SOME acquaintance with the natural history and productions of Palestine and adjacent countries, their rivers, lakes, and scenery, their inhabitants and their manners, customs, costume, and character, is of much value to the bible-reader; helping to explain allusions which so frequently occur in the sacred page, and often throwing much light upon passages which, without some little knowledge of these matters, it is almost impossible to see the force and beauty of. Therefore, under the above heading it is proposed to give from time to time, as opportunity may occur, such little scraps of information, anecdotes illustrative of the climate and character of the people, descriptions of scenery, &c., as may assist the young readers of GOOD NEWS in forming a more intimate acquaintance with the Lands of the Bible and those who live in them.
Separately considered, these “Fragments” will not be of much importance, but in the aggregate, it is hoped they may be useful. But their chief value will depend upon the reader’s referring to every quotation given, as the object is to lead to the Bible, and help those who love it to a better understanding of its contents.
Threshing Floors.
THE crown of a hill, or a rising ground open on all sides to the play of the winds, was, where practicable, generally selected for this purpose. The ground was beaten hard with mallets, and swept clear; then the torn in the straw was laid down, and oxen being turned loose upon it, were driven round and round, now this way, now that, to trample out the grain (Deut. 25:44Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. (Deuteronomy 25:4)). Sometimes a machine resembling a slab, with sharp stones fixed beneath, was used. In some cases smooth rollers were attached to the slab, in others a kind of circular saws, having teeth, were fixed on the rollers. This latter fact will, perhaps, help you to understand Isaiah 41:15, 1615Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. 16Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41:15‑16). After all the grain was trampled out of the husk, and the straw, during the process, broken into chaff, the heap was winnowed by being cast into the air, when the wind carried the chaff away, and the grain, being heavier than the refuse, fell back again on to the floor. Where there was little or no wind, large fans were employed (Matt. 3:1212Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12)) to separate the chaff and refuse from the wheat. This was a most laborious process, very distasteful to the husbandman. The chaff which lay piled in heaps around the floor, and scattered, perhaps, all down the hill side, was afterward set on fire, and the devouring flame consumed not only the great heaps, often higher than a man’s head, but, creeping along the ground wherever the chaff had flown, turned all into ashes in a few moments (Isa. 30:2727Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: (Isaiah 30:27); 2 Thess. 1:7, 87And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (2 Thessalonians 1:7‑8)).
Anecdote.
Two Jewish Rabbins once met on the same spot, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. One wept aloud as he saw a fox run among the ruins; but the other laughed for joy. Each surprised at the emotions of the other, asked a reason. “I weep,” said one, “as the prophet wept, ‘Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate; the foxes walk upon it.”’ “I laugh for the same reason,” said the other. “For he, the Holy One, who has so fulfilled his just judgments will as faithfully perform his mercies also, ‘as he promised to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.’”
To laugh for joy was hardly in keeping with the character of the subject, and the probability is that, seeing the other weep, this poor Jew sought by the contrast to make a parade of his faith, and display his knowledge of prophecy. A deeper acquaintance with the cause of the desolations of Zion would have made him to weep for himself as well as his people. “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For, I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus went out and departed from the temple.”
J. L. K.