sowing

The act of scattering seeds as part of the cultivation of food grains. “Sowing” typically refers to the wholesale scattering of wheat and barley; farmers simply carried a container of seed and broadcast it with their free hand. In contrast to Western practice, the Palestinian farmer often plows after sowing, thereby working seeds into the soil for protection and germination; this practice is apparently presumed in Jesus’s parable of the sower (Matt 13:3-8). If plowing precedes sowing, livestock may be driven across a field to harrow the seed. Mosaic law contains regulations on sowing (Lev 11:37-38; Lev 19:19; Deut 22:9). Eventually, sowing attained metaphorical significance (Ps 126:6; Prov 11:18; Matt 13:3-43; 2Cor 9:6; Gal 6:7-8).