Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 28:27
For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
27. with a threshing instrument] the sledge ( r). a cart wheel ] the wheel of a threshing wagon ( ‘glh).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
27 29. Threshing is not bruising. Three methods of threshing are alluded to. ( a) Beating with a rod or flail (cf. Jdg 6:11; Rth 2:17). ( b) Treading with the feet of cattle (Deu 25:4; Mic 4:13; but see on Isa 28:28). ( c) Drawing a heavy wooden sledge, with sharp stones or iron spikes fixed in its under surface ( r) or a wagon ( ‘glh) with a great number of sharp-edged wheels, over the grain. The point of the illustration is that the method suitable to one kind of grain would be ruinous to another ( Isa 28:27); and that even the rougher methods are applied with moderation ( Isa 28:28).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument – The word used here ( charuts) denotes properly that which is pointed or sharp, and is joined with morag in Isa 41:15 – meaning there the threshing dray or sledge; a plank with iron or sharp stones that was drawn by oxen over the grain (compare 2Sa 24:22; 1Ch 21:23). In the passage before us, several methods of threshing are mentioned as adapted to different kinds of grain, all of which are at the present time common in the East. Those which are mentioned under the name of the threshing instrument, and a cart wheel, refer to instruments which are still in use in the East. Niebuhr, in his Travels in Arabia, says, (p. 299,) In threshing their grain, the Arabians lay the sheaves down in a certain order, and then lead over them two oxen dragging a large stone. They use oxen, as the ancients did, to beat out their grain, by trampling on the sheaves, and dragging after them a clumsy machine.
This machine is not a stone cylinder; nor a plank with sharp stones, as in Syria; but a sort of sledge consisting of three rollers, fitted with irons, which turn upon axles. A farmer chooses out a level spot in his fields, and has his grain carried thither in sheaves, upon donkeys or dromedaries. Two oxen are then yoked in a sledge; a driver then gets upon it, and drives them backward and forward upon the sheaves; and fresh oxen succeed in the yoke from time to time. By this operation the chaff is very much cut down; it is then winnowed, and the grain thus separated. This machine, Niebuhr adds, is called Nauridj. It bas three rollers which turn on three axles; and each of them is furnished with some irons which are round and flat. Two oxen were made to draw over the grain again and again the sledge above mentioned, and this was done with the greatest convenience to the driver; for he was seated in a chair fixed on a sledge. See the illustration in the book to get an idea of this mode of threshing, and of the instruments that were employed.
Neither is a cart wheel – This instrument of threshing is described by Boehart (Hieraz. i. 2. 32. 311), as consisting of a cart or wagon fitted with wheels adapted to crush or thresh the grain. This, he says, was used by the Carthagenians who came from the vicinity of Canaan. It appears to have been made with serrated wheels, perhaps almost in the form of circular saws, by which the straw was cut fine at the same time that the grain was separated from the chaff.
But the fitches are beaten out with a staff – With a stick, or flail. That is, pulse in general, beans, pease, dill, cummin, etc., are easily beaten out with a stick or flail. This mode of threshing is common everywhere. It was also practiced, as with us, in regard to barley and other grain, where there was a small quantity, or where there was need of special haste (see Rth 2:17; Jdg 6:11).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. – 28. Four methods of threshing are here mentioned, by different instruments; the flail, the drag, the wain, and the treading of the cattle. The staff or flail was used for the infirmiora semina, says Jerome, the grain that was too tender to be treated in the other methods. The drag consisted of a sort of strong planks, made rough at the bottom, with hard stones or iron; it was drawn by horses or oxen over the corn sheaves spread on the floor, the driver sitting upon it. Kempfer has given a print representing the manner of using this instrument, Amaen. Exot. p. 682, fig. 3. The wain was much like the former; but had wheels with iron teeth, or edges like a saw: Ferrata carpenta rotis per medium in serrarum modum se volventibus. Hieron. in loc. From this it would seem that the axle was armed with iron teeth or serrated wheels throughout. See a description and print of such a machine used at present in Egypt for the same purpose in Niebuhr’s Voyage en Arabie, Tab. xvii. p. 123; it moves upon three rollers armed with iron teeth or wheels to cut the straw. In Syria they make use of the drag, constructed in the very same manner as above described; Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 140. This not only forced out the grain, but cut the straw in pieces for fodder for the cattle; for in the eastern countries they have no hay. See Harmer’s Observ. I. p. 425. The last method is well known from the law of Moses, which “forbids the ox to be muzzled, when he treadeth out the corn;” De 25:4.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A threshing instrument; which then and there was made like a sled shod with iron, which was drawn by men or beasts over the sheafs of corn, to bruise them, and beat the grain out of them.
A cart wheel; a lesser and lower wheel than a cart wheel, but of the same form, upon which possibly the threshing instrument was drawn.
The fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod, as being unable to bear harder usage.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. The husbandman uses the samediscretion in threshing. The dill (“fitches”) and cummin,leguminous and tender grains, are beaten out, not as wheat, c., withthe heavy corn-drag (“threshing instrument”), but with “astaff” heavy instruments would crush and injure the seed.
cart wheeltwo ironwheels armed with iron teeth, like a saw, joined together by a woodenaxle. The “corn-drag” was made of three or four woodencylinders, armed with iron teeth or flint stones fixed underneath,and joined like a sledge. Both instruments cut the straw for fodderas well as separated the corn.
staffused also wherethey had but a small quantity of corn; the flail (Ru2:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument,…. A wooden sledge, dray, or cart, drawn on wheels; the bottom of which was stuck with iron teeth, and the top filled with stones, to press it down with the weight thereof, and was drawn by horses, or oxen, to and fro, over the sheaves of corn, laid in proper order, whereby the grain was separated from the husk: [See comments on 1Co 9:9] but fitches, the grain of them being more easily separated, such an instrument was not used in threshing them:
neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; the cart wheel of the above instrument was not turned upon the cummin, that being also more easily threshed, or beaten out, and therefore another method was used with these, as follows:
but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod: in like manner as corn is with us threshed out with a flail; so the Lord proportions the chastisement, and corrections of his people to the grace and strength that he gives them; he afflicts them either more gently, or more severely, as they are able to bear it; with some he uses his staff and rod, and with others his threshing instrument and cart wheel; some being easier and others harder to be wrought upon by the afflictive dispensations of Providence; see 1Co 10:13 or this may point out the difference between the punishment of wicked men and the chastisement of the saints.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Again, the labour of the husbandman is just as manifold after the reaping has been done. “For the black poppy is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cummin; but black poppy is knocked out with a stick, and cummin with a staff. Is bread corn crushed? No; he does not go on threshing it for ever, and drive the wheel of his cart and his horses over it: he does not crush it. This also, it goeth forth from Jehovah of hosts: He gives wonderful intelligence, high understanding.” Ki (for) introduces another proof that the husbandman is instructed by God, from what he still further does. He does not use the threshing machine ( c haruts , syn. morag , Ar. naureg , noreg ), or the threshing cart ( agalah : see Winer’s Real-Wrterbuch, art. Dreschen), which would entirely destroy the more tender kinds of fruit, but knocks them out with a staff ( baculo excutit : see at Isa 27:12). The sentence lechem yudaq is to be accentuated as an interrogative: Is bread corn crushed? Oh no, he does not crush it. This would be the case if he were to cause the wheel (i.e., the wheels, gilgal , constr. to galgal ) of the threshing cart with the horses harnessed in front to rattle over it with all their might ( hamam , to set in noisy violent motion). Lechem, like the Greek sitos , is corn from which bread is made (Isa 30:23; Psa 104:14). is metaplastic (as if from ) for (see Ewald, 312, b). Instead of , the pointing ought to be (from with kametz before the tone = Arab. faras , as distinguished from with a fixed kametz, equivalent to farras , a rider): “his horses,” here the threshing horses, which were preferred to asses and oxen.Even in this treatment of the fruit when reaped, there is an evidence of the wonderful intelligence ( ) , as written ) and exalted understanding (on , from , see at Job 26:3) imparted by God. The expression is one of such grandeur, that we perceive at once that the prophet has in his mind the wisdom of God in a higher sphere. The wise, divinely inspired course adopted by the husbandman in the treatment of the field and fruit, is a type of the wise course adopted by the divine Teacher Himself in the treatment of His nation. Israel is Jehovah’s field. The punishments and chastisements of Jehovah are the ploughshare and harrow, with which He forcibly breaks up, turns over, and furrows this field. But this does not last for ever. When the field has been thus loosened, smoothed, and rendered fertile once more, the painful process of ploughing is followed by a beneficent sowing and planting in a multiform and wisely ordered fulness of grace. Again, Israel is Jehovah’s child of the threshing-floor (see Isa 21:10). He threshes it; but He does not thresh it only: He also knocks; and when He threshes, He does not continue threshing for ever, i.e., as Caspari has well explained it, “He does not punish all the members of the nation with the same severity; and those whom He punishes with greater severity than others He does not punish incessantly, but as soon as His end is attained, and the husks of sin are separated from those that have been punished, and the punishment ceases, and only the worst in the nation, who are nothing but husks, and the husks on the nation itself, are swept away by the punishments” (compare Isa 1:25; Isa 29:20-21). This is the solemn lesson and affectionate consolation hidden behind the veil of the parable. Jehovah punishes, but it is in order that He may be able to bless. He sifts, but He does not destroy. He does not thresh His own people, but He knocks them; and even when He threshes, they may console themselves in the face of the approaching period of judgment, that they are never crushed or injured.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(27) For the fitches are not threshed . . .Better, fennel seed, as before. The eye of the prophet passes from the beginning to the end of the husbandmans work. He finds there also the varying methods of a like discrimination. A man would be thought mad who threshed his fennel seed and cummin with the same instrument that he uses for his barley and his wheat. It is enough to beat or tap them with the rod, or staff, which was, in fact, used in each case. Interpreting this parable, we may see in the fennel and the cummin the little ones of the earth, with whom God deals more gently than with the strong. Tribulation, as the etymology of the word (tribulum, a threshing instrument) tells us, is a threshing process. The lesson of the parable is that it comes to nations and individuals in season and in measure. The main idea is familiar enough in the language of the prophets (Mic. 4:13; Hab. 3:12). The novelty of Isaiahs treatment of it consists in his bringing in the minute details, and drawing this lesson from them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27, 28. So in the harvest. The harvester treats the different crops raised in the same common-sense way. He carefully beats with a stick, or rod, the smaller, finer seeds; over these he does not foolishly send the threshing wain. Nor over the larger grains does he drive the cart, or the oxen, or the rolling rough thresher, interminably. He uses these till their proper work is done, and then ceases. Now, Israel is God’s field and God’s threshing floor. But all are not alike roughly threshed. God discriminates the kind of seed to be planted and harvested. He adapts his method of separation to each. So right methods are employed in the distribution of discipline and punishment. If this treatment fails of its purpose, the responsibility is placed where it belongs. He strikes some with a rod; others, who need it, he threshes roughly with the wain; but, unless deserved, he does neither interminably.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 28:27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Ver. 27. For the fitches are not threshed out, &c. ] So are God’s visitations diversely dispensed. He proportioneth the burden to the back, and the stroke to the strength of him that beareth it, sparing his afflicted as a man spareth his son that serveth him. Thus “Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death,” but not unto death; and why? See Phi 2:27 . Some of the sweet smelling Smyrnians were in prison “ten days,” and no more. Rev 2:10
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
threshing instrument. Only here, and Isa 41:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
threshed: Isa 41:15, 2Ki 13:7, Amo 1:3
the fitches: Isa 27:7, Isa 27:8, Jer 10:24, Jer 46:28
Reciprocal: Deu 25:4 – treadeth out 1Ch 21:23 – the oxen Pro 20:26 – bringeth Isa 28:28 – the wheel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 28:27-29. Four methods of thrashing are here mentioned, by different instruments: the flail, the drag, the wain, and the treading of cattle. The staff, or flail, was used for the grain that was too tender to be treated in the other methods. The drag consisted of a sort of frame of strong planks, made rough at the bottom, with hard stones or iron: it was drawn by horses or oxen over the corn-sheaves spread on the floor, the driver sitting upon it. The wain was much like the former, but had wheels with iron teeth, or edges, like a saw. This not only forced out the grain, but cut the straw in pieces for fodder for the cattle; for in the eastern countries they have no hay. The last method is well known from the law of Moses, which forbids the ox to be muzzled when he treadeth out the corn, Deu 25:4. Bishop Lowth. This also cometh from the Lord of hosts, &c. This part of the husbandmans discretion expressed in these verses, as well as that expressed in Isa 28:24-25. These words contain the application of the similitude. The husbandman manages his affairs with common discretion; but God governs the world and his church with wonderful wisdom: he is great and marvellous, both in the contrivance of things, and in the execution of them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Likewise a farmer threshes dill, cummin, and grain in different ways. This is also wisdom that Yahweh of armies teaches. A simple farmer learns how to plow, plant, thresh, and grind from God, by studying nature, and as he applies what God teaches, there is blessing. How much more should the sophisticated leaders of Judah learn from Him to trust Him.
". . . God measures the instruments of His purpose to the condition of His people; He employs what will best carry out His holy will." [Note: Young, 2:301.]
"The farmer does not plow for the sake of plowing, but rather to prepare for his intended crop. So also God prepares his garden for the crop he wishes to reap-the crop of righteousness from a holy people. To this end God must employ the cutting and crumbling force of disciplinary judgments, perfectly adjusted to Israel’s spiritual needs, just as the farmer (using the intelligence God gave him) uses the proper threshing instruments for each type of grain." [Note: Archer, p. 629.]
An implication of these two parables (Isa 28:24-25; Isa 28:27-28), not stated, is that God might deal differently with the Southern Kingdom than He dealt with the Northern Kingdom. The Jerusalemites should not conclude that because God would allow the Assyrians to defeat the Ephraimites, the same fate would necessarily befall them. A change of attitude could mitigate their judgment. So this whole "woe" ends with an implied offer of grace.
As things worked out, of course, God did allow an invading army to take the Judahites into captivity, after a different invading army had first taken the Israelites captive. But that did not happen at the same time. Sennacherib destroyed Samaria but not Jerusalem. God postponed Judah’s judgment because He found a measure of repentance there.