איוב, פרק כ״ד, פסוק י׳

A tragic scene of exploitation and cruelty unfolds as vulnerable people suffer under the control of powerful oppressors. They are forced into extreme poverty and starvation, sometimes experiencing this severe lack while actively surrounded by abundance. The oppressors are directly responsible for this suffering. By stealing the clothing of the poor, they force them to walk around exposed and completely destitute [מצודת דוד, רלב״ג, אלשיך].

The tragedy deepens as these starving individuals carry bundles of harvested grain [מצודת ציון] yet remain hungry. There are two primary ways to understand this cruel situation. The first approach views it as an act of direct theft. The poor manage to gather sheaves from the fields, collecting the gleanings and forgotten crops rightfully left for them. However, the wicked violently snatch these bundles away, forcing the poor to leave empty-handed and starving [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רמב״ן]. This cruelty extends to taking food directly from the hands of the famished [רש״י, אבן עזרא], sometimes even stealing grain that had just been given to the poor as charity [רמב״ן].

A second perspective frames the situation as the severe exploitation of laborers. The poor are employed in the fields of the wicked, tasked with carrying their employers' harvest. Despite bearing the food on their own shoulders, they are forbidden from eating any of it [רלב״ג, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This behavior is a complete reversal of the biblical command not to muzzle an ox while it works. The oppressors effectively muzzle their human workers, denying them even a taste of the crops they carry [מלבי״ם].

The specific nature of their burden highlights the depth of this abuse. They handle raw sheaves of grain rather than prepared food, as the employers deliberately keep the crop in a raw state out of fear that the workers might try to eat it. Furthermore, the fact that they carry only a single sheaf reveals their profound physical exhaustion. Starvation has drained their strength so completely that one small bundle of grain is the maximum weight they can bear [אלשיך].