John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 24:6

"No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge; for he taketh [a man`s] life to pledge." — Deuteronomy 24:6 (ASV)

No man shall take the nether. God now enforces another principle of equity in relation to loans (not to be too strict¹⁰⁷) regarding pledges, by which the poor are often greatly distressed.

In the first place, He prohibits taking anything in pledge that is necessary to the poor for their livelihood. For by the words which I have translated meta and catillus, i.e., the upper and lower millstone, He designates by synecdoche all other instruments that workers cannot do without in earning their daily bread.

It is as if someone should forcibly deprive a farmer of his plow, spade, harrow, or other tools, or empty the shop of a shoemaker, potter, or other artisan, who could not then exercise his trade when deprived of its implements. This is sufficiently clear from the context, where it is said, He taketh a man’s life to pledge, together with his millstones.

Therefore, whoever takes in pledge what supports a poor man’s life is as cruel as if he were to take away bread from a starving man. In doing so, he takes his life itself, which is sustained by labor; when its means of livelihood are cut off, life itself is, as it were, destroyed.

¹⁰⁷ Added from Fr..