Winnowing

Probably you are at least somewhat familiar with the ancient method of getting from standing grain to edible bread. The grain must be reaped, cut down with a sickle or scythe, then usually tied into sheaves to be carried to a central location—normally a threshing floor. Threshing is the process of separating the grain from the stalks and is done in a variety of ways. It can be beaten out by hand (as Gideon was doing when the angel first approached him). More commonly the sheaves would be unbundled and spread out on the threshing floor, and animals such as oxen would be walked over it. Sometimes they would pull a weighted wheel or threshing sledge, which would do the breaking up more quickly than the hooves alone. The next step is winnowing, that is separating the usable grain from the rest. The wind was normally used, with the aid of a winnowing fork*.  A forkful of the threshed grain would be tossed up into the wind. The wheat or barley grain would fall almost straight down. The stalks (straw) would be blown off the threshing floor, but not too far, and would tend to fall into a pile. The small bits of plant matter, called chaff, would blow away.

The chaff was useless for anything. If it piled up because the wind wasn’t strong enough to take it completely away, then it would be disposed of in some way, perhaps tossed in the fire. The straw was useful for some things but wasn’t the point. The point was the grain, and after the winnowing there it would be in piles on the threshing floor, to be put in baskets or pots or sacks and stored until needed. The whole grain could be eaten, raw or parched, but the main use was to be ground (milled) into flour to make bread.

There are Biblical usages of nearly all the terms I’ve mentioned. Likely you noticed them. Some of course are literal (Ruth and Boaz, Ornan the Jebusite). Quite a few are clearly figurative. Possibly the most familiar is what John the Baptist said of Jesus: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12)  It is evident that this is a figure of judgment.

When pressed to describe his own work, John cited prophecy:  “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23)  It seems reasonable to think John would also cite scripture in describing the greater one who was to follow.  I wonder if he was thinking of these two sayings from Proverbs 20:

“A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes.” (verse 8)

“A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them.” (verse 26)

Seems like a fit for what John is saying Jesus would do. But let’s look closely—what is John saying?

In general, it’s not hard to figure out. There is a finality: the grain ends up in the barn, and the chaff is utterly destroyed. A very clear picture of the final judgment, which (not coincidentally) was the subject of fully a third of Jesus’s parables.  The work of Messiah as the final Judge is a huge part of what Jesus himself and the apostles preached. And it’s the one aspect of Messiah’s work that John singled out as he introduced Israel to their savior.  You might find that choice worth investigating.

Anyway, if we dig just a bit further, we notice that John’s verb tenses don’t match. All the translations I could locate were agreed.  “His winnowing fork is in his hand,” present tense. “And he will clear his threshing floor,” future tense.  What this says to me is this: the ultimate outcome, barn or fire, is the main message; but there is a present-tense aspect as well. 

The winnowing fork is already in Jesus’s hand as he begins his ministry. There’s no indication he’s put it down between then and now. It has an ultimate use yet to come, but it seems to me we’re being taught that he’s already at work with it.  This is no surprise, right?  We know Jesus is at work now, separating out a people for God’s own glory.  When we read that first proverb, we say, “Yes, of course Jesus as the King is winnowing with his eyes—he sees all and he is separating.” 

But what about that second proverb?  Seems to also be present tense. The King “winnows the wicked, and drives the wheel over them.”  Let’s think about this. What is it that gets threshed, that has the wheel driven over it?  Well, everything!  Grain, straw, all of it. In the figure then, it must be all of us. We are all threshed. The implication is: we are all “the wicked”. Ouch!  But what is the purpose of threshing?  What is the King doing?  He is separating.  He sees there is a part of this pile of “wicked” that has value, that is in fact precious. And he is driving the wheel over it, in order to save that part. No gathering into the barn without winnowing. No winnowing without threshing. 

Our immediate reaction to “threshing” in our lives is, “Ow! Ow! Don’t do this to me! Ow!”  Our immediate reaction is It seems harsh, and we resent it. If that’s where we stop, I think it may turn out that we’re just a stalk of straw. As much as we don’t like it, we know we have to look deeper, don’t we. Is Jesus harsh? Well, he does have that winnowing tool in his hand and he’s using it. But he uses it in love. Like his Father, he is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”.  We’ve got to realize, though, that until we come to repentance, we are “the wicked”. And it’s to tear us away from the useless parts that he’s driving the wheel.

This is a very common theme in the Bible. You’ve probably thought about Romans 5 (“we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance…”) and Hebrews 12 (“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”), maybe others.  So nothing new here.  It just seems to me that we need to be reminded about it pretty often. We’re pretty good about saying, “Ow!”, not so good at rejoicing in it. We remember images better than words, and for me anyway, the winnowing picture is quite powerful. John wanted to plant an image in our brains, at the very start—an image of a strong and determined man, standing on his threshing floor, implement in hand, getting to work—so that his barn will be filled to the top.

Love, trying to move past the ouch, Paul

* Readers of the KJV, your version will read “fan” rather than winnowing fork, and the verb is sometimes “scatter” rather than winnow.

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