Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
The season for gathering grain or fruit. On the 16th day of Abib (or April) a handful of ripe ears of corn was offered as a first-fruit before the Lord, and immediately after this the harvest commenced (Lev. 23:9-14; 2 Sam. 21:9, 10; Ruth 2:23). It began with the feast of Passover and ended with Pentecost, thus lasting for seven weeks (Ex. 23:16). The harvest was a season of joy (Ps. 126:1-6; Isa. 9:3). This word is used figuratively Matt. 9:37; 13:30; Luke 10:2; John 4:35.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
[Agriculture]
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
HAR'VEST occurred in the months of March and April, and the term is frequently employed to designate this season of the year. Josh 3:15; Prov 6:8. The harvests of the different grains happened in regular succession, and are known as the "wheat-harvest," 1 Sam 12:17, and the "barley-harvest," Ruth 1:22. The grain was reaped with sickles, Jer 50:16, gathered in handfuls, Ruth 2:16, and done up into sheaves. Ps 129:7. It was then conveyed to the barns or threshing-floors, sometimes in carts. Am 2:13, where it was threshed or winnowed.
One mode of threshing was by the treading of oxen, which it was forbidden to muzzle, Deut 25:4. Harvest was a season of great joy and merriment, Isa 9:3. In the book of Ruth we pass through it as in a panoramic vision. T. our Lord refers to the end of the world under the term of harvest. Matt 13:39, whose reapers will be the angels. The angel is represented figuratively as at that time thrusting in his sickle, "for the harvest of the earth is ripe," Rev 14:15. Feast of. See Pentecost.