6 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



the plough ; while at the other end was a spike for 

 goading the oxen. This ox-goad was sometimes used as 

 a spear. (Judges iii. 31 ; 1 Samuel xiii. 21.) At one 

 time men followed the plough with hoes, to break the 

 clods (Isaiah xxviii. 24) ; but in later times a kind of 

 hammer was employed for the same purpose. 



Most likely the plough mentioned in various parts 

 of the Bible was not unlike the plough still in use at 

 Nazareth, which consists simply of a small share with 

 only one handle or stilt, having a piece of wood placed 

 crosswise at the top, that it may be more conveniently 

 handled by the ploughman. A traveller in the Holy 

 Land,* who saw this plough in operation, tells us that 

 the share scarcely grazes the earth, and the whole plough 

 is so light that a person might easily carry it from place 

 to place in his arms. It is without wheels, and is 

 drawn by oxen : the ploughman guides it with his 

 right hand, and holds in his left a long stick with which 

 he goads the cattle. The share is covered with a piece 

 of broad iron pointed at the end. In Scripture times 

 the ploughshare was sometimes converted into a weapon 

 of warfare : thus in the prophecy of Joel the command 

 is given " Beat your plow-shares into swords, and your 

 pruning-hooks into spears." (Joel iii. 10.) In the 

 reverse passage in Isaiah, it is foretold, that in that 

 happy period, when the nations of the earth shall not 

 learn war any more, "they shall beat their swords 

 into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks." 

 (Isaiah ii. 4.) 



In Egypt also, where the soil is light, especially at 

 the time of sowing, when the earth has been fertilised 

 by the overflowing of the Nile, the plough is very simple. 

 Egypt, indeed, has always laid claim to the honour of 

 the invention of this important implement. 



The plough of the modern Egyptians, which is also 

 partially used in Syria, and other parts of Western Asia, 

 is not so light in its construction as the Syrian plough, 



* Wilson. 



