What is the exact definition of sheaves? My wife asked me during supper. I told her I thought they were strays or mavericks. Am I way off base? I couldn't find a definition on the net but I did find a book of the same name.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Nope...we're talking sheaves of wheat here, referring to the Biblical verse about separating the "wheat from the tares," or separating the righteous followers from the wicked.

In old days, wheat was harvested and bundled in sheaves. When they'd go out and gather all the bundles, it was called, "bringing in the sheaves." So, when you hear that old gospel song, you'll know that they are talking about the "righteous being gathered."

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Wish I could help. Of all the words I ever heard, that one wasnt one of them.

That's what happens when you're a city boy!!
Thanks MP.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

If you look again in you dictionary for the singular (sheaf) you will find a good definition.

OH - - & by the way, Mr. Packer is right on the money both in literal & figurative translations.

Must have read cajuns post two days ago about hateing the word "harvesting deer" I posted:
We shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves.

"We shall come rejoicing . . . . . . "

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Georgia On My Mind

Bringing In The Sheaves - YouTube

One of the worst jobs I ever had in High School in the late 1950s early 1960s was "shocking" grain in the wind in late October for $6.00 a day and one meal. Shocking grain was stacking the sheaves in larger piles to be more easily picked up on wagons in the field. It was cold and the dust and particles from the oats blew in your ears and eyes and down your collar and just generally made life miserable. But hey, in those days $6.00 a day was pretty good pay.

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Keep Shootin' and check 6

I done similar work. One thing it did for me was to appreciate a good job when I got one.

We didn't have any wheat fields where I grew up in Illinois..But a neighbor used to do that with corn stocks....As kids we used to go in them and pretend they were T. P.'s.

During trashing reunion days around here, they sometimes have oats cut and stacked in piles, then wagons would come and load them, and take them to where ever the steam engines and thrashing machines were set up, to show how it was done in the by-gone days.

Was it a Norman Rockwell painting that showed the corn stocks stacked in sheaves and some pumkins, and a old man with a pipe, a little boy in the picture and burning leaves in the autumn?????

WuzzFuzz

Work makes me high!

Ditto

A related definition is that it can also be applied to a stack or bundle of papers.

There is a third totally unrelated definition as well. The singular sheave is another name for a grooved wheel or pulley. Sheaves is the plural form of the word when used in that context too.

To this day Wichita St are "The Shockers."

Kinda taken on a different meaning in recent years.

According to my mom, the only thing worse than shocking oats was shocking barley.

''Sheaves" are pulleys for a belt drive. So the early Christians 'brought in the sheaves' in order to fix their pumps and tractors.

I do profess to being a city boy but I did get to do some of the chores. Shucking corn was tiresome and rough on my lily white hands. Throwing baled hay on the back of the truck was back breaking after a while. Carrying galvanized buckets of water to the barn yard made my fingers bleed. Picking cotton, even with gloves was a terrible job. Churning milk was the easiest.
To all you farmers and ranchers, "You have my respect" for what you have to do on a daily basis.
Hope you have a merry and restful Christmas!

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

I think Harleys were still running pulleys & belts back then, too.

Heh heh, im glad im not too urbanized as to not have grown up enjoying guns and firing them.

Doggone it, I HAVE indeed heard of the word but never knew its meaning. I remember it used in at least one Hymnal sang in Church. Classic DOH!! moment for me.

i picked Cotton in the South Texas sun one Summer---ONE Summer.

I must have heard "Bringing in the sheaves" sung in more old westerns than I heard it sung in church! That is one thing that does bother me now days in church, at least the faith that I grew up in. The music had changed drastically. What was wrong with the old hymns we grew up with? Now its all draggy stuff that doesnt even rhyme. Sorry for all the hurt feelings I might be causing . Naw, I aint!

You right. I forgot about the early Christians riding Harleys. You wouldn't catch one on an Asian made bike.

It's been many years now, but they changed our hymnals to something that was supposed to be more 'modern' and 'universal'. Which meant a LOT of the old hymns were gone, the words were changed, the melodies different and the beautiful harmonies were gone ("because nobody knows how to sing them now") so now everybody sings unison. It stinks, especially if you are musically inclined. Nobody wanted it but we just had to 'keep up with times'. I've still got a copy of the old hymnal for old times sake.

BTW Another one that you see in movies more than in church is "Shall We Gather At The River"

I helped "feed" the threshing machine one summer, but, being a young lad, I got to just drive the tractor. Dirty, hard work, for sure.

Nope, it was John T. McCutcheon.

Injun Summer - John T. McCutcheon

By age fourteen I was anchoring the bass section in my church choir, and went on to sing in a choir that toured every year. In those days I could hit a B flat an octave below low C. Still can on good days.

Some time ago I was a visitor at a service at a church where even the choir sang only in unison. They began a hymn I knew, so I automatically began singing the bass part. People around me jumped as if they had been goosed! They clearly were thinking, "What is THAT?" Made me sad, but I kept singing bass.

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Oh well, what the hell.

One new hymn that everybody seems to like is a Spanish song about a fisherman in a boat (read 'fishing for men')

One of the lines is....

In my boat there's no money or weapons.


Which I change to....

In my boat, there are drugs and machine guns.

You know EXACTLY what I mean.

Yeah, I'm afraid I do. Another of the dubious joys of being old. When I was growing up informal singing in four-part harmony, often on the front porch, was common at family functions, etc. Christmas carolers sang in harmony.

Pretty much all gone now.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I could remember the painting but not the artist or title. That picture says a LOT.


I seem to remember a similar one that looked like N. Rockwell, Sat Evening Post style, in color, more close up, with no indian references but it might be my imagination because I browsed his paintings and couldn't find anything by him that looked like it. Maybe it was a Reader's Digest picture.

I did see a neat Norman Rockwell of a man showing a boy how to shoot a rifle.

Yeah they hardly ever sing the old classics any more. In our church its all "contemporary" stuff now. Its very upbeat, and I like a lot of it too, but it sure does my old heart good when they sing one of the old stand-bys now and then. I really miss the old hymns, but I can still remember the words and carry the tune (at least as much as I ever could).

Today they threw me a real curve ball though. We sang Angels We Have Heard on High and while the verses were sung pretty much to the old familiar tune, the chorus of
"Glor-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-or-ia!, In excelsis Deo"
was sung to some completely different tune as
"Gloria! Gloria! Gloria! In excelsis Deo"
- which gave it a completely different pace as well. I felt lost the first couple of times through.

I don't get it. Even the young folks are familiar with the original tune and words to that song. Why change it?!?