Proverbs 31: 10- 31, part 1

Today we will look at the passage recommended as an example to Christian women everywhere, the Proverbs 31 woman, "the wife of noble character." (According to the NIV). I have no idea if the same emphasis is placed on this passage for Jewish women.

The passage is at the tail end of the book of Proverbs and is labelled as an epilogue. My study Bible tells me it is an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. Read more about it here. The actual author is unknown, but it is placed in the chapter with advice to King Lemuel from his mother.

The first sentence implies that such a woman is rare, therefore very valuable, worth far more than rubies. Because of her, her husband doesn't need anything. She only brings good to him, no harm, all the days if her life, because it's all about the man. There is no passage in the Bible about a husband of noble character.

1. She is a spinner and a weaver of wool and flax. I know exactly two people who do this today, but only with wool. One works for a historical site, the other does it as a hobby. Most people today rely on modern factory produced material. Would it be more virtuous to spin my own thread and weave my own cloth? Why? What would I accomplish, other than bragging rights? Unless you are really into fiber arts, you would be spending vast amounts of time doing something totally unnecessary.

2. She brings food from afar. Most people I know have to get in their cars and travel a few miles to a grocery store, it's just part of life. I imagine most women and men, except for those who have the means to hire someone to do it for them,  have done whatever travelling it takes to feed themselves and their families. It's called survival. Sometimes it may be hard, but is it necessarily virtuous?

3. She gets up while it is still dark and provides fod for her family. Lots of people get up before dark. Many don't but still provide food for their families. Virtue is often ascribed to early risers. Is it the early rising or what is accomplshed in a day that is truly virtuous? When I visited the Robert Frost homestead in Derry, NH, I heard a story about Mr. Frost that I will not forget: All the farmers around him got up to milk their cows at 4 am. They milked them again at 4 pm. Mr. Frost was a night owl. He hated getting up at 4 in the morning. So, he milked his cows at 12 noon and 12 midnight. The locals thought he was crazy and lazy, even though he was accomplishing the same amount of work. I imagine 4 am milking made sense at one time,  but the world has changed. There is still a stigma attached to staying up late and sleeping late.  Unless there is good reason, there is no need to keep doing things a particular way, just because they have always been done that way.

To be continued