Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 31:19
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
19. spindle distaff ] Rather, distaff spindle, with R.V. Of the two Heb. words here used the first occurs nowhere else, but it is derived from a root which means to be straight, and therefore may properly denote the distaff, or straight rod. Of the second word, the root-meaning is to be round. It is used of the circuit or circle round, the environs of, Jerusalem (Neh 3:12; Neh. 14:15).
“Till comparatively recent times the sole spinning implements were the spindle and distaff. The spindle, which is the fundamental apparatus in all spinning, was nothing more nor less than a round stick or rod of wood, about 12 inches in length, tapering towards each extremity, and having at its upper end a notch or slit, into which the yarn might be caught or fixed. In general, a ring or whorl of stone or clay was passed round the upper part of the spindle to give it momentum and steadiness when in rotation. The distaff or rod was a rather longer and stronger bar or stick, around one end of which, in a loose coil or ball, the fibrous material to be spun was wound. The other extremity of the distaff was carried under the left arm, or fixed in the girdle at the left side, so as to have the coil of flax in a convenient position for drawing out to yarn.” Encyclop. Britann. Art. Linen, vol. xiv. p. 664. 9th edition.
An illustration of the use of these implements is found in Catullus, Epithal. de nupt. Pel. et Thet. 312 sqq.:
“Lva colum molli lana retinebat amictum:
Dextera turn leviter deducens fila supinis
Formabat digitis; turn prono in pollice torquens
Libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle]
10. She gives an example of skill and industry to her household. She takes the distaff, that on which the wool or flax was rolled; and the spindle, that by twisting of which she twisted the thread with the right hand, while she held the distaff in the guard of the left arm, and drew down the thread with the fingers of the left hand. Allowing that spindle and distaff are proper translations of kishor, and pelech, this was their use, and the way in which they were used. The spindle and distaff are the most ancient of all the instruments used for spinning, or making thread. The spinning-wheel superseded them in these countries; but still they were in considerable use till spinning machinery superseded both them and the spinning-wheels in general.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By her own example she provoketh her servants to labour. And although in these later and more delicate and luxurious times, such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried are to this day called in the language of our law spinsters.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. No work, however mean, ifhonest, is disdained.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
She layeth her hands to the spindle,…. As Penelope and her maidens did t. Or spinning wheel, more properly, the wheel itself, which is laid hold on by the right hand, and turned round;
and her hands hold the distaff; the rock, stick, or staff, about which the wool is wrapped, which is spun, and is held in the left hand; for though hands are mentioned in both clauses, yet it is only with one hand the wheel is turned, and the distaff held with the other. Not only wool and flax were sought by her, Pr 31:13; but she spins them, and works them up into garments her web is not like the spider’s, spun out of its own bowels, on which it hangs; to which the hope and trust of a hypocrite are compared, and whose webs do not become garments to cover them, Job 8:14; but the church’s web is both for ornament, to the adorning of her profession, and for defence and protection from the calumnies of the world; for by these are meant good works, as Ambrose interprets them.
t Homer, Odyss. 1. v. 357. & 21. v. 351.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19 She putteth her hand to the rock Spinnrocken;
And her fingers lay hold on the spindle.
She applies herself to the work of spinning, and performs it with skill. The phrase ( , Job 28:9) signifies to take up an object of work, and , with obj. accus. (cf. Amo 1:5), the handling of the instrument of work necessary thereto. denotes the hands when the subject is skilful, successful work; we accordingly say , not ; cf. Pro 31:13 and Pro 31:16, Psa 78:72. What means is shown by the Arab. falakat , which, as distinguished from mighzal , i.e., fuseau (Lat. fusus ), is explained by bout arrondi et conique au bas du fuseau , thus: the whorl, i.e., the ring or knob fastened on the spindle below, which gives it its necessary weight and regulates its movement, Lat. verticellus , post-bibl. (which Bartenora glosses by the Ital. fusajuolo) or , e.g., Kelim ix. 6, , a spindle which holds the whorl hidden ( vid., Aruch under , iii.). But the word then also signifies per synecd o chen partis pro toto, the spindle, i.e., the cylindrical wood on which the thread winds itself when spinning (cf. 2Sa 3:29, where it means the staff on which the infirm leans); Homer gives to Helen and the goddesses golden spindles ( ). Accordingly it is not probable that also denotes the whorl, as Kimchi explains the word: “ is that which one calls by the name verteil, viz., that which one fixes on the spindle ( ) above to regulate the spinning ( ),” according to which the Venet. renders by , whorl, and by , spindle. The old interpreters have not recognised that denotes a thing belonging to the spinning apparatus; the lxx, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Syr., and Jerome see therein an ethical idea (from , to be capable, able); but Luther, not misled thereby, translates with unusual excellence:
She stretches her hand to the rock,
And her fingers grasp the spindle.
He has in this no predecessors, except only the Targumists, whose ( vid., Levy) appears also to denote the spinning-rock. The Syriac and Talmudic , which is compared by Gesenius-Dietrich, is another word, and denotes, not the rock, but the spindle. Immanuel also, who explains as the , i.e., the spindle, understands (as perhaps also Parchon) by the rock. And why should not the rock ( wocken = distaff), i.e., the stock to which the tuft of flax, hemp, or wool is fixed for the purpose of being spun, Lat. colus , not be named , from , to be upright as a stick, upright in height, or perhaps more correctly as , i.e., as that which prepares or makes fit the flax for spinning? Also in , Jer 29:26, there are united the meanings of the close and the confining dungeon, and = signifies
(Note: Otherwise, but improbably, Schultens: colus a = katr kathr , necti in orbem, circumnecti in globum . In , whence , he rightly finds the primary meaning of circumvolutio sive gyratio .)
the place which yields rest. The spinning-wheel is a German invention of the 16th century, but the rock standing on the ground, or held also in the hands, the spindle and the whorl, are more ancient.
(Note: A view of the ancient art of spinning is afforded by the figures of the 12th Dynasty (according to Lepsius, 2380-2167 b.c.) in the burial chamber of Beni Hassan (270 kilometres above Bulak, on the right bank of the Nile). M. J. Henry, in his work L’Egypte Pharaonique (Paris 1846), Bd. 2, p. 431, mentions that there are figures there which represent “ toutes les oprations de la fabrication des tissus depuis le filage jusqu au tissage .” Then he continues: Lex fuseaux dont se servent les fileuses sont excatement semblables aux ntres, et on voit mme ces fileuses imprimer le mouvement de rotation ces fuseaux, en en froissant le bout inferieur entre leur main et leur cuisse .)
With the spindle stands in fit relation, for it is twirled between the fingers, as Catullus says of Fate:
Libratum tereti versabat pollice fusum .
(Note: In the “marriage of Peleus and Thetis,” Catullus describes the work of the Fates: “Their hands are ceaselessly active at their never-ending work; while the left holds the rock, surrounded with a soft fleece, the right assiduously draws the thread and forms it with raised fingers; then it swiftly turns the spindle, with the thumb stretched down, and swings it away in whirling circles.” Then follows the refrain of the song of the Fates: Currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi . – (After Hertzberg’s Translation.))
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
19. The spindle the distaff It is not entirely certain to which parts of the Eastern spinning apparatus these terms were applied. Stuart renders the first word by distaff, and the second by spindle. “In the East the spindle is held in the hand, often perpendicularly, and is twirled in one, while the other draws out the thread.” Gesenius. The distaff is the staff for holding the bunch of flax or wool from which the thread is drawn when spinning. “I saw a woman sitting at the door of her hut on Zion spinning woollen yarn with a spindle, while another near her was twirling nimbly the ancient distaff.” Land and Book, vol. ii, p. 572.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
Ver. 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle. ] a Notwithstanding her late purchase, and planting a vineyard Pro 31:16 and other out businesses. See Trapp on “ Pro 31:13 “ The two cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius, coming from King Henry VIII on a message to Queen Catherine of Spain, a little before the divorce, found her with a skein of red silk about her neck, being at work with her maiden. b And Queen Anne Boleyn kept her maids, and all that were about her, so busied in sewing and working, that neither was there seen any idleness among them, nor any leisure to follow such pastimes as are usually in princes’ courts. c
a Lucretia inter ancillas ad Lucernam fila ducebat.
b Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, p. 69.
c Acts and Mon., fol. 957.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
She takes the spindle in her right hand, by twisting which she twists the thread; while she holds the distaff, on which the wool or flax is rolled, in the guard of the left arm, and draws down the thread with the fingers of the left hand. Exo 35:25, Exo 35:26
Reciprocal: Pro 31:24 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 31:19. She layeth her hands to the spindle By her own example she provokes her servants to labour. And although in these latter and more delicate times such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried, unto this day, are called, in the language of our law, spinsters.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The "distaff" was the rod that held the raw wool while spinning. The "spindle" was the stick the spinner twirled between her fingers that took up the spun wool (Pro 31:19). She is generous rather than selfish (Pro 31:20).
"The hands that grasp to produce open wide to provide." [Note: Van Leeuwen, p. 262. Cf. Ephesians 4:28.]
She provides security for her family by providing them with clothing that is both warm and attractive (Pro 31:21). She also tends to her own appearance. She dresses in quality garments (Pro 31:22).