Isaiah 28:27-29

28:27 Certainly ¹  caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge,

nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed. ² 

Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick,

and cumin seed with a flail.

28:28 Grain is crushed,

though one certainly does not thresh it forever.

The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it,

but his horses do not crush it.

28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies,

who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ³ 

[28:27]  ¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB).

[28:27]  ² sn Both of these seeds are too small to use the ordinary threshing techniques.

[28:29]  ³ sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.