Goad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For Hindu religious associations of elephant goads, see ankus.
- For similar devices, and electrical devices, used to urge cattle to move, see Cattle prod.
The goad is a traditional farming implement, used to spur or guide an animal, usually oxen, which are pulling a plough or a cart. It is a type of cattle prod. Though many people are unfamiliar with them today, goads have been common throughout the world. The garrocha is a Mexican type of goad.[citation needed]
[edit] Description
An ox goad is traditionally a wooden stick or pole with a pointed tip.
Some are reported to have been 8 to 10 feet long, others 5 to 7 feet. The goad is cited as the origin of two units of measurement: the rod, which is 16.5 feet; and the goad, which is 4.5 feet. Some were 2 inches in diameter at the thickest end; others were 6 inches.
[edit] Biblical usage
Easton's Bible Dictionary says that the ox goad is "mentioned only in Judges 3:31, the weapon with which Shamgar (q.v.) slew six hundred Philistines." (see also Strong's H4451) and quotes from "Porter's Syria, etc." that "The ploughman still carries his goad, a weapon apparently more fitted for the hand of the soldier than the peaceful husbandman. The one I saw was of the 'oak of Bashan', and measured upwards of ten feet in length. At one end was an iron spear, and at the other a piece of the same metal flattened. One can well understand how a warrior might use such a weapon with effect in the battle-field"
The flat blade was likely used to clean caked mud off the plough and suchlike.
However, goads are mentioned in two other places in the Bible: I Samuel 13:21 and Ecclesiastes 12:11 (Strong's H1861). The word "pricks", meaning a goad, is used in Acts 9:5 and 26:14 (King James Version), see also Strong's G2759 and Road to Damascus.
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia article on Plowing:
- "The plower holds in his right hand the plow-handle and the guiding-rope, and in his left the ox-goad ("malmad"; Judges iii. 31; I Sam. xiii. 21). To one end of the latter is attached an iron point, with which the oxen are goaded to quicken their pace, and to the other end is fastened a small iron shovel which is used to remove the earth clinging to the plowshare."
This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.
[edit] Goad for elephants: the ankus
An ankus is a hooked goad for controlling an elephant. See ankus for more information.pl:Oścień
