Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GRAIN

Grain production relies on field crops such as cereals (Heb. dāgān), legumes, and other cultigens. The main cereals cultivated in the Near East are wheat (ḥiṭṭâ) and barley (śĕʿōrâ). Another group of small-grained cereal plants is known by the collective term millet, and includes broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), Italian millet (Setaria italica [L.] Beauv.), and barnyard millet (Echinichola crus-galli). The legume family includes several genera and species of which several were cultivated in the ancient Near East including lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.), peas (Pisum sativum L.), broad beans (Vicia faba), bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), chick-peas (Cicer arietinum), fenugreek (Trigonela graecum L.), and grass peas (Lathyrus sativus L.).

While wheat and barley are sown in the fall (late October-December), millet is sown in the spring (March-April) and is considered a summer crop. Legumes are sown from as early as November-December (vetch), through December-January (peas, lentils), to February (chick-peas). The period for sowing legumes is referred to in the Gezer Calendar as yrwḥw lqš (two months of late sowing). Harvesting of grain begins with the cereals in April (barley), and continues through May (wheat, oats) and ends in late July-August (millet). Legumes start to be harvested in late April-May (vetch, peas, lentils) and end in June (chick-peas).

To be used grain must be cleared off the stalks. This is done through threshing and winnowing. The clean grain (bār) is ready to be used in food preparation, but the farmer must make sure that a certain amount is stored for use as seed in the next season. Transportation of the clean grain from the threshing floor (gōren) to the storage area was accomplished by placing it in sacks or large bags and moving it on animal backs and in wagons. Grain was stored in a variety of containers and facilities. For daily and immediate use, it was kept in large storage jars which could be placed near the food preparation area. Long-term storage required special facilities, the nature of which depended on the owner and the purpose. Individuals storing grain they themselves produced used mostly stone-lined grain pits, while the central government (the monarchy, cult centers) used a variety of facilities such as tri-partite, pillared storehouses and large underground stone-lined silos. There were other storage facilities such as above-ground granaries, but these are known mostly from Egypt and Assyria.

Grain was collected as in-kind taxes from individuals and families. Certain classes (royalty, nobility) owned large grain-producing tracts of land. Central storage facilities were constructed in towns fulfilling administrative functions in areas considered public or administrative. These were located near palaces, cult centers, city gates, and other areas designated as administrative centers. Functionaries such as the clergy, nobility, or the military were issued grain from these facilities. Written records were kept of deposit and dispatch of commodities as in the Samaria and Arad ostraca.

Bibliography. O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Winona Lake, 1987); “Granaries and Silos,” OEANE, 431-33; J. M. Renfrew, Palaeoethnobotany (New York, 1973).

Oded Borowski

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GRAIN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)