Winnow

Winnowing was very well known to those living in Bible times; it happened on a yearly basis, often within sight of their homes. It was part of the larger process of harvesting and processing grain; in particular, its goal was to isolate the valuable grain kernels from the rest of the plant. In order to accomplish this feat, the harvested grain was carried uphill to the threshing floor where the tenacious bond between the grain kernel and the remainder of the plant was overcome through threshing. The threshing process left a mixture of grain and straw on the threshing floor, and winnowing was the first step in isolating the valuable grain kernels from the straw. [294]

Winnowing took advantage of two realities. The first is that the grain kernels weighed more than the by-products from which they needed to be separated. Second, when the mixture was tossed upward into the wind, the heavier grain kernels fell into a discrete pile while the lighter by-products were deposited on the threshing floor farther downwind. The ideal wind for doing this occurred during the harvest season.[295] During the late days of spring and early summer, the warm air over the Promised Land heated quickly while the water of the Mediterranean Sea kept the air over it somewhat cooler. As the air over the land warmed and rose, a Mediterranean Sea breeze pushed inland. This was the cool air of the sea surging in to replace the air rising over the land. This predictable westerly sea breeze determined the location of threshing floors, which were located just below the crest of a hill on its eastern side.

The tines of the winnowing fork were used to throw the threshed grain plant up and into the wind.

The process of winnowing began with a threshing fork—a wood fork with five to seven tines that was used to throw the mixture of grain kernels and straw high enough to get it into the wind blowing over the hill from the west. With each toss of the mixture, the heavier grain kernels were increasingly isolated from the chaff; and once on the threshing floor, the kernels were isolated from the wind so they would not blow away. This process was repeated again and again with the fork until the chaff mixed with the grain consisted of smaller pieces. Then the winnower shifted to the threshing shovel and continued the process.[296] Though the work was hard and dusty, the spirits of those processing the grain were high. The connotation of joy attached itself to the entire process, including the winnowing, because it spelled survival for another year in a culture fully dependent on bread as a staple food.

This common cultural practice is mentioned as a literal event only once by the biblical authors, when we find Boaz winnowing barley on the threshing floor (Ruth 3:2). In all other instances, the words winnowing or scatter or the phrase scatter to the wind are used as a figure of speech. In a few instances, the winnowing is presented in a positive light. Kings judged effectively when they winnowed out evil from their kingdom (Prov. 20:8, 26). The successful restoration of Israel is also shown with a surreal picture of winnowing. Here the mountains are the figurative obstacles that stand in the way, but God promises, “You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away” (Isa. 41:15–16).

The majority of cases where threshing is referenced, however, are found in judgment speeches of the prophets. Here it is people who are being winnowed so that the undesirable are blown away. This image occurs in judgment speeches delivered against Hazor, Elam, Babylon, and Egypt (Jer. 49:32, 36; 51:2; Ezek. 30:26). But most often this image signals judgment against God’s chosen people. He warned them early on that this would be the price to be paid for covenant infidelity: “I will scatter [winnow] you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you” (Lev. 26:33). The prophets seized the image and repeated it as they spoke of judgments that would blow the Israelites from the Promised Land. “I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land” (Jer. 15:7; see also 1 Kings 14:15; Pss. 44:11; 106:27; Jer. 31:10; Ezek. 5:10; 6:8; 12:14–15; 20:23; 36:19; Zech. 1:21).

Using the sieve was the last step in the process of winnowing or cleaning the grain.

This image might be repeated so often because it is effective and evocative in several ways. First, it employs a well-known image that would have stuck with those living in Bible times. Second, it takes the positive connotations of that image and reverses them. While real winnowing is a happy time, divine winnowing of Israel is about as far from that as one can get. The dramatic reversal in connotation found in these figures is what makes them powerful. And finally, the figure of speech characterizes those who are experiencing winnowing in a very negative way. The people who are blown away by the divine wind of judgment are pictured as the dry and relatively worthless chaff that blows away during the winnowing process.

John the Baptist seized on this imagery in his ministry. In doing so, he linked himself to the prophets of an earlier era and demonstrated that the need for his listeners to change was just as urgent as it was for their ancestors. He pictured the Lord with his winnowing fork in hand ready to clear the threshing floor, gathering the wheat into barns while burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17).