_Sift you as wheat._――The word σινιαζω (_siniazo_) refers to the process of _winnowing_ the wheat after threshing, rather than _sifting_ in the common application of the term, which is to the operation of separating the flour from the bran. In oriental agriculture the operation of winnowing is performed without any machinery, by simply taking up the threshed wheat in a large shovel, and shaking it in such a way that the grain may fall out into a place prepared on the ground, while the wind blows away the chaff. The whole operation is well described in the fragments appended to Taylor’s editions of Calmet’s dictionary, ( Hund. i. No. 48, in Vol. III.) and is there illustrated by a plate. The phrase then, was highly expressive of a thorough trial of character, or of utter ruin, by violent and overwhelming misfortune, and as such is often used in the Old Testament. As in Jeremiah xv. 7. “I will fan them with a fan,” &c. Also in li. 3. In Psalm cxxxix. 2. “Thou winnowest my path,” &c.; compare translation “Thou _compassest_ my path.” The same figure is effectively used by John the Baptist, in Matthew iii. 12, and Luke iii. 17. _Galilean pugnacity._――Josephus, who was very familiar with the Galileans by his military service among them, thus characterizes them. “The Galileans are fighters even from infancy, and are every where numerous, nor are they capable of fear.” Jewish War, book III. chapter iii. section 2. _From Jerusalem to Jericho._――The English traveler here referred to, is Sir Frederic Henniker, who in the year 1820, met with this calamity, which he thus describes in his travels, pp. 284‒289.