Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him. For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it.
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Isaiah 28:24-28 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech! Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him. For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it. This also comes out from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.
Parallel Translations
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Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?
When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him.
For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod.
Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it.
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Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
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Is the plowman never done with plowing to sow, with the opening and harrowing of his ground?
When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the black cummin, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows and the barley in the appointed place and the spelt in the border thereof?
For He doth instruct him aright; his God doth teach him.
For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing-sledge, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Is bread corn crushed? Nay, he will not ever be threshing it; and though the roller of his wagon and its sharp edges move noisily, he doth not crush it.
Cross-references (27)
- Exodus 31:3-6 (v26) I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship, to devise…
- Exodus 36:2 (v26) Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him…
- Ezekiel 4:9 (v25) “Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel. Make bread of it. According to the…
- Exodus 28:3 (v26) You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him,…
- Job 35:11 (v26) who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
Show all 27 cross-references
- Job 39:17 (v26) because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.
- Psalms 144:1 (v26) Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle:
- Isaiah 41:15 (v27) Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make…
- Jeremiah 4:3 (v24) For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns.
- Daniel 1:17 (v26) Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and…
- Hosea 10:11-12 (v24) Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will…
- Matthew 23:23 (v25) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law:…
- James 1:17 (v26) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
- Exodus 9:31-32 (v25) The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley had ripened and the flax was blooming. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for…
- 2 Kings 13:7 (v27) For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of…
- Isaiah 21:10 (v28) You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
- Isaiah 27:7-8 (v27) Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? In measure, when you send…
- Jeremiah 10:24 (v27) Yahweh, correct me, but gently; not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
- Jeremiah 46:28 (v27) Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh; “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven…
- Amos 1:3 (v27) Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead…
- Amos 9:9 (v28) “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least…
- Matthew 3:12 (v28) His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the…
- Matthew 13:37-43 (v28) He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the…
- John 12:24 (v28) Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much…
- 1 Corinthians 3:9 (v28) For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
- 1 Corinthians 9:9-10 (v28) For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares, or…
- Luke 22:31-32 (v28) The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v25 As the plowman hath his appointed time, and divers…
As the plowman hath his appointed time, and divers instruments for his labor, so hath the Lord for his vengeance: for he punisheth some at one time, and some at another, some after one sort, and some after another, so that his chosen seed is beaten and tried, but not broken, as are the wicked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv24–28 Isa 28:24 Doth the plowman plow all day to…
Isa 28:24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
Ver. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?] {a} Or, Every day. Doth he not find him somewhat else to do besides? Sua sunt rebus omnibus agendis tempora, novandi, arandi, occandi, aequandi, serendi, metendi, colligandi et excernendi grani, et suae rationes singulis. And shall not the only wise God afflict his people with moderation and discretion? Yea, verily; for he is "a God of judgment, and waiteth to be gracious." {Isa 30:18} We are no longer ploughed than needs; and whereas we may think our hearts soft enough, it may be so for some grace; but God hath seeds of all sorts to cast in, the wheat and the rye, &c., and that ground which is soft enough for one, is not for another. God, saith Chrysostom doth like a lutanist, who will not let the strings be too slack, lest they mar the music; nor suffer them to be too hard stretched or screwed up, lest they break.
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{a} Preponit parabolam rusticam, sed magna sapientia refertam.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv24–28 Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? the…
Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? the ploughman doth not spend all his time in ploughing the ground, in order to the sowing it, or, as it follows, in opening it, and breaking its clods; but he hath several times for several works, a time for ploughing, and a time for sowing and harrowing, and a time for reaping, and a time for threshing, or beating, and bruising the corn for his own use; which wisdom God hath put into him. This is the sum of the similitude propounded here and in the following verses; the design and meaning whereof seems to be this, to teach them that God had his times and seasons for several works, and that the methods of his providence were various at several times, and towards several persons or people; and therefore that those scoffing Israelites were guilty of great folly, in flattering themselves, and despising God’s threatenings, because of God’s long patience towards them, and because of their present impunity and prosperity; for God would certainly and speedily take a time to thresh and break them with his judgments, as at present he ploughed and harrowed them, and so prepared them for it by his threatenings.
Doth he open; understand, all day, or continually, out of the foregoing clause.
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And break the clods of his ground; which they used to do with a kind of harrow, or other proper instrument. See Jer 4:3; Hos 10:11,12
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv24–28 When he hath made plain the face thereof,.... By…
When he hath made plain the face thereof,.... By harrowing it, after it is ploughed:
doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin; in sowing them in the ground, prepared for them; the former of these does not seem to be the same we so call, but something else. The Septuagint version calls it the little "melanthion" (c), the same with the "nigella" (d) of the Latins, and is sometimes called "gith" (e), as in the Vulgate Latin version here. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it "anise", which is mentioned along with "cummin", as common with the Jews, and which, in Christ's time, were tithed, Mat 23:23 and both these in the text are by Kimchi said to be the food of man:
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and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? each in their proper place, or in soil suitable for them; some land being more suitable for the one than for the other, which the husbandman understands: "wheat" is the choicest and most excellent grain, and therefore called "principal"; or else because it is "first" sown, or sown in the best and "principal" ground: "barley" is said to be "appointed", or to be sowed in a place appointed for it; or "marked" (f), referring either to places marked in the field, where it should be sown; which sense the Targum and the Jewish commentators favour; or to sacks of it marked, in which the best seed for sowing was put: "and the rye in its border" (g); appointed for that Jarchi thinks this refers to the different places of sowing; the wheat was sown in the middle of the field; barley round about the mark or sign for that purpose; and rye upon the borders. The Targum is,
"as wheat is sown in an uncultivated field, and barley by the signs, and rye by the borders;''
but the whole is intended to express the wisdom of the husbandman, in sowing different seeds, not in the same field, which was forbidden by the law, Lev 19:19 but in ground suitable to each of them; and in the mystical sense designs the execution of divine judgments on men, in proportion to their sins, after they have been admonished of them, and reproved for them; and may be applied also to the sowing of the seed of the word in the hearts of men, and illustrated by the parable of the sower in Mat 13:19.
(c) So Junius & Tremellius, and Piscator. (d) As here with Pagninus, Montanus. (e) So Vatablus and Castalio. (f) "hordeum signatum", Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus; "signato loco", Tigurine version. (g) "speltam in termino ejus, vel suo", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 27, 28 Doth - The plowman doth not spend all his…
Doth - The plowman doth not spend all his time in plowing the ground; but he has several times for several works. And so God has his times and seasons for several works, and his providence is various at several times, and towards several people. Therefore those scoffing Israelites were guilty of great folly, in flattering themselves, because of God's long patience towards them; for God will certainly take a time to thresh, and break them with his judgments, as at present he plowed and harrowed them, and so prepared them for it by his threatenings. Open - Understand, all day. Break - Which they used to do with a kind of harrow.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Verse 26. For his God doth instruct him] All…
Verse 26. For his God doth instruct him] All nations have agreed in attributing agriculture, the most useful and the most necessary of all sciences, to the invention and to the suggestions of their deities. "The Most High hath ordained husbandry," saith the son of Sirach, Ecclus. 7:15.
Namque Ceres fertur fruges, Liberque liquoris
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Vitigeni laticem mortalibus instituisse.
LUCRETIUS, v. 14.
"Ceres has taught mortals how to produce fruits; and Bacchus has taught them how to cultivate the vine."
Ὁ δ' ηπιος ανθρωποισι
Δεξια σημαινει, λαους δ' επι εργον εγειρει
Μιμνησκων βιοτοιο· λεγει δ' ὁτε βωλος αριστη
Βουσι τε και μακελῃσι· λεγει δ' ὁτε δεξιαι ὡραι
Και φυτα γυρωσαι, και σπερματα παντα βαλεσθαι.
ARATUS, Phaenom. v.
"He, Jupiter, to the human race
Indulgent, prompts to necessary toil
Man provident of life; with kindly signs
The seasons marks, when best to turn the glebe
With spade and plough, to nurse the tender plant,
And cast o'er fostering earth the seeds abroad."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv26–27 Isa 28:26. For his God doth instruct him —…
Isa 28:26. For his God doth instruct him — The art of husbandry is so necessary for the support of human life, that all men have ascribed its original to God as the inventor and ordainer of it. The Most High hath ordained husbandry, saith the son of Sirach, Sir 7:15. In like manner, Virgil, Georg., lib. 1. line 121:
“ — — — — — — — — — Pater ipse colendi Haud facilem esse viam voluit, primusq; per artem Movit agros — — .”
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“Himself invented first the shining share, And whetted human industry by care;
Himself did handicrafts and arts ordain;
Nor suffer’d sloth to rust his active reign.”
By other heathen, the invention of agriculture is ascribed to the goddess Ceres.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv24–28 Doth the plowman ... - The question here asked…
Doth the plowman ... - The question here asked implies that he does “not” plow all the day. The interrogative form is often the most emphatic mode of affirmation.
All day - The sense is, does he do nothing else but plow? Is this the only thing which is necessary to be done in order to obtain a harvest? The idea which the prophet intends to convey here is this. A farmer does not suppose that he can obtain a harvest by doing nothing else but plow. There is much else to be done. So it would be just as absurd to suppose that God would deal with his people always in the same manner, as it would be for the farmer to be engaged in nothing else but plowing.
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Doth he open ... - That is, is he always engaged in opening, and breaking the clods of his field? There is much else to be done besides this. The word ‘open’ here refers to the furrows that are made by the plow. The earth is laid open as it were to the sunbeams, and to the showers of rain, and to the reception of seed. The word rendered ‘break’ (ישׁדד yshadēd) properly means “to harrow,” that is, to break up the clods by harrowing Job 39:10; Hos 10:11.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv24–28 Sow. The works of the husbandman vary, so will…
Sow. The works of the husbandman vary, so will God’s punishments be inflicted with measure, according to each one’s deserts, ver. 27., and Wisdom vi. 7. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv24–28 all day--emphatic; he is not always ploughing: he also…
all day--emphatic; he is not always ploughing: he also "sows," and that, too, in accordance with sure rules (Isa 28:25).
doth he open--supply "always." Is he always harrowing?
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv24, 27 24-26. Doth the ploughman plough all day — That…
24-26. Doth the ploughman plough all day — That is, does he plough interminably, never cease?
To sow — In order to sow, in order to make the ground ready for sowing. The parallel number is of the same meaning. Common sense deigns not an answer.
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Made plain — Level.
The face thereof — The surface of the fields.
Fitches… cummin — Garden seeds, the one Nigella sativa, used both as a condiment and as medicine, sprinkled upon loaves; the other, of warm, bitterish, aromatic flavour — a plant umbelliferous like fennel, used with salt as a sause. The Maltese are said to grow cummin and thresh it at this day in the same manner as described by Isaiah. — Bible Dictionary.
Principal wheat… appointed barley — The Hebrew is obscure in meaning, and critics conjecture it has been corrupted. “Wheat” and “barley” were always, as now, prime staples.
The “wheat” is supposed to have been sown in the inner parts of the field, and surrounded by spelt, or rye as a border, and the barley was sown in a field by itself, appropriate to it, or “appointed” for it. This may explain the text as to these terms. The “plough-man” is cited as acting in a sound, common sense way, as God has made him to act in these practical matters. So God acts in perfect accord with the highest wisdom and justice in his treatment of men. He saves all who will permit him to save them: he punishes forever those who hate him and will never yield to him. This is the lesson taught by the parable of the ploughman.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–28 24. all day] i.e. continually (R.V.), “uninterruptedly.” The emphasis…
24. all day] i.e. continually (R.V.), “uninterruptedly.” The emphasis of the question lies on this word.
to sow is an awkward addition and may be a gloss. If genuine the sense must be paraphrased “seeing he has the intention of sowing.”
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doth he open … ground] Trans. doth he (continually) open and narrow his ground?
24–26. Ploughing is followed by sowing.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–28 (24) Doth the plowman plow all day . .…
(24) Doth the plowman plow all day . . .?—Better, every day. Ploughing represents naturally, as in Jer_4:3, the preparatory discipline by which the spiritual soil is rendered fit for the sower’s work. It is a means, and not an end, and is, therefore, in its very nature but for a season. To a nation passing through this stage, Assyrian invaders scoring their long furrows visibly on the surface of the land, the parable gave the hope that this was preparing the way for the seed-time of a better harvest.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv24–28 Doth the plowman plow all day? The Church of…
Doth the plowman plow all day? The Church of God, go often called a vineyard, is here compared to an arable field, and the processes by which God educates and disciplines his Church are compared to those employed by man in the cultivation of such a piece of ground, and the obtaining of a harvest, from it. First of all, the ground must be ploughed, the face of the earth "opened" and the "clods broken." This, however, does not go on forever; it is for an object that the seed may be sown; and, as soon as the ground is fit for the sowing to take place, the preparation of the soil ceases. Doth he open and break, etc.? Harrowing succeeds to ploughing in the natural order of things, the object of the harrowing being to break and pulverize the clods.
Vers. 24-28. The analogy of Divine to human methods of working.
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Isaiah"s comparison in this chapter rests wholly upon the assumption of an analogy between God"s dealings and man"s, when the latter are such as are consonant with reason. Reason, the highest gift of God to man, be assumes to be an adumbration of some quality in the Divine nature, which bears a real resemblance to it. "Reason cometh forth from the Lord of hosts." It is the voice of God speaking in the soul of man. Let man follow it, and his actions are divinely guided. God"s mode of action in parallel matters may be gathered from his. The general principle is involved in the particular analogy here indicated. As in human husbandry, so in God"s tendance of that Church, which is his "vineyard" and "fruitful field," there are three principal processes.
I THE PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. Israel was prepared by the long course of Egyptian affliction, by the "ploughshares" and "harrows" of tyrannical overseers and taskmasters, which broke up and pulverized what would otherwise have been an ungenial and unpromising soil, very unapt to bear fruit. After this preparation had been made for four hundred and thirty years, there followed
II THE PUTTING IN OF THE SEED. God"s revelation of himself and of his will at Sinai was the sowing of the seed of his Word in the soil of Israel"s hearts. When he had sufficiently prepared the soil, he scattered the seed abundantly seed of various kinds which all fell in its "appointed place," and did its appointed work, "turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," and differencing the Jews from their neighbors by a higher moral tone and a purer religion than prevailed elsewhere. Finally came
III THE GATHERING IS OF THE HARVEST. The seed is sown for the sake of the crop which it will produce. God is continually gathering in his crop by a process analogous to that which men pursue. He needs good grain for his garner, and to obtain this he must separate the grain from the husks and chaff with which it is accompanied. As men use various methods for this object, some gentler, some severer, so God, too, in the purifying of his grain, has many varieties of treatment. To each kind of grain he applies the treatment that is fittest. Some kinds are lightly beaten, as with slender rods; others more heavily, as with stout staves; some, on the other hand, are threshed, as it were, with spiked drags and rollers, to clear them of their encumbrances. No more force, however, is applied in any case than is necessary, nor is any force applied for a longer time than is needed. And even in the severest treatment there is gentleness. God has a care that the good grain shall never be "bruised."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v26 For his God doth instruct him
Isa_28:26-29
For his God doth instruct him
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Chastising with judgment
More literally and with better significance, And he chastiseth it with judgment; his God doth instruct him.
This judgment is shown in two ways.
(1) In the choice and adaptation of the mode of threshing. There were four modes in use among the Jews; first there was the wain, a very ponderous and formidable instrument brought out only for the heavier and harder kinds of fruits; then there was the cart, the wheels of which also were for the same purpose; then there was the horse or the ox, whose feet were employed to tread out the corn; and then there was the staff, an instrument corresponding with our flail. Well, says the prophet, fitches, the lighter kinds of seeds, are not threshed with a wain, nor is a cart wheel turned upon the cummin; upon these the farmer, using sound judgment, employs only a staff or flail. Bread corn requires a heavier threshing, and bread corn is therefore bruised. But
(2) he does not go on threshing it forever, nor does he continue so long turning the wheel of his cart upon it, or crushing it with his horses, that it is broken into pieces and spoiled; in the measure of his threshing no less than in its mode does he exercise discretion; in the amount which he inflicts no less than in the form which he selects. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. (R. H.Roberts, B. A.)
Tribulation
Though not a parable in form, the passage is intended to be parabolically interpreted by us. The unsown land indicates human nature in its native condition; the fruit of that land after it has been sown indicates human nature taken possession of by the Word and Spirit of God.
I. Just as the corn, after it has grown up from the seed sown, needs the c causing process of threshing, so THE SOUL, AFTER IT HAS APPROPRIATED THE GRACE OF GOD IN SALVATION THROUGH FAITH, NEEDS TO BE DISCIPLINED AND CHASTENED AND PERFECTED BY SUFFERING. It used to be a great puzzle with some of the Old Testament saints why a man of God should be subjected to trial Perhaps their bewilderment arose out of the exceeding dimness which surrounded a future life; but the life and immortality brought to light in the Gospel has made this all clear to us, and the suggestion contained in the figure of the text, whilst it cannot be pressed too strictly, may be taken to remind us that in our first salvation we have not reached our final development. The corn is not grown for itself, it is meant for something beyond; and that beyond can only be attained through bruising. It must be beaten into its future life. Even so our salvation is only a step in the onward, heavenward progress; and into that higher kingdom we must enter through the narrow pass of tribulation. This is Christs teaching. Every branch in Me that beareth fruit, He purgeth it. This is brought out, too, in the words of John the Baptist regarding Christ. I, he says, baptize you with water, but He will baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire. When first we are separated from the rock of nature and raked out of the pit of corruption, we are like iron ore, having in us a vast deal of dross which must become slag and refuse, and we need the blast furnace not only that this dross may be removed, but that we may be in a condition to run into the mould, and so take the shape which the Master desires, and be prepared for the utilities unto which He destines us. It often happens, too, that the more noble the elements which exist in a man, the more severe is the process required unto the perfecting of their possibilities. Corn wants heavier threshing than cummin, not because it is less valuable but because its superior value gives it a greater power of resistance and makes it worth while to accept the heavier toil.
II. THE DISCIPLINE EXPERIENCED BY THE PEOPLE OF GOD WILL BE CERTAINLY SUCH AS IS BEST ADAPTED TO SECURE THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE ENDS. It is being administered and superintended by One who, whilst He sets much value upon them, is distinguished by the profoundest wisdom. And we may be sure that His wisdom will be applied to the adaptation of the discipline to the character with which He has to deal; the husbandman does not thresh fitches with a wain, nor is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. You look at your children and you discriminate; you say that boy has a sensitive, gentle, yielding nature, and I must be careful that I do not handle him too roughly, lest I brush the bloom off and spoil the possible beauty which, by careful training, may be made to blossom in the kingdom of God. And that lad is made of a coarser grain, which is not readily injured, and with a dash of self-will and obstinacy in it, upon which I must lay a firm and strong hand. And so, it may be, you put your arm around the one, and you have a rod for the other; and yet all the while you mean the same by both. He who is wonderful in counsel is also wonderful in working. (R. H. Robert, B. A.)
The, ploughman taught of God
Let us contemplate the method of the Divine teaching. The ploughman teaches us--
I. A LESSON OF PREPARATION. God prepared much for man before He introduced him into Eden. God would not bring His favourite creature man into a dreary, cheerless world, but into one glowing with beauty, impressive in magnificence, overflowing with goodness.
II. A LESSON OF ACTIVITY. The ploughman has passed the time of deliberation; he has decided, and decision has led to action. There is much truth in Bacons complaint, That some men object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home. This aphorism applies, alas, to too many alike in the world and the Church. Ulysses could not discover a happier method of making his foes believe in his insanity than by ploughing up the sand by the seashore. How much quick-witted invention degenerates to the same folly! Often within the Church, where heavenly wisdom ought to shine, matters are not much improved. How many are at ease in Zion! How many shirk the ploughing altogether! How many let noxious weeds grow apace! How many miss the time of open-handed sowing, and yet expect to wake up when the song of harvest home fills the air, and to gather their own golden sheaves! There is still a sense in which the children of the world are wiser than the children of light. Many of these count years not wasted to acquire proficiency in mere vanities and trivialities over which angels well may weep.
III. A LESSON OF PRUDENCE. God giveth him discretion All toil that is honest, is honourable, but that is the most honourable which employs the greatest variety of our powers. How much of the service offered to pomp, pride vanity, and fashion lacks discretion! This faculty of discretion men are called upon to exercise daily. Prudence or discretion is a good commander-in-chief: it has won battles over the stubbornness of the soil, the inclemency of the climate, the stormy elements. If we thoughtfully and prayerfully take care of our own actions, God will take care of results. We have no right to tempt providence in any part of its wide domains. He who walks in dangerous ways will perish in them, even as Josiah--favourite of God though he was--was wounded unto death, because he pressed further against his enemies than the words of God permitted.
IV. A LESSON OF ORDER. The discreet husbandman ploughs in the proper season in order that the Lords plough, the frost may pulverise the soft a thousand times finer than any human implement. And is not order one of the greatest of Heavens appointed laws? The Church itself is to be an army with banners, to consist of governors and governed, some to tend, some to serve, some to hear. Evolve your heaven in due order, out of holy desires, pure affection, spiritual principle, full consecration. (F. Standfast.)
The need and measure of afflictive dispensations
I. THE NEED OF TRIAL TO THE CHILDREN OF GOD. To the wicked afflictions may come as present manifestations of Divine displeasure, and most unwelcome earnests of future judgment. And God may cause the very pleasant vices in which they indulged to become whips and scourge them. As for the children of God, however,--the corn, the fitches, and the cummin, it is not so with them. Every providential dealing of their Heavenly Father is linked with the intentions of His grace, and subserves them. The grain is beaten, the corn is bruised, that they may become useful to man, in providing him with food. Even so, afflictions may be for the good of others, as well as for the glory of God.
II. THE WISE AND GRACIOUS MANNER IN WHICH GOD LAYS AFFLICTION ON HIS CHILDREN. The text beautifully exhibits the skilful and tender adaptation of means to their end. (B. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
Threshing
I. WE ALL NEED THRESHING. What is the object of threshing the grain? Is it not to separate it from the straw and the chaff?
1. About the best of men there is still a measure of chaff. There is something superfluous, something which must be removed. Either in spirit, or motive, or lack of zeal, or want of discretion, we are faulty, if before an action we are right, we err in the doing of it, or, if not, we become proud after it is over. If sin be shut out at the front door, it tries the back gate, or climbs in at the window, or comes down the chimney. Those who cannot perceive it in themselves are frequently blinded by its smoke. They are so thoroughly in the water that they do not know that it rains.
2. Threshing is useful in loosening the connection between the good corn and the husk. If it would slip out easily from its husk, the corn would only need to be shaken. But theres the rub: our soul not only lieth in the dust, but cleaveth to it. As the work of threshing is never done till the corn is separated altogether from the husk, so chastening and discipline have never accomplished their design till Gods people give up every form of evil, and abhor all iniquity. Threshing becomes needful for the sake of our usefulness; for the wheat must come out of the husk to be of service. Eminent usefulness usually necessitates eminent affliction.
3. The threshing instrument is a prophecy of our future perfection.
II. GODS THRESHING IS DONE WITH GREAT DISCRETION.
1. Reflect that your threshing and mine are in Gods hands. Our chastening is not left to servants, much less to enemies; we are chastened of the Lord! How roughly some ministers, some good men and women will go to work with timid, tender souls; yet we need not fear that they will destroy the true-hearted, for, however much they may vex them, the Lord will not leave His chosen in their hands, but will overrule their mistaken severity, and preserve His own from being destroyed thereby. As the Lord has not left us in the power of man, so also He has not left us in the power of the devil. Satan may sift us as wheat, but he shall not thresh us as fitches. He may blow away the chaff from us even with his foul breath, but he shall not have the management of the Lords corn. The Lord preserveth the righteous.
2. The instruments used for our threshing are chosen also by the great Husbandman. The Eastern farmer has several instruments, and so has our God. No form of threshing is pleasant to the seed which bears it; indeed, each one seems to the sufferer to be peculiarly objectionable.
3. God not only selects the instruments, but He chooses the place. Farmers in the East have large threshing floors upon which they throw the sheaves of corn or barley, and upon these they turn horses and drags; but near the house door I have often noticed in Italy a much smaller circle of hardened clay or cement, and here I have seen the peasants beating out their garden seeds in a more careful manner than would naturally be used towards the greater heaps upon the larger area. Some saints are not afflicted in the common affairs of life, but they have peculiar sorrow in their innermost spirits: they are beaten on the smaller and more private threshing floor; but the process is none the less effectual
4. It is interesting to notice in the text the limit of this threshing. The husbandman is zealous to beat out the seed, but he is careful not to break it in pieces by too severe a process. In the same way the Lord has a measure in all His chastening. The wisdom of the husbandman in limiting his threshing is far exceeded in the wisdom of God by which He sets a limit to our griefs. We see that our God uses discretion in the chastisement of His people; let us use a loving prudence when we have to deal with others in that way. Be gentle as well as firm with your children; and if you have to rebuke your brother do it very tenderly. Do not drive your horses over the tender seed.
III. THE THRESHING WILL NOT LAST FOREVER. The threshing will not last all our days even here. Bread corn is bruised, but He will not always he threshing it. Oh, no! He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Threshing is not an operation which the corn requires all the year round; for the most part the flail is idle. Then, we shall soon be gone to another and better world. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
How the Lord threshes us
I. IT IS NO COMPLIMENT TO US IF WE ESCAPE GREAT TRIAL.
II. GOD PROPORTIONS OUR TRIALS TO WHAT WE CAN BEAR.
III. GOD KEEPS TRIAL ON US UNTIL WE LET GO. The farmer shouts whoa! to his horses as soon as the grain has dropped from the stalk. The farmer comes with his fork and tosses up the straw, and he sees that the straw has let go the grain, and the grain is thoroughly threshed. So God. Smiting rod and turning wheel, but cease as soon as we let go. We hold on to this world with its pleasures, and riches, and emoluments, and our knuckles are so firmly set that it seems as if we could hold on forever. God comes along with some threshing troubles, and beats us loose.
IV. CHRISTIAN SORROW IS GORING TO HAVE A SURE TERMINUS. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
The wisdom of God in discipline
Some men require very little hard usage. A tap will do, a gentle stroke, a touch that hardly amounts to a blow, a ministry that may be wrought out with the tips of the fingers. Other men require flail, and iron instrument, and harrow, and cart wheel and rough treatment: they are differently organised, they are differently constituted. What would be thought of a man who blew up birds nests with gunpowder? Who would not say, There is great want of proportion in that mans method of looking at things; he is expending far too much energy upon the object? So with regard to the Divine discipline. Some men could be almost brought to fulness or fruition by a smile. Of some men God says, Thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven; one little step would bring thee right home. God whispers some men into heaven. But what thunder He needs for others! God treats character according to the variety of character. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Chastisement not pleasant
There is no pleasing us in the matter of chastisement. When I was at school, with my uncle for master, it often happened that he would send me out to find a cane for him. It was not a very pleasant task, and I noticed that I never once succeeded in selecting a stick which was liked by the boy who had to feel it. Either it was too thin, or too stout; and in consequence I was threatened by the sufferers with condign punishment if I did not do better next time. I learned from that experience never to expect Gods children to like the particular rod with which they are chastened. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Moral threshing
We all go through, some kind of threshing process. The fact that you may be devoting your life to honourable and noble purposes will not win you any escape. Wilberforce, the Christian emancipator, was in his day derisively called Doctor Cantwell. Thomas Babington Macaulay, the advocate of all that was good long before he became the most conspicuous historian of his day, was caricatured in one of the Quarterly Reviews as Babble-tongue Macaulay. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
The higher nature requires the more force
Bread corn is bruised. There are more blows given by the sculptor to carve a saint or angel man by the mason to square a paving stone. (F. Standfast.)
Tribulation
Tribulation comes from the word Tribulum, and tribulum means a threshing instrument. Whatever the man used who was treating the growth in its latest phases was called a tribulum, and he tribulated the harvest into bread. The seed did not go from the field into the oven; it had to undergo the action of the tribulum. Watch it there: what is that seed now undergoing! Tribulation. This is the bread that came out of much tribulating, tribulation, tearing asunder, shaking, beating. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v24 Isa_28:24-25. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?…
THE PARABLE OF THE HUSBANDMAN
Isa_28:24-25. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? &c. [1117]
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[1117] In this parable the mystery of the Divine Providence is laid open, its secret disclosed. All ploughing is for sowing; all threshing is intended for the preservation of the grain. When God chastens us, it is not that He means to destroy us, but because He has set His heart on saving us, because He has appointed us to life and not to death. He works with discrimination. He employs various methods, sends sorrows of all sorts and sizes, that He may adapt Himself to every man’s needs, and to all our varieties of place, time, and circumstances. Just as the husbandman varies his treatment of the soil, and allots to each kind of seed a soil and place suitable to its kind; just as, after the harvest has been gathered in, he employs only such instruments as are best adapted for separating the different kinds of grain from the straw and the chaff. With like wisdom and discretion God deals with us, assigning to each of us our proper station and lot, and, when we sin against Him, adapting His judgments to our several needs. The sorrows, losses, bereavements which befall us are but as the sharp edge of the share, or the keen teeth of the harrow, and are intended to prepare us to receive the good seed, and to bring forth much fruit. Or again, they are like the stroke of the flail, or the keen pressure of the sledge, or the ponderous oppression of the waggon-wheel, or the swift rattle of the horses’ hoofs; and are designed to separate the chaff from the grain, the worthless from the worthy, the evil from the good in us, that we may be made meet for the garner of God. “Cure sin and you cure sorrow,” say the reason and conscience of the world: and the sorrow comes that the sin may be cured, adds the prophet; the very miseries that spring from evil are intended to eradicate the evil from which they spring. The weeds call for the plough; and the plough comes at their call; but it comes and cuts up the weeds and the ground in which they have taken root, only that the seeds of wholesome herbs and herbs of grace may be sown in the furrows. The chaff calls for the flail, and the flail is sent, but sent only to beat out the nourishing grain. Would that this conception were as assured, and as familiar to us as to the old Hebrew prophets I For, sooner or later, we shall all have to endure Borrows, which rend our hearts as the ploughshare rends the ground, or which bruise our hearts as the flail bruises the corn.—S. Cox, D.D.: Expositor, vol. i. pp. 89–98.
Means adapted to the end must be used if any end is to be accomplished. The physician knows this. So does the general. So does the manufacturer. So does the farmer. He is not always ploughing. Nor always sowing. Nor always threshing. Nor does he treat every kind of produce in the same way. And God employs various methods in dealing with men. He aims to turn them from evil, and He adapts His methods. The teaching of the text may be applied to the divine dealing with men generally.
I. God intended to open a way of salvation. Man needs salvation because he is a sinner. Can conceive a state of things in which he would not need it, as of one who needs no physician. If he had continued holy and obedient. But that is not his case. He is a sinner, characterised by impurity, and exposed to perdition.—Now God, in His pitying love, would save us. How shall He proceed? Shall He, by His arbitrary will, sweep away the facts? Such a procedure would be entirely inconsistent with the existence of moral government and the rectitude of the divine character.
1. One part of the case to be dealt with was the condemned state of man under the divine law. Forgiveness could not righteously be given without some satisfaction. Man could not make it. God in Christ, in His whole personality and work, has made the satisfaction. The method adopted is exactly adapted to the nature of the case.
2. But the other part of the case was also to be dealt with. Sinfulness is deep-seated in man’s nature. He loves it. Until he is changed, he is not even inclined to sue for mercy, still less to escape from sin. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent to turn us from our iniquities. How does He do this?
(1.) By moral motive. The law was inadequate. He introduces a new motive. Not only the mercy, but the fact that it has been procured at such a cost, that the love was equal to such a sacrifice. It appeals directly to the heart, as well as to the judgment, for a condemnation of sin.
(2.) By spiritual influence. The influence of the Holy Spirit strives with those to whom the gospel is preached, with a view to the overcoming their indifference, reluctance, and sin.—The method is adapted, in both its sides, to the end in view. It only requires the sinner’s consent. Hence—
II. God intended the way of salvation to be made known to men. If consent to it and faith in it is requisite to participation of its blessings, it must be understood—
1. The information might have been imparted in a separate revelation by the Holy Spirit to every man. Would supersede all evidence, and all exercise of human faculty. Would not be adapted to man as a reasonable being.
2. Angelic ministry might have been employed. Open to similar objection. Would have made miracle the rule instead of the exception. It would have changed the order of nature.
3. The method adopted is the simple arrangement that those who are acquainted with it, believe it, consent to it, make the gospel known. A method exactly adapted to the nature of the case. According to the constitution of human nature, the Gospel thus approaches it for the purpose of gaining the understanding, the heart, and the will. Bear in mind the power of sympathy between human beings. He who has received a truth desires to impart it. He who has experienced the salvation pities those who need it as he did. He who speaks from his own experience speaks with tenderness, and earnestness, and influence. The sick heed the recommendation of a physician by those whom he has cured. On this principle of adaptation the Lord Jesus instituted the living ministry of apostles, evangelists, pastors, parents, all Christians. He inspired some to put on permanent record the truth as He revealed it, as a standard of appeal. They are to study it. They are to use the same principle of adaptation. There is youth, age, different measure of instruction, different classes, spheres, circumstances.
III. God intended to train those whom He saved. Believers are already saved, because pardoned and sanctified. But they require training into riper holiness, greater usefulness, greater fitness for the future heaven. Therefore the Saviour instituted such means as are adapted to secure these ends. Church fellowship, public worship, pastoral teaching, Christian habits of watchfulness, thoughtfulness, prayer. All these are adapted to the training of the spiritual plant.
Are you in sympathy with God’s end? In yourselves? In the world? Then adapt yourselves to its realisation.—J. Rawlinson.
In these verses there are three kinds of seed mentioned; fitches, cummin, and corn. The fitches and cummin were small seeds like the caraway or chickpea. When these smaller herbs had to be threshed, this was done by hand; but when the corn had to be threshed, that was thrown on the floor, and men would fasten horses or oxen to a cart with iron-dented wheels; that cart would be drawn round the threshing-floor, and so the work would be accomplished. And so the idea expressed is different kinds of threshing for different products.
I. We must all go through some kind of threshing process. The fact that you are devoting your life to honourable and noble purposes will not win you any escape. Wilber-force, the Christian Emancipator, was in his day derisively called “Doctor Cantwell.” Thomas Babington Macaulay, the advocate of all that was good long before he became the most conspicuous historian of his day, was caricatured in one of the Quarterly Reviews as “Bubble-tongue Macaulay.” Norman M‘Leod, the great friend of the Scotch poor, was industriously maligned in all quarters. All the small wits of London took after John Wesley, the father of Methodism. If such men could not escape the maligning of the world, neither can you expect to get rid of the sharp, keen stroke of the tribulum. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.
II. It is no compliment to us if we escape great trial. There are men who suppose they are the Lord’s favourites, simply because their barns are full, and their bank account is flush, and there are no funerals in the house. It may be because they are fitches and cummin, while down at the end of the lane, the poor widow may be the Lord’s corn. You are little pounded, because you are little worth, and she bruised and ground, because she is the best part of the harvest. By carefulness of the threshing, you may always conclude the value of the grain. (H. E. I., 189–196, 3692–3695).
III. God proportions our trials to what we can bear. The rod for the cummin, the staff for the fitches, the iron wheel for the corn. (H. E. I, 179–188, 3674–3695).
IV. God continues trials until we let go. As soon as the farmer sees that the straw has let go the grain, he stops the threshing. We hold on to this world with its pleasures, riches, and emoluments, as though for ever. God comes along with some threshing trouble, and beats us loose. Oh, let go! Depend upon it that God will keep upon you the staff, or the rod, or the iron wheel until you do let go.
V. Christian sorrow is going to have a sure terminus. “Bread corn is bruised, because He will not be ever threshing it.” So much of us as is wheat will be separated from so much of us as is chaff, and there will be no more need of pounding. “He will not ever be threshing it.” Blessed be God for that! (Rev_21:4).—T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv25, 27 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues telling a parable to the people of Jerusalem. (See: Parables)
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When he has prepared the ground
"When the farmer has plowed the soil"
does he not scatter caraway seed, sow the cumin, put in the wheat in rows and the barley in the right place, and the spelt at its edges?
Isaiah uses a question to make the people of Jerusalem think deeply. If your language does not have a word for each of these seeds, they can be stated more generally. AT: "he will certainly plant each kind of seed in the correct way and in the proper places." (See: Rhetorical Question)
caraway ... cumin
These are names of plants that are spices. Translators may represent them in general as seeds of spices used to spice food. (See: Translate Unknowns)
wheat ... barley ... spelt
These are all names of plants that are grains. Translators may represent them in general as seeds of grains. (See: Translate Unknowns)
His God instructs him; he teaches him wisely
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. AT: "Yahweh helps the farmer know how to care for each kind of plant" (See: Parallelism)
translationWords
seed
plant
wheat
God
teacher
wise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv24, 27, 28 28:24-29 A farmer knows that there are right and…
28:24-29 A farmer knows that there are right and wrong ways to do things, but the leaders of Judah were not that intelligent.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.