CHAPTER VII

AGRICULTURE

§ 1. THE HEBREWS AS AGRICULTURALISTS

THE nomad loves the freedom of the desert, but he feels its hardships and limitations. He looks with longing eyes to the settled lands where men dwell in houses, with water, the life-giver, ever at hand in wells or cisterns or in exhaustless springs, and where the harvest brings food and oil and wine in abundance to the happy possessor (Gen 27. 28; Deut 6. 10, II).

The earliest traditions of the Hebrews show them looking for a home and believing themselves destined, in the good providence of God, to be the possessors of Canaan, where their fathers had sojourned and wandered as strangers (Gen 12. 1-3; 13. 14-18; 26. 2; 28. 13; Exod 3. 7f.). It was not a very rich land as we should think, comparing its small size with our great corn and wheat and grazing areas, or comparing it with the marvelous fertility of Egypt or of the irrigated lands of the Tigris-Euphrates valley in ancient times. But Palestine was a good land, capable of sustaining a large population, and to the eyes of the desert wanderer it seemed marvelously rich (Deut 8. 7-9).

The Canaanites, who were already in possession, were agriculturalists. With them the nomad stage had entirely passed. They were settled in towns, many of which were fortified for protection against just such invaders from the

t as the Hebrews (Num 13. 28); and they had achieved Merable culture. Egypt had held sway over Palestine beriod and had exercised her civilizing influence. dence between the Egyptian officials and the el in the Tel-el-Amarna tablets,

reveals a condition of culture at least as advanced as that attained by Israel in the time of David.

The Hebrews with vigorous onslaught secured a footing in Palestine, as is recorded in the later traditions preserved in the book of Joshua, and then for a long period, as the book of Judges indicates, they lived side by side with the Canaanites, now increasing their territory and now yielding it in a struggle that lasted for many generations. The pastoral Hebrews, while continuing their interest in flocks. and herds, learned the agricultural arts from their new neighbors. They adopted the agricultural festivals, especially those belonging to the harvests and vintage (Deut 16. 9-17). Depending largely upon other peoples for the artistic elements of life, they devoted themselves to the soil and exchanged its products for the wares of the trader. It is typical of the wealth of the land when the master is exhorted to furnish his departing slave out of the flock, the threshing floor, and the winepress (Deut 15. 14). And Jeremiah, describing the gifts of Jehovah, refers to the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and the young of the flocks and of the herd (Jer 31. 12).

We naturally think of the Hebrew as a man of business, because the harsh laws of the peoples that have ruled over him for two thousand years have forbidden him to be a possessor of the land. But during the whole period of his national history he was predominantly an agriculturalist. It is a significant fact that the great body of legislation which developed up to the middle of the fifth century B. C., and which is embodied in the Pentateuch, is entirely concerned with a people in the agricultural stage of development. They did become in the Greek times a commercial people to a limited extent, but even in the days of Christ the Jews were largely inhabitants of villages and tillers of the soil.

§ 2. THE PRODUCTS OF PALESTINE

The little country of Palestine is singularly diversified

in climate and soil. It would be difficult to find another territory no larger in extent in which such a variety of agricultural operations could be carried on. The deep gorge of the Jordan leading into the plains about Jericho provides an almost tropical region where the date palm flourishes. The great fertile plains of Sharon and Esdraelon will produce all the grains, vegetables, and herbs of temperate climes. The rich uplands of Gilead are particularly well adapted to the pasturage of cattle. The hill country of Judæa, while sterile, and yielding only a fair pasturage to flocks, was readily adapted to the culture of the vine by the simple process of terracing, which conserved the soil. The lake of Galilee and the Jordan River yielded a goodly variety of fish.

Wheat was one of the most important crops and was grown extensively throughout Palestine (Isa 28. 25), the varying climate giving different periods of harvest from April to August. Numerous references to the "fat of the wheat" indicate that some excellent qualities of the grain were produced (Deut 32. 14; Psa 81. 16; 147. 14; compare Matt 13. 8).

While still green the wheat was often cooked in the ear before the fire. This is the parched grain that is often mentioned as an article of food (Lev 2. 14; 1 Sam 17. 17; 25. 18; 2 Sam 17. 28). When ground into meal (Exod II. 5; Matt 24. 41) it made the best bread either as flat leavened cakes or as raised bread (Judg 6. 19; 1 Kings 4. 22). The wheat crop was sufficiently large for this grain to become an article of export (1 Kings 5. 11; Ezek 27. 17).

Barley was also an important crop (Isa 28. 25; Ruth 2. 23) which could be grown in all parts of the land. The est was earlier than that of wheat (Ruth 1. 22; 2. 23). grain was used for the horse (1 Kings 4. 28), but was the food of the poor (Judg 7. 13; 2 Kings 4. 42; Ezek 12; John 6. 9, 13).

Ezekiel mentions two grains which are translated with some uncertainty-millet and spelt (4.9). The latter seems to have been sown on the corner of the barley field, its toughness making perhaps a kind of hedge for the field. Modern writers speak of several coarse grains which are grown in Palestine to-day as food for the poor. The prophet may have referred to some of these.

Beans and lentils, still important articles of diet in Palestine, were also ancient crops (Gen 25. 34; 2 Sam 17. 28; 23. 11; Ezek 4. 9). Mention is likewise made of cucumbers as growing in Palestine (Isa 1. 8; Baruch 6. 70), and of the Hebrew fondness for the melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt (Num 11. 5), vegetables which are cultivated at the present time throughout Syria.

In the picturesque story of the spies, who went up to report upon the country which the Hebrews were planning to invade, it is significant that they brought back as evidence of the goodness of the land a branch with a cluster of grapes requiring two men to bear it (Num 13. 23). The vine became so valuable in Israel that the prophet could poetically identify the destruction of the land with the ruin of the grape industry (Isa 7. 23), and it is always associated with prosperity and wealth (Gen 49. 11; 1 Kings 4. 25; Sol. Song 8. 11; Jer 31. 5; Micah 4. 4.

The grapes were so valuable that towers were built in which watchmen guarded the fruit from marauders (Isa 5. 2; Matt 21. 33).

The value of the vine was enhanced by the fact that it grows best on mountains which are so numerous in Palestine and that it can flourish in locations and in soil that are not favorable for other crops. By the simple system of terracing the rocky slope and removing the stones (Isa 5. 2) the hills were converted into fruitful vineyards (Isa 5. I; Jer 31. 5). It is the neglect of this terracing, with the consequent washing away of the soil, that has made Judæa so poor a land to-day.

The grapes were eaten ripe (Mic 7. 1) or were dried in the sun into raisins (1 Sam 25. 18; 30. 12; 2 Sam 16. 1). But it was the blood of the grape which was most desired (Deut 32. 14). The fruit having been carried to the winepress was there trodden by the feet of the young men and maidens (Isa 63. 3) as they sang,

"Destroy it not,

For a blessing is in it" (Isa 65. 8)

and the vintage season was a time of great rejoicing (Judg 9. 27; Isa 16. 10; Jer 48. 33).

The expressed juice was allowed to ferment and was then put into skins (Mark 2. 22). Wine drinking was practically universal and was taken as a matter of course (Gen 49. 11f.; Deut 32. 14; Judg 9. 13; Psa 104. 15; Eccl 9. 7; Joel 3. 18; Amos 9. 13f.; Luke 22. 17f.; John 2. 3). However, the danger of its intoxicating effects was clearly recognized (Prov 20. 1; Isa 5. 11; 28. 1, 7; Jer 23. 9; Hosea 4. 11; 7. 5), as also the economic danger of its excessive use (Prov 21. 17). There were, of course, different kinds of wine, some more intoxicating than others, and probably that used as a common beverage was very slightly alcoholic, but the attempt that has been made to show that only unfermented wine is approved in the Bible is not successful.

The social problem of drunkenness is far more acute in our day than was the case in the very much simpler life of Israel. There was a feeling, however, that the wine-drinking that was associated with the more luxurious life of the Canaanites was a departure from the conditions of the more abstemious days of the desert; and this protest is seen in the asceticism of the Nazirites (Num 6; Judg 13. 4f.) and of the Rechabites (Jer 35. 1-11). The prohibition of wine to the priests while performing their sacred rites was probably only to secure perfect fitness of administration (Lev 10. 8ff.).