1. Understanding the Bible Land of the Bible Land of the Bible Agriculture and Rainfall

7. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! (Psalms 80:1a ESV) He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11 ESV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. (?)

8. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

9. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (John 10:1-18 ESV) So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:3-7 ESV)

10. [the LORD your God] will … bless … the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil … in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. (Deuteronomy 7:13 ESV) and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart. (Psalms 104:15 ESV) The LORD answered and said to his people, "Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; (Joel 2:19a ESV) And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, (Hosea 2:8a ESV) [It shall come to pass in the latter days that] … they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, (Micah 4:4 ESV)

12. For [the Father] makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (?) Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honour is not fitting for a fool. (Proverbs 26:1 ESV) Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the LORD will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the LORD, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king." So Samuel called upon the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. (1 Samuel 12:16-18 ESV) Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, (Hosea13:3a ESV)

14. And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. (Deuteronomy 28:23 ESV) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." (Matthew 7:26, 27 ESV) Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62 ESV)

15. Palestinians still use old methods of reaping. A woman uses a sickle to gather crops.

16. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. (Joel 3:13 ESV) Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. (John 4:35 ESV) The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. (Psalms 1:4 ESV) [Christ’s] winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (Luke 3:17 ESV)

17. "And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. (Deuteronomy 11:14 ESV) Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. (James 5:7 ESV) You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. (Psalms 65:9-13 ESV)

18. Understanding the Bible Land of the Bible Land of the Bible Agriculture and Rainfall