Matthew 24:41

Mat 24:41. Ἀλήθουσαι, grinding) Grinding was an occupation of women.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Greek women and the Barbarians did grind and bake. (Plutarch, book Problem)

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 41. See Clarke on Mt 24:40.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(41) Two women shall be grinding at the mill.—The words bring before us the picture of the lowest form of female labour, in which one woman holds the lower stone of the small hand-mill of the East, while another turns the upper stone and grinds the corn. In Jdg_16:21, and Lam_5:13, the employment appears as the crowning degradation of male captives taken in battle. It is probable that in this case, as in that of the fig-tree, the illustration may have been suggested by what was present to our Lord’s view at the time. The Mount of Olives might well have presented to His gaze, even as He spoke, the two labourers in the field, the two women at the mill.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill] In southern Palestine, where there are no mill-streams, hand-mills are to be seen and heard in every village. “Two women sit at the mill facing each other; both having hold of the handle by which the upper is turned round on the nether mill-stone.” Land and Book, p. 526.

shall be taken] See preceding verse.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Watch therefore,.... Since the time of this desolation is so uncertain, and since it will come upon the Jews unawares, and some wilt escape, whilst others perish; for the words are plainly an inference from what precedes, and clearly relate to things going before, and are not a transition to a new subject:

for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come; to avenge himself of the unbelieving Jews, and fulfil what he in person, and by his apostles, had predicted and warned them of: though I will not deny, but that what follows may be much better accommodated and applied to the second coming of Christ, and the last judgment, and the behaviour of men with regard to both, than anything said before; and it may be our Lord's intention, to lead his disciples gradually, and as it were imperceptibly, to the last scene of things on earth, to make way for the parables and description of the future judgment, in the next chapter; still keeping in view, and having reference to, the subject he had been so long upon.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Ver. 41. Two women shall be grinding at the mill] A poor trade, a hard task. God would have every man in his honest occupation to humble himself by just labour, and so to accept the punishment of their iniquity, Lev 26:41. But one of these two poor grinders at the mill is left by Christ for her pride and profaneness. Many are humbled, but not humble; low, but not lowly. To these Christ will say, Perdidistis utilitatem calamitatis, miserrimi facti estis, et pessimi permansistis, Misery hath no wit mended you; woe be to you. (Aug. C. D. i. 33.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Two women ... - Grinding in the East was performed, as it is now, chiefly by hand. The millstones were about 2 feet in diameter and 12 foot in thickness. The lower one was fixed, and the upper one was turned by a handle or crank. This was done by two persons, who sat opposite to each other. One took hold of the mill-handle and turned it half-way round; the other then seized it and completed the revolution. This was done by women - by servants of the lowest order - and was a very laborious employment. See Exo 11:5; Job 31:10; Isa 47:2; Jdg 16:21. The meaning of this verse is similar to the former. Of two persons sitting near each other, one shall be taken and the other. left. The calamity would be sudden, and would come upon them before they were aware.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Two women. Slaves of both sexes were employed in grinding corn. Of these, one shall be carried up to heaven by angels, the other shall be left a prey to devils, on account of her bad life. (Bible de Vence) --- In many ancient manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, what we read in St. Luke, (xvii. 34.) of two men in the same bed, one shall be taken, and the other shall be left, is here added.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

41. Two women — A similar image in regard to the female sex for both shall alike pass the judgment test. Grinding at the mill — Meal was ground anciently between two stones, one being laid up on the other to crush the grain between them by friction. The stones were often turned by women.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Two women shall be grinding at (en) the mill. In the absence of mills turned by wind or water, which were of much later invention, every household had its own little handmill, worked by women of the family or by slaves. (Exo_11:5 Jud_1:16:21; Isa_47:2) "Two stones, about eighteen inches or two feet across, rest one on the other, the under one slightly higher towards the centre, and the upper one hollowed out to fit this convexity; a hole through it, in the middle, receiving the grain. Sometimes the under stone is bedded m cement, raised into a border round it, to catch and retain the flour, or meal, as it falls. A stick fastened into the upper one served as a handle. Occasionally two women sit at the same pair of stones, to lighten the task, one hand only being needed where two work together, whereas a single person has to use both hands" (Geikie, "Holy Land and Bible," p. 155). "Two women were busy in a cottage at the household mill, which attracted me by its sound To grind is very exhausting work, so that, where possible, one woman sits opposite the other, to divide the strain, though in a poor man"s house the wife has to do this drudgery unaided" (ibid., p. 661). St. Luke (Luk_17:34) adds a third situation to the cases mentioned by our Lord, viz. "two men in one bed," or on one dining couch.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Two women shall be grinding - Which was then a common employment of women.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

41. μύλῳ, for μύλωνι. The authority for the latter is weak. μυλὼν is the commoner word, strictly = ‘a place for a mill,’ μύλος a ‘mill’ or a ‘millstone.’

41. δύο ἀλήθουσαι ἐν τῷ μύλῳ. In southern Palestine, where there are no mill-streams, hand-mills are to be seen and heard in every village. ‘Two women sit at the mill facing each other; both having hold of the handle by which the upper is turned round on the nether mill-stone.’ Land and Book, p. 526.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41.] From this point (or perhaps even from ver. 37, as historic resemblance is itself parabolic) the discourse begins to assume a parabolic form, and gradually passes into a series of formal parables in the next chapter.

These verses set forth that, as in the times of Noah, men and women shall be employed in their ordinary work: see Exo 11:5 (LXX), Isa 47:2. They also shew us that the elect of God will to the last be mingled in companionship and partnership with the children of this world (see Mar 1:19, Mar 1:20). We may notice, that these verses do not refer to the same as vv. 16-18. Then it is a question of voluntary flight; now of being taken (by the angels, ver. 31: the present graphically sets the incident before us; or perhaps describes the rule of proceeding. See on the sense of παραλαμβ. especially ref. John), or left. Nor again do they refer to the great judgment of ch. 25:31, for then (ver. 32) all shall be summoned:—but they refer to the millennial dispensation, and the gathering of the elect to the Lord then. The “women grinding at the mill” has been abundantly illustrated by travellers, as even now seen in the East. See especially ‘The Land and the Book,’ pp. 526, 7.

ἐν, either because the pair of stones is the element in which the act of grinding takes place,—or, more probably, because that which is ground is within, between the stones.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 41. Two (women shall be) grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.] Lk. has: “There shall be two (women) grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The mill [τω μυλω] . The ordinary hand - mill with a handle fixed near the edge of the upper stone, which is turned by two women.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.