Meaning of Winnowing, Winnowing Fork, Threshing Floor

When reading the Bible we often come across words, tools, or phrases that do not make sense to us in today’s world. For example: winnowing, winnowing fork or chaff. What is a threshing floor?

These terms are often used but not always as a picture of God’s judgment. It is a visual that the Jewish people understood very well but is foreign to us today.

Winnowing is a farming method developed by ancient people for separating the grain from the chaff. The chaff is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of grain or the husk of corn.

In simple terms, after harvesting the grain, they would strike, beat or crush the grain to loosen it from the desirable grain from the stalk. Then they would go through a winnowing process which was to throw the mixture into the air, often with a basket or winnowing fork, so the wind blows away the lighter chaff and the heavier grain falls to the floor. It’s separating the good from the bad. In modern farming, this process is made easy by the combine.

The threshing floor is where this process happens. It could have been outdoors on a flat piece of land or indoors over a smooth floor of earth, stone or wood.

Here are some examples in scripture where the writer uses these terms to create a picture for the reader of God’s judgement. When God will separate the good from the bad.

Matthew 3:12 (Luke 3:17)

His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Isaiah 41:14-16

“You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,

And the storm will scatter them;

But you will rejoice in the Lord,

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 15:7

“I will winnow them with a winnowing fork

At the gates of the land;

I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;

They did not repent of their ways.

Jeremiah 51:1-2

“I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her

And may devastate her land;

For on every side they will be opposed to her

In the day of her calamity.

Meaning of Pearl and the Merchant

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” - Matthew 13:45-46

This simple pearl is to remind us that we are of great value, you are treasured. One of the most loveliest possessions of all. And we serve a God that is willing to give up everything to redeem us. To pay for His beautiful pearl.

You see, in this parable Jesus describes the individual believer as the pearl and the kingdom of heaven as the merchant. The merchant is on lookout for choice pearls. In the ancient world, the pearl was the loveliest of all possessions (Barclay). And when the merchant discovers a beautiful pearl, he sells everything he owns and buys it.

God sees you as beautiful, rare and lovely. He wants you for himself and gave up everything including his son to have you back forever. You, who he values so greatly, are now His in His Kingdom. Be reminded that you are treasured by The Almighty.

Meaning of BEHOLD

Behold! That got your attention, right?! Idare you to say“behold” out loud without giggling or cracking a smile. Go ahead. Try it! While “behold” is not a common word in our vocabulary today, we do see it in scripture, and this little word is meant to grab our attention in a big way.

Before we had such a variety of translations, the word behold showed up in scripture muchmore frequently. According to Bible Gateway, behold appears1298 times in the original King James Version.As time has gone on, we nowfind it about half as often in the New King James version, 1069 times in the ESV,& 1,134 times in the NASB. The NIV no longer includes the word behold at all.

Why do some translations continue touse the wordbehold and what exactly does this word mean?Behold is taken from the word bihalden which is an Old English word. If we break this word down, it means to thoroughly hold something (bi- ‘thoroughly’ and haldan ‘to hold’).When we look to Strong’s Concordance, in the Old Testament Hebrew, behold is a translationof the wordhinneh. When this word is used, it is generallyintroducing something new or unexpected. This word indicates that we needto pay close attention to what followsit.In the New Testament Greek, the wordhinnehbecomesidou, which holds the Hebrew meaning and also ties more to our verb “to see”.So why not just say “Look” or “See”?The simple answer is because those words alone don’t accurately conveythe meaning of behold in its entirety.

To beholdis to do more than justglance or look at something.To behold is to be captivated. When you behold something, you see it with your eyes, but you also hold your gaze on it in order to search and to understand. If we take what we know from the Hebrew, Greek and the Old English definition, we’d think of the word behold as more of an intense indicator- something more along the lines of“stop, look and listen”, “don’t miss this”, “this is super important”, or “this changes everything”. The word behold is alerting us that we want to pay attention so that we can truly see and thoroughly understand. We want to behold what comes next because it is so important!

Let’s consider a fewfamiliar verses that contain the word behold.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, Matthew 9:20

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19:26-27

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. Matthew 27:51

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” Revelation 3:20

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Revelation 21:3

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5

We probably won’t start using the word behold in our everyday lives,but we can be intentional about beholding his Word. Inthe busyness of this world, it can become so difficultto take the time to do this.When we do, we allowhis Truth to reframe what we see. Beholding his Word allows us to understand his plan for restoration, and it reminds us that we can look forward to his promise for the renewal of all things.

Whenwe truly see and seek to understand, itcan change everything!!

Meaning and Use of Olive in the Bible

How do you write about the use of the “olive” in the Bible? Where do you even begin to dive deep?  There are so many facets to the Olive Tree.  There is the tree, the branch, the shoot, the oil, and the Mount Of Olives and I’m pretty sure there are more areas to dive into with the Bible!  I mean the Olive tree/branch is referenced from Genesis as a sign of peace when the dove brought back an Olive Branch during Noah’s Flood all the way to Revelations with the vision of the two Olive Trees.  Leviticus uses “olive” 38x in the NIV for rams, bulls and for grain offerings.  In Numbers, and other parts of the Bible, the Israelites are instructed to use only the finest olive oil for setting apart and for ceremonial rituals.  Later we read in Deuteronomy about how olive oil or the olive crop will be blessed among other things if the Israelites pay careful attention to the law and follow God’s ways and if not destruction will come up the olive crop. 

Throughout the Old Testament it references olive oil being used to anoint various kings.  Samuel anointing Saul is one of the most notable and Elisha’s instructions for anointing Jehu in 2 Kings 9.  We also read parables with olive oil and olive trees to teach the people.  Example, Judges 9,  Jothem is warning the people of Shechem of their choice of King.  The good and passed on Kings are compared to the worthy and desirable Olive tree.  In 2 Kings 4, Elisha provides a miracle to a widow with jars of oil.  It’s a beautiful and true story of faith and provision from God.

And there’s more.  In 1 Kings we read about olive wood being used for the building of the temple and pure olive oil to light the sacred lampstands.  These materials were also used in the rebuilding of the temple in Nehemiah.  Olive oil was used in ancient times for medicine and healing balm as we read about in Isaiah 16 and Luke 10.  We read about the stature of the olive tree and the flowering beauty in Psalms 32 and Hosea 14.  God uses the imagery of an Olive tree in Jeremiah 11 to remind his people of the covenant relationship he has with them. 

And the references keep going!  Paul even used the olive tree in Romans 11 to speak to how the Gentiles were grafted to the Jews “the olive root” and the Gentiles were the wild olive trees incapable of bearing fruit.  But now grafted to the Jews, they were now able to share in the blessing.  But it is not the branches that sustain the graft but the root and the root is Christ.

We read about the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem.  The Olive Trees were a desert tree and thrived in the hardship of the heat. It’s here the olives were harvested.  Beaten from the tree and processed through a series of extreme crushing to create a pulp and then pressing to extract the oil.  We read about various people of the Bible retreating to the Mount of Olives like King David in 2 Samuel 15 when he went to the Mount of Olives weeping and in Zechariah 14 when he foreshadows that the persecuted will flee to the Mount of Olives when Jesus returns.  Jesus often went and escaped during his life on earth to the Mount of Olives to pray.  What a beautiful place that represents peace (pointing back to the flood) in the midst of hardship.

A beautiful representation though of what the Olive truly symbolizes and means is when we look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest.  The Garden of Gethsemane was in the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus was praying and pleading before God to take away the hardship of the world.  Our anointed King was taking on the sin of the world.  Here in the Garden among the Olive trees Jesus is pressed knowing he will be crushed and beaten.  Yet here he finds peace with God only to leave with a peace that passes all understanding… “Thy Will Be Done” as he’s arrested.  

While we might not have olive trees surrounding us or a place like the Mount of Olives to retreat to, we can still find the peace that our Savior provides when we feel crushed and when life continues to beat down on us.  Life is not easy.  In fact, Jesus said it wouldn’t be.  Sometimes it is just down right hard and crushing. Yet every hardship we walk through we can know that He is there walking with us.  Refining us.  Purifying us.  Bringing us to completion as is stated in Philippians 1:6.

And if you are at a point when the crushing just feels too much. Remember the process of the beating, crushing and pressing of the olive produced an oil that was so valuable that it was used to anoint Kings. 

The beautiful news is… you are already anointed, royalty in His heavenly family BEFORE the refining. 

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Meaning of the Hyssop Branch

The Hyssop was an herb in the Mediterranean region.  It grows about 1.5 feet tall with summer blooms in different colors such as violet, red and white.  It was known for its flavoring and medicinal properties for both physical and topical, most often used for skin balm.  We read about the Hyssop branch several times in the Old and New Testaments often when it comes to the process of being cleansed often when speaking about leprosy. Both Leviticus 14 and later in Numbers give instruction to lepers to use Hyssop for both the cleansing of their bodies and of their homes.

Later King David after sinning with Bathsheba points back to the Old Testament cleansings and uses the imagery of a hyssop for spiritual cleansing and confession.  Asking God to cleanse his soul for he was like a leper.

Other places we find the Hyssop in the Bible are Hebrews 9:19 referencing spiritual cleansing with the blood and 1 Kings 4:33 as the wise King Solomon speaks about specific plant life.  But there are two passages that are most popular and hold deep significant meaning to us.  Exodus 12:22 during the Exodus and 10 Plagues against Egypt and John 19:29 during the Crucifixion of Jesus.

We are first introduced to the Hyssop Branch in the Bible in Exodus 12:22 when God instructed His people before the 10th and final plague to take the Hyssop which acted like a sponge or paintbrush and dip into the blood of the sacrificial lamb and paint over the doorposts of their homes.  This would be a sign to the angel of death to Passover their home and save them.

The Hyssop was again used as a sponge-like instrument in John 12:29 when the Jesus claims “I thirst” and the Roman soldiers dip a hyssop branch into sour wine and drew it up to Jesus as he hung on the cross as he takes his final breaths.  He was our final sacrificial lamp whose blood was shed for the cleansing of our sin.

While the Hyssop seems like an insignificant detail to us as we read the Bible, it actually holds great value and meaning.  It connects the Bible and acts as a symbol for cleansing.  Once physical, now spiritual.  And a symbol for saving grace.  The Apostle John when writing about the Crucifixion makes sure to point out the use of the Hyssop to draw back the Jews to the time of the Exodus - the saving blood of the Passover.  The sacrifice of the first born.  They now see this as a symbolic moments, the fulfillment of scripture.  Just as the hyssop branch was used in the first Passover to provide the saving grace for the Israelites from death of the firstborn, here they see the ultimate sacrifice of the first born to provide them the everlasting saving grace.

In the words of David in Psalm 51:7  “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”  May you remember Christ’s final sacrifice and cleansing for you.

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