A Farmer - not a Prophet

My tomatos out. And the onions and pepper plants.

I'vel plant the beans (blue lake bush beans only this year; no runners or wonders) and the corn. I'ml watching the asparagus so that we don't miss it this year.

Last year we got enough watermelon to make wine. And we'll set out few other assorted fruits and vegetables in the garden...

"I am not a prophet. I am a farmer..." (Zech. 13:5) has recently become my favorite verse of scripture. It replaces a long line of previous favorite verses, including:

• Money is the answer to everything - Ecclesiastes 10:19
• Jesus wept - John 11:35... the easiest Bible verse to memorize.
• The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. - Ecclesiastes 10:2 (the verse that convinced me I needed to be a Republican)
• Several passages from the Song of Solomon
  
  • Your hair is like a flock of goats... - SoS 4:1... high on my list of romantic things to say to a woman.
  • You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride... - SoS 4:9...because it proves that West Virginians are somehow descended from the Old Testament Israelites.
  • Your waist is a mound of wheat... - SoS 7:2... also high on my list of romantic things to whisper in a woman's ear.
• Let your women be silent in church... -- I Corinthians 14:34...everyone's favorite at one time or another.
• And the passage about Jesus making wine at the wedding...John 2:1-11.

But back to farming...

Farming is spiritual. The Bible is filled with references to farming or gardening. Jesus spent a large part of his teaching minstry talking about farmers. Everybody knows the Parable of the Sower (Mt. 13:1-9). Half that parable is about my garden: some seed fell on rocky places... and some seed fell among thorns. We definitely have thorns. I hope my corn falls on the good soil this year.

The Parable of the Weeds (Mt. 13:24-30) reminds me of my garden, too. It's about a man who "sowed good seed in his field. But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds.... That was MY problem last year. And whoever it was, I'd better not catch them THIS YEAR.

There are lots of other indications in the Bible that farming is in fact spiritual. Proverbs 31:16 says that a good wife "buys a field and plants in it". I have a good wife...

One of the most important Old Testament feasts, the Feast of Weeks (also known as Pentecost), was a celebration of the harvest. And it was during the celebration of this feast in the Book of Acts that the Church was born.

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