Deuteronomy 16:9 - "Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn."

Deuteronomy 23:25 - "When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand: but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn."

 

In these Scriptures, we see the "sickle" depicting two separate ideas. The first is that it denoted a time table; whereas, the second reflected a lesson in kindness and generosity.

 

The Feast of Pentecost always took place on the seventh week after Passover. One way of indicating the beginning of the countdown of seven weeks was to note the time when the husbandmen put the "sickle" to the corn. Seven weeks later, the Feast of Pentecost was observed.

 

According to Jewish Law, a traveler, walking through a cornfield or a vineyard, was allowed to pluck and eat the corn or grapes - whether out of necessity or sheer delight. He was not allowed to "move a sickle" unto his neighbor's crop or carry away in large quantities what he gathered. This Law kept the heart of the owner free from all greed and covetousness.

 

Is it possible that God is speaking to you this day about the "sickle" in your life?

Is He about to place the "sickle" to your spiritual fruit?

Does this designate a certain timing in your experience with Him?

Are you at a crucial turning point or at a crossroads?

Have you sown much and now is the time for reaping your harvest?

Is that Good News or Bad?

 

What about your level of generosity toward others?

If you lived in the Bible days, how would you react to such a Law as mentioned in Deuteronomy 23?

Would it bother you to have brethren going through your fields - partaking of your crops?

Do you consider yourself a generous person or a stingy one?

Are you more inclined to give or to see how much you can get for yourself - to bless people or to take advantage of them and their services - always looking out for #1 - you?

 

 

 

Isaiah 41:15 - "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff."

 

God's Promise to His people was to "make," appoint, or constitute them as a "new sharp threshing instrument having teeth." Two particular instruments are pictured here. One is the threshing wain and the other is the corn drag.

 

The wain consisted of wheels with iron teeth or edges comparable to a saw. Led by a yoke of oxen, it was passed over a large bundle of sheaves, crushing the grain and separating the chaff.

 

The drag had a strong plank which was rough on the bottom due to hard stones or iron pointed teeth. Again, the illustration is given of the corn sheaves being scattered over the threshing floor where two oxen are driven back and forth - leading the drag over the grain.

 

Actually, the image presented here is one of great victory. In this verse, God promises to clothe His people with such power whereby all their difficulties and obstacles are crushed under their feet.

 

It is interesting to note at this time that the "teethed threshing instrument" applied to a sword - a double-edged sword. Hebrews 4:12 refers to the Word of God as being "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow..."

 

Hence, through the implement of the Word of God as a "sharp threshing instrument having teeth," God's people are able to overcome all obstacles and to subdue the highest, strongest, and most stubborn of all enemies - beating them "small" and bringing them to nothing as "chaff."

 

Oh! Saint of God! Are you facing some of the highest, strongest, and most stubborn of all enemies in your life at this time? If so, be encouraged! God promises to make you a "new sharp threshing instrument having teeth." With the Word of God in your mouth, "thresh the mountain" - the difficulties and obstacles - that stand in your way. Like the farmer uses the wain and the drag to crush the grain and separate the "chaff," level those "hills" of hindrance and reduce them to nothingness.

 

 

Isaiah 28:27 - "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."

 

In this particular verse, we learn that there are certain tools designated for certain crops. The "fitches" - pulse, beans, dill, and cummin - "are not threshed with the threshing instrument" which had three rollers, fitted with irons, and turning upon three axles. Nor are they threshed with the "cart wheel" which consisted of serrated wheels which cut the grain very fine and separated the chaff. Instead, they were beaten with a "staff" or a stick.

 

The whole objective in the threshing process was to make the grain usable - while separating it from the chaff or the worthless part.

 

Isn't this just what our Heavenly Husbandman strives for in our lives? Through various and sundry trials and periods of intense testings, He crushes our outer core - flesh or Self - so that the substantial part - His Life - would come forth. Through different orchestrated circumstances which try our patience and bring us to the end of our resources, He separates us from all "chaff" - all that is unprofitable and worthless in our lives.