02/07/2025
Proverbs 31:10–31
[10] An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
[11] The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
[12] She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
[13] She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
[14] She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
[15] She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
[16] She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
[17] She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
[18] She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
[19] She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
[20] She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
[21] She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
[22] She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
[23] Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
[24] She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
[25] Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
[26] She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
[27] She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
[28] Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
[29] “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
[30] Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
[31] Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates. (ESV)
Eve is created to be Adam's 'ezer, his "battle-mate" (see my Glory of Man). Proverbs 31 supports this interpretation of the term.
Commentators point to resemblances between Proverbs 31 and the Song of Deborah, which celebrates Jael's victory over Sisera, and to women’s songs praising warriors like Yahweh, Saul, and David.
The wise woman is “valiant” or “strong,” a word with military connotations (Pharaoh’s “strength” in Exod 14:4, 9, 17, 28; 15:4).
Another word for “strength” (‘oz, a pun on 'ezer) is also used (vv. 17, 25), and it too has a military connotation, applied to Yahweh as the strong Warrior of Israel (Exod 15:2, 13; cf. Judg 5:21).
The poem includes terms typically used in battle accounts: plunder (v. 11), “prey” (v. 15), ascend (v. 29), stretch out a hand (v. 19). The woman is “extolled,” as heroes are in heroic poetry (Judg 5:10; 11:40).
The woman laughs at challenges (v. 25), like a taunting warrior or victorious king. She “girds herself with strength” (v. 17), as if preparing for war.
Her work is domestic, economic, craft-work, yet cast in heroic terms. She's a battle-mate because the great battle of the world is between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. In caring for their households, wise women are on the front lines of God’s holy war.
- Peter Leithart
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