The Magic Word Analysis Series Sowing and Reaping One of Gann’s most esoteric books is the Magic Word. This was his last book before his death in 1955. Gann told us to do a bit of investigation. Was he trying to tell us something? What follows is part of an attempt to find out. It was suggested that we look up certain phrases in the bible and read every occurrence found. One of these phrases, "sowing and reaping" reaping" (ר (לזרוע ולקצור), will be analyzed in this article. We have the great benefit to live in the computer age. What took our predecessors many many hours can now be accomplished in just a few minutes. By utilizing the computer to search our bible for the "Gann phrases" our task is much easier. For this work the King James (ver 1.0 ) Greatest Books Collection ver 3.01 for dos was used. It can be obtained from World Library inc., 12914 Haster St, Garden Grove, CA 92640. By typing in the words sow and reap and using the word proximity search all words that contain sow זרע and reap קציר will be found. This gives use sowing, reaping sowed, reaped, sower, reaper, etc. The first verse found is in the book of Genesis 47:23 "Then Joseph said unto his people, behold , I have brought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land." (ה (חיטה ,ה ,כותנה ,ס ,סחורות? תירס ,ע ,לזרוע 47:24 "And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth [part] unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for the seed (ר ( זרע גרגיר of the field and for your food and for them of your households, households, and for for food for your little ones." ones." 4/5 + 1/5 This is very interesting. Perhaps our top tax bracket should be 20%. Too bad we don’t live in ancient Egypt. Next we find something in Exodus 23:10 "And six years thou shalt sow thy land and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: " 23:11 "But in the seventh [year] thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy oliveyard." This cycle is repeated again. Gann is pointing very hard. Leviticus 25:3 "Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;" 25:4 "But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard." Leviticus 25:11 "A jubilee shall that fiftieth (50) year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather [the [ the grapes] in it of thy vine undressed." Leviticus 25:20
"And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest." Leviticus 19:19 "Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. Here is a similar verse Deuteronomy 22:9: "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou has sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled." חיתִש ְִׁה ;ללִֵּח ,מאִֵּט ;אבֵֵס ,הםִֵז Mingled seed or diverse seed. Be careful what you plant because it grows. Who wants their vineyard to be defiled anyway? This is only one instance of the same verse repeated over. In the new testament we have perhaps the most important verse in the bible. That is, if numbers count for anything. This story is repeated three times. Mark 4:2 "And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Harken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, and he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it scorched כה צריבהִָריֲח ,וּיהִָכְּ; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns קוצים , and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable ריהְָֹוֶלגָא , של ָָׁמ. And he said unto them, Unto you is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive ,לטַָק פסַּתָ ,ביןִֵה, and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted ליףְִחֶה ,מירִֵה, and their sins רהֵָבֲע ,טאְֵח; forgiven them. And he said unto them know ye not this parable? And who then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the WORD." Word of God דבר האלוהים; Look it repeats again Matthew 13:3 "And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some [seeds] fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up they scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung and choked them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some and hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Who has ears to hear let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered as said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Luke knows this one too -- Luke 8:5 "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it sprung up it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hunderedfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is THE WORD OF GOD. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock, which they hear, receive the word wit joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. Ant that which fell among the thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep [it], and bring forth fruit with patience." Here’s one from good old Buddha he knows about sowing and reaping too! Jetavana paragraph 10 "Since it is impossible to escape the results of our deeds, let us practice good works. Let us guard our THOUGHTS that we do no evil, for as we sow so shall we reap. There are ways from light into darkness and from darkness into light. There are ways, also, from the gloom into deeper darkness, and from the dawn into brighter light. The wise man will use the light he has to receive more light. He will constantly advance in the knowledge of truth." It was great of Mr. Gann to point us to these passages. Obviously someone thought the story important enough to get triple billing. The interpretation is left up to you with. Let’s close with a little biblical humor. Talk about analogies … Jeremiah 4:3&4 "For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hear, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench [it], because of the evil of your doings." Circumcise your heart. Sounds like a great title for a heavy metal song. Maybe the band Motley Crue would be interested in taking this one up.
