Woman of Thebez

And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.

And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.

But the Jews were enjoined to be liberal in the matter of gleaning, as we see by Leviticus nineteen nine, "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest." And in Deuteronomy twenty-four nineteen, "When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands." There were no public mills at which flour could be ground, but as now, in the unchangeable East, every family ground their own corn, and this task, as well as the making and baking of bread, was left to the women.

See Matthew twenty-four forty-one, "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." Again, we find that it was a woman who was grinding corn on a house-top of Thebez, who, Judges nine fifty-three, "cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull." An Eastern flour mill consists of two stones, the upper one rotating on the lower.

In Shaw's Travels, page two ninety-seven, he says, "Most families grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable millstones for that purpose.

The uppermost is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron placed in the edge of it.

But the Jews were enjoined to be liberal in the matter of gleaning, as we see by Leviticus 19:9, "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest." And in Deuteronomy 24:19, "When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands." There were no public mills at which flour could be ground, but as now, in the unchangeable East, every family ground their own corn, and this task, as well as the making and baking of bread, was left to the women.

See Matthew 24:41, "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." Again, we find that it was a woman who was grinding corn on a housetop of Thebez, who, Judges 9:53, "Cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull." An Eastern flour mill consists of two stones, the upper one rotating on the lower.

In Shaw's Travels, page 297, he says, "Most families grind their wheat and barley at home, having two portable millstones for that purpose.

The uppermost is turned round by a small handle of wood or iron placed in the edge of it.