Immediately preceding the teaching concerning the levirate, we read a commandment that appears peculiarly out of place in its context: Or does He say it altogether for our sakes?
Go Tell It on the Mountain
I would suggest that the meaning becomes clearer as we view the passage through the lens provided to us by the book of Ruth. In the book of Ruth we see the themes of Deuteronomy Rather, Ruth enacted the euphemism of the ox treading out the grain, as a symbol of the role that she was calling Boaz to perform for her.
The treading out of the grain yielded both sustenance and seed.
The symbolic commandment of Deuteronomy In terms of the levirate commandment, the application should be clear: A further fascinating detail of the levirate commandment comes in Deuteronomy If we connect the unmuzzled ox law of Deuteronomy Connecting this with Ruth 3, even more can be teased out. Both have their feet uncovered, but one is shamed, while the other is blessed.
The distinction between clean and unclean animals lay in their hooves — their possession of sandals Leviticus The clean animals had cloven hooves that were like sandals protecting them from the cursed earth. As they were not polluted by the cursed earth, they had access to sacred space. Sandals were protection against the cursed earth, but were to be removed in holy places Exodus 3: The man with his sandals removed becomes as one of the unclean beasts, without the cloven feet or sandals of the priestly oxen. There might also be sexual imagery at play here again. The connection between the threshing floor, sex, and holy ground takes on a further dimension through its connection with temple imagery.
Threshing Floor
In 1 Chronicles 21, David takes a forbidden census of Israel. The Angel of the Lord comes to Jerusalem to destroy it, but in an event that powerfully echoes the Aqedah Genesis 22 , the Angel is instructed to restrain the sword in his hand at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite 1 Chronicles The Solomonic Temple is later constructed on the site of the threshing floor of Ornan 2 Chronicles 3: The threshing floor is the site of judgment and testing, the site of terrifying divine presence, the site of divine provision and deliverance.
It is at the threshing floor that wheat is separated from chaff, the latter being prepared for burning, and the wheat gathered in. It is at the threshing floor that the bridegroom meets with the bride and produce seed. It is a place where food and seed are produced, and where separation and judgment occurs.
The divine threshing floor is holy ground, a place where sandals are removed. Coming to the threshing floor to meet with her bridegroom, Ruth washes and anoints herself and puts on her best clothes. The parallels with the description of the preparation of the priests for service in the sanctuary in Exodus Our first introduction to Christ in the New Testament through the testimony of John the Baptist is as the one who winnows at the threshing floor Matthew 3: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Christ is the one who works the threshing floor, much as he is the one who treads out the grapes and the winepress in Isaiah In our worship we meet with Christ our kinsman redeemer on the threshing floor where the wheat and the chaff are separated by the Word of God.
And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.
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The temple of Malachi 3 is replaced with the threshing floor in Matthew 3. Christ, however, is the one who purges both the temple and the nation of Israel. He is the one who separates wheat from chaff, burning the latter and gathering the former. Given our previous observations about the significance of the removal of sandals, I would be surprised if it were accidental that John the Baptist consistently mentions the fact that he is unworthy to carry or to loose the sandals of Christ Matthew 3: Paul twice uses the obscure Old Testament law of Deuteronomy At first blush, it seems strange that Paul should regard such a commandment as having such relevance.
What We Can Learn
However, as we understand the manner in which such a commandment was to function, its use begins to make more sense. While doing so it is right and proper that they should be permitted to receive a reward for their labours — the usufruct of the realm of their labours in the Church. The idea that Paul might have such a connection in mind might be given further weight by the fact that in 1 Corinthians 9 he immediately goes on to observe: The priests of the temple correspond to the oxen on the threshing floor that preceded it, and the grain that the unmuzzled oxen partake in corresponds to the sacrifices of the people of God.
The story of the Scriptures is a story of the making of bread and wine. The Eucharist — the Marriage Supper of the Lamb — is the event in which the themes of the Scripture arrive at their telos and climax. It is a story which goes through many stages, from planting to harvest, to threshing, to grinding, to baking, to feasting, each with its own symbolism.
The story of the Scriptures is the story of Christ, the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies, but overcomes the barrenness of the soil to produce a bountiful harvest. It is the story of the threshing floor on which the barefoot Husband and his priestly oxen thresh the grain. It is the story of the separating of the wheat from the chaff and the falling of judgment upon the wicked, who are burned up or driven away by the wind Psalm 1: It is the story of the grinding of the grain to produce pure flour.
It is about the relationship between Christ the Bridegroom and the Church as his fruitful Bride under these images.
- Heresy, Literature and Politics in Early Modern English Culture.
- The Threshingfloor!
- Most Relevant Verses.
- Seduction on the Threshing Floor.
Through these processes, the Church is created into an eschatological loaf, through the waters of baptism, the kneading of the Holy Spirit, his purging of the old leaven of wickedness, his presence as the new leaven, and his transforming fire. Our participation in the bread of the Church is a symbol of communion in Christ 1 Corinthians Beneath the entire temple and festival system and in turn beneath the entire gospel narrative and the life of the Church , lies the agricultural pattern of the field of barley or wheat, the harvest, the work of the threshing floor, the making of bread, etc.
I remember having some discussion of that chapter in our home Bible study a few years ago. The idea of their marriage and fruitfulness being pre-figured seems quite sensible. The Cup of the Adulteress: Ten Years of Blogging: Retrospective on Alastair's Adversaria. What the Law, the nearer kinsman, could not do it produced death, being weakened by sinful flesh Jesus did by condemning sin in Himself. Onan was put to death because of his failure to produce offspring.
The Law was sterile…unshod. The Law was put to death by the one who would produce offspring. The ten witnesses at the gate, the Law ten commandments is a witness against itself. The Law is what killed Jesus, but in killing Jesus, the Law was put to death. I was wondering if sometime you could write a short article of the typological significance of Genesis 38 and its connection to the story of Ruth, and the blessing at the end.
I wrote a post on Genesis 38 in This was great for me! Your post was helpful. I appreciate the intertextuality, and wonder whether you might recommend other writers who navigate biblical intertextuality similarly. I see you do your best to avoid the fact that Ruth raped Boaz as planned while he was drunk and passed out. Most articles that have been on the web supporting the rape on the threshing floor get removed by the leftist Zionist elements working to undermine white protestant Christianity.
So Ruth and the Land are connected. God marries the Land as His Bride and the Land produces a harvest of fruit and grain. What do the differing harvests, grain and fruit, represent? The earth is a tomb which is also a womb out of which the children of God will be birthed at the resurrection. Could the unshod foot represent a circumcised phallus, a cutting off of unholy flesh.
Is that the significance of the Man who appears to Joshua with a sword and the birth of Rahab out of Jericho seven days later, which would seem to have a parallel in the death of the firstborn and the birth of the nation out of Egypt after a seven day march to the sea? Revelation connects the Egyptian plagues with the seven day march around Jericho, and there is also a Man who was circumcised on the cross whose name is also Joshua and who also has a sword coming out of His mouth and leads a battle and the birth of a Bride out of the fallen city.
At the Exodus they were to eat the Passover with their shoes on their feet and in the wilderness their shoes never wore out. The firstborn exited the Egypt uncircumcised and died in the wilderness. A new generation was circumcised and entered the Land of Promise.
Threshing Floor | Definition of Threshing Floor by Merriam-Webster
Also, the passage in Malachi is connected to the story of Rahab. And who shall stand when He appears? She hides the two spies in stalks of flax. He asks who she is and Ruth identifies herself. In response, Boaz blesses Ruth for her faithfulness Hebrew , hesed. Ruth subverts societal conventions governing female propriety by going to the threshing floor and, once there, taking the lead and telling a man what he should do. Ruth does not accept her situation as a given.
Instead, she tries to shape her circumstances for the good of those around her, even though her actions present dangers to her safety and reputation and undercut social expectations. Through all of this the narrator of Ruth and the shapers of the Hebrew canon present her, and her actions at the threshing floor, as an example of what faithfulness Hebrew, hesed entails: Charles Halton, "Seduction on the Threshing Floor", n. Charles Halton is assistant professor in theology at Houston Baptist University.
He is also the managing editor of Marginalia: The widowed, Moabite daughter-in-law of Naomi, Ruth saves herself and Naomi from starving and provides long-term security for them by marrying Boaz and producing a male heir. Though sexual harassment in the workplace sounds like a contemporary phenomenon, the book of Ruth describes a dramatic example of it. Hebrew is regarded as the spoken language of ancient Israel but is largely replaced by Aramaic in the Persian period. Do not exult as other nations do; for you have played the whore, departing from your God.
People Home Seduction on the Threshing Floor. Related Articles 3 Ruth The widowed, Moabite daughter-in-law of Naomi, Ruth saves herself and Naomi from starving and provides long-term security for them by marrying Boaz and producing a male heir. Sexual Harassment in the Book of Ruth Though sexual harassment in the workplace sounds like a contemporary phenomenon, the book of Ruth describes a dramatic example of it.