Mowing
Mowing (גֵּז, gez, Vulg. tonsio, Am 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 Ps 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 Ps 106:20, for עֵשֶׂב, is incorrect; A.V. "grass." So also Pr 27:25, and Isa 15:6. The corn destined for forage is cut with a sickle. The term קֹצֵר, A.V. "mower," Ps 129:7, is most commonly in A.V. "reaper," and once, Jer 9:22, "harvestman." SEE REAPING.
The "king's mowings," Am 7:1, i.e., mown grass, Ps 72:6, may perhaps refer to some royal right of early pasturage for the use of the cavalry. Comp. 1Ki 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.
