, Captain Warren says: "The soil is so rich, the climate so varied, that within ordinary limits it may be said that the more people it contained the more it may. Its productiveness will increase in proportion to the labor bestowed on the soil, until a population of fifteen millions may be accommodated there." By others we are told that the very sand of the shore is fertile if watered. The soil of Palestine is enriched by the disintegration of the rocks, which are commonly limestone, often quite chalky. Seasons. -- Of these there are practically but two -- the rainy and the dry -- nearly divided from each other by the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The showers begin to fall in November, at the latest, and the rains of the winter months, except it be February, are heavy. These are "the former rain" of Scripture, which rarely fails, while "the latter rain" of March and early April is more uncertain; and as the filling of the ears of grain depends upon it, this "latter rain" is eagerly expected. Job 29:23 ; Zech 10:1. Storms in Palestine are ordinarily brought by the west or south-west wind. 1 Kgs 18:44; Luke 12:54. Without question, this country was in Bible times better supplied with forests and orchards than now, and its climate was more humid and equable. The hills were generally terraced and provided with reservoirs, as abundant ruins testify, and the sudden torrents, which now wash away what little soil they find, were, by these means and others, dispersed and absorbed by the ground. Many of the most rugged districts were covered with vineyards and olive-orchards, so that Deut 8:7-9 is but a literal description of what the land once was, and, in particular localities, still remains. Unlimited extortion, in addition to heavy taxes upon every crop and every tree, even to the oak upon the hills, the unrestrained pillage of the harvests by Bedouins, with other causes, are fast abandoning this fertile land to denudation, drought, and the desert. Calendar of Labor. -- There have been few changes in the art or instruments of agriculture in Western Asia since ancient times. The present tense may therefore ordinarily be used for the past. Ploughing and sowing grain begin with the rainy season, and, as the ground does not freeze, continue, when the weather permits, till March. Then are sown the podded and garden plants, the melons, and all the crops which demand a warmer soil. Barley-harvest quickly follows the cessation of the latter rain, and then wheat-harvest. The remaining crops having one after another been brought to perfection and gathered, the droughts of summer now end most agricultural operations till the ingathering of the fig, the olive, and the grape in August and September. Occasionally, during the busy season, the husbandman tents upon the land he cultivates. Ordinarily, his home is in some village or walled town, perhaps miles away from his farm. In the early morning he walks or rides to his labor, the patient ass or the camel bearing his light ploughs and other implements. Thus in the parable the "sower went forth to sow." So varied is the character of the soil and climate within short ranges as often greatly to prolong the season of planting and harvesting. Grain frequently requires replanting or replacing with other crops. Where there are permanent streams or opportunities for irrigation, sowing follows harvest, crop succeeds crop through the entire year, and the promises of Lev 26:5 and Am 9:13 are verified. Crops. -- In this fertile soil, with an almost unparalleled variety of climate and exposure, between such points as Jericho, Hermon, and Gaza, there is opportunity for the cultivation of nearly all plants either of the torrid or temperate zones; and we find in the Bible, for such a book, a very extended botanic list. The variety of cultivated species was, however, much less than now. Wheat, barley, millet, and spelt (not rye) were the only cereals. Beans and lentiles were staples, while flax, cucumbers, fitches, cummin, and the onion family were often extensively cultivated. Jewish writers mention peas, lettuce, endives, and melons as ancient garden plants. Fruit- and nut-bearing trees were cultivated for the most part within enclosures. Methods and Instruments. -- As population increased, irrigation, by conducting water to the crops from brooks and reservoirs, became more common. The painful Egyptian labor of raising a supply from a lower level was rarely necessary. Such passages as Jer 9:22 show that the use of dung as manure was not uncommon. In Jer 4:3; Hos 10:12 there is reference to the practice of leaving the land fallow for a time. The former passage, with many others, reminds us of the great variety and abundance of thorny plants in Palestine, said to be one mark of a fertile soil. Rotation of crops seems to have been practised to some extent. The instruments of agriculture are particularly described under their respective titles. Oriental ploughing does not turn a sod, but merely scratches the earth to the depth of three or four inches at most, which is all the primitive and light plough and the small cattle of the East can do. Often -- always in the case of new ground -- a second ploughing crosswise was practised; and this is referred to by the word "break" in Isa 28:24. Steep hill-sides were prepared for planting with the mattock or hoe, an iron-pointed instrument of wood resembling in shape the modern "pick." Isa 7:25. Good farmers ploughed before the rains, that the moisture might be more abundantly absorbed. The seed, being scattered broadcast upon the soil, was ordinarily ploughed in, as is still the custom. Light harrowing, often with thorn-bushes, completed the process. In wet ground the seed was trampled in by cattle. Isa 32:20. After its planting there was commonly little further labor bestowed upon the crop till it was ready for the harvest. Weeds were removed by hand when it was safe to do so. Matt 13:28, 1 Chr 2:29. Irrigation was sometimes necessary. As the ingathering drew near, the fields must be protected by the watchman in his lodge from the wild boar and other beasts, and from human marauders. The newly scattered seed and the ripening crop also required to be defended against great flocks of birds. Matt 13:4. Grain when ripe was, in more ancient times, plucked up by the roots. Later, it was reaped by a sickle resembling our own, either the ears alone being cut off or the whole stalk. The sheaves were never made into shocks ; but this word in Scripture use denotes merely a loose An Egyptian Threshing-Floor (From Eiehn.) heap of them. Laborers, animals, or carts bore the harvest to the threshing-floor, where, as elsewhere described, the grain was separated from the ears and winnowed. More delicate seeds were beaten out with a stick. Isa 28:27. Peculiarities. -- Agriculture was recognized and regulated by the Mosaic law as the chief national occupation. Inalienable ownership -- under God -- of the soil was a fundamental provision, and renting the ground till the year of jubilee was alone possible. "The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." Lev 25:8-10, Lev 25:23-35. The encouragement such a provision gave to agricultural improvements cannot be exaggerated. That the land must rest one year in seven was another remarkable and most beneficent requirement. Lev 25:1-7. The Jews were forbidden to sow a field with divers seeds. Deut 22:9. For example, wheat and lentiles must not be mixed, nor areas of them meet. The rabbis describe with minuteness how to vary the position of crops, yet avoid actual contact between them, and prescribe at least three furrows' margin between such divers kinds. The yoking together of an ox and ass was prohibited, but is common enough among the present inhabitants. Horses were never used for farm-work. Vineyards are enclosed in walls, and gardens are usually protected in the same way, or by banks of mud taken from ditches. Otherwise, in agricultural districts the absence of all fences or enclosures is, and always was, in striking contrast to our own practice. A brook or a cliff may serve as a boundary, but ordinarily large stones almost covered by the soil are the landmarks. Deut 19:14. Exceedingly beautiful to the eye are the vast fertile areas of Palestine, checkered only by cultivation. As cattle find pasture through most of the year, there are no proper barns to be seen. Grass is cut in watered places with a sickle for "soiling," and stock is fed with this or with grain when the fields are dried up. More commonly, during periods of scarcity, the flocks and herds are driven to other feeding grounds. Booths are sometimes provided for inclement weather, and at night cattle are driven into caves or folds. The permission to pluck and eat a neighbor's grapes or grain, but not to put the former in a vessel nor use a sickle on the latter, is not to be forgotten. Deut 23:24,Deut 23:25. There was also merciful provision that the poor might glean in the vineyard and harvest-field, and that something should be left for them. Lev 19:9, 1 Kgs 16:10 ; Deut 24:19. Altogether, the agricultural laws of the Pentateuch have been unapproached in their wisdom and beneficence by any similar legislation on record. See Garden, Mowing, Plough, Seasons, Thresh, Vines, etc.

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Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'agriculture' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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