028. Two Women at the Mill
Two Women at the Mill
Usually two women sit facing each other at the mill, both holding the handle by which the upper is turned round on the "nether" millstone. One of the women whose right hand is disengaged, throws in the grain as needed through the hole in the upper stone. Both women keep their hold on the handle, and pull to, or push from, as two men do with a crosscut saw. Men never grind at the mill. It is very fatiguing work, and only slaves or the lowest servants, or the wives are ever set at grinding. This grinding at the mill was often imposed upon captives taken in war. In this way Samson was horribly abused by the Philistines, made to grind at the mill like a slave or a woman. The mill is the most interesting and also important piece of furniture in an Eastern home. Indeed, the grinding of the millstone is the sweetest music to the Oriental; it means there is food in the home, and not famine. It is indeed an evil day when the "sound of the grinding is low" (Ecclesiastes 12:4). Only enough corn is ground for one day’s needs, so the mill is in daily use. The peasant women are modest and wear long tobes or dresses which touch the ground as they walk. They always keep their hair covered, but when grinding at home where no man sees them, they remove the veil, uncovering the hair, and bare a greater part of the right leg. Isaiah 47:2 says: "Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare thy leg, uncover the thigh."
Jeremiah 25:10 says, "I will take away from thee all that would bring joy and happiness and comfort to a village. I will take from thee the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle."