Editing Millstone (section)

=== Symbolism in the Bible ===
Millstones were often essential objects within a community. For that reason, they gain multiple symbolic meanings and symbolism within mythology, folklore, and the Bible. The Hebrew Bible admonishes <small>([[Deuteronomy 24]]:6)</small>: "No one shall take a lower millstone, nor an upper millstone, in pledge [for the payment of a debt], for that would be tantamount to taking away a life in pledge." The rabbis have explained that not only a millstone cannot be taken as security for a pledge, but anything in which the life of man depends cannot be taken as security for a pledge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mishnah |author-link=Mishnah|title=The Mishnah |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |translator=[[Herbert Danby]] |edition=12th |date=1977 |page=[https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/364/mode/1up 364] |location=Oxford |language=English |url=https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/mode/1up |isbn=0-19-815402-X}}, s.v. ''Baba Mezia'' 9:13</ref>

The Bible heavily utilized millstone symbolism within its various proverbs. A common one is the millstone's proverbial designation of something as a great weight, as seen in [[Matthew 18]]:6 {{quote|But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|18:6|KJV}}: [[King James Version]], paralleled in {{bibleverse||Luke|17:2|KJV}}</ref>}}
Likewise, due to the exhausting physical labor associated with the earliest millstones, they were symbolic of hard work and accredited as a menial task given to the lowest form of a laborer.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=Alban J |title=The History of Grinding |last2=Rowland |first2=Chester A. |publisher=Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration |date=November 1, 2005 |isbn=978-0873352383 |edition=}}</ref> This is not the only symbolic meaning of millstones within the Bible; millstones were also used as a symbol of civilization, prosperity, and comfortable living.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Walton |first=Steven A. |title=The Mill in the Bible |url=https://www.engr.psu.edu/mtah/articles/pdf/mill_in_bible.pdf |access-date=February 12, 2023}}</ref>