Job 31:10

10 then let my wife 1grind for another, and let others 2bow down on her.

Job 31:10 Meaning and Commentary

Job 31:10

[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, ( Judges 16:21 ) ; and it may be observed, that to grind in a mill was also the work of women, ( Exodus 11:5 ) ( Matthew 24:41 ) ; as it was in early times; Homer F3 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 F4; see ( Isaiah 47:1 Isaiah 47:2 ) ; 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, ( 2 Samuel 12:11 ) ; see ( Deuteronomy 28:30 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Odyss. 7. v. 107. & Odyss. 20. v. 109.
F4 So T. Bab Sotah, fol. 10. 1. & Luther, Schmidt apud Stockium, p. 414.

Job 31:10 In-Context

8 then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.
9 "If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,
10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
12 for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

Cross References 2

  • 1. [Exodus 11:5; Isaiah 47:2]
  • 2. [2 Samuel 12:11; Jeremiah 8:10]
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