Matthew 3:12. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
See also Luke 52:17.
The grain in the East is threshed in the open air (see note on Gen. 50:10, #90) by being trampled under the feet of oxen or horses (see note on Deut. 25:4) or by means of instruments, as described in the note on Isaiah 28:27-28 (#508). By these processes the straw becomes very much broken; and, to separate the grain from the hulls and straw the mingled mass is thrown against the wind by means of a wooden shovel, or else a wooden fork, having sometimes two prongs and sometimes three, and a handle three or four feet long. This is the “fan” alluded to in a number of Scripture passages. It is usually employed in the evening. See note on Ruth 3:2 (#243). The wind carries the chaff away, while the grain falls to the ground. The grain is sometimes sifted after the winnowing. See note on Amos 9:9 (#609). The chaff is burned and the grain is stored, either in subterranean granaries (see note on Jeremiah 41:8, #551) or in barns. See note on Genesis 41:48 (#80).
The fan is referred to in Isaiah 30:24, where it is mentioned in connection with the “shovel.” The precise difference between the two instruments there indicated is not now known. See also Jeremiah 4:11; 15:7; 51:2. The scattering of the chaff by the wind after fanning is frequently alluded to figuratively. See Job 21:18; Psalm 1:4; Isaiah 29:5;. 41:16; Daniel 2:35; Hosea 13:3.