Matthew 3:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Whose fan is in his hand, &c.— This expression is taken from the prophetical writings. See Isaiah 41:16; Isaiah 41:29. Dr. Shaw observes, that in the eastern countries, after the grain is trodden out, they winnow it, by throwing it up against the wind with a shovel, answering the original word το πτυον here, and Luke 3:17 rendered a fan, or van, too cumbersome a machine to be thought of. The text should rather run; whose shovel or fork is in his hand; for this is a portable instrument, and is agreeable to the practice recorded, Isaiah 30:24 where both the shovel and the van are mentioned, as the chaff which is thereby carried away before the wind, is often alluded to in Scripture. See Travels, p. 139. To understand the Baptist's meaning right, we should observe, that in this verse he describes the authority of Christ's ministry, as in that preceding he had described the efficacy of it. "The Messiah is infinitely mightier thanI; not only as he will bestow on you the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, will purify and enliven your souls, and kindle in your hearts pious and devout affections; but also as he has power to reward those who obey him with eternal life, and to punish such as reject him with everlasting destruction." See Macknight. There is, in what the Baptist here declares, as Dr. Doddridge remarks, an evident allusion to the custom of burning the chaff after winnowing, that it might not be blown back again, and so be mingled with the wheat: and though it may in part refer to the calamities to come upon the Jewish nation for rejecting Christ, as Bishop Chandler, Beausobre and Lenfant, and others, have observed; yet it seems chiefly to intend the final destruction of sinners in hell; which alone is properly opposed to the gathering the wheat into the garner. Dr. Heylin understands the passage in a very different sense, as implying the total purificationof our sinful nature, through the grace of Christ; and, to keep up the metaphor he reads, He shall baptize you with holy wind and fire. Though I have no doubt that the exposition above given is the true one, yet there is something so ingenious as well as instructive in that of Dr. Heylin, that I cannot help referring my reader to it, assured that he will find great satisfaction in the perusal. See his Lectures, vol. 1: p. 24. Dr. Campbell renders the verse, His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his grain; he will gather his wheat into the granary, and consume the chaff in unquenchable fire.