Dear Doves,

 

   There were several stages of barley harvest, after the cutting of the stalks in the fields. They were mature, with fields white to harvest, yet slightly less than full maturity, so that the water content was a bit higher. Then after the cutting, the stalks were put into sheaves, and the sheaves placed upright in order to dry out in the fields. When dry, the sheaves were taken to the threshing floor, usually made of beaten earth. Was the threshing floor inside a barn or outdoors? Outdoors. The following is from description by James Orr. "The threshing floors are constructed in the fields, preferably in an exposed position order to get the full benefit of the winds. If there is a danger of marauders they are clustered together close to the village. The floor is a level, circular area twenty-five to forty feet in diameter, prepared by first picking out the stones, then wetting the ground, tramping or rolling it, and finally sweeping it. A border of stones usually surrounds the floor to keep in the grain. The sheaves of grain which have been brought on the backs of men, donkeys, camels, or oxen, are heaped on this area."  What then? "Oxen would pull a heavy wooden sledge, studded underneath with jagged flints , in circles over the grain. This process served to cut up the straw and crush the husks around the grains. The results were placed in a broad, flat winnowing  basket and tossed in the air. The breeze would carry away the lighter chaff, leaving the heavy grain." This is from www.penn.museum/sites/Canaan/Agriculture.html to describe the winnowing process. The baskets could be called winnowing forks.

   To review: first was the cutting of the mature barley from Nisan 17 (Feast of First Fruits) until about Iyar 14, the Second Passover. The stalks were then lashed together into sheaves to dry out in the fields. Then was the transfer to the threshing field, the cutting up of the straw stalks and hulls of chaff. Nearly last, was the tossing into the air, the tossing against the breeze, usually in the evening. Remember the words of Naomi to Ruth about the kinsman redeemer Boaz? "Behold he winnoweth barley tonight in the threshing field."

   What was the final step before the storing of the grain or grinding the grains of barley into flour to make bread? It was the sifting. A sieve was used by a woman to take away any more chaff, little stones, or tares. Does the winnowing of breeze tossed barley grains remind us of Resurrection? Does the sifting remind us of the assessment at the Bema Seat concerning the rewards, the wedding presents?

   Could the barley be winnowed past Pentecost (Shavuot), past the date of Sivan 6, into a remaining day in Sivan? Could it be nearing "summer is near, even at the gates" around the Summer Solstice at 6-20? The Olivet Discourse mentions this phrase 3 times from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The barley harvest is in several stages, beyond the cutting of the stalks in the fields. The culmination, the conclusion of all the barley harvest, is not the cutting from first fruits until the last stalks, the drying, or the transfer of the barley sheaves. The fullness of harvest is with THE WINNOWING OF THE BARLEY: The Conclusion of the Breeze Tossed Grain! And when might that be? Past Sivan 6 into a later day in Sivan approaching when "summer is near, even at the gates"? Possibly.

 

With Love and Shalom,

Jean