Acacia (Shittim) Tree

Gates of Hades???

Evidences Class

Walking in Jesus’ Footsteps – Part 3

Agriculture and Farming

Most varied climate in the world

Rainy season from October to April

38” average rainfall in Ohio

What is the climate in Palestine?

Gezer Calendar

The Jewish calendar

Leviticus 23:9-11 (ESV) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

Leviticus 23:15-16 (ESV) "You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 16:9-10 (ESV) "You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.

Firstfruits

1 Corinthians 15:20-24 (ESV) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

Firstfruits

Do You See the Symbolism

Ingathering

There was a Sower …

The Thorns

Rocky Soil

The Wayside

Mustard SeedMark 4:30-32 (ESV) And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

A Confusing Passage

Mark 11:12-14 (ESV) On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.

Fig trees were a popular source of inexpensive food in Israel. In March, the fig trees had small edible buds; in April came the large green leaves. Then in May, the buds would fall off and be replaced by the normal crop of figs.

Proverbs 20:4 (ESV) The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

Ploughing

Matthew 11:29-30 (ESV) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Acts 15:10 (ESV) Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV) Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Reaping

Revelation 14:14-16 (ESV) Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe." So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Threshing Sledge

Threshing

1 Timothy 5:18 (ESV) For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."

Winnowing

Matthew 3:12 (ESV) His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Sifting

Luke 22:31-32 (ESV) "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

Full yield of fruit does not occur till the tree is 50 years old.

Isaiah 11:1 (ESV) There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Romans 11:17 (ESV) But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,

St. Catherine’s Monastery

Mount Sinai

Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim

Joshua 8

Ebal – “Stripped or Bald”

Deuteronomy 11:16-17 (ESV) Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

Goshen

Each year the river Nile overflowed its banks, and the land was covered with fine river-borne silt that enriched the soil for the year. In the dry season, irrigation was used. Water was lifted from the Nile into ditches by a shadoof (sweep device) and directed by blocking off particular ditches with a system of mud walls that could be broken down again.—New Manners and Customs of Bible Times

7 Fat Cows and 7 Skinny Cows