Muzzle

The law of the muzzle is one of the most briefly stated yet theologically significant provisions of Mosaic legislation: "You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain" (Deut. 25:4). In the agriculture of the ancient Near East, oxen were driven across spread-out sheaves to tread out the grain, and it would have been easy and economical to prevent them from eating the grain as they worked. The law prohibited this, requiring that working animals be allowed to eat from the harvest they were helping to produce. Paul cites this commandment twice as the scriptural basis for the principle that those who labor in ministry are entitled to material support from those they serve (1 Cor. 9:9–14; 1 Tim. 5:18). His exegetical comment — "Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake?" (1 Cor. 9:9–10) — applies the agricultural law by analogy to the rights of the gospel worker, establishing one of the New Testament's clearest statements on ministerial compensation.