Notes
from Down Under
WHAT'S ALL THAT RUBBISH?
|
|
by
Ernie Klassek |
The Greek word translated "rubbish" in Philippians
3:8, New International Version, occurs only once in the New Testament.
The
apostle Paul was writing to the Christians in Philippi (near the modern port
city of Kaválla), Macedonia, the province north of ancient Greece.
His
choice of the word skubala
(pronounced skívala) for "rubbish", seems to
have been deliberate. To this day, the farming people in the fertile regions of
Macedonia call the leftovers from sifted wheat skívala. The
Philippians would have fully understood the term and what it stood for. A close
look at farming practices in their region, past and present, should tell us
why.
Age-old
methods of harvesting, threshing, winnowing and sifting wheat were still in use
as recent as the 1930s. My wife Domna vividly recollects how it was all done in
her village not far from Thessaloniki, about 90 miles southwest of ancient
Philippi.
Beginning
in July, the villagers would harvest the crop of wheat with sickles, tie it
into sheaves which they would bring to a level piece of ground prepared for the
threshing. There they untied the sheaves and spread them out. A large wooden
board, bent up in front like a sledge and studded with sharp quartz stones
underneath, was pulled across the sheaves by a bullock led in circles by a man.
Every now and then, the bullock would help himself to a mouthful of what was
between his hoofs. Now we can relate to what we read in Deuteronomy 25:41,
a good indication that for centuries all around Bible lands, people had done
their threshing in a similar way.
To
weigh down the board, children would take turns sitting on it. Domna has fond memories
of rides on such a board, slowly round and round the threshing floor. With a
horse, the pace was considerably faster. The cutting action of the quartz
stones would turn the straw into chaff, and together with the impact of the
hoofs would separate the husks from the grains of wheat.
After
the threshing, winnowing could only begin in windy conditions. Wooden shovels
were used to toss everything into the air. The breeze would blow the chaff and
husks to one side, while the grains of wheat together with other heavier
particles would drop to the ground, to be taken away in bags for sifting.
The
sifting was done with hand-held, round sieves. The grains of wheat would drop
onto a sheet, while the larger bits of gravel, lumps of earth, the pods and seeds
of tares and other weeds as well as some wheat still in the husk would remain
in the sieve, to be thrown to the chickens. So the bits of rubbish, called skívala,
were not wasted, but were only suitable for chicken feed.
To
find out what Paul compared to rubbish in verse 8, we have to read the
preceding verses. Beginning with verse 4, he lists all the reasons to put
confidence in the flesh, and adds,
"I have more: circumcised on the eight day, of the
people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to
the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic
righteousness, faultless."
What
a lineup of worldly qualifications, enough to gain admission to the higher
strata of the society of his day. Yet he continues in verse 7:
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for
the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
Being
surrounded by this postmodern age with all its crass materialism and
self-seeking, a 21st century Christian would do well to heed Paul's evaluation,
be fully aware that the world's values are rubbish-mere chicken feed-and echo
the words that follow: "that I may gain Christ."
1"Do
not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," quoted verbatim
from the Septuagint in I Corinthians 9:9 and I Timothy 5:18.
File
translated from TEX by TTH,
version 3.66.
On 02 Nov 2008, 18:09.
