Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:10
[Then] let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
10. To “grind unto another,” i. e. at the mill, is to be the slave of another, Isa 47:2. The slave was at the same time usually the concubine of her master, and the curse means, Let my wife be the slave (first clause) and the concubine (second clause) of others. It is probable, however, that in usage the language of the first clause carried the same sense as the second.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then let my wife grined unto another – Let her be subjected to the deepest humiliation and degradation. Probably Job could not have found language which would have more emphatically expressed his sense of the enormity of this crime, or his perfect consciousness of innocence. The last thing which a man would imprecate on himself, would be that which is specified in this verse. The word grind ( tachan) means to crush, to beat small; then to grind, as in a handmill; Jdg 16:21; Num 11:8. This was usually the work of females and slaves; see the notes at Isa 47:2. The meaning here is, Let my wife be the mill-wench to another; be his abject slave, and be treated by him with the deepest indignity. This passage has been understood by many in a different sense, which the parallelism might seem to demand, but which is not necessarily the true interpretation. The sense referred to is this: Cogatur uxor mea ad patiendum alius concubitum, ut verbum molendi hoc loco eodem sensu sumatur, quo non raro a Latinis usurpatur ut in illo Horatii (Satyr. L. i. Ecl. ii. verse 35), alienas permolere uxores.
In this sense the rabbinic writers understand Jdg 16:21 and Lam 5:13. So also the Chaldee renders the phrase before us ( ) coeat cure alio uxor mea; and so the Septuagint seems to have understood it – aresai ara kai he gune mou hetero. But probably Job meant merely that his wife should be reduced to the condition of servitude, and be compelled to labor in the employ of another. We may find here an answer to the opinion of Prof. Lee (in his notes at Job 31:1), that the wife of Job was at this time dead, and that he was meditating the question about marrying again. May we not here also find an instance of the fidelity and forgiving spirit of Job toward a wife who is represented in the early part of this book as manifesting few qualities which could win the heart of an husband? There is no expression of impatience at her temper and her words on the part of Job, and he here speaks of it as the most serious of all calamities that could happen; the most painful of all punishments, that that same wife should be reduced to a condition of servitude and degradation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Let my wife grind unto another] Let her work at the handmill, grinding corn; which was the severe work of the meanest slave. In this sense the passage is understood both by the Syriac and Arabic. See Ex 11:5, and Isa 47:2; and see at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Job 31:40.
And let others bow down upon her.] Let her be in such a state as to have no command of her own person; her owner disposing of her person as he pleases. In Asiatic countries slaves were considered so absolutely the property of their owners, that they not only served themselves of them in the way of scortation and concubinage, but they were accustomed to accommodate their guests with them! Job is so conscious of his own innocence, that he is willing it should be put to the utmost proof; and if found guilty, that he may be exposed to the most distressing and humiliating punishment; even to that of being deprived of his goods, bereaved of his children, his wife made a slave, and subjected to all indignities in that state.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Let my wife grind unto another; either,
1. Let her be taken captive, and made a slave to grind in other mens mills; which was a sore and vile servitude, Exo 11:5; Jdg 16:21; Isa 47:2; Mat 24:41. Or rather,
2. Let her be defiled by another man, as the next words expound it, and as the Hebrews understand it, and as this very phrase is used by very ancient, both Greek and Latin, authors of which see my Latin Synopsis on this place. And this is to be cautiously understood, not as if Job desired or would permit a requital in the same kind, but only, that if in that case God should give up his wife to such a wickedness, he should acknowledge his justice in it, and (though with abhorrency of the sin) accept of that punishment of it.
Let others bow down upon her; another modest expression of a filthy action; whereby the Holy Ghost gives us a pattern and a precept to avoid not only unclean actions, but also all immodest expressions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. grindturn the handmill.Be the most abject slave and concubine (Isa 47:2;2Sa 12:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[Then] let my wife grind unto another,…. Which some understand literally, of her being put to the worst of drudgery and slavery, to work at a mill, and grind corn for the service of a stranger, and be exposed to the company of the meanest of persons, and to their insults and abuses; as we find such as were taken captives and made prisoners by an enemy were put unto, as Samson, Jud 16:21; and it may be observed, that to grind in a mill was also the work of women,
Ex 11:5; as it was in early times; Homer c speaks of it as in times before him; but others take the words in a figurative sense, as if he imprecated that she lie with another man, and be defiled by him, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, and others d; see Isa 47:1; and in like manner the following clause:
and let others bow down upon her; both which phrases are euphemisms, or clean and decent expressions, signifying what otherwise is not to be named; the Scriptures hereby directing, as to avoid unchaste thoughts, inclinations, and desires, and impure actions, so obscene words and filthy talking, as becometh saints: but there is some difficulty in Job’s imprecating or wishing such a thing might befall his wife; it could not be lawful, if he had sinned, to wish his wife might sin also; or, if he was an adulterer, that she should be an adulteress; the sense is not, that Job really wished such a thing; but he uses such a way of speaking, to show how remote he was from the sin of uncleanness, there being nothing more disagreeable to a man than for his wife to defile his bed; it is the last thing he would wish for: and moreover Job suggests hereby, that had he been guilty of this sin, he must own and acknowledge that he would be righteously served, and it would be a just retaliation upon him, should his wife use him, or she be used, in such a manner; likewise, though a man may not wish nor commit a sin for the punishment of another; yet God sometimes punishes sin with sin, and even with the same kind of sin, and with this; so David’s sin with Bathsheba was punished with Absalom lying with his wives and concubines before the sun, 2Sa 12:11; see De 28:30.
c Odyss. 7. v. 107. & Odyss. 20. v. 109. d So T. Bab Sotah, fol. 10. 1. & Luther, Schmidt apud Stockium, p. 414.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) Then let my wife grindi.e., perform all menial offices, like a slave.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Grind Burckhardt, speaking of the people of Medina, says, “The women of the cultivators and of the inhabitants of the suburbs serve in the families of the towns-people as domestics, principally to grind corn in the hand-mills.” Arabia, 2:265. The oldest versions understand the word to express a deeper degradation, in illustration of which Dr. Clarke gives an excursus. The second clause is explained by Job 24:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 31:10. Then let my wife grind unto another May my wife be defiled by another.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 31:10 [Then] let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
Ver. 10. Then let my wife grind unto another ] i.e. Let her be his slave, as Lam 5:13 Exo 11:5 Mat 24:41 ; or rather, let her be his whore; and may my sin, which hath served her for example, serve her also for excuse. Not that Job would hereby license his wife to commit filthiness (as those Lituanians, who have their connubii adiutores, co-helpers in wedlock, and prize them far above all their acquaintance, as Maginus relateth, Alienas permolere uxores (Horat.). Sic , i.e. molere, apud Theocrit. est coire; and as some wits among us, panders to their own beds, who, either for gain or for a quiet life, wink at their wives’ disloyalty; and, as woodculvers or silly hedge sparrows, hatch and bring up that which cuckoos lay in their nests), but to set forth by this horrible imprecation how extremely he abhorred the sin of adultery.
And let others bow down upon her
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
grind: Exo 11:5, Isa 47:2, Mat 24:41
and let: 2Sa 12:11, Jer 8:10, Hos 4:13, Hos 4:14
Reciprocal: Deu 28:30 – betroth Job 31:22 – let Lam 5:13 – the young
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
31:10 [Then] let my wife {g} grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
(g) Let her be made a slave.