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.
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Isaiah 28:25-27 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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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.
-
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.
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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.
Cross-references (17)
- 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 17 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…
- 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…
- 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 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…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 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 vv25–27 Isa 28:25 When he hath made plain the face…
Isa 28:25 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?
Ver. 25. When he hath made plain.] Laid it level and equal.
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Doth he not cast in the fitches?] See on Isa 28:24.
The appointed barley.] Hordeum signatum. Whatsoever is sealed with a seal is excellent in its own kind; so are all God’s sealed ones. {Eph 4:30}
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 vv25–27 Made plain the face thereof, by breaking the clods,…
Made plain the face thereof, by breaking the clods, which made it ragged and uneven.
The principal wheat; either,
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1. The wheat, which is the principal or chief of all these grains; or,
2. The best wheat, which he prudently chooseth for seed.
The appointed barley; that proportion of barley which he appointed. Or, as others, the marked barley; or, the choice barley, which they laid aside in a sack for seed; and therefore set aside with a peculiar mark upon it. In their place, Heb. in his border; each seed in a several and proper place.
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 vv25–27 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and…
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. God gives the husbandman instruction and discretion how to sow his seed, at what time, and in a proper place; for this refers to what goes before; though some think a new act is here intended, namely, threshing or beating out of corn, rendering the words, "and he" (the husbandman) "beateth it out, according to the discretion", or "judgment, his God teaches him" (h); which is expressed in general terms here, and is next particularly insisted on in the following verses Isa 28:27.
(h) "Excutit illud ad eam rationem, quam Deus, ipsius docet eum", Piscator, Gataker; "vel colligat", &c. Junius & Tremellius.
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 vv25, 27 Made plain - By breaking the clods. The wheat…
Made plain - By breaking the clods. The wheat - The best which he chuses for seed. Barley - That proportion of barley which he appointed. Place - Hebrew. in his border; each seed in a several place.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26–27 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 vv25–27 When he hath made plain ... - That is,…
When he hath made plain ... - That is, when he has leveled, or made smooth the surface of the ground by harrowing, or rolling it.
Doth he not scatter abroad - He does not sow one kind of grain merely, but different species according to the nature of the soil, or according to his wishes in regard to a crop.
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The fitches - (קצח qetsach). Vulgate, Gith; a kind of cockle (Nigella Romana), an herb of sweet savor. Septuagint, Μικρόν μελάνθιον Mikron melanthion. The word ‘fitch’ denotes a small species of pea. The Hebrew word, however, which occurs nowhere else but here, probably denotes fennel, or dill, an herb whose seed the ancients mixed with their bread in order to give it a more agreeable relish.
And scatter the cummin - (כמן kammôn). Vulgate, Cyminum - ‘Cummin.’ Septuagint, Κύμινον Kuminon - also ‘Cummin.’ The word properly denotes an annual plant whose seeds have a bitterish warm taste with an aromatic flavor (Webster). The seeds of this plant were used as a condiment in sauces.
And cast in the principal wheat - Margin, ‘The wheat in the principal place.’ Vulgate, Per ordinem - ‘In its proper order, place, proportion.’ So Lowth, ‘In due measure.’ So Aben Ezra and Kimchi render it, ‘By measure;’ and they suppose it means that if too much wheat be sown on the land, it will grow too thick, and that the spires will crowd and suffocate each other. Our translators have rendered the word שׂורה s'ôrâh, ‘principal,’ as if it were derived from שׂרה s'ârâh, “to rule,” and seem to have supposed that it denoted wheat that was especially excellent, or distinguished for its good qualities. Gesenius supposes that it means ‘fat wheat,’ from an Arabic signification of the word. Probably the word is designed to denote “quality,” and to convey the idea that wheat is the principal, or chief grain that is sown; it is that which is most valued and esteemed.
And the appointed barley - The barley is a well-known grain. The word rendered ‘appointed’ (נסמן nisemân), occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. Castellio, Taylor, Grotius, Calvin, our translators, and others, suppose that it is derived from a Hebrew word which does not now occur - סמן sâman, “to designate, to mark, to seal;” and that it means barley that had been put aside and marked as especially excellent, or seed-barley. In Chaldee, the word סמן simman occurs in the sense of “to seal, to mark, to designate” (Chaldee Par. Num 17:3; 2Ki 9:13; Est 5:1). The Septuagint, translated it κέγχρον kengchron, and the Vulgate, Aquila, and Theodotion, understand the word as denoting a species of grain, the millet. The idea is probably that expressed by Grotius, and in our version - of barley that had been selected as seed-barley on account of its excellent quality.
And the rye - Margin, ‘Spelt.’ The word usually denotes “spelt” - a kind of wheat now found in Flanders and Italy, called German wheat. It may, however, denote rye.
In their place - literally, ‘In the border.’ Septuagint, Ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις σου En tois horiois sou - ‘In thy borders.’ The idea seems to be that the spelt or rye was sown in the borders of the field while the wheat was sown in the middle; or that the rye was sown in its “proper bounds,” or in the places which were adapted to it, and best suited to promote its growth.
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 vv25–27 Gith. Heberw ketsach. Septuagint, Greek: melanthion. (Haydock) (Pliny, [Natural…
Gith. Heberw ketsach. Septuagint, Greek: melanthion. (Haydock) (Pliny, [Natural History?] xx. 17.) (Menochius) --- Septuagint have not expressed all the terms of the original, (Haydock) being perhaps ignorant of their meaning. (St. Jerome)\
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 vv25–27 face--the "surface" of the ground: "made plain," or level,…
face--the "surface" of the ground: "made plain," or level, by harrowing.
fitches--rather, "dill," or "fennel"; Nigella romana, with black seed, easily beaten out, used as a condiment and medicine in the East. So the Septuagint, "cummin" was used in the same way.
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cast in . . . principal wheat--rather, plant the wheat in rows (for wheat was thought to yield the largest crop, by being planted sparingly [PLINY, Natural History, 18.21]); [MAURER]; "sow the wheat regularly" [HORSLEY]. But GESENIUS, like English Version, "fat," or "principal," that is, excellent wheat.
appointed barley--rather, "barley in its appointed place" [MAURER].
in their place--rather, "in its (the field's) border" [MAURER].
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 v27 27, 28. So in the harvest. The harvester treats…
27, 28. So in the harvest. The harvester treats the different crops raised in the same common-sense way. He carefully beats with a stick, or rod, the smaller, finer seeds; over these he does not foolishly send the threshing wain. Nor over the larger grains does he drive the cart, or the oxen, or the rolling rough thresher, interminably. He uses these till their proper work is done, and then ceases. Now, Israel is God’s field and God’s threshing floor. But all are not alike roughly threshed. God discriminates the kind of seed to be planted and harvested. He adapts his method of separation to each. So right methods are employed in the distribution of discipline and punishment. If this treatment fails of its purpose, the responsibility is placed where it belongs. He strikes some with a rod; others, who need it, he threshes roughly with the wain; but, unless deserved, he does neither interminably.
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 vv25–27 25. fitches (R.V. marg. black cummin [Nigella sativa]) and…
25. fitches (R.V. marg. black cummin [Nigella sativa]) and cummin [Cuminum sativum] are both mentioned only in this passage. Note the different methods of sowing; scatter (of the fitches), sow (of the cummin), plant (of wheat and barley). The planting of wheat, &c. in rows is a mark of the most careful husbandry, still practised in Yemen and Egypt.
the principal wheat] Rather: the wheat in rows (R.V.).
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the appointed barley] a very difficult expression. Perhaps “barley in the appointed place” (R.V.). Both this adjective and that for “principal” are wanting in the LXX. and are deleted as mistakes or glosses by Cheyne and others.
the rye in their place] the spelt (others, “vetches”) as its border (see R.V.). The allusion apparently is to a custom of surrounding certain crops with a protecting border of hardier plants.
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 vv25–27 (25) Doth he not cast abroad the fitches. .…
(25) Doth he not cast abroad the fitches. . . .?—Modern English would give vetches. Each verb is carefully chosen to describe the special process that belonged to each kind of seed. We have, as it were, an excerpt from the “Georgics” of Palestine. Identification in such cases is not always easy; but I follow Mr. Carruthers (Bible Educator, i. 38) in reading “fennel seed” for the “fitches” of the English version. This, proverbially among the smallest of seeds, so as to be a type of the microscopic unseen, was scattered broadcast; “cummin,” also proverbial for its smallness, was sown by a like process, with some technical variation, indicated by the use of the Hebrew words. Wheat and barley were “dropped in” more deliberately by the hand of the sower, and then (instead of “the rie in their place”), “vetches for the borders thereof,” these being used in the East as a kind of herbaceous hedge round the field of corn. The point of the enumeration is that the wise tiller of the soil is discriminating in his methods, and deals with each seed according to its nature. So is it, the prophet suggests through the parable which he does not interpret, with the great Husbandman, whose field is the world, and for whom the nations are as seed. For “cast in the principal wheat . . .” read set the wheat in lines and the barley in the appointed place.
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 vv25–27 When he hath made plain the face thereof; i.e.…
When he hath made plain the face thereof; i.e. leveled it brought the ground to a tolerably even surface. Doth he not cast abroad the fitches? The Hebrew word translated "fitchesi.e. "vetches is qetsach, which is generally allowed to represent the Nigella sativa, a sort of ranun-cuhs, which is cultivated in many parts of the East for the sake of its seeds. These are black, and have an aromatic flavor. Dioscorides (3:83) and Pliny (19:8) say that they were sometimes mixed with bread. And scatter the cummin. "Cummin" (Cuminum sativum) is "an umbelliferous plant, something like fennel." The seeds or rather, berries have "a bitterish warm taste, with an aromatic flavor" ("Dict. of the Bible," vol. 1. p. 372). They seem to have been eaten as a relish with various kinds offood. And cast in the principal wheat; rather, and put in wheat in rows. Drill-ploughs, which would deposit grain in rows, were known to the Assyrians ("Ancient Monarchies," vol. 2. p. 198). And the rie in their place. Cussemeth, the word translated "rie," is probably the Holeus sorghum, or "spelt," which is largely cultivated in Palestine and other parts of the East, and is the ordinary material of the bread eaten by the poorer classes (see the "Pulpit Commentary" on Exodus, pp. 219, 220). For "in their place," Kay translates, "in its own border." The wheat and the barley and the spelt would all be sown separately, according to the direction of Lev_19:19, "Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed."
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.
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 v27 28:27-28 The Lord has a variety of means (a…
28:27-28 The Lord has a variety of means (a heavy sledge . . . a light stick) for accomplishing his purposes. There are degrees of judgment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.