68
HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
Com was reaped with a sickle (maggal1 or hermesh2),
after which it was bound into bundles.5 These bundles or
sheaves and, possibly, unbound com were collected into
some sort of heap (gâdîsK) * in the field, like shocks in an
English cornfield. The lifting up from the ground of such
a heap or shock is compared to the burial of a man in a
good old age,5 where the point of comparison seems to be
the bringing of it to its final resting-place, the bam or
store.
After the com was bound, gleaners were allowed to
collect all that was left on the ground and to take standing
com in comers which could not easily be cut with a sickle.6
We may perhaps infer from the story of Ruth7 that all
harvesters were not as kindly as Boaz.
Carts were in use, though in much of the land the nature
of the ground would make their use almost impossible.
They would usually be drawn by a pair of oxen,8 and were
not only used for carrying sheaves 9 and the like, but also,
like threshing-sledges, to beat out the grain.10 When used
for carrying persons11 or valuables they were sometimes
covered.12
Threshing, when not done on a small scale with a flail
or rod,13 was effected by means of a threshing-sledge
(mɑragh, pl. môriggîm),1* sometimes called merely ‘ sharps ’
(Adπ⅛),ιs from the fact that sharp stones or iron teeth were
fastened to its under surface. This was drawn by oxen16 over
the corn strewn on the threshing-floor, which was a circular
enclosure bounded by big stones, the ground so enclosed
being beaten hard. The effect of the sharp stones or iron
, Jer. 1. ι6 ; Joel iii. ɪɜ {Heb. iv. ɪɜ). * Deut. xvi. 9, xxiii. 25.
3 Gen. xxxvii. 7 ; Ps. cxxvi. 6, cxxix. 7.
4 Exod. xxii. 6 {Heb. 5) ; Judges xv. 5. 3 Job v. 26.
i Lev. xix. 9, xxiii. 22 ; cf. Deut. xxiv. 19. 7 Ruth ii. 2.
8 Num. vii. 3. , Amos ii. ɪɜ. ” Isa. xxviii. 27, 28.
“ Gen. xlv. 19. “ Num. vii. 3.
4 Judges vɪ. ɪɪ ; Ruth ii. 17. 4 2 Sam. xxiv. 22 ; Isa. xli. 15.
'5 Isa. xxviii. 27, pl. harûsôth, Amos i. 3. ^6 Deut. xxv. 4.
CARTS, THRESHING, FODDER 69
teeth was not only to loosen the grain from the chaff, but
also to chop up the straw. This chopped straw (tébhen}
served as provender.1 The threshing-floors were in exposed
situations, and winnowing was effected by throwing into
the air with large shovels (which seem to have been of
somewhat varied forms2) the mixed grain and chaff, so
that the chaff and fragments of straw were blown away.2
The heavier threshing-sledges or carts were not used for
the softer grains.4
The mention of mixed provender,® which might be
seasoned or leavened (Aamzj),6 suggests that grape-skins,
&c., used in the making of wine were sometimes mixed
with the provender, somewhat as brewers’ ‘grains’ are
nowadays given to cows. Some sort of hay is mentioned,7
and it is implied in the food taken into the Ark for the
animals.8 Fodder, excluding tébhen, is called mispoJ
Of the breaking up of the ground for cultivation other-
wise than with the plough there is no definite mention.
The plough would, however, have been impossible in
gardens, and some sort of digging-stick (yathédh) is men-
tioned among other implements (azenim).1°
In connexion with vine-culture we have mention of
mazynêrôth, generally translated ‘ pruning-hooks,.11 The
use, however, of a word from the same root denoting
apparently snuffers for trimming the wicks of lamps may
’ Gen. xxiv. 25, 32 ; Judges xix. 19 ; Isa. xi. 7.
’ Isa. xxx. 24. 3 Hos. xiii. 3 ; Jer. xiii. 24.
* Isa. xxviii. 27. 5 Isa. xxx. 24 ; Job vi. 5.
β Isa. xxx. 24. 7 Prov. xxvii. 25. 8 Gen. vi. 2i.
, Gen. xxiv. 25, 32, xlii. 27, xliii. 24.
w Deut. xxiii. 13 (Heb. 14). The Viordyattwdh seems to have been
used to denote a variety of utensils. It is not only used of a tent-peg,
but of other articles which, like a tent-peg, projected at the top on one
or both sides. Thus, as Robertson Smith pointed out, in Judges v. 26
it seems to mean a hammer, and in Judges xvi. 14 the shuttle (ha-eregh is
a gloss, and should be deleted), with which Delilah tapped to summon
the Philistines.
“ Joel iii. ɪo {Heb. iv. ɪo) ; Isa. ii. 4.