Deuteronomy 24:6

6 "A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.

Deuteronomy 24:6 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 24:6

No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge,
&c.] The first word being of the dual number takes in both stones, wherefore Vatablus renders the words,

``ye shall not take for a pledge both the millstones, nor indeed the uppermost;''

which is the least; so far should they be from taking both, that they were not allowed to take the uppermost, which was the shortest, meanest, and lightest; and indeed if anyone of them was taken, the other became useless, so that neither was to be taken:

for he taketh [a man's] life to pledge;
or with which his life is supported, and the life of his family; for if he has corn to supply them with, yet if his mill or millstones are pawned, he cannot grind his corn, and so he and his family must starve: and in those times and countries they did, as the Arabs do to this day, as Dr. Shaw ^F4 relates,

``most families grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable millstones for that purpose; the uppermost whereof is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron, that is placed in the rim;''

and these millstones being portable, might be the more easily taken for pledges, which is here forbidden, for the above reason; and this takes in any other thing whatever, on which a man's living depends, or by which he gets his bread ^F5.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Travels, p. 231. Edit. 2.
F5 Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 9. sect. 13.

Deuteronomy 24:6 In-Context

4 her first husband who sent her [away] is not allowed {to take her again} to become a wife to him after she has {been defiled}, for that [is] a detestable thing {before} Yahweh, and [so] you shall not mislead into sin the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance.

5 "When a man takes a new wife he shall not go out with the army, and {he shall not be obligated with anything}; he shall be free from obligation, {to stay at home} for one year, and he shall bring joy [to] his wife that he took.

6 "A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.

7 "If a man is {caught} kidnapping somebody from [among] his countrymen, the {Israelites}, and he treats him as a slave or he sells him, then that kidnapper shall die, and [so] you shall purge the evil {from among you}.

8 Be watchful {with respect to} [an] outbreak of [any] infectious skin disease, by being very careful and by acting according to all that the priests and the Levites have instructed you, [just] as I have commanded them, {so you shall diligently observe}.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "he"
• [b] Or "require"
• [c] Literally "for a life [he] is taking as a pledge"