Threshing Floor

Biblical Occurrences

• Genesis 50:10 — Joseph leads the funeral procession of his father Jacob to the threshing floor of Atad beyond the Jordan, where they mourn for seven days.
• Judges 6:37 — Gideon places a fleece of wool on the threshing floor and asks God for a sign.
• Ruth 3 — Boaz winnows barley at night on the threshing floor, and Ruth, following Naomi's instructions, lies down at his feet.
• 2 Samuel 6:6 — At the threshing floor of Nachon, Uzzah takes hold of the Ark of the Covenant and dies.
• 2 Samuel 24:18–25; 1 Chronicles 21 — David buys the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and builds an altar there, and the plague is stayed. In Chronicles this man is named Ornan. Second Chronicles 3:1 records that Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah, at the threshing floor of Ornan.
• Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17 — John the Baptist describes the one who is to come as he "whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor."

Background

Threshing is the work of beating out ears of grain to collect the kernels. A threshing floor was a level area of hard-packed ground, and it is thought to have often been located outside the village, where it was exposed to the wind. The work proceeded in two stages.

• Threshing: Sheaves of grain were spread out, and oxen were made to tread on them or threshing implements were dragged over them to loosen the kernels from the ears. The regulation in Deuteronomy 25:4, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn," reflects this practice.
• Winnowing: The threshed grain was tossed into the air with a tool such as a winnowing fan, so that the heavy kernels fell to the ground while the light chaff was carried away by the wind.

Because the harvest was gathered there, the threshing floor could also become a target for plunder. First Samuel 23:1 records that the Philistines robbed the threshing floors of Keilah.

Significance Throughout Scripture

First, the threshing floor represents abundance and harvest. Scripture pairs the word with the winepress to denote the whole of a year's produce. Deuteronomy 16:13 commands that the Feast of Tabernacles be kept after the produce of the threshing floor and the winepress has been gathered in. Conversely, Hosea 9:2 warns, "The floor and the winepress shall not feed them."

The threshing floor also serves as an image of judgment. Hosea 13:3 and Daniel 2:35 use the chaff driven by the wind from the threshing floor as a figure of transience and destruction. Jeremiah 51:33 compares Babylon to a threshing floor when the time has come to thresh it.

The New Testament takes up this image of judgment. John the Baptist describes the Messiah's work of separation as gathering the wheat into the garner and burning up the chaff with fire. Paul, for his part, cites Deuteronomy 25:4 in 1 Corinthians 9:9 as grounds for the principle that those who labor in ministry rightly earn their living from that work.

Interpretation and Issues

• The timing of Matthew 3:12: Many interpreters read this verse as referring to the Last Judgment. Others hold that it also includes a separation already begun with the ministry of Jesus.
• The threshing floor of Araunah and Moriah: Because 2 Chronicles 3:1 connects this threshing floor with Mount Moriah, Jewish and Christian tradition have identified it with the site of the burnt offering on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22. Scholars differ, however, on whether the two locations are truly the same and on where exactly the site lay.
• Ruth 3: Ruth's lying at Boaz's feet is commonly read as a proposal of marriage, asking him to act as her kinsman-redeemer (Ruth 3:9). Some interpretations find sexual overtones, but the text does not make this explicit. It is also often said that Boaz spent the night on the threshing floor to guard the grain, but the text does not state his reason.
• Hosea 9:1: Some interpreters connect the phrase "a reward upon every cornfloor" with Baal fertility rites, though it is uncertain what specific practices were involved.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching, the expression "wheat and chaff," drawn from Matthew 3:12, is widely used to challenge hearers to examine the genuineness of their faith. The passage is also cited in sermons for Thanksgiving and Wheat Harvest Thanksgiving when the themes of harvest and judgment are treated together.