THE
263 in
viciiiily.
llic
hctwccii Himl and
This was
YinVlI
in thv in the
maiu
.IKWISII
the
ENCYCLOPEDIA
contest
time of the oarly
]irii|iliils; and lliisea (ii. I(t) ('"inplained that Israel did nut know that it was God, and not Baal, who pave the com and wine and oil. Only when the name of ISaal should no loiiirer lie menti<ined (i/i. 18) winild lUr lilessiiigs of Afiriculture have no admix" Haal " remained the ture of loss and sulTerinir. name for the fructifying rain down to the time of the Mishnah (see iSliel). ii. !). and elsewhere: comliarei<< Jlmil, the expression for u lield watered by
see lielow). That the Israelites |iraclised A.i^rieulture with success is learned from the statement that Solomon sent to Hiram annually 40,000 kor(aliout 440.000 bushels) rain
of wheat and liarlev and 40.000 baths (340.000 irallons)of oil(I t'hrou."ii.U|A.V. 10]). In Ezekiel'stime Judah traded extensively with Tyre seudinf; thither .wheat, honcv, oil. and balm (Ezek. xxvii. ITi. On the
IMVISION
(IF
FlELllS IN
(From
in King Sauls tim<' there was no smith thelaml to sharpen the jilowshares, because the Philistines would not allow the Israelites to furnish thems<4ves with weapons of war (I Sam. xiii. I'.l. 20). The great stride forward nm<le during the reign of .Siilomon indicates that a very hir^'e ela.ss of the Canaanite population nuist have been sul)iuirated to perform the main labor of farming for vi. 2, 8)
found
and
in
Israel.
The cultivation of the soil is described by the Bible ns the destiny and duty of man from the beginnin.g. Adam is placed in the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it; and when expelled hi- is sent forth to till the ground ((!in. ii. I."), iii. 2:t: Ps. liv. 14). The millennium of peaci' will .see a people given only toagri<'idtural pursuits(Isji. ii. 4 JiT. x.wi. II: Hosea, xiv. 7: Amos. ix. 1:1: Micah. iv. 4; Mai. iii. 1 Ps. Ixxxi. 17 V. Hi]). The blessings of the Patriarchs and the i.V. 'rophels were founded upon agri<ullund life (Gen. viii. 22, xxvii. 2X: Dent, xxxiii. Hi. Id, 28t. Judges.
1
prophets, and kings (Judges, vi. 11 I Kiugs, xix. 19: I Sam. xi. .'))are called from the plow to be leaders in Israel. King L'zziali is especially mentioned as a lover of husban(lry (II Cliron. xxvi. 10). If Estimation at times the cidlivation of thesoil was
of A^i- regardedasacurse (Gen.iii.l7,iv.l2),it culture in was because the blessing of God was the Bible. with<lrawn from the .soil for man's sin. If it was not always an easy task, all the greater was the jov of the harvest that rang through their psalms (Vs. Ixv., Ixxii. Isn. xvi. 9, 10) a joy which expressed itself in gratitude to God and in making the needy to be sharers in His
—
gifts(Deut. xvi. 11-1."). xxvi. 11) "He that tillethhis land shall have plenty of bread." says the Book of Proverbs (xii. 11. H. V.). "The king himself is served by the lield" (Eccl. v. 8). The love for Agriculture became so ingrained in the Jew that he contemptuously gave the trader the
MOPKK.V
X )>hotojfTftI>h
Other hand, in the time of the Judges, the Midianites and Amalekiles regularly destroyed the produce of the soil when the sowing-time had passed (Judges,
Agricultural Colonies Agriculture
P.ILI':STIXK.
by BonfiU.)
name of
"
Canaanite" (Zech. xiv. 21
compare
IIo.s<>a.
8 [A. V. 7]). This attachment to the soil and its cultivation increased rather than diminished during the Babylonian Exile. " Houses and lieldsand vineyards shall be posses,sed a.irain in this land " this was the divine niessa.ire .sent to the i)i'Oi>le Ihrougli the prophet Jeremiah before thi'catasIn P08t- trophe came upon the land (Jer. xxxii. l.T). In fact, it was only because the exilic land did not have its .Sabbath years of Times. rest, as the Ijiw prescribed, that the people were delivinil into the hands of the enemy, according to the warning of Lev. xxvi.!t4,4M. Every jirophetic vision of the future contained the promisu of great agricultural prospirity for the exiled .lew (.Vmos. ix. i:!<7 ».(/.; Isa. xxxv.l; E/.ek. xxxiv. 2IW/ »'/.). Not oidy those wiio wandered into Babyloinan xii.
—
those also who were left in Jinlen, tillers of the soil (Jer. xxix. ">; II Kings, XXV. 12). The words of Neh. xiii. !•'> give us ai insight into the wine and fruit prinluction of the Jildean colony, whiih was considerable enough to induce the Tvriiins to erect markets in Jerusjilem, where cai)livity. Iiut
became "peaceful
