Dr. Rodney Plunket

She is to be Praised

Proverbs 31:10-31
May 9, 1999

The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a collection of writings concerning wisdom. The individual units that make up this book were likely collected and put together over a long period of time by people recognized as the wise men and women of Israel.

In this collection there is much said about women. Since some of the material in Proverbs is especially designed for young men, there are some sections which warn against loose women, the kind of women who would draw the unwise into sexual sin. In Proverbs 7:4-5 we read, "Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend, that they may keep you from the loose woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words." This chapter then goes on to refer to a young man who is seduced as "a young man without sense." So the book of Proverbs realizes that there is a type of woman who can bring about destruction. However, the sin is blamed on both the woman and the man, and wisdom in this passage is actually viewed as a woman; the passage calls upon the young man to refer to wisdom as "my sister."

But there are other somewhat negative observations concerning women in the book of Proverbs. For example, Proverbs 11:22 says, "Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense." This proverbial saying draws attention to the fact that beauty is not always accompanied by good judgment, discretion, discernment." Two proverbs relate to the problems associated with living with a wife who creates strife or contention. Proverbs 21:9 says, "It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife," while Proverbs 21:19 says, "It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful wife."

The reason I wanted briefly to note these negative observations concerning women is because they provide a backdrop that helps us better to appreciate the extremely positive statements in the book of Proverbs about women and wives. If a book only says positive things about a given subject, we can begin to think that it is biased. Such is not the case with the book of Proverbs. It has some glowingly positive comments to make about women, but it also reports some negatives that women can possess.

Now let’s turn to the more positive comments that the book of Proverbs makes about women, wives, mothers. Let’s begin with Proverbs 12:4 which sees both positive and negative potential in having a wife. It says, "A good wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones;" and Proverbs 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord."

But the highest praise of a wife is found in the very last section of the book of Proverbs, a large portion of which served as our Scripture reading this morning. Proverbs 31:10-31 not only praises a wife, it also provides a model for the excellent wife and mother. Most of us have read this passage before, but I wonder how many of us have realized how radical this model/
this paradigm really is.

One element of its radicalness is demonstrated by the fact that the book ends with such a powerfully positive focus upon a woman. The ending of a book is very important; it often provides a summary of the book as a whole. It seems to me and many Old Testament scholars that such is the case here. I think that the picture of the noble woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 is designed to encapsulate the message of all the preceding material, and the message of all the preceding material is focused upon wisdom.

When the wise teachers who put all of this material together wanted to create a living, breathing portrait of wisdom they did so by describing an excellent woman/a noble wife and mother. Raymond C. Van Leeuwen has written the section in the New Interpreter’s Bible on the book of Proverbs, a volume released in 1997. He is discussing chapter thirty-one verses ten through thirty-one when he writes, "Wisdom is here embodied in a noble woman. And so the symbolism of wife as wisdom, which runs through Proverbs, is brought full circle . . ." (5:257). This noble wife and mother of Proverbs 31 powerfully represents wisdom, biblical wisdom, the kind of wisdom that the whole of Proverbs seeks to create.

We think of the ancient world as one that was very man-centered. We think of the ancient world as one in which women had little influence and even less power. And that is a fairly true picture. We know that women in this period of time were often little more than property. We know that in many cultures they ranked just slightly ahead of slaves.

That is one of the things that makes this passage so radical. The writers and collectors and editors of this material were inspired of God to present a picture of woman that could not be more noble. I cannot think of a biblical picture of man as man or of man as husband and father that is as noble as is this picture of woman as wife, mother, and the living paradigm of godly wisdom.

Throughout the book of Proverbs wisdom is personified as a woman. But the Hebrew word for wisdom is chakmah, and it is a feminine noun. So it could be argued that the reason wisdom is personified as woman, wife, mother is simply because the relevant noun is feminine in gender. It could be argued that it is due to an accident of language. It seems to me that such is unlikely because Proverbs 31:10-31 pushes the connection beyond metaphor and into concrete reality. The wise persons of Israel felt that the wife and mother of noble character was a sterling example to all who want to be wise. Such a high view of wife and mother is not universal even today. In the ancient world, I think it was radical.

I turn again to Van Leeuwen who notes, "The ancient literature in praise of women is consistently erotic in focus, . . ." (New Interpreter’s Bible, 5:263). Proverbs 31 is far different as anyone can readily see.

But that is not all that makes this picture so radical. Notice how active and productive this wife and mother is. She works prodigiously. she buys and sells. At least in part because of her efforts, her husband is a well-respected member of their community and she and her family are well-clothed. She speaks with wisdom; she is both strong and dignified. And the excellent wife and mother is not necessarily beautiful; certainly the text is not at all interested in that attribute except to say in verse 30, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is vain, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." In a man-centered world, the ancient collectors of godly wisdom chose a hard-working and highly productive woman who was as effective outside the home as in––they chose her to be the model for what wisdom looks like in the real world.

I want to challenge all of our mothers on this Mother’s Day. I want you to realize that you can be a model of biblical wisdom. I want you to know that the Bible presents your roles as those that best convey what biblical wisdom looks like. But that glorious potential will only be realized when you set high standards for yourself and work toward those standards with eager energy and clear focus. That glorious potential will only be realized when fear of the Lord is the attitude that defines your goals, informs your vision, and provides your calling.

I have said it before, but it bears repeating. The phrase "the fear of the Lord" in the Bible refers to that attitude toward God which causes a person to be shaped by the desire to obey the will of God. Wives, mothers take home with you the words of Proverbs 31:30 where we read, "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Be praiseworthy women. Be praiseworthy wives. Be praiseworthy mothers. May your families rise up and call you blessed because you "fear the Lord" and, as result, serve as a shining example of wisdom alive among us. God bless you mothers, as you give glory to God Almighty.