Mowing

Mowing (Hebrew gez) refers to the cutting of grass or grain, a fundamental activity of the agricultural year in ancient Israel. The "king's mowings" mentioned in Amos 7:1 refer to a royal prerogative by which the first cutting of the spring grass was reserved for the king's cavalry and stables before the rest could be harvested by the people (cf. 1 Kings 18:5). In Amos's vision, a locust plague devours the spring crop just as it was beginning to grow after the king's mowing — a devastating blow striking the most vulnerable point in the agricultural cycle. Psalm 72:6 uses the image of rain on mown grass to describe the king's refreshing and restoring rule: "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth." The contrast between the vulnerability of cut grass and the life-giving power of rain makes mowing a fitting symbol of human need met by divine provision.