Proverbs 31:19

She layeth her hands to the spindle,.... As Penelope and her maidens did (t).

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The praises of a virtuous woman; forming a Hebrew acrostic. The 22 years begin with the several 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet consecutively; M.

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.

Proverbs 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.Ver. 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle.] Notwithstanding her late purchase, and planting a vineyard and other out businesses. 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. 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. Lucretia inter ancillas ad Lucernam fila ducebat. Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, p. 69. Acts and Mon., fol. 957.

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 כישור kishor, and פלך 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 The spinning-wheel superseded them in these countries; but still they were in considerable use till spinning machinery superseded both them and the spinning-wheels in general.

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 (Nehemiah 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.: “Læva colum molli lana retinebat amictum: Dextera turn leviter deducens fila supinis Formabat digitis; turn prono in pollice torquens Libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum.”

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.