PLOUGH
A slight and inefficient instrument in the East, but used from the earliest times, Genesis 45:6 Deuteronomy 22:10 Job 1:14. See Merom.
The plough now generally used in Syria consists substantially of but three parts; the beam or pole fastened to the yoke; the ploughshare; and the handle. The two latter parts, and even all three, are sometimes formed of a single branch of a tree with two limbs projecting in opposite directions. The ploughshare is sometimes defended by a strip of iron, Isaiah 2:4 Joel 3:10. As the handle was single, and with attention was easily managed by one hand, Luke 9:62, the ploughman brandished in the other a formidable goad, six or eight feet long, armed at the point with a pike, and at the heavy end, which was two inches thick, with a small iron spade for clearing the share from clay, Judges 3:31 1 Samuel 13:21 Acts 9:5. Ploughs were drawn by oxen asses, and heifers, Deuteronomy 22:10 Judges 14:18; at this day camels and cows are also used in Palestine. Ploughing commenced soon after the autumnal rains had set in, towards the last of October.