And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And Noah began to be an husbandman - literally, And Noah began a man of the ground. It is not implied in this phraseology that he was the first cultivator of the soil; because Cain had engaged in agricultural pursuits long before him (Genesis 4:2).
Moreover, the fact of his being a tiller of the ground is not stated in the form of a distinct and independent proposition, but is mentioned merely as introductory to what follows, with which it is so closely connected that the two clauses of the verse may be combined in one sentence thus: 'in the course of his field operations he commenced planting a vineyard.' The valleys of the Gordyaean range, or Jebel Judi, are well adapted for the rearing of the vine, which is still much cultivated among the Nestorians, and frequently abused also by too free indulgence amid the festivities of the vintage season.