A TRIBULUM

WE ARE told that the word “tribulation” is derived from the word “tribulum,” an instrument for threshing grain, something like a flail. When II have heard the word “flail” used in connection with such texts as 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4, “The God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God,” and connect it with the knocking of a man down with a flail, I have wished I knew just what a tribulum was. On the twenty-fourth day of August, 1909, I saw two of these ancient instruments. I was attending the French camp meeting at Vergèze, fifteen miles west of Nîmes, France.QSM 46.1

As Brother Bond and I were walking toward the side of the village, we came to a very smooth, round piece of land, some fifty feet in diameter. He said, “That is an ancient threshing floor, still preserved, but not used.” By the side of the floor lay a stone, like granite, some four feet in length, perfectly round the whole length. One end was about two feet in diameter, the other end probably three inches less in size. Brother Bond said, “That is a tribulum. ” There was a deep hole in each end of the stone, wherein had been attached the irons connecting with the tongue for drawing it around the threshing floor, as shown in the picture. One end of the stone being larger than the other would cause the stone to turn the circle when passing over the ground. Going to another part of the outskirts of the town, we saw a second stone, similar to the first; but the old threshing floor was cultivated ground. So I no longer think of the Lord as going after Christian men as with a flail. A man might be caught hand or foot, as under the tribulum, and not be smitten down by one stroke with a flail.QSM 47.1