Mowing
Mowing [1]
( גֵּז, gez, Vulg. tonsio, Amos 7:1; the Sept. reads Γώγ ὁ βασιλεύς, either from a various reading or a confusion of the letters ז and ג ), a word signifying also a shorn fleece, and rendered in Psalms 72:6, "mown grass." As the great heat of the climate in Palestine and other similarly situated countries soon dries up the herbage itself, hay-making in our sense of the term is not in use. The term "hay," therefore, in the Prayer-book version of Psalms 106:20, for עֵשֶׂב, is incorrect; A.V. "grass." So also Proverbs 27:25, and Isaiah 15:6. The corn destined for forage is cut with a sickle. The term קֹצֵר, A.V. "mower," Psalms 129:7, is most commonly in A.V. "reaper," and once, Jeremiah 9:22, "harvestman." (See Reaping).
The "king's mowings," Amos 7:1, i.e., mown grass, Psalms 72:6, may perhaps refer to some royal right of early pasturage for the use of the cavalry. Comp. 1 Kings 18:5. See Shaw, Trav. page 138; Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. abridgm. 2:43, 50; Early Trav. page 305; Pietro d. Valle, Viasgi, 2:237; Chardin, Voy. 3:370; Layard, Nin. cand Bab. page 330; Niebuhr, Descr. de l'Arab. page 139; Harmer, Obs. 4:386; Burckhardt, Notes on Bed. 1:210. (See Grass).
