Did You Know...That the grinding wheel – or mill stone - was an essential piece of equipment in every household in Bible days?
And that the first sound of the day, usually before dawn, was the unmistakable sound of grinding that came from every home as the family’s daily bread was prepared?
This chore belonged to the humblest and youngest female slave or hired servant, or in a normal village household, a daughter or the wife. Proverbs 31:15 tells us that the wife gets up before dawn!
There are many references in the Bible indicating that grinding is the humblest, and sometimes the most humiliating of jobs.
Exodus 11:5 refers to the highest to the lowliest in the land when referring to the deaths of the firstborns “… from the first born son of Pharaoh… to the first born of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill.”
In Lamentations 5:13 Jeremiah describes Israel’s deep humiliation after the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians, where the young men do this most menial of women’s work.
Note that Sampson, when he was taken to Gaza after being made blind, was made to grind. Presumably this was a commercial operation where he took the place of an ass, and walked around in a circle pushing a beam attached to a big mill stone.
It is exhausting work and approximately three (!) hours of grinding is needed to supply the needs of a family. And if you wanted finer flour, it took even longer. Where possible, two women share the job - sitting opposite each other. One hand is needed when two work together, whereas a single person has to use both hands.
Hence the scripture, “Two women will be grinding grain together…” Luke 15:35.
However, when the grain is ground, small particles of the mill stone come away and get included in the flour and the bread. Consequently, by eating the bread, the teeth gradually get ground down because of the stones. The wealthier families insisted on extra fine flour for their bread, because they had slaves or servants to grind the grain until it was very fine. However, more fine bits of the worn basalt would still be mixed with the flour. Skeletons found in the homes of wealthy people of those times, often showed teeth that were worn right down!
The sound of the grinding stones was rough and grating, but it was a sign of normal family life. Also it meant that there was adequate grain. Conversely, its absence indicated desolation and sorrow. When the sound of grinding coming from a house was low, it meant that the family was impoverished.
Hence Jeremiah, when prophesying the ruin to be brought on the land by Nebuchadnezzar, tells his people that God will “… banish from them… the sound of millstones.” Jeremiah 25:10. Revelations 18:22 also refers to the destruction of Babylon. “The sound of the millstone will never be heard in you again.”
Grinding wheels were generally made from basalt, a black rock found in the Galilee and Golan Heights, and would be a relatively precious item. The Law of Moses states that the millstones of a household could not be seized by a creditor (Deuteronomy 24:6).
Compiled by Jim and Maxine Carlill
