the Sixth Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Bible Dictionaries
Straw, Stubble
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or STRAW, STUBBLE . In Heb. the former is teben , the latter qash , and to Western ideas the one is as much ‘straw’ as the other. The distinction between the two is as follows: teben , the modern tibn , is the mixture of chopped straw and chaff, produced by the action of the threshing-drag and winnowed out by the fan (Agriculture, § 3 ), as distinguished from the grains of wheat (so Jeremiah 23:28 where ‘straw’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] , and ‘chaff’ AV [Note: Authorized Version.] are both inadequate). It is mentioned as the food of horses, asses, and camels. In reaping, as is still the custom, the stalks were cut knee-high or over; the length of stalk left standing is qash . Accordingly, when the Hebrews in Egypt ‘gathered stubble for straw’ ( Exodus 5:12 ), what they did was to pull up the stalks of wheat left standing in the fields and cut them up into short pieces suitable for brick-making, instead of being allowed to procure the tibn ready to their hand from the local threshing-floors. Since the cornstalks were usually burned as manure, ‘stubble’ is frequently found in metaphors suggested by this practice ( Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 47:14 etc.). In other passages containing reference explicit or implied to ‘driven stubble’ (41:3), the smaller fragments of chopped straw which the wind blew away with the chaff from the threshing-floor may be intended.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Straw, Stubble'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/s/straw-stubble.html. 1909.
