This may affect how you view Bible events. You may read of Elijah’s appointing of his successor: “He . . . found Elisha the son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve spans before him.” (1 Kings 19:19) In what month do you think that occurred, and how would the land have looked? And at John 4:35, Jesus said: “Do you not say that there are yet four months before the harvest comes? . . . Lift up your eyes and view the fields, that they are white for harvesting.” Though he specified a time, do you understand when?

Elisha was taking part in a major plowing operation when he was called as a prophet. That likely places the time in Tishri (September-October), when the extreme heat of the summer was past. The early rains had begun to soften the soil, making it possible to do plowing, followed by sowing.