Stubble Straw
Stubble Straw [1]
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.
