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How Were Handmills Used In Ancient Times? Hand mills were used to grind grain into flour to make bread. Use of such mills was a daily chore for the women or the servants of virtually every household. The sound of grinding was associated with everyday life in ancient times. Exodus 11:5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who is sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the slave girl who is working at the hand mill, and every firstborn of the livestock Jeremiah 25:10 10 I will put an end to the sound of exultation and the sound of rejoicing from them, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and the light of the lamp. Artifacts from ancient Egypt illustrate the process. Grain was placed on a slightly concave, horizontal stone surface, sometimes called a saddle-quern. The grinder knelt in front of the fixed quern while grasping with both hands a smaller grinding stone, or rider, which was moved back and forth over the horizontal surface to grind the grain. According to one source, such riders typically weighed between two and four kilograms. If used as a weapon, such a stone could be deadly. Judges 9:50-54 50 Abimelech then went to Thebez; he camped against Thebez and captured it. There was a strong tower in the middle of the city, and all the men and women and all the city leaders fled there. They shut themselves in and climbed onto the roof of the tower. Abimelech made his way to the tower and attacked it. He approached the entrance of the tower to set it on fire. Then one of the women dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. He quickly called the attendant bearing his weapons and said to him: “Draw your sword and put me to death, so that they may not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his attendant ran him through, and he died Grinding cereals was so essential to a family's well-being that a Biblical law forbade seizure of a millstone as a pledge. Deuteronomy 24:6 "No one should seize a hand mill or its upper millstone as security for a loan, for that would be taking someone's livelihood as security. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gee, girls, how thankful we can be that we do not have to do this job every day. Thanks be to God for the times we live in, 'ey. Imagine the job it would be if we had our husband as well as ourselves plus, say, 5 or more ! Considering all the other jobs we would have in the normal course of a day it sure would keep one busy. Phew! Yours, Katidid. 
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