Exodus 34:21 - Exposition

Six days , etc. This is repeated from the "Book of the Covenant" ( Exodus 23:12 ), but with a remarkable addition— in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. "Earing time" is "ploughing time"—to "ear" being to "plough" in Old English, a word cognate with the Greek ἄρω and the Latin are; and the command to rest both then and at harvest time is a command not to break the Sabbath rest at the seasons when it might seem most necessary so to do The temptation to "save the harvest" is readily intelligible to Englishmen. To appreciate the other temptation, we require to know the peculiar circumstances of the East. It is necessary there to complete the ploughing before the spring rains are over. These last but a short time; and when they are once past no rain can be looked for till the autumn.