The Threshing Floor

Discovering Temple Imagery and symbols: The Granary and the Threshing Floor

The Bible is replete with a variety of metaphors and numerous Temple idioms, concepts with an unusual meaning. Our lack of understanding of Ancient Near East (ANE) culture and customs, which is the context for the Bible, has sometimes made it difficult to recognize Temple imagery in Scripture. The “threshing floor” and the “storehouse” are examples of Temple idioms that can be explored through ANE eyes to uncover meaningful spiritual applications.

Temples in the ANE can best be understood as a house built for a god by his king

Each of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia featured large house/temple complexes. These temple compounds included an inner sanctum with additional chambers, a ziggurat (stepped pyramid) and a garden. The temple building itself was the home for the god, his chosen consort and his future seed. The garden, also part of this sacred space, was the field for planting seed and harvesting food for the family. The ziggurat, which enabled the god to descend from heaven to his second home on earth, was an altar where food from the garden was cooked and offered back to him. Sacrifices, therefore, played a major role in providing sustenance for the god and his entire household. The Temple in Jerusalem and its environs was structured in a similar fashion. The garden, described as a field, was for growing grain; the ziggurat was the altar or threshing floor for separating the grain from the stalks; and the Temple was the granary/storehouse for storing the seed grain for food consumption.

The god and his new bride entered the temple’s inner sanctum, called the “couch,” during the annual New Year’s celebration. The sacred wedding coincided with a seven-day {temple} dedication, and the couple’s union guaranteed a favourable destiny for the fertility of the land and the fruitfulness of the people. The Holy of Holies was also an inner sanctum within the Temple in Jerusalem. In a metaphorical sense, the Holy of Holies was the place for God and His bride, Israel, to take up residence and together produce new life. {In the same way, we can only produce a new "spiritual" life/path/paradigm/view by building the Temple for God and His Bride to...} Here the grain seed was stored in order to bring fruitfulness to the whole world. In reality, the Ark of the Covenant rested on the Foundation Stone inside the Holy of Holies, where it served as God’s earthly throne.

Attached to the house/temple was a sacred garden where seed grain was planted, cultivated, and harvested as food for the entire household. The Garden of Eden functioned in much the same way. Adam, the gardener, also served as a priest and worked the garden to harvest food for his family and provide offerings for his God. The Hebrew word for garden is gan (גן). When the letter resh (ר) is added to the word gan, it becomes goren (גרן), which is a threshing floor. Goren can also mean the first place for the gathering of seed. The garden was “the field,” which according to the sages was a term related to the Temple complex. When Yeshua spoke of the field as the world, He was referring to the entire earth as the garden of God in the context of a cosmic temple.

“Abraham called the temple ‘mountain’, Isaac called it ‘field’ but Jacob called it ‘palace’, this is none other than the House of God”. (Pesikta Rabbati 39.5) The Field chosen by Isaac on the Mountain where his father Abraham had bound him as a sacrifice would become the site of the Holy Temple, God's House of Prayer for all the nations.

(Rabbi A. Greenbaum, Rejoice Reapers of the Field)

Ultimately in the world of the ANE and the Bible, the concept of the house/temple went beyond the basic family unit to the community at large.

“The temple was the center of power and control from which the deity brought order to the human world. Fertility, prosperity, peace and justice emanated from there.” (J. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, 127).

The temple was also the glue that held the community together. It was the central institution responsible for administrative, legislative, judicial and ritual functions, as well as for food production. As the viceroy in Egypt, Joseph served in the most important position in ANE society, Superintendent of the Granary, which made him overseer of the fields and the grains. He also set harvest dues, registered new lands in the name of the pharaoh, recorded border markers, gave land-leases and supplied the granary with seed grain. Although there are numerous interpretations for Joseph’s Egyptian name, Tzafnat-Pa’neach, which include “The Man to Whom Mysteries are Revealed” or “The Finder of Mysteries” (Josephus, Antiquities ii. 6). It is possible that instead of a name, it is really a title meaning “Nourisher of Life.” (R. Patai and R. Graves, Hebrew Myths, 263)

Grain was one of the first foods to emerge from the Fertile Crescent and was a key factor that contributed to the rise of the developing world. Wheat grain, in particular, was one of the first crops that could be cultivated and harvested on a large scale. It also had the advantage of long-term storage, which was essential to feed large population centers, especially during times of famine. It has been suggested by some outside the mainstream that the Labyrinth (Greek for an Egyptian Temple), discovered in Egypt in 1888 by Professor Flinders Petrie, was actually built by Joseph as a palace and granary complex. This gigantic compound, with over 3000 rooms, could easily have served as an administrative and economic center for food production and storage. Situated on Lake Moeris, (90 km SE of Cairo) the complex was connected to the Nile River by an irrigation canal, which watered the adjacent wheat fields. Interestingly, the canal is called the Bahr Yosef or Waterway of Joseph.

In ANE culture the threshing floor and granary were sacred spaces for marriage ceremonies and other religious rituals, which included seeing visions and receiving prophecies. The Egyptian god Osiris celebrated his revivification or renewal of life on the threshing floor of his temple. At the center of the threshing floor sat two large flat stones, one on the top of the other, fitted and joined together. The top stone was the female and the bottom the male. The “grinding of grain” alluded to the act of marriage, which brings to mind the story of Ruth and Boaz and their unusual encounter. Spreading the corner of Boaz’s robe over Ruth as she lay at his feet on the threshing floor was symbolic of an ANE proposal ritual (Ruth 3:9). The covering indicated Ruth’s submission to Boaz as the bride and his responsibility to protect her from an enemy who would seek to steal and destroy the grain seed. The consummation of their marriage and the resulting fruit indicated a clear victory over the enemy and the perpetuation of the family line that led to King David, whose seed ultimately brought forth the Messiah.

King David also understood the spiritual significance of the threshing floor when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him standing in the place “between heaven and earth” (1 Chr 21: 15,16). According to tradition, the Angel likely stood on the Foundation Stone inside the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant would eventually sit. Once David recognized his own sin, [he asked for G-d's forgiveness, and was directed to purchase Ornah's threshing floor] he purchased the threshing floor from Ornan (1 Chronicles 21 always uses the Hebrew form Ornan from the Septuagint, 2 Samuel 24 uses three different forms - Ornah a Hebrew form from the Septuagint, as well as Aravnah and Arnyah both of an unknown ancient tradition substituted by the Masoretes) and set up an altar so the plague that was devastating his people would be lifted. He clearly recognized the significance of the altar as the threshing floor and its connection to his sin, God’s judgment, as well as God’s atonement and mercy.

Ornan (ארנה) remains one of those truly enigmatic figures in the Bible. The fact that he owned the most important real estate in the world suggests his close association to the Temple and to the altar. The Hebrew letters in his name also indicate a special relationship to the High Priest Aaron - Aharon (אהרון) and to the Ark of the Covenant HaAron (הארון). These letters also form two important words, light (אור) and seed (נן).

In addition, the Hebrew word for pine tree and the pineal gland, Oren (אורן), corresponds to Ornan. The pineal gland resembles a pinecone seed and functions as the light receptor in the body for regulating sleep cycles. A pinecone opens and closes based upon the amount of light it receives. Both clearly connect to “light” and “seed.” The pineal gland has been described as the “storehouse” of imagination and creativity, and is called the “Third Eye” because of its identification with the organ of spiritual vision and because it links the physical and spiritual worlds together, similar to the way a temple functioned. {pinecone -> pineal -> oren}

In the ANE, grain was connected to various agricultural rituals and associated with the first fruit offerings and the celebration of harvest festivals. The same was true for Israel. The sages even called Israel the “first of the grain.” “In the beginning” (beresheet tyvarb), the first word of the Hebrew Bible, contains three interesting expressions: bayit rosh (var tyb), “house is the head”; barah sh’tei (ytv arb), “He created two”; bar reisheet (tyvar rb), “first grain”. The house, which is the head, is formed through the union of two, a husband and a wife who produce fruit, the first of which, in this case, is Israel. God alludes to Israel, which is called a beginning. (Rashi) Israel is holy to Adonai, the first (reisheet) of His crop (Jer. 2:3). The first fruit (reisheet) of the wheat harvest was offered at Shavuot (Feast of Weeks or Pentecost) when the Temple was standing. The period between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot was a time filled with anxiety over the fate of the grain crop. The day the new grain was finally brought to the Temple was called “the closing of Passover” (Atzeret) and brought great relief to the community as the cycle of the seven weeks (Counting the Omer) was completed. Shavuot, called “The Day of the First fruits” was also known in Jewish tradition as the time of the giving of the Torah. Therefore, the Torah was given when the wheat harvest was ripe and the days of anxiety were over. To ripen to receive the Torah, Israel also needed seven weeks as the wheat required. The Torah was given seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt, at the time of the wheat harvest, thereby uniting the spiritual ripening of Israel with the ripening of the wheat and with the bringing of the offering from the field. (N. Hareuveni, Nature in our Biblical Heritage, 64) During Shavuot a special bread offering called the sh’tai haLechem (two breads) was waved before the Lord in the Temple precincts as a reminder that barah shtei – “He created two” was for the purpose of making the two become one in order to produce fruit. The two loaves were symbolic.

Wheat grain was one of the first crops harvested in Israel during May/June when there was a delicate transition between the dry, south-easterly winds (Gen. 41:6) and the moisture laden, north-westerly winds. Either could cause severe damage to the harvest. And you shall set the menorah on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table and you shall put the table on the north side” (Ex. 26:35). Placed together in the Temple they symbolized the plea to the Creator that each wind would come at the right time. (N. Hareuveni, Nature in our Biblical Heritage, 37) The threshing floor was a level, circular and usually paved area. Sometimes it was located on a huge flat rock on top of a mountain where the underlying bedrock was exposed. Threshing floors had slight slopes for the water to drain. Both Solomon’s Temple and the temple Herod expanded were constructed on top of bedrock on Mount Moriah, referred to as the Even Shettiyah or Foundation Stone. Many scholars believe this is the likely location of the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant sat in the First Temple. Threshing literally means to separate the grain seed from the stalk. Once the grain was spread out on the floor, yoked oxen were driven around the floor to crush the grain with their hooves, or they dragged a heavy threshing board behind them to tear the ears of grain from the stalks. This was done to loosen the grain from the husks without damaging the seed. The true definition of kadesh (vdq, holy) is “to thresh” or “to be set apart.” The purpose was to produce abundant fruit. The One who supplies seed to the sower also provides bread for food and He will increase your seed and will increase the
yield of your righteousness (2 Co. 9:10).

The bottom of the threshing sled was covered with razor-like metal blades. The front part of the threshing board was narrower and curved upward like a sled and the board was made from one piece of wood. Similarly, the Ark cover was made of one piece of hammered gold that also curved upwards. A description of the Ark of the Covenant in the book of Ezekiel indicates it may have resembled a threshing cart. Later threshing sleds were fitted with wheels to become carts. When David had the Ark of the Covenant moved by cart it was taken to the threshing floor of Nakhon. It was there Uzzah was struck dead for grabbing hold of the ark to steady it when the oxen stumbled. This was a sign that God’s judgment went forth from the Ark of the Covenant, His throne on earth. "The nations will be gathered like sheaves on the threshing floor. Get up, start threshing daughter of Zion… I will make your hoofs like bronze. You will crush many peoples and devote their plunder to Adonai, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth" (Micah 4:12).

Winnowing was the final step necessary to thoroughly separate the wheat seed from the worthless straw (stalks, husks, any part that is not seed). The harvester scooped up piles of threshed wheat using large forks and tossed them into the air. The lighter chaff was carried away by the wind, while the heavier seed fell to the floor where it was swept up and stored in the granary for food and for seed to grow new plants. The threshing floor and the storehouse inspire rich visual images of the ancient Temple. The supernatural nature of that environment meant that everything and everyone serving within the temple precincts had to be separated from the contamination of the world. Impurity had to be removed and the method of choice, even in the spiritual realm, was the threshing sled. The sled served a dual function, as did the Ark of the Covenant. The heavy sled, when it was drawn over the straw and the ears, allowed for the ears to escape damage while the straw on top was crushed to pieces. What a compelling picture of judgment for the wicked represented by the chaff and atonement for the righteous represented by the life-giving grain seed!

It {before reaching the altar} at the altar {flesh cannot reach the altar. one's "body" needs to be left at the entrance! This is the "Way of the Mystic" and is also used, more specifically, in Shamanic teachings} that the flesh is beaten, pulverized and trampled so it can be destroyed. {This is the error. For the materialists (also known as the empirical method, by the philosophers), will regard the biblical reference to flesh as literal. Especially if your Messiah lived and died "in the flesh". However, the truth is that it is not a "destruction" in flesh of flesh, but a removal of the flesh, of the tightly knit connection to flesh, and enter the Garden where you can do work in the spiritual world.}

The flesh is the obstacle that prevents entry into the Temple {exactly!} and into the presence of the King who resides in the Holy of Holies. The flesh must first be crucified {This is where the literal interpretation is one of death and not life. Wheat is not flesh. This is metaphorical. As wheat is to for our bodies (once processed), so are our spirits for God. But G-d has no need to thresh our bodies in order to attain our souls. He placed our souls in these bodies—and our bodies will get old and die eventually. G-d has no need to hasten this to occur before its time as a "gift" to Him. Rather, it would be insulting to refuse this wonderful gift of a body, he has blessed us with. He would, of course, provide a much simpler solution. Perhaps as simple as just wanting to do it—with the prerequisite of acknowledging and accepting G-d.}

at the threshing floor,

{if you use the threshing metaphor, then that is why we say the blessing over the bread - for it is the bread/fruits of our "spiritual" labour that G-d harvests - not that of the material fruits of our labour. That is for ours.}. It is a challenging and demanding task, indeed, but necessary for producing fruit for the Kingdom. It is impossible to enter the Temple, especially the Holy of Holies, without first removing the flesh. Once the flesh is removed, the seed is ready to be stored as food {but it is this spiritual manna that feeds the spiritual realm - i.e. G-d. Any sentient being, if you do not pay it attention and feed it, will become angry and attack you for food!"} or it is fertilized {these are all spiritual processes which she is assuming, just happen. Fertilisation is in itself an alchemical process to be successful. And to be successful, it needs to be... properly matched} to produce more fruit to feed the world as Joseph did in Egypt during the time of the famine.

This underscores the eternal nature of seed and points to Yeshua as the model. He was the first of the grain seed (bar reisheet) whose flesh was crucified and destroyed. But from the threshing floor where He died, came resurrection and eternal life. For if a grain of wheat falls {"falls" to the ground, indeed - just by chance. So your Messiah had to "die" to produce a big harvest. However, this event seems to be a one time event. It has happened (according to your system) once so far in recorded (albeit mythological) history of humankind. No one else makes that claim. In fact, its weakness is that it is a single seed, whereas each wheat stalk produces many seeds.} to the ground and dies, it produces a big harvest of even more seed. Paul "calls upon believers everywhere to sow spiritual seed and to harvest an abundance of fruit". {The sowing is done by human means, the product that is harvested is produced by G-d!}

"He who ploughs and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?{there is no "coherent/human" connection. For most, the connection is from above to below, and not much of a responding connection from below. The assumption that a spiritual threshing should produce a material harvest expresses a lack of understanding as to how the two are entangled. Firstly, and most importantly, the spiritual harvest is for the spirit, and the material harvest is for the "body". What is G-d's give to G-d, and what is man's give to man."} "don’t you know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and those who serve the altar get a share of the sacrifices offered there?"(I Cor. 9:9-13). {Those who work in the Temple (spirit) get their food from the Temple (spirit), and those that work in the material, get their food from the material. Yes, I know what you will argue—that the work in the spiritual does not put food on the table. But what if we use the word "nourishment" instead of food? "If you have sown spiritual seed... ".}

{This is the very point. The "flesh" that we need to remove, is not our flesh & blood. No "blood" needs to be spilled. The "blood" of Christ refers to the spiritual "juice" that is available from the "Christ channel" - Jesus being the Christ made manifest in human form, so that we may recognise it. The flesh that one needs to rid oneself of is not literally your flesh, but the overarching attachment to the "material", i.e. the "Body of G-d", that Christ is representing - that needs to be sacrificed. The resurrection then occurs as a spiritual rebirth. It is in this incarnation that the sacrifice and the subsequent resurrection needs to occur. The Phoenix must rise from the ashes of your despair/pain. That is why Jesus rose again - not some other incarnation of the Christ. Thus, if one wishes to enter into the Holy of Holies, one needs to have rid oneself of this body. One can do it in one of two ways. Destroy the body - and then you are dead. Completely detach from your body, then you are looked at as mad, and will not be able to function fully in society. This will result in either guiding & teaching others detachment, or it will be a descent into darkness and/or discomfort. Or one can try to reject one's body, ignoring its needs, even causing it pain and discomfort, in this constant dynamic of rejecting the very vessel which you've been given to have your soul experience. Or you could find a way of entering that space, moving this attachment to a desire for encountering or attaching yourself to the light.}