Threshing floor
Threshing-floor
(, goren, ; Chald. , idddr, Dan 2:35), a level and hard- beaten plot in the open air (Jdg 6:37; 2Sa 6:6), on which the sheaves of grain (Mic 4:12) were threshed (Isa 21:10; Jer 51:33;.: Matthew 3, 12; the Mishna remarks that the threshers wore gloves, Kelim, 16:6), so that the wind had free play (Hos 13:3; Jeremiah 4:41; comp. Varro, De Re Rust. 1, 51,1, Aream esse oportet in agro sublimiore loco, quam perflare possit ventus). The top of a rock is a favorite spot for this purpose. The sheaves were carried straight from the field either in carts, or, as more commonly happens in the present day, on the backs of camels and asses, to the threshing-floor. On this open space the sheaves were spread out, and sometimes beaten with flails-a method practiced especially with the lighter kinds of grain, such as fitches or cumin (Isa 28:27) but more generally by means of oxen. For this purpose the oxen were yoked tide by side, and driven round over the corn, by a man who superintended the operation, so as to subject the entire mass to a sufficient pressure; or the oxen were yoked to a sort of machine (what the Latins called tribulunm or trahea) which consisted of a board or block of wood, with bits of stone or pieces of iron fastened into the lower surface to make it rough, and rendered heavy by some weight, such as the person of the driver, placed on it; this was dragged over the corn, and hastened the operation (Isa 28:27; Isaiah 41, 15). The same practices are still followed, only mules and horses are occasionally employed instead of oxen, but very rarely. Dr. Robinson describes the operation as he witnessed it near Jericho: Here there were no less than five floors, all trodden by oxen, cows, and younger cattle, arranged in each case five abreast, and driven round in a circle, or rather in all directions, over the floor. The sled, or sledge, is not here in use, though we afterwards met with it in the north of Palestine. By this process the straw is broken up and becomes chaff. It is occasionally turned with a large wooden fork having two prongs; and, when sufficiently trodden, is thrown up with the same fork against the wind, in order to separate the grain, which is then gathered up and winnowed. The whole process, he adds, is exceedingly wasteful, from the transportation of the corn on the backs of animals to the treading-out upon the bare ground (Researches, 2, 277). During this operation the Mohammedans, it seems, generally observe the ancient precept of not muzzling the oxen while treading out the corn; but the Greek Christians as commonly keep them tightly muzzled. SEE THRESHING.
As in the East there is no rain during the harvest season (Hesiod, Opp. 558), the threshing-floors were in the open field, and were carefully selected and managed (Virgil, Georg. 1, 178 sq.; Pallad. 7:1; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 12:32; 15:8; 17:14; 18:71, etc.). The farmers remained on the corn- floor all night in order to guard the product (Ruth 3, 4, 6, 14).’The threshing-place was of considerable value, and is often named in connection with the wine-press (Deu 16:13; 2Ki 6:27; Hos 9:2; Joel 2, 24), since wheat and wine and oil were the more important products of the land (Mishima, Baba Bathra, 2, 8). They often bore particular names, as that of Nachon (2Sa 6:6) or Chidon (1Ch 13:9), of Atad (Genesis 1, 10), of Ornan, or Araunab (2Sa 24:18,’20; 1Ch 21:15; Josephus, Ant. 7:13, 4). See Thomson, Hand Book, 2, 314; Hackett, Illustr. of Script. p. 160; Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 79; Conder, Tent-Work in Palestine, 2, 259. SEE AGRICULTURE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Threshing-Floor
THRESHING-FLOOR.See Agriculture in vol. i. p. 40a.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Threshing-Floor
threshing-flor (, goren; , halon; , ‘iddar, occurs in Dan 2:35): The location and method of making threshing-floors have already been described under AGRICULTURE. These floors have come into prominence because of the Biblical events which occurred on or near them. Joseph with his kinsmen and Egyptian followers halted for seven days at the threshing-floor of Atad to lament the death of Jacob (Gen 50:10). Probably there was a group of floors furnishing a convenient spot for a caravan to stop. Travelers today welcome the sight of a threshing-floor at their halting-place. The hard, level spot is a much preferable to the surrounding stony fields for their tents.
David built an altar on Ornan’s (Araunah’s) threshing-floor (2Sa 24:18-24; 1Ch 21:18-27), which later became the site of the Temple (2Ch 3:1). David probably chose this place for his altar because it was on an elevation, and the ground was already level and prepared by rolling. Uzzah died near the threshing-floor of Nacon for touching the ark (2Sa 6:6). Ruth reveals herself to Boaz on his threshing-floor (Rth 3:6-9).
Threshing-floors are in danger of being robbed (1Sa 23:1). For this reason, someone always sleeps on the floor until the grain is removed (Rth 3:7). In Syria, at the threshing season, it is customary for the family to move out to the vicinity of the threshing-floor. A booth is constructed for shade; the mother prepares the meals and takes her turn with the father and children at riding on the sledge.
The instruments of the threshing-floor referred to in 2Sa 24:22 were probably: (1) the wooden drag or sledge, haruc or moragh, Arabic lauh eddiras; (2) the fan (fork), mizreh, Arabic midra, for separating straw from wheat; (3) shovel, meghraphah, Arabic mrfashat, for tossing the wheat into the air in winnowing; (4) broom, mat’ate’, for sweeping the floor between threshing and for collecting the wheat after winnowing; (5) goad, malmedh, Arabic messas; (6) the yoke, ol, Arabic tauk; (7) sieve, kebharah, Arabic gharbal; (8) dung catcher, Arabic milkat.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Threshing floor
“a threshing floor,” is so translated in Mat 3:12; Luk 3:17, RV (AV, “floor”), perhaps by metonymy for the grain.