A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them (Proverbs 20:26).

The Zaanse Schans is a former industrial center, situated along the River Zaan, in North Holland.  Today, though, the area is primarily known as a tourist attraction because those former dynamos of industry -- the broad-paddled 17th Century windmills -- are now an iconic symbol of Dutch culture.  They're something cute and photogenic, like tulips and wooden shoes... But within the Zaanse Schans, there's at least one windmill which is still functioning according to its original design:  it's a working mill, used for threshing grain.

The interior of the windmill is surprisingly spacious.  It's still decidedly dark and dingey, without a lot of natural light, but it's very large.  In the center of the main chamber is a massive stone wheel, about the diameter of a large tractor tire -- though twice as wide and at least 50 times heavier.  It's huge.  It's intimidating.  And yet, when the wind turns the paddles of the windmill, the mechanisms of the windmill convert the wind into energy which powers the turning of the massive stone wheel, as it rolls over the stone surface of the threshing floor in an endless circle.  One shudders to think of the idea of a foot or a finger getting caught under between the two surfaces of stone, being mercilessly crushed under the weight of the threshing wheel.  It would not be a pleasant experience.

So think of the idea of a king driving threshing wheel over the wicked.  It's a pretty extreme word-picture.

Earlier in Proverbs chapter 20 (verse 8), it says that "When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes," calling to mind the end process of preparing grain from the field for use in the kitchen.  The winnowing is the part where the loosened chaff is separated from the head of grain -- often with a puff of wind.  And this, to me, seems like light work -- deft, delicate determination of the good material from the waste products, the right stuff from the wrong stuff.  This winnowing aspect of leadership is important and necessary, requiring a certain element of skill and discernment; but it doesn't seem like it's exceptionally tough or brutal.  Driving a threshing wheel over the evil, though:  that's hard-core.  It's stone on stone, brute force of gravity and friction, that allows the winnowing process to have its end effect.  And this, too, is an important and necessary part of leadership, albeit often less comfortable.  I can just hear the cavernous sound of the big threshing wheel rolling over the stone threshing floor.  I can almost feel the pressure forced upon anything that gets in between those two massive stones.  And it seems like man's work.  Dirty work.

But honestly, this seems like a more complete image of leadership to me than the classic view of a military commander drawing up plans for his troops on the battle-front, several miles away.  Effective leadership and judgment is skill and strength, precision and power.  It's not just seeing the evil but having the fortitude to do something about it.  Leadership is tough stuff, but if it's done well it can create a bountiful harvest.