Divine Control and Use of Threshing Floors

2 Divine Control and Use of Threshing Floors Three words characterize how Yahweh exhibits control over threshing floors: curse, bless, save. The biblical passages that are explored in the first section of this chapter exemplify divine control over threshing floors and highlight the significant interest that Yahweh has in the failure or success of these agricultural spaces. Prophecies from Hosea and Joel especially illuminate what happens when threshing floors are cursed or blessed. Similarly, three passages (1 Sam. 23:1; 2 Kgs. 6:24; Judg. 6:1–11) provide narrative contexts for Yahweh intervening to save threshing floors when they are under attack by foreigners. In the second section of the chapter, the issue of foreigners arises again. Prophetic oracles from Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah describe Yahweh condemning enemies using threshing- floor imagery. All of the passages discussed in this chapter have one overarching theme: Yahweh is intimately linked to threshing floors. These spaces, whether under his control or employed as a literary motif, are connected to the divine, the implications of which will be explored throughout this chapter. 29 THRESHING FLOORS IN ANCIENT ISRAEL Divine Control of Threshing Floors Power to Curse: Threshing Floors in Hosea The book of Hosea includes two references to threshing floors, Hosea 9:1–2 and 13:3. These references are within prophetic oracles that exhibit vivid imagery and parallelism. As oracles, the mention of threshing floors helps in imagining the types of activities that took place on these spaces. The oracles may date to the eighth century bce, as the superscription of the book of Hosea says that he prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam of Israel and the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah (Hosea 1:1). There are also references to the Assyrians as the dominant power, which supports this eighth century bce date (Hosea 5:13; 8:9; 10:6; 14:3–4). Geographically, Hosea is a northern prophet prophesying in Israel, though the final editor of the book has a Judean perspective. While not narrative prose, this poetry provides details into what might have occurred historically on these spaces, thus providing insights into the imagined and experienced threshing floors. Moreover, in its poetry Hosea 13:3 uses threshing-floor imagery to describe the destruction of Israel, a motif that occurs in other prophetic books that will be discussed at the end of this chapter.1 Hosea 9:1–2 In his prophecies, Hosea exhorts Israel for being disobedient and worshiping other gods. Yahweh is presented metaphorically as a faithful husband, and Israel is an adulterous wife who has “cheated” 1. For more on history, textual issues, and editing related to the book of Hosea, see Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman, Hosea: A New Translation with Introduction and , AB 24 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), 31–77; C. L. Seow, “Hosea,” Commentary ABD 3:291–97; Roman Vielhauer, “Hosea in the Book of the Twelve,” in Perspectives on the Formation , ed. R. Albertz, J. Nogalski, and J. Wöhrle (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012), of the Book of the Twelve 55–75. 30 DIVINE CONTROL AND USE OF THRESHING FLOORS by performing non-Yahwistic cultic practices. The following passage notes that Israel’s unsanctioned actions occur on threshing floors, and for this reason, Yahweh condemns Israel’s harvest and has Hosea deliver this message: 1Do not rejoice, O Israel! Do not shout in exultation like the nations, because you have played the whore away from your God. You have loved for a prostitute’s pay on all threshing floors of grain. 2Threshing floor and wine vat will not feed them, and the new wine will fail her. 1 ’al-tiśmaḥ yiśrā’ēl ’el-gîl kā‘ammîm kî zānîtā mē‘al ’ĕlōhêkā ’āhabtā ’etnān 2 ‘al kol-gornōt dāgān 2 gōren wāyeqeb lō’ yir‘ēm (Hosea 9:1–2)3 wĕtîrôš yĕkaḥeš bāh This passage effectively curses the sustainability of the land and implies famine in Israel. Israel’s threshing floors are cursed because she has “played the whore” and departed from God. Although this literally could indicate sexual indecency on threshing floors, this sexualized language is likely a metaphor for Israel’s cultic impropriety,4 especially with the assertion that she is “away from 2. The word for grain, , could be a play on the Canaanite deity Dagan who is associated with dāgān grain. If this was the case, it would suggest that these threshing floors were dedicated to Dagan worship. This is an interesting possibility, especially since the oracle focuses on punishment for worship of non-Yahwistic gods. However, throughout Hosea, Baal is repeatedly mentioned in connection to non-Yahwistic cultic activities, so the translation of simply as “grain” seems dāgān appropriate, leaving open the possibility that he may have been one of several gods worshiped on threshing floors. 3. In this work, I have produced all of the Hebrew, Greek, and Ugaritic translations and transliterations unless otherwise noted. 4. Andersen and Freedman suggest that this could be literal sexual indecency related to cultic activities at harvest celebrations. They cite Ruth 3, Judges 21, and other passages indicating 31 THRESHING FLOORS IN ANCIENT ISRAEL God.”5 Elsewhere in Hosea, Israel’s religious apostasy is emphasized, as Israel has had festivals and offered incense to the Baals (Hosea 2:13), and Israel has “played the whore” and sacrificed on mountaintops and hills (Hosea 4:12–13). Israel’s “whoredom” is directly connected to her performing religious activities to gods other than Yahweh, and the locations of her cultic impropriety are various outdoor spaces, including mountains, hills, and in this account, all threshing floors. With this in mind, the assertion that Israel has “loved for a prostitute’s pay on threshing floors” aptly refers to “adulterous” non-Yahwistic cultic activities taking place on these spaces. Cultic activities offered to the Canaanite deity Baal6 are mentioned in Hosea in connection with the cursing of foodstuffs, so it may be that Israel was worshiping Baal on threshing floors. For instance, Israel is accused of being unfaithful for not acknowledging that Yahweh has given her grain, wine, and oil; instead, she offered gold and silver to Baal, presumably in thanksgiving or petition for more promiscuous activity related to harvest festivities. Andersen and Freedman, , 523. Though Hosea Ruth 3 would be a compelling parallel since the narrative takes place on a threshing floor, sexual activity is not explicitly narrated. If sex is implicit, it is for the purpose of Ruth securing a marriage with Boaz, not because of a harvest celebration. Judges 21 does refer to more explicit sex near vineyards, not threshing floors, but the events are not for the purpose of a harvest celebration. Though the sexual events are at harvest time, they are for the Benjaminites to forcibly acquire women who are performing ritualistic dance. The sexualized language in Hosea 9:1 may merely indicate “unfaithful” non-Yahwistic activities on threshing floors. These cultic improprieties may not include sexual activities, but rather are “adulterous” because they are for other gods. 5. The metaphorical understanding of the marriage of Yahweh to Israel has been noted by several scholars. See Susan Ackerman, “The Personal Is Political: Covenantal and Affectionate Love ( , ) in the Hebrew Bible,” 52 (2002): 437–58; Peggy Day, “Yahweh’s Broken ’āhēb ’ahăbâ VT Marriages as Metaphoric Vehicle in the Hebrew Bible Prophets,” in Sacred Marriages: The , ed. M. Nissinen and R. Uro Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2008), 219–41. 6. For more on the Baal cult in Hosea, see John Day, “Hosea and the Baal Cult,” Prophecy and (New York: T&T the Prophets in Ancient Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar Clark, 2010): 202–24. For more on Baal, see Hervé Tremblay, “Yahvé contre Baal? Ou plutot Yahvé a la place de Baal? Jalons pour la naissance d’un monothéisme,” 61 Science et Esprit (2009): 51–71; Dany Nocquet, Le livret noir de Baal: La polémique contre le dieu Baal dans la Bible (Genève: Labor et Fides, 2004); and Conrad E. L’Heureux, hébraïque et l’ancien Israël Rank among (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1979). the Canaanite Gods: El, Ba‘al, and the Rephaim 32 DIVINE CONTROL AND USE OF THRESHING FLOORS foodstuffs. Because of these actions, Yahweh withdraws his support, saying that he will take back his grain and wine when they are in season (Hosea 2:8–9). Yahweh calls the grain and wine , indicating his his control over these foodstuffs and thus associating himself with both the survival and demise of Israel. Yahweh’s complaints and accusations are in response to Israel’s failure to realize and acknowledge that her survival was the result of Yahweh’s blessings. Instead of giving offerings to Yahweh, Israel gives offerings to Baal. Such offerings were likely happening on the threshing floors mentioned in Hosea 9:1–2. Because Baal was an agrarian deity, it is likely that he was petitioned for crop yields at threshing floors, an action that greatly angers Yahweh. In Hosea 9:1–2, the activities that happen on threshing floors could be connected to these requests to Baal for a bountiful harvest. These cultic activities might be in the form of food and drink offerings, which are condemned in the following verses (Hosea 9:4, 10). Because Israel’s cultic offerings are non-Yahwistic, they are described as ineffective and cursed. Israel’s iniquity results in a curse of the threshing floors and wine vats, and she is told not to rejoice or shout in exultation. Israel’s actions have resulted in a lack of bounty at the harvest, so the typically vibrant harvest festivities must now lack joy.

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