[1] They had scarcely any foreign trade--none till Solomon's
time. Every family lived upon its own inheritance and upon
the produce of its own land. Consequently if harvest
failed, all failed. They expressed their great joy by
solemn offerings to the Lord. Not a field was reaped before
the wave-sheaf was placed upon the altar; and when it had
been waved there, amidst the loud thanksgiving of the
people, before the Lord of the whole land, the messengers
from the Temple carried the proclamation to the husbandman,
in the field, "Put ye in the sickle and reap!"--_Thodey._