Mowing

(Heb. gez), rendered in Ps. 72:6 “mown grass.” The expression “king’s mowings” (Amos 7:1) refers to some royal right of early pasturage, the first crop of grass for the cavalry (comp. 1 Kings 18:5).

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 "king’s mowings," (Amos 7:1) may perhaps refer to some royal right of early pasturage for the use of the cavalry.

mo'-ing, (gez, "a shearing," "cut grass"): In Ps 72:6 the good king's rule is said to be "like rain upon the mown grass," to start the new growth (compare 2Sa 23:4; Ho 6:3). "The king's mowings" (Am 7:1) were the portion of the spring herbage taken as tribute by the kings of Israel to feed their horses (compare 1Sa 8:15 ff; 18:5). "After the king's mowings" would denote the time when everybody else might turn to reap their greenstuffs (BTP, II, 109). The term "mower" (qatsar, "to dock off," "shorten") in Ps 129:7 the King James Version is rendered "reaper" in the Revised Version (British and American), and in Jas 5:4 the Revised Version (British and American) has "mow" for amao (the King James Version "reap").

See HARVEST; REAPING.

M. O. Evans