No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge: for he takes a man's living in pledge.
Read Chapter 24
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Life, or the means of supporting himself. (Haydock)
The upper millstone was deemed the less necessary. In more ancient times it was customary to dry the wheat by fire, and afterwards to pound it in a mortar. Then millstones were invented, which slaves of the meanest condition had to turn. Pliny ( xviii. 10,) mentions, that some few water-mills were used in his time. But this useful invention had been neglected, till Belisarius restored it again in the fifth century, when he was besieged in Rome by the Goths. (Procop.)
Jonathan, and the paraphrast of Jerusalem, explain this quite in a different sense: "Thou shalt not use any enchantment for the consummation of marriage, since it would be to destroy the lives of the children to be born."
To take (accipere) means “to take away.” Thus those birds that are eager to seize other birds are called hawks (accipiter). Paul says, “For you bear it, if anyone consumes you, if anyone takes you.” The same would be true if he said, if anyone seizes you. The sinner’s confession is like the pledge of a debtor. For the pledge is received from the debtor when the sinner makes his confession of sin. The upper and lower millstones in this confession are hope and fear. Hope draws us up to the heights. Fear keeps the heart low. But upper and lower millstones must be joined together; one without the other is useless. Thus in the sinner’s confession, hope and fear should always be joined, because the sinner hopes in vain for mercy if he does not also fear justice. In vain did he fear justice if he does not also trust in mercy. Hence merely an upper millstone or a lower millstone alone may not be taken as a pledge. One who preaches to a sinner should compose his sermon with such balance that he...
