Agriculture in the Bible

Following is an interesting quote from a favorite author which has really gotten me thinking about the principles of agriculture in the Bible. See what you think:

"In the laws which God gave for the cultivation of the soil, He was giving the people opportunity to overcome their selfishness and become heavenly-minded. Canaan would be to them as Eden if they obeyed the Word of the Lord. Through them the Lord designed to teach all the nations of the world how to cultivate the soil so that it would yield healthy fruit, free from disease. The earth is the Lord's vineyard, and is to be treated according to His plan. Those who cultivated the soil were to realize that they were doing God service." 1BC 1112.7

So this begs the evaluation, what lessons for agriculture are present in the Bible? What lessons can we still learn today?


Gen 3:23          - Tilling the ground was assigned after the fall.
Lev 19:9-10     - Do not harvest clean. Leave some for the poor and the stranger.
Lev 19:23-24   - Let fruit trees rest for 3 years, the 4 is for celebration, the 5th for production.
Lev 23:19        - Bring first fruits to the priest.
Lev 25:1-7       - Sabbatical year. The land rests for one year in seven.
Lev 26:4-9       - Obedience brings a blessing on the land.
Deut 20:19-20  - In war, spare the fruit tree from destruction.
Deut 22:9         - Watch your varieties and crops to maintain genetic purity.
Deut 24:17-22  - Take care for the stranger, fatherless and widow in your harvest.
Deut 28:1-14   - Careful obedience to God's law yields blessings on land, harvest, rain, family.


Principles gleaned from these verses:

• Man needs hard work to occupy his time and thoughts. The curse of sweat was really a blessing in disguise.
• We work in our gardens not for selfish ambition, but to be a conduit of blessings from the Lord to those around us. Those who especially need our help are those who are disadvantaged: the poor, the itinerant worker, refugee, fatherless, widow.
• Cooperate with nature, and think of the long term implications in our farming practices.
• Acknowledge God as the force that makes all things grow. The farmer simply assists in the process.
• Just as people need a Sabbath rest, so the land needs time to rejuvenate. Fallow land, and cover crops and crop rotation seem in harmony with this principle.
• God looks to bless obedience, and this blessing will spill out to the tasks we perform and upon our land itself.

Words of promise and wisdom:

• "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." Is. 58:11
• "Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it." Eze 36:33-36
• "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chron. 7:14
• "He that ploweth should plow in hope." 1 Cor 9:10
• "Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor." Prov 13:23
• "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in the harvest, and have nothing." Prov 20:4