Threshingfloor
Threshing-floor
(גֹּרֶן, goren, ἃλων; Chald. אַדִּר, idddr, Da 2:35), a level and hard- beaten plot in the open air (Jg 6:37; 2Sa 6:6), on which the sheaves of grain (Mic 4:12) were threshed (Isa 21:10; Jer 51:33;.: Mt 3; Mt 12; the Mishna remarks that the threshers wore gloves, Kelim, 16:6), so that the wind had free play (Ho 13:3; Jer 4:31; comp. Varro, De Re Rust. 1, 51,1, "Aream esse oportet in agro sublimiore loco, quam perflare possit ventus"). The top of a rock is a favorite spot for this purpose. The sheaves were carried straight from the field either in carts, or, as more commonly happens in the present day, on the backs of camels and asses, to the threshing-floor. On this open space the sheaves were spread out, and sometimes beaten with flails-a method practiced especially with the lighter kinds of grain, such as fitches or cumin (Isa 28:27) but more generally by means of oxen. For this purpose the oxen were yoked tide by side, and driven round over the corn, by a man who superintended the operation, so as to subject the entire mass to a sufficient pressure; or the oxen were yoked to a sort of machine (what the Latins called tribulunm or trahea) which consisted of a board or block of wood, with bits of stone or pieces of iron fastened into the lower surface to make it rough, and rendered heavy by some weight, such as the person of the driver, placed on it; this was dragged over the corn, and hastened the operation (ver. 27; 41, 15). The same practices are still followed, only mules and horses are occasionally employed instead of oxen, but very rarely. Dr. Robinson describes the operation as he witnessed it near Jericho: "Here there were no less than five floors, all trodden by oxen, cows, and younger cattle, arranged in each case five abreast, and driven round in a circle, or rather in all directions, over the floor. The sled, or sledge, is not here in use, though we afterwards met with it in the north of Palestine. By this process the straw is broken up and becomes chaff. It is occasionally turned with a large wooden fork having two prongs; and, when sufficiently trodden, is thrown up with the same fork against the wind, in order to separate the grain, which is then gathered up and winnowed. The whole process," he adds, "is exceedingly wasteful, from the transportation of the corn on the backs of animals to the treading-out upon the bare ground" (Researches, 2, 277). During this operation the Mohammedans, it seems, generally observe the ancient precept of not muzzling the oxen while treading out the corn; but the Greek Christians as commonly keep them tightly muzzled. SEE THRESHING.
As in the East there is no rain during the harvest season (Hesiod, Opp. 558), the threshing-floors were in the open field, and were carefully selected and managed (Virgil, Georg. 1, 178 sq.; Pallad. 7:1; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 12:32; 15:8; 17:14; 18:71, etc.). The farmers remained on the corn- floor all night in order to guard the product (Ruth 3, 4, 6, 14).'The threshing-place was of considerable value, and is often named in connection with the wine-press (De 16:13; 2Ki 6:27; Ho 9:2; Joel 2, 24), since wheat and wine and oil were the more important products of the land (Mishima, Baba Bathra, 2, 8). They often bore particular names, as that of Nachon (2Sa 6:6) or Chidon (1Ch 13:9), of Atad (Ge 1; Ge 10), of Ornan, or Araunab (2Sa 24:18,'20; 1Ch 21:15; Josephus, Ant. 7:13, 4). See Thomson, Hand Book, 2, 314; Hackett, Illustr. of Script. p. 160; Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 79; Conder, Tent-Work in Palestine, 2, 259. SEE AGRICULTURE.
