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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Field
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Sadeh in Hebrew implies cultivated land (as field is derived from felling trees), but unenclosed; whereas the English "field" implies enclosure. In contrast to the adjoining wilderness (; ). The sadeh is contrasted with what is enclosed, as a vineyard (-24) or a city (; ). Unwalled villages were counted by the law as "the fields of the country" (). "Field" means the open country, apart from habitations, in ; . Stones marked off separate plots; to remove these landmarks entailed the curse (). The lack of fences exposed the fields to straying cattle () or fire ().
Hence, the need of watchers, now named nator. The rye or spelled was placed "in its (the field's) border" (). The wheat was put in the middle, the best and safest place, and the several other grains in their own place. The tallest and strongest grain outside formed a kind of fence. "A town in the country (field)" is a provincial town, as distinguished from the royal city (). "Fruitful field" is a distinct word, Carmel. (See CARMEL.) Another term, mareh, "meadows," is a naked treeless region (); "the liers in wait came from the open plains of Gibeah"; not that their ambush was there, but the men of Benjamin had been previously enticed away from the city (), so the liers in wait came to the city from the thus exposed plain.