Proverbs 14:4
Oxen were the tractors of that day. If a
family didn’t have an ox, they had to do all the farming by hand. Plowing and
hauling all had to be done with painstaking labor. But having an ox made these
tasks relatively easy.
If a family didn’t have an ox, there was
only so much land they could manage by themselves. We only have 24 hours in a
day and planting season only lasts so long. So if it can’t be planted, then it
can’t be harvested. Having a small plot of land meant limited income.
But with an ox, your labor is multiplied.
You can quickly plow a field in a few hours saving days of hand labor. And
since the plowing went so quickly you have time to plow another field and plant
it. And that extra field’s crop becomes profit, a liquid asset that can be used
to purchase things other than just food.
Owning an ox meant that you could create a
cushion against future disasters. You could store the extra gain, or sell it
for gold or silver that could then be stored in a much smaller space. And in
the future, if you needed grain because of a bad harvest, you could use you
money to purchase food from someone who had extra for sale. An ox brought
stability.
But you had to have some wealth in order to
have an ox. You had to have enough land to plant your crops and to feed your
ox. I don’t know how much land was needed to produce food for the ox, but you
couldn’t feed it your grain or you would go hungry.
If we purchase a pickup truck with the
rational that it will save us money because of all the hauling we need to do
for work, or house upkeep, or moving friends, then we need to weigh the costs
of the truck against the costs of a rental for the times we need a truck. Unless
we need a truck every day for work, the costs of the truck and its operating
costs, upkeep and maintenance, it really is a luxury. At least this is my
thinking as I get ready for a house renovation.
Will my “ox” pay for itself? Or will it just
become a toy that drains my resources? An ox meant survival and stability to
those in the agrarian society.