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

If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; Job asserts his innocence of adultery. Deceived - hath let itself be seduced (Proverbs 7:8, etc.; Genesis 39:7-12).

Let my wife grind unto another; either, 1. Let her be taken captive, and made a slave to grind in other men’ s mills; which was a sore and vile servitude, . 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.

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 Lamentations 5:13 Exodus 11:5 Matthew 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 μυλλειν, 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] A clean expression of an unclean act. Some Borborologi podicem ex ore faciunt, being like ducks, that ever have their noses puddling in puddles: sic hi spurcitias Veneris eliminant, delight in ribaldry and obscene language; as did Proculus, the emperor, and before him, that beast Tiberius. These are to be avoided as pests and botches of human society. So also are stage plays for that very cause, as the brothels of bawdry, the corrupters of youth, the canker of the commonwealth, as Plato, a heathen, complained. Filthiness and fornication should not be once named among Christians, Ephesians 5:3. Groves were flatly forbidden by God to be planted near the places of his worship; in detestation of that heathenish custom of Priapus’ s worshippers, promiscuously satisfying their lusts in a thicket after they had sacrificed; thereby, as they conceived, best pleasing their god.

(10) Then let my wife grind—i.e., perform all menial offices, like a slave.

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 Exodus 11:5, and Isaiah 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.

10. To “grind unto another,” i. e. at the mill, is to be the slave of another, Isaiah 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.

Then let my wife grined unto another - Let her be subjected to the deepest humiliation and degradation.

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