Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 28:27

"For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp [threshing] instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod." — Isaiah 28:27 (ASV)

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument — The word used here (חרוּץ chârûts) properly denotes that which is pointed or sharp, and is joined with מורג môrag in Isaiah 41:15 — meaning there the threshing dray or sledge; a plank with iron or sharp stones that was drawn by oxen over the grain (compare 2 Samuel 24:22; 1 Chronicles 21:23). In the passage before us, several methods of threshing are mentioned as adapted to different kinds of grain, all of which are at the present time common in the East.

Those mentioned under the name of the ‘threshing instrument’ and ‘a cart wheel’ refer to instruments that are still in use in the East. Niebuhr, in his “Travels in Arabia,” says (p. 299), ‘In threshing their grain, the Arabians lay the sheaves down in a certain order, and then lead over them two oxen dragging a large stone.’ ‘They use oxen, as the ancients did, to beat out their grain by trampling on the sheaves and dragging after them a clumsy machine.’

‘This machine is not a stone cylinder, nor a plank with sharp stones, as in Syria, but a sort of sledge consisting of three rollers, fitted with irons, which turn on axles. A farmer chooses a level spot in his fields and has his grain carried there in sheaves, on donkeys or dromedaries. Two oxen are then yoked to a sledge; a driver then gets on it and drives them backward and forward on the sheaves; and fresh oxen take their place in the yoke from time to time. By this operation, the chaff is greatly cut down; it is then winnowed, and the grain thus separated.’ ‘This machine,’ Niebuhr adds, ‘is called Nauridj.’

‘It has three rollers that turn on three axles, and each of them is fitted with some iron pieces that are round and flat. Two oxen repeatedly drew the sledge mentioned above over the grain, and this was done with great convenience for the driver, for he was seated in a chair fixed on the sledge.’ See the illustration in the book to get an idea of this mode of threshing and of the instruments that were used.

Neither is a cart wheel — This instrument of threshing is described by Boehart (Hieraz. i. 2. 32. 311) as consisting of a cart or wagon fitted with wheels adapted to crush or thresh the grain. This, he says, was used by the Carthaginians who came from the vicinity of Canaan. It appears to have been made with serrated wheels, perhaps almost in the form of circular saws, by which the straw was cut fine at the same time that the grain was separated from the chaff.

But the fitches are beaten out with a staff — With a stick or flail. That is, pulse in general, beans, peas, dill, cumin, etc., are easily beaten out with a stick or flail. This mode of threshing is common everywhere. It was also practiced, as with us, in regard to barley and other grain when there was a small quantity or when special haste was needed (Judges 6:11).