Agriculture
Orientals are largely agricultural people, therefore there are many figures of speech relating to life on the land, which may be found in the Scriptures. Agriculture Orientals are largely agricultural people, therefore there are many figures of speech relating to life on the land, which may be found in the Scriptures. Ox Knoweth His Owner In Isaiah 1:3 we find: "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." In a small village, the animals owned by a household are gathered up in the morning by boys of the town who are entrusted with the job, and taken out to pasture and water nearby. In the evening they are brought back to the edge of the town, headed in the right direction, and they then find their way into their own enclosures. These animals never make a mistake; they always go to their own place. Each type of animal has a specific type of enclosure: the ass has a crib; the sheep have a sheepfold, etc. Isaiah is lamenting in this verse that even dumb animals have enough sense to go home to their proper owners, but the people of Israel who have been chosen by God to be His children, do not have sense enough to know their God. Plowed with Heifer One of the many figures of speech relating to plowing is found in Judges 14:10; this is the story of Samson's marriage to the Philistine woman. He had proposed a riddle to the groomsmen, and they had plagued his bride until she obtained the answer to the riddle. Samson said to them, "…If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle." The oxen which are used for plowing are kept in the furrow by means of pricking with a goad, which is a nail fixed on the end of a stick. Samson is saying that the bride was goaded by the groomsmen. Kick Against the Pricks The same goad is the basis of the remark Jesus made to Paul, when he was struck down on the Damascus Road, "…it is hard to kick against the pricks." (Acts 9:5). As long as the ox goes straight
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Topic: kick against the pricks - goad - ox Format: Verified Digitized Pages: 2 As a convert to Christianity from Hinduism, Bishop K.C. Pillai came to the Western world on a singular mission: to teach the Eastern culture of the Bible. Although Christianity is generally considered a western religion, the Bible itself was written and set in the Orient, and it must be viewed through the light of that eastern window. The Bible is filled with passages that perplex the Western mind, and yet they were readily understood by the Easterner. When the reader becomes knowledgeable of the oriental idioms, customs, and traditions of the Biblical setting, these Scriptures become clear. God called Bishop K.C. Pillai to reveal these Biblical truths he called Orientalisms. At the time of the Bishop’s early life, his native India had remained an isolated country for thousands of years. Therefore, the customs