Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 31:1
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
1. The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy &c. Like Agur (Pro 30:1) Lemuel is some unknown king, whose oracle or prophecy is here preserved for us among the “words of the Wise.”
The rendering of R.V. marg. King of Massa, is arrived at by neglecting the accents, and taking the word massa, oracle, as a proper name.
Professor Sayce ( The Higher Criticism and the Monuments, pp. 478 80), who adopts this rendering, calls attention to the fact that Massa is “mentioned in Gen 25:14 among the sons of Ishmael, and is there associated with the Nabathans, the Kedarites, and the people of Dumah andTeman”; and that “in Gen 10:23 Mash is along with Uz one of the four sons of Aram.” The country of Massa “corresponded roughly,” he says, “with the Arabia Petra of the geographers,” and the Nabathan and other inscriptions found on the rocks and tombs of Northern Arabia show that the early language of the country was Aramaic, as it continued to be not only in O.T. but in N.T. times “till the sword and the language of Islm” changed it to “Arabic” as we now call it.
“That the proverbs of a king of Massa should be included in the literature of the O.T. is of interest from several points of view. On the one hand it makes it clear that the books with which the library of Jerusalem was stored were not confined to the works of Jewish or Israelitish authors. On the other hand it indicates that the language spoken in Massa was not very dissimilar from that spoken in Palestine.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
VII. The Words of King Lemuel. Chap. Pro 31:1-9
We have here another short Appendix. King Lemuel records, as his oracle, or wise teaching, the counsel given him by his mother ( Pro 31:1). With terms of ardent affection ( Pro 31:2) she bids him beware of lust ( Pro 31:3), and excess of wine ( Pro 31:4-7), and urges him to befriend the helpless ( Pro 31:8), and to judge righteously ( Pro 31:9).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That his mother taught him – Compare Pro 1:8; Pro 6:20. If we refer the chapter to Israelite authorship, we may remember the honor paid to the wisdom of Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah; if it was the honor paid to an Edomite or an Arabian, we may think of the Queen of Sheba, whose love of Wisdom led her to sit at the feet of the son of David.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 31:1
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
The words of king Lemuel
I. The first thing that strikes us here is the mother. The prophecy which his mother taught him.
1. A mothers anxiety. What shall he be? Better not to be, than to turn out a bad man. Seekest thou great things for the little one by thy side? Seek them not; better is it to be good than to be great; to be obscure in holiness rather than to be conspicuous in sin.
2. This is a pious mother. The son of my vows. It is a great thing to be the child of a good mother. We do not know the name of this mother–her sons nature we know. What eminent sons have ascribed all their distinction to their mother; but she is out of sight. He attains to fame; she is still unknown.
II. The mother taught her son things pertaining to character. Men cannot command circumstances or facts, but they can preserve principles. Principles are like the piles on which you build bridges, or on which you construct railways over morasses and swamps. Principles are the piles of life. Unshaken convictions and principles are only found in profound minds. King Lemuels mother left, as she might safely do, the technicalities of instruction to others; she looked after character; she laid the foundation strong in goodness. Women teach goodness better than men. There is the right power of woman. When the counsels of good mothers have been disregarded, how often those mothers have been avenged!
III. The prophecies which his mother taught him. The words of Lemuels mother are living still. In youth we love and are loved so quickly. Then love is pure–more of the heart and less of the senses, which all true love is. In noble natures, the purer the heart, the more it is purified by the love of God. Youth is the time for the choice between God and good, and Satan and evil. Be sober, said this mother. Do not excite the body, lest the body should rise against the soul and dethrone her. My soul, said John Foster, shall either be mistress in my body, or shall quit it. Never were young men in more danger than now.
1. Young men waste time. The wise man must separate himself. Ill habits gather by obscure degrees.
2. Young men fail in high principle. You see how everything goes down before things of money value. It is hard to reckon things by another than a money value. All fast living means low thinking, or nothing at all. These are the men who see nothing in religion, because they know nothing about it. Our sanctification must be wrought out where we are, not where we are not. Life is serious and earnest, but let us not despair over its failures, even though they abide with us to the close. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise. Walk with them in their books, in solitude, in meditation, and join their company at last. (E. Paxton Hood.)
The counsels of a noble mother to her son
The identity of this man Lemuel is lost in the mist of ages. A motherly ministry is the tenderest, the strongest, most influential of all the Divine ministers of the world, but when the ministry is the expression of a genuinely religious nature, and specially inspired by heaven, its character is more elevated, and its influence more beneficent and lasting. The counsel of this mother involves two things.
I. An earnest interdict. With what earnestness does she break forth! Her motherly heart seems all aflame! Her vehement intuition is against animal indulgence in its two great forms, debauchery and intemperance; against inordinate gratification of the passions and the appetites. The reign of animalism is a reign that manacles, enfeebles, and damns the soul. Lust blunts the moral sense, pollutes the memory, defiles the imagination, sends a withering influence through all the faculties of the moral man.
II. An earnest injunction. She enjoins social compassion. Some think in the phrase ready to perish there is an allusion to the practice of administering a potion of strong mixed wine to criminals, for the purpose of deadening their sensibility to suffering. But there are ordinary cases of suffering and distress where wine might be administered with salutary effect. What this mother inculcates is compassion to the poor. It is the duty and honour of kings to espouse the cause of the distressed. This mother enjoins not only compassion, but also justice. She is a model mother. (David Thomas D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXI
The words and prophecy of King Lemuel, and what his mother
taught him, 1, 2.
Debauchery and much wine to be avoided, 3-7.
How kings should administer justice, 8, 9.
The praise of a virtuous woman and good housewife, in her
economy, prudence, watchfulness, and assiduity in labour,
10-29.
Frailty of beauty, 30, 31.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI
Verse 1. The words of King Lemuel] dibrey lemuel melech, “The words to Muel the king.” So the Syriac; and so I think it should be read, the lamed being the article or preposition.
But who is Muel or Lemuel? Solomon, according to general opinion; and the mother here mentioned, Bath-sheba. I cannot receive these sayings; for
1. Whoever this was, he appears to have been the first-born of his mother: called here emphatically bar bitni, the son of my womb; which is not likely to be true of Solomon, as his mother had been the wife of Uriah, and possibly had borne that rough and faithful soldier some children.
2. It is intimated here that this son had come by a lawful marriage: hence bar nedarai, the son of my vow, her matrimonial covenant; for so it is most natural to understand the words. But is there any proper sense in which we can say that this was correct in reference to David, Bath-sheba, and Solomon? For although the son born in adultery died, it is by no means likely that Bath-sheba made any particular vows relative to Solomon; for of her piety, so much vaunted of by some writers, we yet want the proofs.
But, however this may be, there is no evidence whatever that Muel or Lemuel means Solomon; the chapter seems, to be much later than his time, and the several Chaldaisms which occur in the very opening of it are no mean proof of this. If Agur was not the author of it, it may be considered as another supplement to the book of Proverbs. Most certainly Solomon did not write it.
The prophecy that his mother taught him.] massa may here signify the oracle; the subject that came by Divine inspiration; see on Pr 30:1. From this and some other circumstances it is probable that both these chapters were written by the same author. Houbigant thinks that Massa here is the name of a place; and, therefore, translates, “The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, with which his mother instructed him.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of king Lemuel, i.e. of Solomon, by the general consent both of Jewish and Christian writers; to whom this name doth very fitly agree, for it signifies one of or from God, or belonging to God; and such a one was Solomon eminently, being given by God to David and Bathsheba, as a pledge of his reconciliation to them after their repentance; of whom it is expressly said that the Lord loved him, 2Sa 12:24, and who was by God himself appointed to succeed David in the kingdom. Possibly his mother gave this name to mind him of his great obligations to God, and of the justice and necessity of his devoting himself unto Gods service and glory.
The prophecy; so called, either,
1. More especially, because she did either by natural sagacity, or by Divine inspiration, foresee Solomons danger, and what sins he was most likely to be either inclined or tempted to commit; and therefore thought fit to give him these precautions, Or,
2. More generally, as all godly discourses or counsels are called prophecies; of which see on Pro 30:1, and elsewhere.
His mother, Bathsheba, who having truly repented of her adultery, did not only avoid it in herself for the future, but seriously endeavoured to prevent that and such-like sins in others, and especially in Solomon, whom the remembrance of her sin might possibly provoke to an imitation of her example. But when she gave him these instructions is but matter of conjecture. Probably it was either,
1. When she first discerned his inclinations to those sins of which she here warns him, to which she saw he was like to have many and strong provocations. Or,
2. After he was made king, and had more plainly discovered his proneness to these excesses, although he had not yet broken forth into those scandalous enormities into which he afterwards fell.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. On the title of this, thesixth part of the book, see Introduction.
prophecy(See on Pr30:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The words of King Lemuel,…. Not what were spoken by him, but what were spoken to him; or declaring what his mother said, as what follows shows; of this king we have no account elsewhere under this name. Grotius thinks that King Hezekiah, whose mother Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, whom he supposes to be a wise man, from whom she had learned much, instructed her son in the following manner; but gives no other reason for this conjecture but that this chapter follows the collection of proverbs made by the men of Hezekiah; but they are expressly said to be Solomon’s, and the words of Agur more immediately follow them; and besides Hezekiah does not appear ever to be addicted to the vices this prince was; much more probable is the conjecture of Bishop Patrick, that he was a prince of another country, perhaps in Chaldea, since a Chaldee word is three times used in his mother’s address to him, and another word in a Chaldee termination; and he supposes his mother to be a Jewish lady, that taught her son the lessons herein contained. But the general sense of Jewish and Christian writers is, that Solomon himself is meant; whose name Lemuel is either a corruption of his name Solomon, a fond pretty name his mother Bathsheba gave him when young, and he thought fit to write it just as his mother spoke it; as mothers often do give such broken names to their children in fond affection to them: or it was another name of his, as it appears he had more than one; it signifies “to God”, one that was devoted to him, as he was by his parents and by himself; or one that belonged to God, was his, as Solomon was; he was beloved of God, and therefore called Jedidiah, 2Sa 12:24; one to whom God was a father, and he a son to him; and he was chosen and appointed by him to succeed his father David in the kingdom, 2Sa 7:13. Hillerus a makes the word to signify “over against God”, or “before the face of the first”, or of God and was a type of the “angel of faces”, or of God’s presence, Isa 63:9;
the prophecy that his mother taught him; either in his youth, or when he was come to the throne; to whom she had access, and with whom she used freedom; and particularly when she saw he was inclined unto, or going into, the vices she cautions him against. Her instruction is called a “prophecy”, because she delivered it on a foresight of the sins her son would be tempted with, and liable to fall into; and this foresight was either through her natural sagacity, or under a spirit of prophecy; or rather it is so called, because any wise saying, or doctrine of moment and importance, and especially if it was by divine inspiration, was so called; see Pr 30:1; as Solomon tells us what his father David taught him, so here what his mother Bathsheba instructed him in; and it would have been well if he had taken the advice she gave him, and he gave to his son; see Pr 4:3.
a Onomastic. Sacr. p. 268.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Superscription:
1 Words of Lemuel the king,
The utterance wherewith his mother warned him.
Such would be the superscription if the interpunction of the text as it lies before us were correct. But it is not possibly right. For, notwithstanding the assurance of Ewald, 277b, , nevertheless, as it would be here used, remains an impossibility. Certainly under circumstances an indeterminate apposition can follow a proper name. That on coins we read or is nothing strange; in this case we also use the words “Nero, emperor,” and that we altogether omit the article shows that the case is singular: the apposition wavers between the force of a generic and of a proper name. A similar case is the naming of the proper name with the general specification of the class to which this or that one bearing the name belongs in lists of persons, as e.g., 1Ki 4:2-6, or in such expressions as, e.g., “Damascus, a town,” or “ Tel Hum, a castle,” and the like; here we have the indefinite article, because the apposition is a simple declaration of the class.
(Note: Thus it is also with the examples of indeterminate gentilicia, which Riehm makes valid for (for he translates symbolically, which, however, syntactically makes no difference): “As analogous to ‘Lemuel, a king,’ one may adduce ‘Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephrathite,’ 1Ki 11:26, instead of the usual form ‘the Ephrathite;’” and , Psa 7:1, for ; on the contrary, , 1Ki 4:5, does not belong to the subject, but is the pred.)
But would the expression, “The poem of Oscar, a king,” be proper as the title of a book? Proportionally more so than “Oscar, king;” but also that form of indeterminate apposition is contrary to the usus loq., especially with a king with whom the apposition is not a generic name, but a name of honour. We assume that “Lemuel” is a symbolical name, like “Jareb” in “King Jareb,” Hos 5:13; Hos 10:6; so we would expect the phrase to be ( ) rather than . The phrase “Lemuel, king,” here in the title of this section of the book, sounds like a double name, after the manner of in the book of Jeremiah. In the Greek version also the phrase ( Venet.) is not used as syntactically correct without having joined to the a dependent genitive such as , while none of the old translators, except Jerome, take the words together in the sense of Lamuelis regis . Thus are to be taken together, with Hitzig, Bertheau, Zckler, Mhlau, and Dchsel, against Ewald and Kamphausen; , whether it be a name of a tribe or a country, or of both at the same time, is the region ruled over by Lemuel, and since this proper name throws back the determination which it has in itself on , the phrase is to be translated: “Words of Lemuel the king of Massa” ( vid., under Pro 30:1). If Aquila renders this proper name by , Symmachus by , Theodotion by , the same arbitrariness prevails with reference to the initial and terminal sound of the word, as in the case of the words , , . The name sounds like the name of Simeon’s first-born, , Gen 46:10, written in Num 26:12 and 1Ch 4:24 as ; also appears, 1Ch 4:35, as a Simeonite name, which Hitzig adduces in favour of his view that was a North Arab. Simeonite colony. The interchange of the names and is intelligible if it is supposed that (from = ) designates the sworn (sworn to) of God, and (from Mishnic = )
(Note: In the Midrash Koheleth to Pro 1:1, the name Lemuel (as a name of Solomon) is explained: he who has spoken to God in his heart.)
the expressed (addressed) of God; here the reference of and to verbal stems is at least possible, but a verb is found only in the Arab., and with significations inus . But there are two other derivations of the name: (1) The verb (Arab.) waala signifies to hasten (with the infin. of the onomatop. verbs waniyal , like rahyal , walking, because motion, especially that which is tumultuous, proceeds with a noise), whence mawnil , the place to which one flees, retreat. Hence or , which is in this case to be assumed as the ground-form, might be formed from , God is a refuge, with the rejection of the . This is the opinion of Fleischer, which Mhlau adopts and has established, p. 38-41; for he shows that the initial is not only often rejected where it is without the support of a full vocal, e.g., = , lalah = ilalah ( Deus ), but that this aphaeresis not seldom also occurs where the initial has a full vocal, e.g., = , lahmaru = allahmaru ( ruber ), lahsa = al – lahsa (the name of a town); cf. also Blau in Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. xxv. 580. But this view is thus acceptable and tenable; a derivation which spares us by a like certainty the supposition of such an abbreviation established only by the late Palestinian , , might well desire the preference. (2) Fleischer himself suggests another derivation: “The signification of the name is Deo consecratus , , poetic for , as also in Pro 31:4 it is to be vocalized after the Masora.” The form is certainly not less favourable to that first derivation than to this second; the is in both cases an obscuration of the original. But that “Lemuel” may be explained in this second way is shown by “Lael,” Num 3:24 (Olshausen, 277d).
(Note: Simonis has also compared Aethiopic proper names, such as Zakrestos, Zaiasus. Zamikal, Zamariam.)
It is a beautiful sign for King Lemuel, and a verification of his name, that it is he himself by whom we receive the admonition with which his mother in her care counselled him when he attained to independent government. connects itself with , after we have connected with ; it is accus. of the manner to = ; cf. , Pro 7:21, with , Pro 31:12: wherewith (with which words) she earnestly and impressively admonished him. The Syr. translates: words of Muel, as if were that of the author. “Others as inconsistently: words to Lemuel – they are words which is himself ought to carry in his mouth as received from his mother” (Fleischer).
The name “Massa,” is it here means effatum , would be proportionally more appropriate for these “Words” of Lemuel than for the “Words” of Agur, for the maternal counsels form an inwardly connected compact whole. They begin with a question which maternal love puts to itself with regard to the beloved son whom she would advise:
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Maternal Counsels to King Lemuel. | |
1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Most interpreters are of opinion that Lemuel is Solomon; the name signifies one that is for God, or devoted to God; and so it agrees well enough with that honourable name which, by divine appointment, was given to Solomon ( 2 Sam. xii. 25), Jedediah–beloved of the Lord. Lemuel is supposed to be a pretty, fond, endearing name, by which his mother used to call him; and so much did he value himself upon the interest he had in his mother’s affections that he was not ashamed to call himself by it. One would the rather incline to think it is Solomon that here tells us what his mother taught him because he tells us (ch. iv. 4) what his father taught him. But some think (and the conjecture is not improbable) that Lemuel was a prince of some neighbouring country, whose mother was a daughter of Israel, perhaps of the house of David, and taught him these good lessons. Note, 1. It is the duty of mothers, as well as fathers, to teach their children what is good, that they may do it, and what is evil, that they may avoid it; when they are young and tender they are most under the mother’s eye, and she has then an opportunity of moulding and fashioning their minds well, which she ought not to let slip. 2. Even kings must be catechised; the greatest of men is less than the least of the ordinances of God. 3. Those that have grown up to maturity should often call to mind, and make mention of, the good instructions they received when they were children, for their own admonition, the edification of others, and the honour of those who were the guides of their youth.
Now, in this mother’s (this queen mother’s) catechism, observe,
I. Her expostulation with the young prince, by which she lays hold of him, claims an interest in him, and awakens his attention to what she is about to say (v. 2): “What! my son? What shall I say to thee?” She speaks as one considering what advice to give him, and choosing out words to reason with him; so full of concern is she for his welfare! Or, What is it that thou doest? It seems to be a chiding question. She observed, when he was young, that he was too much inclined to women and wine, and therefore she found it necessary to take him to task and deal roundly with him. “What! my son? Is this the course of life thou intendest to lead? Have I taught thee no better than thus? I must reprove thee, and reprove thee sharply, and thou must take it well, for,” 1. “Thou art descended from me; thou art the son of my womb, and therefore what I say comes from the authority and affection of a parent and cannot be suspected to come from any ill-will. Thou art a piece of myself. I bore thee with sorrow, and I expect no other return for all the pains I have taken with thee, and undergone for thee, than this, Be wise and good, and then I am well paid.” 2. “Thou art devoted to my God; thou art the son of my vows, the son I prayed to God to give me and promised to give back to God, and did so” (thus Samuel was the son of Hannah’s vows); “Thou art the son I have often prayed to God to give his grace to (Ps. lxxii. 1), and shall a child of so many prayers miscarry? And shall all my hopes concerning thee be disappointed?” Our children that by baptism are dedicated to God, for whom and in whose name we covenanted with God, may well be called the children of our vows; and, as this may be made a good plea with God in our prayers for them, so it may be made a good plea with them in the instructions we give them; we may tell them they are baptized, are the children of our vows, and it is at their peril if they break those bonds in sunder which in their infancy they were solemnly brought under.
II. The caution she gives him against those two destroying sins of uncleanness and drunkenness, which, if he allowed himself in them, would certainly be his ruin. 1. Against uncleanness (v. 3): Give not thy strength unto women, unto strange women. He must not be soft and effeminate, nor spend that time in a vain conversation with the ladies which should be spent in getting knowledge and despatching business, nor employ that wit (which is the strength of the soul) in courting and complimenting them which he should employ about the affairs of his government. “Especially shun all adultery, fornication, and lasciviousness, which waste the strength of the body, and bring into it dangerous diseases. Give not thy ways, thy affections, thy conversation, to that which destroys kings, which has destroyed many, which gave such a shock to the kingdom even of David himself, in the matter of Uriah. Let the sufferings of others be thy warnings.” It lessens the honour of kings and makes them mean. Are those fit to govern others that are themselves slaves to their own lusts? It makes them unfit for business, and fills their court with the basest and worst of animals. Kings lie exposed to temptations of this kind, having wherewith both to please the humours and to bear the charges of the sin, and therefore they ought to double their guard; and, if they would preserve their people from the unclean spirit, they must themselves be patterns of purity. Meaner people may also apply it to themselves. Let none give their strength to that which destroys souls. 2. Against drunkenness, Pro 31:4; Pro 31:5. He must not drink wine or strong drink to excess; he must never sit to drink, as they used to do in the day of their king, when the princes made him sick with bottles of wine, Hos. vii. 7. Whatever temptation he might be in from the excellency of the wine, or the charms of the company, he must deny himself, and be strictly sober, considering, (1.) The indecency of drunkenness in a king. However some may call it a fashionable accomplishment and entertainment, it is not for kings, O Lemuel! it is not for kings, to allow themselves that liberty; it is a disparagement to their dignity, and profanes their crown, by confusing the head that wears it; that which for the time unmans them does for the time unking them. Shall we say, They are gods? No, they are worse than the beasts that perish. All Christians are made to our God kings and priests, and must apply this to themselves. It is not for Christians, it is not for Christians, to drink to excess; they debase themselves if they do; it ill becomes the heirs of the kingdom and the spiritual priests, Lev. x. 9. (2.) The ill consequences of it (v. 5): Lest they drink away their understandings and memories, drink and forget the law by which they are to govern; and so, instead of doing good with their power, do hurt with it, and pervert or alter the judgment of all the sons of affliction, and, when they should right them, wrong them, and add to their affliction. It is a sad complaint which is made of the priests and prophets (Isa. xxviii. 7), that they have erred through wine, and through strong drink they are out of the way; and the effect is as bad in kings, who when they are drunk, or intoxicated with the love of wine, cannot but stumble in judgment. Judges must have clear heads, which those cannot have who so often make themselves giddy, and incapacitate themselves to judge of the most common things.
III. The counsel she gives him to do good. 1. He must do good with his wealth. Great men must not think that they have their abundance only that out of it they may made provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it, and may the more freely indulge their own genius; no, but that with it they may relieve such as are in distress, Pro 31:6; Pro 31:7. “Thou hast wine or strong drink at command; instead of doing thyself hurt with it, do others good with it; let those have it that need it.” Those that have wherewithal must not only give bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty, but they must give strong drink to him that is ready to perish through sickness or pain and wine to those that are melancholy and of heavy heart; for it was appointed to cheer and revive the spirits, and make glad the heart (as it does where there is need of it), not to burden and oppress the spirits, as it does where there is no need of it. We must deny ourselves in the gratifications of sense, that we may have to spare for the relief of the miseries of others, and be glad to see our superfluities and dainties better bestowed upon those whom they will be a real kindness to than upon ourselves whom they will be a real injury to. Let those that are ready to perish drink soberly, and it will be a means so to revive their drooping spirits that they will forget their poverty for the time and remember their misery no more, and so they will be the better able to bear it. The Jews say that upon this was grounded the practice of giving a stupifying drink to condemned prisoners when they were going to execution, as they did to our Saviour. But the scope of the place is to show that wine is a cordial, and therefore to be used for want and not for wantonness, by those only that need cordials, as Timothy, who is advised to drink a little wine, only for his stomach’s sake and his often infirmities, 1 Tim. v. 23. 2. He must do good with his power, his knowledge, and interest, must administer justice with care, courage, and compassion, Pro 31:8; Pro 31:9. (1.) He must himself take cognizance of the causes his subjects have depending in his courts, and inspect what his judges and officers do, that he may support those that do their duty, and lay those aside that neglect it or are partial. (2.) He must, in all matters that come before him, judge righteously, and, without fear of the face of man, boldly pass sentence according to equity: Open thy mouth, which denotes the liberty of speech that princes and judges ought to use in passing sentence. Some observe that only wise men open their mouths, for fools have their mouths always open, are full of words. (3.) He must especially look upon himself as obliged to be the patron of oppressed innocency. The inferior magistrates perhaps had not zeal and tenderness enough to plead the cause of the poor and needy; therefore the king himself must interpose, and appear as an advocate, [1.] For those that were unjustly charged with capital crimes, as Naboth was, that were appointed to destruction, to gratify the malice either of a particular person or of a party. It is a case which it well befits a king to appear in, for the preserving of innocent blood. [2.] For those that had actions unjustly brought against them, to defraud them of their right, because they were poor and needy, and unable to defend it, not having wherewithal to fee counsel; in such a case also kings must be advocates for the poor. Especially, [3.] For those that were dumb, and knew not how to speak for themselves, either through weakness or fear, or being over-talked by the prosecutor or over-awed by the court. It is generous to speak for those that cannot speak for themselves, that are absent, or have not words at command, or are timorous. Our law appoints the judge to be of counsel for the prisoner.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
PART VII.
WORDS OF KING LEMUEL
Pro 31:1-9
Introduction
Verse 1 introduces the words of king Lemuel which his mother taught him. Just who was King Lemuel is not known and is not of great importance. The name Lemuel means dedicated unto God and the important thing is to recognize that these words are divinely inspired and profitable for our learning.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Lemuel. This Hebrew word signifies For God, or belonging to God, and is regarded by most commentators as a proper name. The prophecy. Delitzsch, Stuart, and many other Hebrew scholars render this word as a proper name, and read The words of Lemuel, king of MASSA, which his mother taught him. Miller reads the verse, Words in respect to the Seed-of-God, a king; a prophecy in agreement with which his mother disciplined him, and, as in the preceding chapter, applies it to Christ.
Pro. 31:2. What, etc. An impassioned exclamation expressing inward emotion. (Zckler.) The question, says Delitzsch, which is at the same time a call, is like a deep sigh from the heart of a mother concerned for the welfare of a son.
Pro. 31:3. The second clause reads literally nor thy ways to destroy kings, and hence some understand it as a warning against warlike rapacity and lust of conquest, but, as Delitzsch remarks, this does not stand well as the parallel to the warning in the first clause.
Pro. 31:4. Strong drink. (See on chap. Pro. 20:1.)
Pro. 31:5. Any of the afflicted. Literally The sons of want.
Pro. 31:8. Such as are appointed to destruction. Literally Children of leaving, generally understood to mean orphans. The twenty-two verses following form an alphabetical song, each verse beginning with the several letters of the Hebrew alphabet arranged in consecutive order.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 31:1-9
DIVINE COMMANDS FROM A MOTHERS LIPS
I. Two considerations made it obligatory upon Lemuel to attend to this counsel of his mother.
1. She was inspired to utter it. However we may translate the word here rendered prophecy (see Critical Notes), its place in the Holy Scriptures gives to it the authority of a message from God. The words are not merely the results of a tender and wise mothers own observation and experience, but they are the utterances of a spirit under the special influence of the Holy Ghost. Although, therefore, his mothers love, and, doubtless, her holy example, ought to have been very powerful incentives to attention and obedience, his obligation was increased tenfold by the conviction he must have had that God spoke to him through her lips.
2. He was a king. If men in every station of life are bound to keep the paths of purity and charity, much more is it the duty of one in a high placethe influence of whose actions stretch so far beyond his immediate surroundings, and who holds in his hand the destinies of so many beside his own. Because Lemuel had been called by God to a throne, what he was and what he did concerned not a few people only, but a nation, and this reflection ought to have added great weight to his mothers words.
II. The first and indispensable duty of a ruler is to rule himself. Every man is a little kingdom made up of many different and sometimes opposing forcesof inclinations towards the earthly, the sensual, and even the devilish, and of aspirations towards the heavenly, the spiritual, and the godlike. There are lawful desires which, satisfied in a lawful manner, may lead to much enjoyment and blessing, but which, if allowed to rule the man, or even to have any share in the government of the life, will degrade and may almost brutalise him. Bodily appetites have their place in the constitution of man, but it was never intended that they should be satisfied by breaking the moral law; and when they lead to this, moral anarchy has set in, and moral ruin is not far off. The two great sins of the body against which Lemuel is here warned have in all ages shown how man can turn blessings into curses by abusing and mis-using them, and the Word of God and human history unite in proclaiming the truth that the Divine intention is perverted when the body rules the man and not the man the body. Every man is bound to be king of himself, and one who aspires to be a king over others and is yet a slave to his own unlawful passions will bring upon himself the curse of man and the judgment of God. On this subject see also on chap. Pro. 6:24-35, page 89, and chap. Pro. 23:29-35, page 673.
III. The obligation next in order is succour of the needy. In former chapters we have considered the obligation which God lays upon every man to consider the cause of the poor and afflicted. (See on chaps. Pro. 14:20, page 370, and chap. Pro. 24:11, page 180.) As we remarked at the outset, duties which men owe to their fellow-men multiply and become binding in proportion to opportunities. The king of ancient times was but another name for one whose direct influence over his subjects was greater than that of monarchs in our day. His word was law, and the power of life and death was often in his hand alone, and if he exercised self-denial and gave of his substance to those in want, he might often by his individual action entirely change the condition of half his subjects. The relations of society have changed since then, and kings have no longer so exclusively the power for good or ill, but their influence is still very great, and if it is all exerted in favour of benevolence and justice, and they live lives of self-denial and active compassion on behalf of others, they will come up to the ideal picture here drawn for their imitation.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 31:2. There was a threefold cord of maternal love which this parent was wont to employ, and which remained in its form as well as its power in the memory of her son. My son is the outmost and uppermost aspect of the relation. This is a bond set in nature, felt by the parties, and obvious to all. On this she leans first when she makes an appeal to his heart. But at the next step she goes deeper in. She recalls the day of his birth. She goes back to that hour when natures greatest sorrow is dispelled by natures gladdest news, A man-child is born into the world. By the pains and joys of that hour she knits the heart of her son to her own, and thereby increases her purchase upon the direction of his life. But still one step farther back can this mother go. He is the son of her vows. Before his birth she held converse, not with him for God, but with God for him.Arnot.
Pro. 31:4. It is not for kings to admit within their dominions anyone that is stronger than themselves, and able to overthrow them. It is not for kings to harbour anyone within their dominions that is false unto them, and ready to betray them: much more it is not for kings to admit within themselves any immoderate quantity of wine, which soon proveth too strong for them, and quickly with shame overthroweth them.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER 31
TEXT Pro. 31:1-9
1.
The words of king Lemuel:
The oracle which his mother taught him.
2.
Why, my son? and what, O son of my womb?
And what, O son of my vows?
3.
Give not thy strength unto women,
Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
4.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine;
Nor for princes to say, Where is strong drink?
5.
Lest they drink, and forget the law,
And pervert the justice due to any that is afflicted.
6.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,
And wine unto the bitter in soul:
Let him drink, and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more.
8.
Open thy mouth for the dumb,
In the cause of all such as are left desolate.
9.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously,
And minister justice to the poor and needy.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 31:1-9
1.
Who was Lemuel (Pro. 31:1)?
2.
What three things did Lemuels mother call him in Pro. 31:2?
3.
How did kings behave (Pro. 31:3)?
4.
What city in the U.S.A. is said to consume the most liquor per capita (Pro. 31:4)?
5.
Why should rulers especially leave strong drink alone (Pro. 31:5)?
6.
How did ancients use alcohol besides as a beverage (Pro. 31:6)?
7.
Is strong drink really for well people to drink to forget their sorrow (Pro. 31:7)?
8.
What does open thy mouth mean in Pro. 31:8?
9.
Why have the poor and needy often suffered in court (Pro. 31:9)?
PARAPHRASE OF 31:1-9
1.
These are the wise sayings of King Lemuel of Massa, taught to him at his mothers knee:
2, 3.
O my son, whom I have dedicated to the Lord, do not spend your time with womenthe royal pathway to destruction.
47.
And it is not for kings, O Lemuel, to drink wine and whiskey. For if they drink they may forget their duties and be unable to give justice to those who are oppressed. Hard liquor is for sick men at the brink of death, and wine for those in deep depression. Let them drink to forget their poverty and misery.
8, 9.
You should defend those who cannot help themselves. Yes, speak up for the poor and needy and see that they get justice.
COMMENTS ON 31:1-9
Pro. 31:1. This chapter is another supplement (just like Chapter 30). History has not preserved, nor has archaeology uncovered, information that would help us identify king Lemuel. If his father was a king with a harem of wives, the rearing and teaching of his sons became the work of his own mother. Oracle indicates a divine message. We are glad for this supplement that closes out the book of Proverbs, especially the material about the virtuous woman (Pro. 31:10-31).
Pro. 31:2. The thrice repeated…what, which Luther appropriately rendered by Ach!, is plainly an impassioned exclamation expressing the inward emotion of the mothers heart at the thought that the son might possible fall into an evil way (Lange). The preciousness of this son to his mother is evident from her three expressions concerning him: (1) my sonher very own son, one of the dearest possessions that any woman can have; (2) son of my wombnot adopted by her but born by her, the fruit of her own body as blessed and enabling by God; (3) son of my vowsshe, like Hannah (1Sa. 1:2; 1Sa. 1:8; 1Sa. 1:10-11), may have been barren, earnestly prayed for a child, and vowed that if God granted her a child she would rear the same to His honor and glory. Her teaching these important things to Lemuel were likely part of her fulfilling those vows.
Pro. 31:3. Her first plea was for him not to sacrifice his strength (Hebrew: vigor) to women (kings kept harems). Her second plea concerning that which destroyeth kings was likely referring to strong drink, which she goes on to discuss in succeeding verses. She was warning him against wine and women.
Pro. 31:4. Solomon rightfully prayed for wisdom that he might be capable of ruling Israel (1Ki. 3:9), but strong drink can affect mans reasoning powers. A king needs all of his mentality (and then some!) all the time, so his mother correctly said, It is not for kings, O Lemuel. Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings with him were drinking themselves drunk, and the Israelites defeated them that day (1Ki. 20:16-21). Belshazzar was having a drunken feast when the handwriting appeared on the wall, telling him that that very night his kingdom would be given to the Medes and Persians (Dan. 5:1-5; Dan. 5:25-28). Ecc. 10:17 observes, Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!. It is too bad that our own capital city (Washington D.C.) has been consuming more alcoholic beverages per capita than other city in the U.S.A.
Pro. 31:5. A drinking monarch will not be a good king: he will forget the law and pervert…justice. Matters that need attention will be neglected because of drinking. As was observed, boozing affects ones mental powers, judgment-ability and general direction. Hos. 4:11 says, Whoredome and wine and new wine take away the understanding.
Pro. 31:6-7. Another case of Hebrew parallelism in which the latter statement is but a restatement of the first. In other words, the bitter in soul is the same as him that is ready to perish. We do utilize drugs and alcoholic-based medicines to relieve the afflicted in their final sufferings. If one overlooks the Hebrew parallelism here, he would end up having God advising the sorrowful to turn to booze. But life has proven that people who do that dont drown their sorrows; it is more as Archie Word observes: They only give them swimming lessons.
Pro. 31:8. The dumb is any one who for any reason whatever is unable to plead his own cause; he may be of tender age, or of lowly station, or ignorant, timid, and boorish; and the prince is enjoined to plead for him (Pulpit Commentary). The next verse continues the subject.
Pro. 31:9. The command to judge righteously is found elsewhere in the Bible also: Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor (Lev. 19:15); I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye shall hear the small and the great alike (Deu. 1:16-17); Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment (Joh. 7:24). But often the poor and afflicted had no one to see that they received justice. The Bible speaks elsewhere on that also: Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow (Isa. 1:17); He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well (Jer. 22:16); I delivered the poor that cried, The fatherless also, that had none to help (Job. 29:12).
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 31:1-9
1.
Why is Lemuels mother teaching him instead of his father (Pro. 31:1)?
2.
Comment on each of the ways Lemuels mother spoke of him in Pro. 31:2.
3.
Lemuel was not to dissipate his strength upon . (Pro. 31:3).
4.
What else was Lemuel warned about in Pro. 31:3?
5.
What instruction is given again in Pro. 31:4?
6.
Suppose Lemuel drank as a king (Pro. 31:6).
7.
What use for wine is mentioned in Pro. 31:7?
8.
Who all would be included under dumb in Pro. 31:8?
9.
What does the Bible say about judging righteously (Pro. 31:9)?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXXI.
APPENDIX (b).
(1) The words of king Lemuel. . . .More probably this should be translated, The words of Lemuel, king of Mass. (See above on Pro. 30:1.) Lemuel, which most likely signifies (dedicated) to God, has been, like Agur, supposed to be a designation of Solomon, but with no good reason.
The prophecy that his mother taught him.Mothers were looked upon with great veneration in the East. (Comp. Pro. 1:8; Pro. 6:20.) The mothers of kings especially were treated with marked respect, receiving the title of queen-mother. (Comp. 1Ki. 2:19; 1Ki. 15:13.) This seems to be the reason why the mothers of Jewish kings are so constantly mentioned, e.g., 1Ki. 14:31; 1Ki. 15:2; 2Ki. 12:1. At the present time the mother of the Khedive ranks before his principal wife.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Words of King Lemuel This must be understood in a loose sense, not as if he was the author of them, but rather the subject, or the person to whom they were addressed; unless, indeed, we suppose, as is possible, that what we have here are indeed the words composed by Lemuel himself, in which he reduces to poetic form the wholesome instructions and precepts in which he was educated by his excellent mother. Thus they would be the “words of Lemuel,” but comprehending the teachings of his mother. The Syriac takes the first letter of the name as the lamedh auctoris, like , ( ledhavidh,) a psalm of David, and thus gives the name simply as Muel.
This might be admissible in the first verse, but not in the fourth, where we have the name in the vocative, and where the lamedh could not be so resolved. Miller translates the word, “Seed of God.” With him Muel is Christ, and his mother is Mary!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Introduction Pro 31:1 serves as an introduction for Pro 31:1-31. King Lemeul’s mother addresses the dangers of women and wine leading to poor judgment as a king, and the remedy is to find a virtuous wife.
Pro 31:1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Pro 31:1
[148] Adam Clarke, Proverbs, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Proverbs 31:1.
Comments – The name “Lemuel” is not mentioned in the Scriptures anywhere else. The name means, “dedicated to God” ( Easton, Smith).
Some have speculated that this name refers to Solomon. Others say that this was a king of a neighboring land. Still other think that it may refer to King Hezekiah, who copied out a section of this book.
John Gill suggests that it could have been a fond name that Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, gave to him at a young age. [149]
[149] John Gill, Proverbs, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Proverbs 31:1.
Adam Clarke believes that this king as a ruler of a foreign nation based on the fact that several Chaldean words are used in this text. [150] Thus, this would be considered wisdom from the East.
[150] Adam Clarke, Proverbs, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Proverbs 31:1.
Pro 31:1 “the prophecy that his mother taught him” – Word Study on “the prophecy” – Strong says the Hebrew word ( ) (H4853) means “a burden,” and figuratively, “an utterance.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 66 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “burden 57, Song of Solomon 3, prophecy 2, set 1, exaction 1, carry away 1, tribute 1.” Note that this Hebrew word is commonly translated “oracle.” ( NASB, NIV, RSV) Holladay says, “A burden or pronouncement (a sort of cursing pronouncement).”
This is the same word used in Pro 30:1, which may suggest the same authorship.
Pro 30:1, “The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy : the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,”
Word Study on “taught” – Strong says the Hebrew word ( ) (H3256) means, “to chasten (literally with blows or figuratively with words),” hence, “to instruct.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 43 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “chastise 21 instruct 8, correct 7, taught 2, bound 1, punish 1, reformed 1, reproveth 1, sore 1.”
Comments – The tone of the following verses appears to be a chastisement of a mother to a son. Thus, the translation:
JPS, “ The words of king Lemuel; the burden wherewith his mother corrected him.”
Note the other four uses of this same Hebrew word in the book of Proverbs which support this translation:
Pro 9:7, “He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.”
Pro 19:18, “ Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.”
Pro 29:17, “ Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.”
Pro 29:19, “A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Proverbs of King Lemuel: A Mother’s Plea Pro 31:1-31 are an instructions from a mother to a king. It is her plea to her son for a leader to live a holy lifestyle. A king should sanctify his body (Pro 31:2-3), he should avoid perverting his reason by sanctifying his mind (Pro 31:4-7), he should sanctify his heart in judgment (Pro 31:8-9), and he should have a sanctified marriage with a virtuous woman (Pro 31:10-31). Therefore, this warning deals with the body, the soul, the spirit and prosperity from a good marriage. We see the same plea in the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 2-3) when Christ asks them to sanctify themselves so that they can partake of the Rapture and miss the Tribulation Period that was coming.
After having an encounter with the Lord (Pro 30:1-33), we are at a level of maturity where God begins to hold us much more accountable in life. Pro 31:1-31 teaches us that we must learn to walk in the authority that God has given every believer, as priests and kings unto God.
Thus, if we have walked in the path of wisdom, we will come to our destination on the journey, having received all of the blessings listed in chapter three, which is spiritual, mental, physical and financial blessings. Unlike the world, which strives after all these things, we have sought wisdom first and also received these blessings. We have been able to enter into a place of peace and rest as we enjoy these blessings, unlike the world, which strives and worries and gains these things through lust and corruption (Mat 6:32-33).
Mat 6:32-33, “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Outline – Here is a proposed outline:
1. Introduction Pro 31:1
A Mother’s Plea to Her Son to Sanctify Himself Pro 31:2-9
2. The Destination: Walking in Christ’s Fullness Pro 31:10-31
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Of Proper Kingly Deportment
v. 1. v. 2. What, my son! v. 3. Give not thy strength unto women, v. 4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings, to drink wine, v. 5. lest they drink and, v. 6. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, v. 7. Let him drink and forget his poverty, v. 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb, v. 9. Open thy mouth, judge righteously,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Pro 31:1-9
Part VIII. SECOND APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION, containing “the words of Lemuel” on the subjects of impurity and intemperance.
Pro 31:1
The superscription. The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him. Who is intended by “Lemuel king” is much disputed. Those who connect the following word massa (“oracle”) with the preceding melek (“king”), translate “King of Massa,” as Pro 30:1 (where see note). Of the country, or the king, or his mother, we have absolutely no information. The name Lemuel, or Lemoel (Pro 30:4), means “unto God,” i.e. dedicated to God, like Lael (Num 3:24); hence it is regarded by many authorities, ancient and modern, as an appellation of Solomon, one from infancy dedicated to God and celled by him Jedidiah, “beloved of the Lord” (2Sa 12:25). But there is nothing in the contents of this section to confirm this idea; indeed, there are expressions which militate against it. Possibly Hezekiah may be meant, and his remarkable piety somewhat confirms the opinion; yet we see no reason why he should be here addressed under a pseudonym, especially if we consider that he himself was concerned in making this collection. On the whole, it seems best to take Lemuel as a symbolical name, designating an ideal king, to whom an ideal mother addressed the exhortation which follows. Solomon’s own proverbs contain many warnings against the very sins of which this mother speaks, so that the section is conceived in the spirit of the earlier portion of the book, though it is assigned to a different author and another age. The prophecy (massa); the inspired utterance (see on Pro 30:1). This maternal counsel forms one compact exhortation, which might with more propriety be so termed than the words of Agur. His mother. The mother of a reigning king was always regarded with the utmost respect, taking precedence of the king’s wife. Hence we so often find the names of kings’ mothers in the sacred record; e.g. 1Ki 2:19; 1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 15:2; 2Ki 12:1. It is difficult to say what reading was seen by the LXX; who render, “My words have been spoken by God, the oracle of a king whom his mother instructed.” There are many wise women mentioned in Scripture; e.g. Miriam, Deborah, the Queen of Sheba, Huldah, etc; so there is nothing incongruous in Lemuel being instructed by his mother in wisdom.
Pro 31:2-9
Here follows the exhortation, which seems to come from the same source as the “burden” of Agur above. In this section the connection and parallelism of the parts are exhibited by repetition of thought and often of words in the several clauses.
Pro 31:2
What, my son? Mah, “what,” is repeated thrice, both to enforce the attention of the son, and to show the mother’s anxious care for his good. She feels the vast importance of the occasion, and asks as in perplexity, “What shall I say? What advice shall I give thee?” “Son” is here not ben, but bar, one of the Aramaic forms which are found in these two last chapters. The word occurs also in Psa 2:12. Son of my vows. This might mean, “son who wast asked in prayer,” like Samuel (1Sa 1:11), and dedicated to God, as the name Lemuel implies; or it may signify, “thou who art the object of my daily vows and prayers.” Septuagint, “What, my son, wilt thou observe ()? What? the sayings of God. My firstborn son, to thee I speak. What, son of my womb? What, son of my vows?”
Pro 31:3
Exhortation to chastity. Give not thy strength unto women (comp. Pro 5:9). Chayil is “vigour,” the bodily powers, which are sapped and enervated by sensuality. The Septuagint has ; the Vulgate, substantiam tuam; but the prayerful, anxious mother would consider rather her son’s personal well being than his worldly circumstances, which, indeed, an Eastern monarch’s licentiousness would not necessarily impair. Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings; or, with a slight alteration in the punctuation (and an improved parallelism), to them that destroy kings; “expugnatricibus regum,” as Schultens terms them. Women are meant; and the prince is enjoined not to surrender his life, conduct, and actions to the influence of women, who, both by the dissipation and sensuality which they occasion, and the quarrels which they provoke, and the evil counsels which they give, often ruin kings and states (see the injunction, Deu 17:11). The Vulgate rendering, ad delendos reges, looks as if the warning was against making wars of conquest against neighbouring kings; but this is not a satisfactory parallel to the former clause. Septuagint, “Give not thy wealth unto women, nor thy mind, nor thy life unto remorse (). Do all things with counsel; drink wine with counsel.” This seems to belong to the next verse.
Pro 31:4-7
The second admonition. A warning against inebriety, and concerning a proper use of strong drink.
Pro 31:4
It is not for kings; or, as others read, far be it from kings. The injunction is repeated to indicate its vast importance. Nor for princes strong drink; literally, nor for princes (the word), Where is strong drink? (see on Pro 20:1; and comp. Job 15:23). The evils of intemperance, flagrant enough in the case of a private person, are greatly enhanced in the ease of a king, whose misdeeds may affect a whole community, as the next verse intimates. St. Jerome reads differently, translating, “Because there is no secret where drunkenness reigns.” This is in accordance with the proverb, “When wine goes in the secret comes out;” and, “Where drink enters, wisdom departs;” and again, “Quod latet in mente sobrii, hoc natat in ore ebrii.” Septuagint, “The powerful are irascible, but let them not drink wine.” “Drunkenness,” says Jeremy Taylor (‘Holy Living,’ ch. 3, 2), “opens all the sanctuaries of nature, and discovers the nakedness of the soul, all its weaknesses and follies; it multiplies sins and discovers them; it makes a man incapable of being a private friend or a public counsellor. It taketh a man’s soul into slavery and imprisonment more than any vice whatsoever, because it disarms a man of all his reason and his wisdom, whereby he might be cured, and, therefore, commonly it grows upon him with age; a drunkard being still more a fool and less a man.”
Pro 31:5
This gives a reason for the warning. Lest they drink, and forget the Law. That which has been decreed, and is right and lawful, the appointed ordinance, particularly as regards the administration of justice. Septuagint, “Lest drinking, they forget wisdom.” And pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted; literally, of all the sons of affliction; i.e. the whole class of poorer people. Intemperance leads to selfish disregard of others’ claims, an inability to examine questions impartially, and consequent perversion of justice. Isaiah (Isa 5:23) speaks of intoxication as inducing men to “justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.”
Pro 31:6
There are cases where strong drink may be properly administered. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish (Job 29:13; Job 31:19). As a restorative, a cordial, or a medicine, wine may he advantageously used; it has a place in the providential economy of God. “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities,” was St. Paul’s advice to Timothy (1Ti 5:23). It is supposed to have been in consideration of the injunction in the text that the ladies of Jerusalem provided for criminals on their way to the place of execution a drink of medicated wine, which might deaden the pain of suffering. This was the draught rejected by Christ, who willed to taste the full bitterness of death. The Septuagint has, “to those that are in sorrow;” so the Vulgate, maerentibus, but this makes the two clauses tautological. Wine unto those that be of heavy hearts (Job 3:20). “Wine,” says the psalmist, “maketh glad the heart of man” (Psa 104:15). Says Homer, ‘Iliad,’ 6.261
“Great is the strength
Which generous wine imparts to wearied men.”
“Wine,” says St. Chrysostom (‘Hom. in Ephes.,’ 19), “has been given us for cheerfulness, not for drunkenness. Wouldest thou know where wine is good? Hear what the Scripture saith, ‘Give wine to them, etc. And justly, because it can mitigate asperity and gloominess, and drive away clouds from the brow” (comp. Ecclesiasticus 34:25 [31], etc.).
Pro 31:7
Let him drink, and forget his poverty. Ovid, ‘Art. Amat.,’ 1.237
“Vina parant animos, faciuntque caloribus aptos:
Cura fugit multo diluiturque mero.
Tunc veniunt risus; tunc pauper cornua sumit;
Tunc dolor, et curae, rugaque frontis abit.”
Thus is shown a way in which the rich can comfort and encourage their poorer brethren, which is a better method of using God’s good gifts than by expending them on their own selfish enjoyment.
Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9
The third exhortation, admonishing the king to judge righteously.
Pro 31:8
Open thy mouth for the dumb. The “dumb” is any one who for any reason whatever is unable to plead his own cause; he may be of tender age, or of lowly station, or ignorant, timid, and boorish; and the prince is enjoined to plead for him and defend him (comp. Job 29:15). In the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction; literally, the sons of passing away (Isa 2:18); i.e. not orphans, children whose parents have vanished from the earth, nor strangers from a foreign country, nor, generally, mortals, subjects of frail human nature (all of which explanations have been given), but persons who are in imminent danger of perishing, certain, if left unaided, to come to ruin (comp. Job 29:12). Septuagint, “Open thy mouth for the Word of God, and judge all men soundly ().”
Pro 31:9
Plead the cause; rather, minister judgment, or do right; act in your official capacity so that the effect shall be substantial justice (comp. Zec 8:16).
Pro 31:10-31
Part IX. THIRD APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION.
This section contains an ode in praise of the virtuous woman, derived from a different source from that of the words of Agur, and belonging to a different age (see Introduction). It is an acrostic; that is, each verse begins with one of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, arranged in the usual order. We may compare this mashal with the alphabetical psalms, “Psalmi abcedarii,” which are, more or less, of similar structure, but of which one only, the hundred and nineteenth, is so marked in the English versions. Other examples are Psa 9:1-20; Psa 10:1-18; Psa 25:1-22; Psa 34:1-22; Psa 37:1-40; Psa 111:1-10; Psa 112:1-10; Psa 145:1-21; also Lam 1:1-22; Lam 2:1-22; Lam 3:1-66. One object of this artificial construction was to render the matter easier to commit to memory. The spiritual expositors see in this description of the virtuous woman a prophetic representation of the Church of Christ in her truth and purity and influence. Thus Bode: “Hic sapientissimus regum Salomon laudes sanctae Ecclesiae versibus paucis sed plenissima veritate depingit. Cujus (carminis) ordine perfectissimo alphabeti typice innuitur, quam plenissime hic vel animae cujusque fidelis, vel totius sanctae Ecclesiae, quae ex omnibus electis animabus una perficitur Catholica, virtutes ac praemia describantur.”
Pro 31:10
ALEPH. Who can find a virtuous woman? The expression, ishshah chayil, “woman of force,” has occurred in Pro 12:4 (where see note). Mulierem fortem, St. Jerome terms her; is the rendering of the LXX; which places this section as the end of the whole Book of Proverbs. The expression combines the ideas of moral goodness and bodily vigour and activity. It is useless to try to fix the character upon any particular person. The representation is that of an ideal womanthe perfect housewife, the chaste helpmate of her husband, upright, God-fearing, economical, wise. See an anticipation of this character (Pro 18:22; Pro 19:14); and a very different view (Ecc 7:26). It is very remarkable to meet with such a delineation of woman in the East, where the female generally occupies a most degraded position, and is cut off from all sphere of activity and administration. To paint such a portrait needed inspiration of some sort. Such a one is hard to find. Her price is far above rubies; or, pearls (see on Pro 20:15 and Pro 3:15). Septuagint, “Such a one is more valuable than precious stones.” There may be allusion to the custom of giving treasure in exchange for a wife, purchasing her, as it were, from her friends (comp. Hos 3:2). At any rate, few only are privileged to meet with this excellent wife, and her worth cannot be estimated by any material object, however costly. St. Jerome, with a slight difference in the reading, has, Procul, et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus. You may go to the ends of the earth to find her equal in value.
Pro 31:11
BETH. The heart of her husband cloth safely trust in her. The husband of such a wife goes forth to his daily occupations, having full confidence in her whom he leaves at home, that she will act discreetly, and promote his interests while he is absent (see the contrast in Pro 7:20). So that he shall have no need of spoil; rather, he shall not lack gain (shalal). The wife manages domestic concerns so well that her husband finds his honest gains increase, and sees his confidence profitably rewarded. Septuagint, “Such a woman shall want not fair spoils.” It is obvious to see in this an adumbration of the Church winning souls from the power of the enemy, especially as shalal is used for an enemy’s spoils (Psa 68:12; Isa 53:12; and elsewhere).
Pro 31:12
GIMEL. She will do him good and not evil (comp. Ec Pro 26:1-3). She is consistent in her conduct towards her husband, always pursuing his best interests. All the days of her life; in good times or bad, in the early spring time of young affection, and in the waning years of declining age. Her love, based on high principles, knows no change or diminution. The old commentator refers to the conduct of St. Monies to her unbelieving and unfaithful husband, narrated by St. Augustine in his ‘Confessions,’ 9.9: “Having been given over to a husband, she served him as her lord; and busied herself to win him to thee, revealing thee to him by her virtues, in which thou madest her beautiful, and reverently amiable, and admirable to her husband.”
Pro 31:13
DALETH. She seeketh wool, and flax. She pays attention to these things, as materials for clothing and domestic uses. Wool has been used for clothing from the earliest times (see Le 13:47; Job 31:20, etc.), and flax was largely cultivated for the manufacture of linen, the processes of drying, peeling, hackling, and spinning being well understood (see Jos 2:6; Isa 19:9; Jer 13:1, etc.). The prohibition about mixing wool and flax in a garment (Deu 22:11) was probably based on the idea that all mixtures made by the art of man are polluted, and that what is pure and simple, such as it is in its natural state, is alone proper for the use of the people of God. And worketh willingly with her hands; or, she worketh with her hands’ pleasure; i.e. with willing hands. The rendering of the Revised Version margin, after Hitzig, “She worketh at the business of her hands,” is feeble, and does not say much. What is meant is that she not only labours diligently herself, but finds pleasure in doing so, and this, not because she has none to help her, and is forced to do her own work (on the contrary, she is represented as rich, and at the head of a large household), but because she considers that labour is a duty for all, and that idleness is a transgression of a universal law. Septuagint, “Weaving () wool and flax; she makes it useful with her hands.”
Pro 31:14
HE. She is like the merchants’ ships. She is like them in that she extends her operations beyond her own immediate neighbourhood, and bringeth her food from afar, buying in the best markets and on advantageous terms, without regard to distance, and being always on the look out to make honest profit. Septuagint, “She is like a ship trading from a distance, and she herself gathereth her livelihood.” The expressions in the text point to active commercial operations by sea as well as land, such as we know to have been undertaken by Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and others (1Ki 9:26; 1Ki 22:48), and such as the Hebrews must have noticed in the Phoenician cities, Sidon and Tyre.
Pro 31:15
VAV. She riseth also while it is yet night. Before dawn she is up and stirring, to be ready for her daily occupation. A lamp is always kept burning at night in Eastern houses, and as it is of very small dimensions, the careful housewife has to rise at midnight to replenish the oil, and she often then begins her household work by grinding the corn or preparing something for next day’s meals (comp. Pro 31:18). Early rising before any great undertaking is continually mentioned in Scripture. And giveth meat to her household; deditquae praedam domesticis suis, Vulgate. The word for “meat” is tereph, which means “food torn in pieces” with the teeth (Psa 111:5), and hence food to be eaten. The wife thus early prepares or distributes the food which will be wanted for the day. And a portion to her maidens. Chok, “final portion,” may apply either to work or food. The Vulgate has cibaria, “meat;” Septuagint, , “tasks.” The former, which is in accordance with Pro 30:8, would be merely a repetition of the second clause, the meat mentioned there being here called the allotted portion, and would be simply tautological. If we take it in the sense of “appointed labour,” we get a new idea, very congruous with the housewife’s activity (comp. Exo 5:14, where the same word is used in the ease of the enforced labour of the Israelites).
Pro 31:16
ZAYIN. She considereth a field, and buyeth it. She turns her attention to a certain field, the possession of which is for some cause desirable; and, after due examination and consideration, she buys it. One is reminded of Christ’s parable of the treasure hidden in a field, which the finder sold all that he had to purchase (Mat 13:44). With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. Her prudent management and economy give her means to buy vines and plant a vineyard, and thus to increase her produce. Possibly it is meant that she sees the field she has gotten is more fitted for grapes than corn, and she cultivates it accordingly. Virgil ‘Georg.,’ 2.229
“Altera frumentis quoniam favet, altera Baccho,
Densa magis Cereri, rarissima quaeque Lyaeo.”
Pro 31:17
KHETH. She girdeth her loins with strength (Pro 31:25). This seems at first sight a strange assertion to make concerning one of the weaker sex; but the phrase is metaphorically expressive of the energy and force with which she prepares herself for her work. Strength and vigour are, as it were, the girdle which she binds round her waist to enable her to conduct her operations with case and freedom. So we have a similar metaphor boldly applied to God (Psa 93:1): “The Lord reigneth, he is apparelled with majesty; the Lord is apparelled, he hath girded himself with strength” (cf. Job 38:3). Strengtheneth her arms. By daily exercise she makes her arms firm and strong, and capable of great and continued exertion.
Pro 31:18
TETH. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good; Vulgate, Gustavit et vidit quia bona est negotiatio ejus, where the paraphrase, “she tastes and sees,” expresses the meaning of the verb taam here used. Her prudence and economy leave her a large surplus profit, which she contemplates with satisfaction. There is no suspicion of arrogance or conceit, The pleasure that is derived from duty done and successfully conducted business is legitimate and healthy, a providential reward of good works. Septuagint, “She tastes that it is good to work.” This comfort and success spur her on to further and more continued exertion. Her candle (lamp) goeth not out by night. She is not idle even when night falls, and outdoor occupations are cut short; she finds work for the hours of darkness, such as is mentioned in the next verse. One recalls Virgil’s picture of the thrifty housewife (‘AEneid,’ 8.407)
“Inde ubi prima quies medio jam noctis abactae
Curriculo expulerat somnum, cum femina primum,
Cui tolerare colo vitam tenuique Minerva
Impositum, cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignis,
Noctem addens operi, famulesque ad lumina longo
Exercet penso.”
Some take the lamp hers in an allegorical sense, as signifying life, happiness, and prosperity, as Pro 13:9 and Pro 20:20; others, as denoting a bright example of diligence and piety (Mat 5:16). But the simple meaning seems to be the one intended. Wordsworth notes that the passage in Rev 18:1-24, which speaks of the “merchandise” of the false Church, also affirms that “the light of a candle” shall shine in her no more, the two metaphors in our passage applied to the true Church being there applied to Babylon.
Pro 31:19
YODH. She layeth her hands to the spindle. . (kishor, a word not occurring elsewhere) is probably not the spindle, but the distaff, i.e. the staff to which is tied the bunch of flax from which the spinning wheel draws the thread. To this she applies her hand; she deftly performs the work of spinning her flax into thread. Her hands hold the distsaff. (pelek) is the spindle, the cylindrical wood (afterwards the wheel) on which the thread winds itself as it is spun. The hands could not be spared to hold the distaff as well as the spindle, so the first clause should run, “She stretches her hand towards the distaff.” In the former clause kishor occasioned some difficulty to the early translators, who did not view the word as connected with the process of spinning. The Septuagint translates, “She stretches out her arms to useful works ( );” Vulgate, Manum suam misit ad fortia. So Aquila and Symmachus, . This rather impedes the parallelism of the two clauses. There was nothing derogatory in women of high rank spinning among their maidens, just as in the Middle Ages noble ladies worked at tapestry with their attendants. We remember how Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, was found sitting in the midst of her handmaids, carding wool and spinning (Livy, 1.57). Catullus, in his ‘Epithal. Pel. et Thet.,’ 312, describes the process of spinning
“Laeva colum molli lana retinebat amictum;
Dextera tum leviter deducens fila supinis
Formabat digitis; tum prono in pollice torquens
Libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum.”
(‘Carm.,’ 64.)
Pro 31:20
CAPH. She is not impelled by selfish greed to improve her means and enlarge her revenues. She is sympathizing and charitable, and loves to extend to others the blessings which have rewarded her efforts. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. “Hand” is here caph, “the palm,” evidently containing alms. She knows the maxim (Pro 19:17), “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord,” etc.; and she has no fear of poverty. Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. “Hand,” is here yod, with its nerves and sinews ready for exertion (see on Pro 10:4); and the idea is that she puts forth her hand to raise and soothe the poor man, not being satisfied with dealing alms to him, but exercising the gentle ministries of a tender love. Septuagint, “She opens her hands to the needy, and reaches forth her wrist () to the poor.” Like Dorcas, she is full of good works and alms deeds (Act 9:36). It is doubtless implied that the prosperity which she experiences is the reward of this benevolence (Pro 22:9).
Pro 31:21
LAMED. She is not afraid of the snow for her household. “Show,” says Dr. Geikie (‘Holy Land,’ 2.58), “covers the streets of Jerusalem two winters in three, but it generally comes in small quantities, and soon disappears. Yet there are sometimes very snowy winters. That of 1879, for example, left behind it seventeen inches of snow, even where there was no drift, and the strange spectacle of snow lying unmelted for two or three weeks was seen in the hollows on the hillsides. Thousands of years have wrought no change in this aspect of the winter months, for Bennaiah, one of David’s mighty men, ‘slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow’ (2Sa 23:20).” She has no fears concerning the comfort and health of her family even in the severest winter. For all her household are clothed with scarlet; with warm garments. The word used is (shanim), derived from a verb meaning “to shine,” and denoting a crimson or deep scarlet colour. This colour was supposed, and rightly, to absorb and retain heat, as white to repel it; being made of wool, the garments would be warm as well as stately in appearance. St. Jerome has duplicibus (shenaim), “with double garments,” i.e. with one over the other. Warm garments were the more necessary as the only means of heating rooms was the introduction of portable chafing dishes containing bunting charcoal (see Jer 36:22, etc). The Septuagint has taken liberties with the text, “Her husband is not anxious concerning domestic matters when he tarries anywhere [ for which Delitzsch suggests ], for all her household are well clothed.” Spiritually, the Church fears not the severity of temptation or the chill of unbelief, when her children take refuge in the blood of Christ.
Pro 31:22
MEM. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry (marbaddim); as Pro 7:16 (where see note). Pillows for beds or cushions are meant, though the translators are not of one mind on the meaning. St. Jerome has, stragulatam vestem; Aquila and Theodotion, , Symmachus, , “shaggy on both sides;” Septuagint, “She makes for her husband double garments ( ).” Her clothing is silk and purple. (shesh) is not “silk,” but “white linen” (, byssus) of very fine texture, and costly. Purple garments were brought from the Phoenician cities, and were highly esteemed (see So Pro 3:10; Jer 10:9). The wife dresses herself in a way becoming her station, avoiding the extremes of sordid simplicity and ostentatious luxury. “For my own part,” says St. Francois de Sales, quoted by Lesetre, “I should wish any devout man or woman always to be the best dressed person in the company, but at the same time, the least fine and affected, and adorned, as it is said, with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. St. Louis said that every one ought to dress according to his position, so that good and sensible people should not be able to say you are overdressed, nor the younger under dressed” (‘Vie Devot.,’ 3.25). So the Church is clothed in fine linen, clean and white, even the righteousness which Christ bestows (Rev 19:8), and invested in her Lord’s royal robe, who hath made her children kings and priests unto God (Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10).
Pro 31:23
NUN. Her husband is known in the gates. Such a woman advances her husband’s interests, increases his influence, and, by attending to his domestic concerns, enables him to take his share in public matters, so that his name is in great repute in the popular assemblies at the city gates (Pro 31:31; Pro 8:3). She is indeed “a crown to her husband” (Pro 12:4). When he sitteth among the elders of the land. Homer introduces Nausikaa speaking to her father of her duty to see that he is honourably clad when he goes to the council
.
(‘Odyssey,’ 6.60.)
“For our costly robes,
All sullied now, the cleansing stream require;
And thine especially, when thou appear’st
In council with the princes of the land,
Had need be pure.”
(Cowper.)
St. Gregory sees here an adumbration of the day of judgment: “For the Redeemer of mankind is the “Husband” of holy Church, who shows himself ‘renowned’ (nobilis, Vulgate) in the gates. Who first came in sight in degradation and in mockings, but shall appear on high at the entering in of his kingdom; and ‘he sitteth among the elders of the land,’ for that he shall decree sentence of condemnation together with the holy preachers of that same Church, as himself declares in the gospel (Mat 19:28)” (‘Moral.,’ 6.9).
Pro 31:24
SAMECH. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it. The word for “fine linen” is sadin, not the same as in Pro 31:22. but equivalent to , and denoting linen garments; Delitzsch calls it “body linen” (comp. Jdg 14:12, Jdg 14:13; Isa 3:23). Delivereth girdles unto the merchant; literally, unto the Canaanite; i.e. the Phoenician merchant, a generic name for all traders (see Isa 23:8; Zec 14:21). Girdles were necessary articles of attire with the flowing robes of Eastern dress The common kind were made of leather, as is the use at the present day; but a more costly article was of linen curiously worked in gold and silver thread, and studded with jewels and gold (see 2Sa 18:11; Dan 10:5). So Virgil (AEneid,’ 9.359) speaks of “aurea bullis cingula.” We read of Queen Parysatis having certain villages assigned her for girdle money, (Xen; ‘Anab.,’ 1.4, 9). Cicero alludes to the same custom in his Verrine oration (Pro 3:33): “Solere aiunt barbaros reges Persarum ac Syrorum plures uxores habere, his autem uxoribus civitates attribuere hocmodo: haec civitas mulieri iu redimiculum proebeat, haec in collum, haec in crines”. Such rich and elaborately worked girdles the mistress could readily barter with Phoenician merchants, who would give in exchange purple (Pro 31:22) and other articles of use or luxury. On this passage St. Gregory thus moralizes: “What is signified by a garment of fine linen, but the subtle texture of holy preaching? In which men rest softly, because the mind of the faithful is refreshed therein by heavenly hope. Whence also the animals are shown to Peter in a linen sheet, because the souls of sinners mercifully gathered together are enclosed in the gentle quiet of faith. The Church therefore made and sold this fine garment, because she inparted in words that faith which she had woven by belief; and received from unbelievers a life of upright conversation. And she delivered a girdle to the Canaanite, because by the might of the righteousness she displayed, she constrained the lax doings of the Gentile world, in order that that might be maintained in their doings which is commanded. ‘Let your loins be girded about'” (‘Moral.,’ 33.33).
Pro 31:25
AYIN. Strength and honour are her clothing (Pro 31:17); , Septuagint. She is invested with a moral force and dignity which arm her against care and worry; the power of a righteous purpose and strong will reveals itself in her carriage and demeanour. And thus equipped, she shall rejoice in time to come; or, she laugheth (Job 5:22; Job 39:7) at the future (Isa 30:8). She is not disquieted by any fear of what may happen, knowing in whom she trusts, and having done her duty to the utmost of her ability. The Greek and Latin versions seem to take the expression as referring to the day of death; thus the Vulgate, Ridebit in die novissimo; Septuagint, “She rejoices in the last days ( ).” But it is best interpreted as above. The true servant of God is not afraid of any evil tidings, his heart being fixed, trusting in the Lord (Psa 112:7).
Pro 31:26
PE. She openeth her mouth with wisdom. She is not merely a good housewife, attending diligently to material interests; she guides her family with words of wisdom. When she speaks, it is not gossip, or slander, or idle talk, that she utters, but sentences of prudence and sound sense, such as may minister grace to the hearers. The Septuagint has this verse before Pro 31:25, and the first hemistich Again. after Pro 31:27. So in Lam 2:1-22, Lam 3:1-66, Lam 4:1-22, the pe and ayin vetoes change places. This is also the case in Psa 37:1-40. In the former passage the LXX: renders, “She openeth her mouth heedfully and lawfully ( );” and in the other, “wisely and in accordance with law ( ).” In her tongue is the law of kindness (thorath chesed); i.e. her language to those around her is animated and regulated by love. As mistress of a family, she has to teach and direct her dependents, and she performs this duty with gracious kindness and ready sympathy. Septuagint, “She places order on her tongue.”
Pro 31:27
TSADE. She looketh well to the ways of her house; the actions and habits of the household. She exercises careful surveillance over all that goes on in the family. Eateth not the bread of idleness; but rather bread won by active labour and conscientious diligence. She is of the opinion of the apostle who said “that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2Th 3:10). Septuagint, “The ways of her house are confined ( ), and she eats not idle bread.” The first of these clauses may mean that the proceedings of her household, being confined to a narrow circle, are readily supervised. But the meaning is very doubtful; and Schleusner renders, “continuae conversationes in aedibus ejus.” St. Gregory applies our verse to the conscience, thus: “She considers the ways of her house, because she accurately examines all the thoughts of her conscience. She eateth not her bread in idleness, because that which she learned out of Holy Scripture by her understanding, she places before the eyes of the Judge by exhibiting it in her works” (‘Moral.,’ 35.47).
Pro 31:28
KUPH. Her children arise up, and call her blessed. She is a fruitful mother of children, who, seeing her sedulity and prudence, and experiencing her affectionate care, celebrate and praise her, and own that she has rightly won the blessing of the Lord. Her husband also, and he praiseth her; in the words given in the next verse. Having the approbation of her husband and children, who know her best, and have the best opportunities of judging her conduct, she is contented and happy. Septuagint, “Her mercy () raises up her children, and they grow rich, and her husband praises her.”
Pro 31:29
RESH. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. The versions and some commentators take the encomium in the mean and restricted sense of praise for the acquisition of riches. Thus the Vulgate, Multae filiae congregaverunt divitias; Septuagint, “Many daughters have obtained wealth.” But it adds another rendering, “Many have wrought power (),” which is nearer the meaning in this place. Chayil (as we have seen, Pro 31:10) means “force,” virtus, “strength of character” shown in various ways (comp. Num 24:18; Psa 60:12). “Daughters,” equivalent to “women,” as Gen 30:13; So Gen 6:9. Roman Catholic commentators have, with much ingenuity, applied the whole description of the virtuous woman, and especially the present verse, to the Virgin Mary. We may regard it as a representation of the truly Christian matron, who loves husband and children, guides the house, is discreet, chaste, good, a teacher of good things (1Ti 5:14; Tit 2:3, etc.).
Pro 31:30
SHIN. The writer confirms the husband’s praise by assigning to it its just grounds. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain. Chen, “favour,” may signify either the good will with which one is regarded, or gracefulness, beauty. As being in close parallelism with the next words, it is best taken as referring to loveliness of form. Mere gracefulness, if considered as a token of a wife’s work and usefulness, is misleading; and beauty is transitory and often dangerous. Neither of them is of any real value unless accompanied by religion. As the gnomic poet says
.
“Judge not at eight of beauty, but of life.”
But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. So we come back to the maxim with which the whole book began, that the foundation of all excellence is the fear of the Lord (Pro 1:7). Such, too, is the conclusion of Ecclesiastes (Ecc 12:13), “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Septuagint, “False are charms (), and vain is the beauty of woman; for a prudent woman is blessed, and let her praise the fear of the Lord.”
Pro 31:31
TAV. Give her of the fruit of her hands. So may she enjoy the various blessings which her zeal, prudence, and economy have obtained. Psa 128:2, “Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.” Septuagint, “Give her of the fruit of her lips.” And let her own works praise her in the gates. She needs no farfetched laudation; her life long actions speak for themselves. Where men most congregate, where the heads of the people meet in solemn assembly, there her praise is sung, and a unanimous verdict assigns to her the highest honour. Septuagint, “Let her husband be praised in the gates.” This frequent introduction of the husband is cuprous. St. Gregory thus spiritualizes the passage: “As the entrance of a city is called the gate, so is the day of judgment the gate of the kingdom, since all the elect go in thereby to the glory of their heavenly country .Of these gates Solomon says, ‘Give her of the fruit of her hands, and her own works shall praise her in the gates.’ For holy Church then receives of ‘the fruit of her hands,’ when the recompensing of her labour raises her up to the possession of heavenly blessings; for her ‘works then praise her in the gates,’ when in the very entrance to his kingdom the words are spoken to his members, ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat,’ etc.” (‘Moral.,’ 6.9).
HOMILETICS
Pro 31:1
A mother’s counsel
The last chapter of the Book of Proverbs gives us the picture of a mother’s counsel to her sonwise and good and eloquent with love and yearning anxiety. Here is a picture to suggest the inestimable advantage to a young man of a mother’s guidance. In thoughtless, high-spirited youth this too often passes unheeded, and precious advice is then wasted on ungrateful ears. It would be more seemly to consider its unique merits.
I. IT SPRINGS FROM A WOMAN‘S NATURE. We have many beautiful pictures of women in the Bible. Inspired women have conveyed to us some parts of the biblical teaching. Deborah (Jdg 5:7), the mother of Samuel, and now the mother of Lemuel, all help us with great Divine truths or holy thoughts and influences. It is the gift of women to see into truth with a flash of sympathy. The wonder is that we have so small a part of the Bible from the tongue and pen of women.
II. IT IS INSPIRED BY A MOTHER‘S HEART. The biblical gallery of holy women does not introduce us to the cloisters. The Hebrew heroines were “mothers in Israel,” not nuns. Maternity completes woman. “The perfect woman, nobly planned,” is one who can think, love, and act with the large heart of a mother.
III. IT IS CHARACTERIZED BY UNSELFISH DEVOTION. There is nowhere in all creation such an image of utterly unselfish, of completely self-sacrificing love as that of a woman for her child. She almost gives her life for his infant existence. All through his helpless years she watches over him with untiring care. When he goes forth into the world, she follows him with never-flagging interest. He may forget her; she will never forget him. If he does well, her joy is unbounded; if he does ill, her heart is broken. Without a thought of self, she spends herself on her child, and finds her life or her death in his conduct.
IV. IT IS GUIDED BY DEEP KNOWLEDGE. The mother may not know much of the outer world; she may be quite ignorant of the most recent dicta of science; some of her notions may seem old-fashioned to her modern-minded son. But foolish indeed will he be if he dares to despise her counsels on such grounds. She knows himhis strength and his weakness, his childish faults and his early promises. Here lies the secret of her wisdom.
V. IT CANNOT BE NEGLECTED WITHOUT CRUEL INGRATITUDE. The son may think himself wiser than his mother, but at least, he should give reverent attention to her advice. So much love and care and thoughtfulness do not deserve to be tossed aside in a moment of impatience. The wise son will acknowledge that his mother’s wishes deserve his most earnest consideration. It may be, then, that he will be held back in the hour of temptation by the thought of the poignant grief that his shameful fall would give to his mother. It is much for a life to be worthy of a good Christian mother’s counsel.
Pro 31:10-31
The typical woman
I. HER SPHERE. This is domestic.
1. In marriage. The typical woman is a wife and mother, not a St. Agnes, the mystical bride of Christ, nor even a Virgin Mary. We see her in Sarah, in Naomi, in Hannah, in Eunice. There is invaluable service for the world which only women who are free from the ties of home can accomplish; there is a noble mission for single women. But there is nothing in Scripture, reason, or conscience to suggest that virginity is more holy than marriage, that the maiden is more saintly than the matron.
2. In the work of the home. Moreover, for unmarried women household cares and quiet home duties usually have the first call. Some women may be called to more public positions. A queen may adorn a throne. A Florence Nightingale may live as an angel of mercy to the suffering. But these are exceptional persons. Every Jewess was not a Deborah, and even the martial prophetess, unlike her French counterpart, Joan of Are, was “a mother in Israel.”
3. Therefore with domestic responsibility. The typical woman will be judged primarily in regard to domestic duties. The true wife is the helpmeet of her husband. Her first aim will be to “do him good” (Pro 31:12). If she falls here, her public service is of little account.
II. HER CHARACTER. This is described in a graphic picture of her lifea picture which is in striking contrast to the ignorance, the indolence, the inanity of an Oriental harem. Observe its chief features.
1. Trustworthiness. The true wife is her husband’s confidant. She must be worthy of confidence by icing
(1) faithful,
(2) sympathetic,
(3) intelligent.
2. Industry. Nothing can be more foolish than the notion that a “lady” should have no occupation. The ideal woman rises early and busies herself with many affairs. In old days, when the spinning was done at home and most of the family garments were made by the women of the house, the clothing of husband and children bore testimony to the industry of the wife. Machinery has destroyed this antique picture. Yet the spirit of it remains. The true wife still finds an abundance of domestic occupations.
3. Thrift. The wife of the Proverbs is quite a business woman, selling the superfluous work of her hands to merchants, and buying land with the proceeds. Yet by her foresight she provides warm clothing for the winter, and therefore she can afford to laugh when the snow cometh.
4. Strength. “She girdeth her loins with strength.” The physical education of women is just now receiving especial attention, and rightly so. It is a woman’s duty to be strong, if by means of wholesome food and exercise she can conquer weakness. No doubt the ailments of many women spring from lassitude, indolence, and self-surrender. But eve, when bodily trailty cannot be conquered, strength of soul may be attained.
5. Charity. The strong and thristy with might be hard, cold, and selfish. But the true woman “stretcheth out her hand to the poor” (verse 20).
6. Gracious speech. So energetic a woman might still be thought somewhat unlovable if we had not this final trait: “in her tongue is the law of kindness” (verse 26). How much may the tone of a woman’s conversation do to keep peace in a household, and shed over it a spirit of love and gentleness!
7. True religion. This is the root of the matter. The typical woman “feareth the Lord” (verse 30).
III. HER REWARD.
1. In her influence. “Her husband is known in the gates.” She helps him to honour. Herself too busy in the private sphere to take her part directly in public life, yet indirectly she is a great force in the large world through her influence over her husband.
2. In the success of her energies. We have here a picture of a wife in affluencenot of a poor domestic drudge in the squalor of abject poverty. Nevertheless, the prosperity of the home largely depends upon her. Her thoughtfulness, energy, careful oversight of others and kindness of heart and words, are the chief causes of the welfare of her happy, comfortable home.
3. In the honour of her family. “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her” (verse 28). Surely this is a better reward than public fame.
4. Continued influence. This true woman deserves to have “the fruit of her hands.” If she is to be spoken of “in the gates,” it should be in praise of her domestic duties, which cannot but be known to her neighbours, however modest and retiring her manners may be.
Pro 31:30
Rival attractions
Lemuel’s mother warns her son against the fascinations of superficial charms in his choice of a wife, and points to the attractiveness of a God-fearing woman.
I. THE VANITY OF BEAUTY.
1. It is but temporary. The bloom of beauty fades with youth; but a wife is to be a man’s helpmeet throughout life, and, if both are spared, his companion in age. In making a choice for life a man should consider enduring traits.
2. It is superficial. Beauty of face and grace of form are only bodily attributes, They may have no corresponding mental, moral, and spiritual merits.
3. It is deceptive. The fascination of a pretty face may delude a man into neglecting more important considerations in the woman of his choice. Ill temper may be taken for strength of character, frivolity for liveliness, mere softness of disposition for love. But the great disillusion of lifelong companionship will dispel all these mistakes, when the discovery is to, late to be of any use. On the other hand, there is no need to take refuge in a monkish contempt of beauty. All beauty is a work of God. It is the duty of a woman to make herself pleasing to others. The finest beauty is a product of health, good temper, and the expression of worthy sentimentsall of them desirable things. Note: The vanity of beauty shows the mistake of pursuing “art for art’s sake,” to the neglect of morality, duty, truth, and charity.
II. THE GRACE OF RELIGION. The “woman that feareth the Lord” is to be prodded. Though, perhaps, less beautiful in form and countenance, she has the higher beauty of holiness. The Madonna stands infinitely above the Venus. The grace of the God-fearing woman has its own true attraction for those who can appreciate it.
1. It is enduring. Beauty fades; goodness endures. This should ripen with years into a more rich and mellow grace.
2. It is deep. The prolonged acquaintanceship that reveals the utter hollowness and unreality of those attractions which consist only in bodily form and skin-complexion only makes more apparent the treasures of a true and worthy character. Trouble that ploughs fatal furrows in the cheek of the mere “beauty” unveils the tender grace of the truly godly woman. Those scenes wherein earthly beauty fails open up wondrous treasures of heavenly grace.
3. It is satisfying. A feverish excitement accompanies the adoration of earthly beauty; but the beauty of a sweet, true, generous soul is restful and comforting.
4. It is worthy of honour. Poets give us their dreams of fair women. A higher subject would be the praises of God-fearing women. How much of the world’s blessedness springs from the devotion of unselfish womenthe self-sacrifices of true wives, the toils and prayers of good. mothers!
Pro 31:31
Woman’s rights
The strenuous advocacy of the rights of women by shrill oratory has injured the true cause of women by covering a serious subject with ridicule, and suggesting the unreality of the grievances urged. When extravagant demands are made, people assume that every just right has been conceded; and when the self-elected advocates of women put forth a programme which the great body of wives and daughters repudiate, it is supposed that there is no ground for considering any complaint as to the legal and social treatment of women. But this is unreasonable and unjust. There are women’s rights, and these fights are by no means universally conceded.
I. WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO WORK. The Oriental notion, that women are but idle ornaments of the harem, finds no place in the Bible. Here they appear freely in the world, and, though their first duties are in the home, they are not idle, nor are they wanting in enterprise. The ideal woman in the Book of Proverbs is a manufacturer, a merchant, and a landowner. Woman’s work cannot be wholly the same as man’s, because nature has placed limitations upon her physical energies. But she has spheres for work, and it is cruel, unjust, and selfish to keep her out of any region of activity where she can do good service, by law or by social displeasure. Two wrongs in particular need to be swept away.
1. The motion that work is degrading to a woman. Surely idleness is more degrading. It is rightly said that woman’s sphere is the home. But it is not every woman who has a home. Surely it is a degrading and insulting idea that the main business of a young woman is to secure a husband, and so obtain a home. There are women who are manifestly cut out for other positions; many women never have an opportunity of obtaining a home of their own except by sacrificing themselves to men whom they do not love. In early life young girls are not the better for being kept in idleness, waiting for the chance that may turn up. Half the ailments of women of the comfortable classes come from want of occupation. It needs to be known and recognized that it is a right and honourable thing for a woman to be engaged in any ordinary occupation that is suitable to her powers.
2. The fear of rivalry with men. There have been professions the members of which have bitterly resented the invasion of their ranks by women. Such trade unionism is most ungenerous. It is an humiliation to have to confess that men could not hold their own unless under a system of protection against the competition of women. Certainly no Christian principle can justify such selfishness.
II. WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO THE RESULTS OF THEIR WORK.
1. In payment. The wife who earns wages has a right to her purse as much as the husband to his. Where there is a true marriage, no thought of separate interests will rouse any jealousy as to the several possessions of the two. But true marriage is not always realized. We see brutal husbands living idly on the earnings of their wives. It is not enough that the poor women are supposed to be protected by a Married Woman’s Property Act, for the husband is still too often the tyrant of the home. We shall only see a more just arrangement when Christian principles are applied to domestic practices.
2. In honour. “Let her own works praise her in the gates.” Women who contribute to the service of society are deserving of double honour, because they have had to work under exceptional disadvantages. Women who have proved themselves wise, industrious, and generous in the home life do not receive their meed of praise. Too much is taken for granted, and accepted without thanks, because the service is constant and the sacrifice habitual. In after years, when it is too late to give the due acknowledgment, many a man has had to feet sharp pangs of regret at his heedless treatment of a wife’s patient toil or a mother’s yearning love.
3. In position. Opportunity should be proportionate to capacity. If women can work, they should have scope for work. It is the duty of Christian society to give to woman her true position. If she be “the weaker vessel,” she needs more consideration, not less justice. Christ gave high honours to women, accepted their devoted service, and laid the foundation of Christian justice in regard to them.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Pro 31:1-31
The words of Lernuel
The fear of God is the leading thought in these meditations; and this in a twofold relationto the king in his rule in the state, and the woman in her rule in the house.
Pro 31:2-9
A mother’s maxims
The mother’s heart, deep in emotions of affection and urgent solicitude, is expressed in the passionate form of the address.
I. ON WOMEN OR THE DUTY OF CHASTITY. (Pro 31:3.) The weakness of this passion was one of the things, Alexander the Great was wont to say, which reminded him that he was mortal David and Solomon were both warnings and beacon lights against yielding to it.
II. ON WINE, OR THE DUTY OF TEMPERANCE. (Pro 31:4. sqq.) Here is a sin in close affinity to the former (Hos 4:11).
1. A vice degrading in all, drunkenness is most especially unbefitting those in high station. Elah (1Ki 16:8, 1Ki 16:9), Benhadad (1Ki 20:16), and Belshazzar (Dan 5:2-4), were all dark examples of the danger (comp. Hos 7:5).
2. It may lead to moral perversion. (Pro 31:5.) The woman wrongly condemned by Philip of Macedon exclaimed, “I appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober.” Ahasuerus (Est 1:10, Est 1:11) and Herod (Mar 6:21-28) appear to have been guilty of arbitrary conduct under the same besotting influence. Men “err through strong drink” (Isa 28:7).
3. The true use of wine. (Pro 31:6.) It is a medicine for the fainting. It is a restorative under extreme depression. The Bible tolerates and admits the blessing of wine in moderation as promotive of social cheerfulness. It “maketh glad the heart of man,” and is even said to “cheer God” (Jdg 9:13). Hence libations were a part of the sacrificial feast offered to the Majesty on high. As an anodyne it is admitted here (Pro 31:7). But all this does not exempt from close circumspection as to time, place, persons, and circumstances in its use. The priests, when performing their sacred functions in the tabernacle and temple, were to abstain from wine. But here, as in other matters, there is large latitude given to the exercise of the private judgment, the personal Christian conscience. Any attempt to overrule the right of personal freedom creates a new class of evils. Let those who see their duty in that light adopt total abstinence; and others labour according to their ability to strike at the indirect and deeper causes of what many regard as a national vice. Wherever there is a widespread vice, it is rooted in some profound misery. The surest, though longest, cure is by the eradication of the pain of the mind which drives so many towards the nepenthes, or draught of oblivion.
III. ON THE FREE AND FULL ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. (Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9.) The royal heart and hand are to be at the service of those who cannot help themselvesthe widow, the orphan, the poor, and “all that are desolate and oppressed” (Job 29:15, Job 29:16). He is to be both advocate and judge. He is to be an earthly type of God. “Let his representatives on earth study the character of their King in heaven, and be conformed more fully to his image of forgiveness and love.”J.
Pro 31:10-31
The virtuous housewife
I. HER INFLUENCE IN THE SPHERE OF HOME. (Pro 31:10-22.)
1. Her exceeding worth. (Pro 31:10-12.) A costly treasure not everywhere to be found; no commonplace blessing: an ornament and a joy above all that earth affords of rare and beautiful. A treasure on which the heart of the possessor ever dwells with delight.
“Continual comfort in a face,
The lineaments of gospel books.”
She is the rich source of revenue to her husband in all good things.
“All other goods by fortune’s hand are given;
A wife is the peculiar gift of Heaven.”
(Pope.)
“If women be good,” said Aristotle, “the half of the commonwealth may be happy where they are.” “The greatest gift of God is a pious, amiable spouse, who fears God, loves his house, and with whom one can live in perfect confidence” (Luther).
2. The picture of her domestic industry. (Pro 31:13 – 22.) It is an antique picture, the form and colouring derived from ancient custom; but the general moral effect is true for all times. The traits of the housewifely character are:
(1) The personal example of diligence. She is seen from day to day spinning at her loom, the chief occupation of women in ancient times. She is an early riser (Pro 31:15).
(2) Her unrelaxing energy. (Pro 31:17.) She has no idle hour; her rest is in change of occupation.
(3) Her personal attention to business. (Pro 31:16, Pro 31:18.) Whether examining land with a view to invest her savings in purchase and cultivation, or inspecting goods, her mind is in all she does She is not slothful in business, but glowing In spirit, and all that she does is done with heart.
(4) Her benevolence. Her thrift is not of the odious form which begins and ends with home, and breeds a sordid miserliness out of hard won gains. Her open hand outstretched to the poor (Pro 31:20) is one of the most winning traits in the picture. She has no lack of good herself, and always something over for the needy.
(5) Her care both for comfort and for ornament. (Pro 31:21, Pro 31:22.) Both the very spheres of woman’s activity. But she observes their true order. Her first thought is for the health of her household; she provides the warm “double garments” against the winter’s snow. Her leisure is occupied with those fine works of artistic needlework by which elegance and beauty are contributed to the scene of home. Refinement adorning comfort,this is the true relation. In finery without solid use and comfort there is no beauty nor worth.
II. FURTHER TRAITS AND DETAILS OF THE PICTURE, (Pro 31:23-31.)
1. She reflects consideration on her husband. Her thrift makes him rich; her noble character gives him additional title to respect. His personality derives weight from the possession of such a treasure, the devotion of such a heart. Her business capacity, her energy, and the quiet dignity of her life and bearing; the mingled sense and shrewdness, charm and grace of her conversation (Pro 31:24-27);are all a source of fame, of noble self-complacency, of just confidence to the man who is blessed to call her “mine.”
2. Her life and work earn for her perpetual thanks and benedictions. (Pro 31:28, Pro 31:29.) Her children, as they grow up, bless her for the inestimable boon of a mother’s care and love. She has revealed to them God; and never can they cease to believe in goodness so long as they recollect her. She basks in the sunshine of a husband’s constant approved. “Best of wives!” “Noblest of women!” is the thought ever in his heart, often on his lips.
3. It is religion which gives enduring worth and immortality to character, (Pro 31:30, Pro 31:31.) Beauty is a failing charm or a deception of the senses. But religious principle gives a spiritual beauty to the plainest exterior. Being and doing from religious motives, to religious ends,this is a sowing for eternal fruits. And the works of love for God’s sake and man’s fill the air with fragrance to the latest end of time, and are found unto praise, honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Pro 31:1-3
Motherhood
We have not many words from women’s lips in the inspired record, and we may therefore esteem the more highly those we possess. The verses bring out
I. THE STRONG CLAIMS OF MOTHERHOOD. “The son of my womb;” “the son of my vows.” These claims are based upon:
1. Motherhood as such. Upon all that motherhood means to us; upon the fact that the mother has borne her child, has cherished him at her own breast, has watched over his infancy and childhood with sedulous care, has shielded and succoured him, has fed and clothed him; as we say in one wordhas “mothered” him.
2. Motherly training and dedication. The early experiences of the mother include much beyond the physical realm; they include the education of the intellect, the training of the Will, the first imparting of religious instruction, the solemn dedication of her child to the service of God, repeated and earnest prayer on his behalf. Her child is not only her offspring; he is “the son of her vows,” the one on whom she has expanded her most fervent piety.
3. Maternal affection and anxiety. The words of Lemuel’s mother are charged with deep affection and profound solicitude. And it is those who truly love us, and who are unselfishly devoted to our interest, that have the strongest claim upon us. A claim which is only that of natural relationship, and is not crowned and completed by affection, falls very short indeed of that which is strengthened and sanctified by sacrificial love.
II. THE HOPE OF MOTHERHOOD. The mother hopes for good and even great things for and from her child; he is to stand among the strong, the wise, the honoured, the useful.
III. ITS BITTER AND CRUEL DISAPPOINTMENT. When the son of much sorrow and prayer, of much patient training and earshot entreaty, who had a noble opportunity before himwhen he virtually signs away his inheritance, “gives his strength” to the destroyer, takes the path which leads to entire dethronement and ruin, then is there such a bitter and such a cruel disappointment as only st mother’s heart can feel and know. Then perishes a fond and proud and precious hope; then enters and takes possession a saddening, a crushing sorrow.
IV. ITS RIGHT TO REMONSTRATE. “What, my son? This of thee?of thee whom I have loved and taught and trained? of thee for whom I have yearned and prayed? of thee from whom I have had a right to hope for such better things? Oh, lose not thy fair heritage! take the portion, live the life, wear the crown, still within thy reach!” A true and faithful mother has a right which is wholly indisputable, and strong with surpassing strength, to speak thus in affectionate expostulation to one who owes so much to her, and has returned her nothing. And what is
V. THE FILIAL DUTY? Surely it is to receive such remonstrance with deep respect; to give to it a patient and dutiful attention; to take it into long and earnest consideration; to resolve that, cost what it may, the path of penitence and renewal shall be trodden; that anything shall be endured rather than a mother’s heart be pierced by the hand of her own child!C.
Pro 31:6
The allowable as the exceptional
It is often the case that that which is wrong as a rule is right as an exception; what it would be unwise, if not unlawful, to do under ordinary circumstances, it may be most wise and even obligatory to do in emergencies. This applies particularly, but not exclusively, to the subject of the text
I. THE USE OF STIMULANTS. In a state of health and during the discharge of daily duties, shun the use of stimulants; depend upon that which nourishes and builds up. “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish;” to the man who, by exposure or by some suddenly inflicted wound, or by starvation, is brought down to the brink of death, administer the reviving cordial. What we should not depend upon for daily strength we do well to fall back upon in the time of extremity, or in the case of special need.
II. THE EMPLOYMENT OF STRONG LANGUAGE OR VERY VIVID ILLUSTRATION. It is a great mistake to be always speaking in superlatives, or to be habitually indulging in expletives, or to be regularly resorting to highly coloured illustrations. It is a sign and also a source of weakness. These very soon lose their power by repetition, and then there is nothing in reserve. And the man who has no power in reserve is he who will find himself beaten in the battle. Temperate language, moderation in the use of imagery and the expression of disapproval, is the true and wise course. Strong language is for quite exceptional cases; it has its opportunity, but should be content to wait for it.
III. RESORT TO VIOLENCE. There are occasions when physical force should he and must he employed. The magistrate is compelled to resort to it; so also is the schoolmaster, and even the parent. But the less the better. Bodily chastisement is always regrettable, and only to be resorted to when all other means have failed. Its constant exercise only hardens the object of it, and it is not unlikely to harden the hand that administers it. The wise teacher and the wise parent will do his best to reduce it to its very lowest point.
IV. AFFECTIONATE DEMONSTRATIVENESS. This has its time and place, hut it is an exceptional rather than a constant one in the conduct of our life. When any one has lacked the tenderness and the affection which our heart craves, and is hungry for human love, when the free and full manifestation of heartfelt kindness will be like water to the parched lips, let it be freely and fully given. But the perpetual exhibition of endearment, whether in word or deed, is a mistake.
V. THE APPEAL TO SELF–INTEREST ON THE PART OF THE MORALIST AND RELIGIOUS TEACHER. We should, as a rule, place moral obligations and religious duty on the ground of conviction; we should continually endeavour to impress men with the reeling that they ate sacredly bound to respect themselves, to regard the rights of their brethren, to respond to the claims of God, their Father and their Saviour. Religion is the response of the human soul to the boundless claim of Infinite Goodness and Love. But Christ has himself taught us that it is right and well sometimes to make our appeal to the sense of self-interestto say to men, “If not for Gods sake, who has a sovereign and supreme claim on your attention; is not for the sake of those who are related to you and dependent on you; yet for your own sake, because you love life and hate death, hearken and obey”.C.
Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9
The function and the privilege of power
God gives to some men place and power; they may inherit it, or they may win their way to it by the force of their talent or their merit. When they have reached it, what should be the use they make of it? We may look first at
I. WHAT HAS BEEN ITS HABIT. Only too often the actual use that has been made of high station and of civil or military lower is that of
(1) indulgence; or
(2) appropriation; or
(3) oppression.
Men have used their elevation only to drink the sweet cup of pleasure; or to secure to themselves the spoils of high office, the treasures which law within their grasp; or to find a mean and despicable gratification in the enforcement of their own dignity and the humiliation of those beneath them. This is “human,” if by human we understand that which is natural to man as sin has dwarfed and spoilt his nature, perverting his powers and degrading his delights. But of man as God meant him to be, and as a Divine Redeemer is renewing him, all this is utterly unworthy, let us see
II. WHAT IS ITS TRUE FUNCTION. It is that of righteousness. A man is placed on high in order that he may “judge righteously.” Whether he be the king, as in David’s and Solomon’s time; or whether he be the magistrate, as in our own time; or whether he be the teacher, or the manufacturer, or the farmer, or the master or father in the home; whatever be the kind or measure of authority enjoyed, the function of power is to judge righteously; it is to do justice; it is to see that innocency is acquitted and guilt condemned; it is to take pains and exercise patience in order that worth may be rewarded and that sin may be shamed; it is to be a tower of refuge to those who are conscious of rectitude, and to be a source of fear to those who know that they have been “doing evil;” it is to be a strength to the righteous and a terror to the guilty.
III. WHAT IT SHOULD COUNT ITS PECULIAR PRIVILEGE; IT IS TO BEFRIEND THE FRIENDLESS. There are those who are too weak to be of much service to their neighbours; there are those who are too selfish to cherish the ambition; but the strong man who is the good man, the man in power who has in him the spirit of his Master, will rejoice in his power mainly because it enables him to help those who would otherwise go on and go down without a helper;
(1) those suffering from physical privationthe blind, the deaf, the dumb;
(2) those lacking mental qualificationsthe weak minded, the timid, the reserved;
(3) those too poor to purchase the aid that is sometimes essential to justice and right;
(4) those over whom some great disaster, which is at the same time a cruel wrong, impends”appointed to destruction.” To lift up those who have been wrongfully laid low, to befriend the unfortunate and the desolate, to stand by the side of those who cannot assert their own claims, to be eyes to the blind and a voice to the dumb, to “make the widow’s heart to sing for joy,” to place the destitute in the path which leads up to competency and honor,to act in the spirit and to promote the cause of beneficence is the true privilege, as it is the brightest crown and the deepest joy, of power.C.
Pro 31:10-31
Christian womanhood
If Solomon did write these words, we need not he surprised that he speaks of the rarity of the ideal woman; for she is hardly to be found in a crowded harem. It is the Christian home that contains her. We look at
I. HER CHARACTERISTICS. And these are:
1. Piety. “She feareth the Lord” (Pro 31:30). She has within her the spirit of reverence, and the life she lives is one in which worship and the study of the will of God have no small share. She has a seat and is at home in the sanctuary; she is also constant and earnest in the quiet chamber of devotion; she knows well that the happiness of her home and the well being of her household depend upon the favour of the heavenly Father.
2. Purity. She is a “virtuous woman” (Pro 31:10). She gives her whole heart to her husband, and enjoys his full confidence (Pro 31:11).
3. Industry. The writer dwells upon the labours she puts forth for the sake of her husband and her household.
4. Wisdom. (Pro 31:26.) Her conversation is far removed from mere idle gossip or the vanities of an empty curiosity. She is familiar with “the Law of the Lord;” she knows what is the secret of lasting happiness. She can guide her sons and daughters in the way of life; and she instills her heaven born wisdom into minds that welcome it and will never lose it.
5. Kindness. “The law of kindness is on her lips.” She is one that does not rule by the “constant droppings” of censure, hut by the never-failing stream of gentleness and encouragement. Love, not fear, is the sceptre which she holds, and is the source of her strength.
6. Beneficence. (Pro 31:20).
II. HER REWARD.
1. Affection and honour on the part of those who are nearest to her. Her husband trusts and praises her (Pro 31:28), and her children “rise up and call her blessed.”
2. Strength and dignity in her home. She is “clothed upon with” the tributes woven by love and esteem. Her influence is felt much oftener than it is recognized, and long after her face and her voice are no longer seen and heard.
3. Security against future want. She “laugheth at the time to come,” while those who lack her prudence and her skill have reason to shrink from the thought of it.
4. The prosperity of her relatives. Her husband, relieved of care and worry at home, is able to do his proper work, and succeeds in his sphere (Pro 31:23).
III. HER COMMONNESS IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. It might be difficult to find “the virtuous woman” in the land and the time when Lemuet dwelt (Pro 31:10); but she may be found today in any number of Christian homes. Holding the faith of Jesus Christ, governed by his principles, living his life, animated by his Spirit, fulfilling his law of love, the wife and mother is to be seen taking an honored place, filling her home with the sweet fragrance of purity and affection, exerting her benign and gracious influence on her husband and her children. You have not to take a long journey to reach her, nor to take much pains to find her; she is at home in “the castle of the noble, in the mansion of the wealthy, and in the cottage of the poor and the lowly.”
1. Let us freely acknowledge our great indebtedness to her. Those who have had the priceless advantage of a mother possessed of the Christian virtues and graces have more to thank God for than if they had inherited a titled name or an ample fortune.
2. If it be open to us, let us join her ranks. To be a woman living under the commanding influence of Christian principle, breathing a Christian spirit, and shedding a Christian influence in the home in which we live,what is there, this side the gate of heaven, that any human spirit could more wisely wish to be? To be such is to be doing a most excellent work of God; it is to be filling a most honourable and useful sphere.C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
EXPOSITION
Pro 31:1-9
Part VIII. SECOND APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION, containing “the words of Lemuel” on the subjects of impurity and intemperance.
Pro 31:1
The superscription. The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him. Who is intended by “Lemuel king” is much disputed. Those who connect the following word massa (“oracle”) with the preceding melek (“king”), translate “King of Massa,” as Pro 30:1 (where see note). Of the country, or the king, or his mother, we have absolutely no information. The name Lemuel, or Lemoel (Pro 30:4), means “unto God,” i.e. dedicated to God, like Lael (Num 3:24); hence it is regarded by many authorities, ancient and modern, as an appellation of Solomon, one from infancy dedicated to God and celled by him Jedidiah, “beloved of the Lord” (2Sa 12:25). But there is nothing in the contents of this section to confirm this idea; indeed, there are expressions which militate against it. Possibly Hezekiah may be meant, and his remarkable piety somewhat confirms the opinion; yet we see no reason why he should be here addressed under a pseudonym, especially if we consider that he himself was concerned in making this collection. On the whole, it seems best to take Lemuel as a symbolical name, designating an ideal king, to whom an ideal mother addressed the exhortation which follows. Solomon’s own proverbs contain many warnings against the very sins of which this mother speaks, so that the section is conceived in the spirit of the earlier portion of the book, though it is assigned to a different author and another age. The prophecy (massa); the inspired utterance (see on Pro 30:1). This maternal counsel forms one compact exhortation, which might with more propriety be so termed than the words of Agur. His mother. The mother of a reigning king was always regarded with the utmost respect, taking precedence of the king’s wife. Hence we so often find the names of kings’ mothers in the sacred record; e.g. 1Ki 2:19; 1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 15:2; 2Ki 12:1. It is difficult to say what reading was seen by the LXX; who render, “My words have been spoken by God, the oracle of a king whom his mother instructed.” There are many wise women mentioned in Scripture; e.g. Miriam, Deborah, the Queen of Sheba, Huldah, etc; so there is nothing incongruous in Lemuel being instructed by his mother in wisdom.
Pro 31:2-9
Here follows the exhortation, which seems to come from the same source as the “burden” of Agur above. In this section the connection and parallelism of the parts are exhibited by repetition of thought and often of words in the several clauses.
Pro 31:2
What, my son? Mah, “what,” is repeated thrice, both to enforce the attention of the son, and to show the mother’s anxious care for his good. She feels the vast importance of the occasion, and asks as in perplexity, “What shall I say? What advice shall I give thee?” “Son” is here not ben, but bar, one of the Aramaic forms which are found in these two last chapters. The word occurs also in Psa 2:12. Son of my vows. This might mean, “son who wast asked in prayer,” like Samuel (1Sa 1:11), and dedicated to God, as the name Lemuel implies; or it may signify, “thou who art the object of my daily vows and prayers.” Septuagint, “What, my son, wilt thou observe ()? What? the sayings of God. My firstborn son, to thee I speak. What, son of my womb? What, son of my vows?”
Pro 31:3
Exhortation to chastity. Give not thy strength unto women (comp. Pro 5:9). Chayil is “vigour,” the bodily powers, which are sapped and enervated by sensuality. The Septuagint has ; the Vulgate, substantiam tuam; but the prayerful, anxious mother would consider rather her son’s personal well being than his worldly circumstances, which, indeed, an Eastern monarch’s licentiousness would not necessarily impair. Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings; or, with a slight alteration in the punctuation (and an improved parallelism), to them that destroy kings; “expugnatricibus regum,” as Schultens terms them. Women are meant; and the prince is enjoined not to surrender his life, conduct, and actions to the influence of women, who, both by the dissipation and sensuality which they occasion, and the quarrels which they provoke, and the evil counsels which they give, often ruin kings and states (see the injunction, Deu 17:11). The Vulgate rendering, ad delendos reges, looks as if the warning was against making wars of conquest against neighbouring kings; but this is not a satisfactory parallel to the former clause. Septuagint, “Give not thy wealth unto women, nor thy mind, nor thy life unto remorse (). Do all things with counsel; drink wine with counsel.” This seems to belong to the next verse.
Pro 31:4-7
The second admonition. A warning against inebriety, and concerning a proper use of strong drink.
Pro 31:4
It is not for kings; or, as others read, far be it from kings. The injunction is repeated to indicate its vast importance. Nor for princes strong drink; literally, nor for princes (the word), Where is strong drink? (see on Pro 20:1; and comp. Job 15:23). The evils of intemperance, flagrant enough in the case of a private person, are greatly enhanced in the ease of a king, whose misdeeds may affect a whole community, as the next verse intimates. St. Jerome reads differently, translating, “Because there is no secret where drunkenness reigns.” This is in accordance with the proverb, “When wine goes in the secret comes out;” and, “Where drink enters, wisdom departs;” and again, “Quod latet in mente sobrii, hoc natat in ore ebrii.” Septuagint, “The powerful are irascible, but let them not drink wine.” “Drunkenness,” says Jeremy Taylor (‘Holy Living,’ ch. 3, 2), “opens all the sanctuaries of nature, and discovers the nakedness of the soul, all its weaknesses and follies; it multiplies sins and discovers them; it makes a man incapable of being a private friend or a public counsellor. It taketh a man’s soul into slavery and imprisonment more than any vice whatsoever, because it disarms a man of all his reason and his wisdom, whereby he might be cured, and, therefore, commonly it grows upon him with age; a drunkard being still more a fool and less a man.”
Pro 31:5
This gives a reason for the warning. Lest they drink, and forget the Law. That which has been decreed, and is right and lawful, the appointed ordinance, particularly as regards the administration of justice. Septuagint, “Lest drinking, they forget wisdom.” And pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted; literally, of all the sons of affliction; i.e. the whole class of poorer people. Intemperance leads to selfish disregard of others’ claims, an inability to examine questions impartially, and consequent perversion of justice. Isaiah (Isa 5:23) speaks of intoxication as inducing men to “justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.”
Pro 31:6
There are cases where strong drink may be properly administered. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish (Job 29:13; Job 31:19). As a restorative, a cordial, or a medicine, wine may he advantageously used; it has a place in the providential economy of God. “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities,” was St. Paul’s advice to Timothy (1Ti 5:23). It is supposed to have been in consideration of the injunction in the text that the ladies of Jerusalem provided for criminals on their way to the place of execution a drink of medicated wine, which might deaden the pain of suffering. This was the draught rejected by Christ, who willed to taste the full bitterness of death. The Septuagint has, “to those that are in sorrow;” so the Vulgate, maerentibus, but this makes the two clauses tautological. Wine unto those that be of heavy hearts (Job 3:20). “Wine,” says the psalmist, “maketh glad the heart of man” (Psa 104:15). Says Homer, ‘Iliad,’ 6.261
“Great is the strength
Which generous wine imparts to wearied men.”
“Wine,” says St. Chrysostom (‘Hom. in Ephes.,’ 19), “has been given us for cheerfulness, not for drunkenness. Wouldest thou know where wine is good? Hear what the Scripture saith, ‘Give wine to them, etc. And justly, because it can mitigate asperity and gloominess, and drive away clouds from the brow” (comp. Ecclesiasticus 34:25 [31], etc.).
Pro 31:7
Let him drink, and forget his poverty. Ovid, ‘Art. Amat.,’ 1.237
“Vina parant animos, faciuntque caloribus aptos:
Cura fugit multo diluiturque mero.
Tunc veniunt risus; tunc pauper cornua sumit;
Tunc dolor, et curae, rugaque frontis abit.”
Thus is shown a way in which the rich can comfort and encourage their poorer brethren, which is a better method of using God’s good gifts than by expending them on their own selfish enjoyment.
Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9
The third exhortation, admonishing the king to judge righteously.
Pro 31:8
Open thy mouth for the dumb. The “dumb” is any one who for any reason whatever is unable to plead his own cause; he may be of tender age, or of lowly station, or ignorant, timid, and boorish; and the prince is enjoined to plead for him and defend him (comp. Job 29:15). In the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction; literally, the sons of passing away (Isa 2:18); i.e. not orphans, children whose parents have vanished from the earth, nor strangers from a foreign country, nor, generally, mortals, subjects of frail human nature (all of which explanations have been given), but persons who are in imminent danger of perishing, certain, if left unaided, to come to ruin (comp. Job 29:12). Septuagint, “Open thy mouth for the Word of God, and judge all men soundly ().”
Pro 31:9
Plead the cause; rather, minister judgment, or do right; act in your official capacity so that the effect shall be substantial justice (comp. Zec 8:16).
Pro 31:10-31
Part IX. THIRD APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION.
This section contains an ode in praise of the virtuous woman, derived from a different source from that of the words of Agur, and belonging to a different age (see Introduction). It is an acrostic; that is, each verse begins with one of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, arranged in the usual order. We may compare this mashal with the alphabetical psalms, “Psalmi abcedarii,” which are, more or less, of similar structure, but of which one only, the hundred and nineteenth, is so marked in the English versions. Other examples are Psa 9:1-20; Psa 10:1-18; Psa 25:1-22; Psa 34:1-22; Psa 37:1-40; Psa 111:1-10; Psa 112:1-10; Psa 145:1-21; also Lam 1:1-22; Lam 2:1-22; Lam 3:1-66. One object of this artificial construction was to render the matter easier to commit to memory. The spiritual expositors see in this description of the virtuous woman a prophetic representation of the Church of Christ in her truth and purity and influence. Thus Bode: “Hic sapientissimus regum Salomon laudes sanctae Ecclesiae versibus paucis sed plenissima veritate depingit. Cujus (carminis) ordine perfectissimo alphabeti typice innuitur, quam plenissime hic vel animae cujusque fidelis, vel totius sanctae Ecclesiae, quae ex omnibus electis animabus una perficitur Catholica, virtutes ac praemia describantur.”
Pro 31:10
ALEPH. Who can find a virtuous woman? The expression, ishshah chayil, “woman of force,” has occurred in Pro 12:4 (where see note). Mulierem fortem, St. Jerome terms her; is the rendering of the LXX; which places this section as the end of the whole Book of Proverbs. The expression combines the ideas of moral goodness and bodily vigour and activity. It is useless to try to fix the character upon any particular person. The representation is that of an ideal womanthe perfect housewife, the chaste helpmate of her husband, upright, God-fearing, economical, wise. See an anticipation of this character (Pro 18:22; Pro 19:14); and a very different view (Ecc 7:26). It is very remarkable to meet with such a delineation of woman in the East, where the female generally occupies a most degraded position, and is cut off from all sphere of activity and administration. To paint such a portrait needed inspiration of some sort. Such a one is hard to find. Her price is far above rubies; or, pearls (see on Pro 20:15 and Pro 3:15). Septuagint, “Such a one is more valuable than precious stones.” There may be allusion to the custom of giving treasure in exchange for a wife, purchasing her, as it were, from her friends (comp. Hos 3:2). At any rate, few only are privileged to meet with this excellent wife, and her worth cannot be estimated by any material object, however costly. St. Jerome, with a slight difference in the reading, has, Procul, et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus. You may go to the ends of the earth to find her equal in value.
Pro 31:11
BETH. The heart of her husband cloth safely trust in her. The husband of such a wife goes forth to his daily occupations, having full confidence in her whom he leaves at home, that she will act discreetly, and promote his interests while he is absent (see the contrast in Pro 7:20). So that he shall have no need of spoil; rather, he shall not lack gain (shalal). The wife manages domestic concerns so well that her husband finds his honest gains increase, and sees his confidence profitably rewarded. Septuagint, “Such a woman shall want not fair spoils.” It is obvious to see in this an adumbration of the Church winning souls from the power of the enemy, especially as shalal is used for an enemy’s spoils (Psa 68:12; Isa 53:12; and elsewhere).
Pro 31:12
GIMEL. She will do him good and not evil (comp. Ec Pro 26:1-3). She is consistent in her conduct towards her husband, always pursuing his best interests. All the days of her life; in good times or bad, in the early spring time of young affection, and in the waning years of declining age. Her love, based on high principles, knows no change or diminution. The old commentator refers to the conduct of St. Monies to her unbelieving and unfaithful husband, narrated by St. Augustine in his ‘Confessions,’ 9.9: “Having been given over to a husband, she served him as her lord; and busied herself to win him to thee, revealing thee to him by her virtues, in which thou madest her beautiful, and reverently amiable, and admirable to her husband.”
Pro 31:13
DALETH. She seeketh wool, and flax. She pays attention to these things, as materials for clothing and domestic uses. Wool has been used for clothing from the earliest times (see Le 13:47; Job 31:20, etc.), and flax was largely cultivated for the manufacture of linen, the processes of drying, peeling, hackling, and spinning being well understood (see Jos 2:6; Isa 19:9; Jer 13:1, etc.). The prohibition about mixing wool and flax in a garment (Deu 22:11) was probably based on the idea that all mixtures made by the art of man are polluted, and that what is pure and simple, such as it is in its natural state, is alone proper for the use of the people of God. And worketh willingly with her hands; or, she worketh with her hands’ pleasure; i.e. with willing hands. The rendering of the Revised Version margin, after Hitzig, “She worketh at the business of her hands,” is feeble, and does not say much. What is meant is that she not only labours diligently herself, but finds pleasure in doing so, and this, not because she has none to help her, and is forced to do her own work (on the contrary, she is represented as rich, and at the head of a large household), but because she considers that labour is a duty for all, and that idleness is a transgression of a universal law. Septuagint, “Weaving () wool and flax; she makes it useful with her hands.”
Pro 31:14
HE. She is like the merchants’ ships. She is like them in that she extends her operations beyond her own immediate neighbourhood, and bringeth her food from afar, buying in the best markets and on advantageous terms, without regard to distance, and being always on the look out to make honest profit. Septuagint, “She is like a ship trading from a distance, and she herself gathereth her livelihood.” The expressions in the text point to active commercial operations by sea as well as land, such as we know to have been undertaken by Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and others (1Ki 9:26; 1Ki 22:48), and such as the Hebrews must have noticed in the Phoenician cities, Sidon and Tyre.
Pro 31:15
VAV. She riseth also while it is yet night. Before dawn she is up and stirring, to be ready for her daily occupation. A lamp is always kept burning at night in Eastern houses, and as it is of very small dimensions, the careful housewife has to rise at midnight to replenish the oil, and she often then begins her household work by grinding the corn or preparing something for next day’s meals (comp. Pro 31:18). Early rising before any great undertaking is continually mentioned in Scripture. And giveth meat to her household; deditquae praedam domesticis suis, Vulgate. The word for “meat” is tereph, which means “food torn in pieces” with the teeth (Psa 111:5), and hence food to be eaten. The wife thus early prepares or distributes the food which will be wanted for the day. And a portion to her maidens. Chok, “final portion,” may apply either to work or food. The Vulgate has cibaria, “meat;” Septuagint, , “tasks.” The former, which is in accordance with Pro 30:8, would be merely a repetition of the second clause, the meat mentioned there being here called the allotted portion, and would be simply tautological. If we take it in the sense of “appointed labour,” we get a new idea, very congruous with the housewife’s activity (comp. Exo 5:14, where the same word is used in the ease of the enforced labour of the Israelites).
Pro 31:16
ZAYIN. She considereth a field, and buyeth it. She turns her attention to a certain field, the possession of which is for some cause desirable; and, after due examination and consideration, she buys it. One is reminded of Christ’s parable of the treasure hidden in a field, which the finder sold all that he had to purchase (Mat 13:44). With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. Her prudent management and economy give her means to buy vines and plant a vineyard, and thus to increase her produce. Possibly it is meant that she sees the field she has gotten is more fitted for grapes than corn, and she cultivates it accordingly. Virgil ‘Georg.,’ 2.229
“Altera frumentis quoniam favet, altera Baccho,
Densa magis Cereri, rarissima quaeque Lyaeo.”
Pro 31:17
KHETH. She girdeth her loins with strength (Pro 31:25). This seems at first sight a strange assertion to make concerning one of the weaker sex; but the phrase is metaphorically expressive of the energy and force with which she prepares herself for her work. Strength and vigour are, as it were, the girdle which she binds round her waist to enable her to conduct her operations with case and freedom. So we have a similar metaphor boldly applied to God (Psa 93:1): “The Lord reigneth, he is apparelled with majesty; the Lord is apparelled, he hath girded himself with strength” (cf. Job 38:3). Strengtheneth her arms. By daily exercise she makes her arms firm and strong, and capable of great and continued exertion.
Pro 31:18
TETH. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good; Vulgate, Gustavit et vidit quia bona est negotiatio ejus, where the paraphrase, “she tastes and sees,” expresses the meaning of the verb taam here used. Her prudence and economy leave her a large surplus profit, which she contemplates with satisfaction. There is no suspicion of arrogance or conceit, The pleasure that is derived from duty done and successfully conducted business is legitimate and healthy, a providential reward of good works. Septuagint, “She tastes that it is good to work.” This comfort and success spur her on to further and more continued exertion. Her candle (lamp) goeth not out by night. She is not idle even when night falls, and outdoor occupations are cut short; she finds work for the hours of darkness, such as is mentioned in the next verse. One recalls Virgil’s picture of the thrifty housewife (‘AEneid,’ 8.407)
“Inde ubi prima quies medio jam noctis abactae
Curriculo expulerat somnum, cum femina primum,
Cui tolerare colo vitam tenuique Minerva
Impositum, cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignis,
Noctem addens operi, famulesque ad lumina longo
Exercet penso.”
Some take the lamp hers in an allegorical sense, as signifying life, happiness, and prosperity, as Pro 13:9 and Pro 20:20; others, as denoting a bright example of diligence and piety (Mat 5:16). But the simple meaning seems to be the one intended. Wordsworth notes that the passage in Rev 18:1-24, which speaks of the “merchandise” of the false Church, also affirms that “the light of a candle” shall shine in her no more, the two metaphors in our passage applied to the true Church being there applied to Babylon.
Pro 31:19
YODH. She layeth her hands to the spindle. . (kishor, a word not occurring elsewhere) is probably not the spindle, but the distaff, i.e. the staff to which is tied the bunch of flax from which the spinning wheel draws the thread. To this she applies her hand; she deftly performs the work of spinning her flax into thread. Her hands hold the distsaff. (pelek) is the spindle, the cylindrical wood (afterwards the wheel) on which the thread winds itself as it is spun. The hands could not be spared to hold the distaff as well as the spindle, so the first clause should run, “She stretches her hand towards the distaff.” In the former clause kishor occasioned some difficulty to the early translators, who did not view the word as connected with the process of spinning. The Septuagint translates, “She stretches out her arms to useful works ( );” Vulgate, Manum suam misit ad fortia. So Aquila and Symmachus, . This rather impedes the parallelism of the two clauses. There was nothing derogatory in women of high rank spinning among their maidens, just as in the Middle Ages noble ladies worked at tapestry with their attendants. We remember how Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, was found sitting in the midst of her handmaids, carding wool and spinning (Livy, 1.57). Catullus, in his ‘Epithal. Pel. et Thet.,’ 312, describes the process of spinning
“Laeva colum molli lana retinebat amictum;
Dextera tum leviter deducens fila supinis
Formabat digitis; tum prono in pollice torquens
Libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum.”
(‘Carm.,’ 64.)
Pro 31:20
CAPH. She is not impelled by selfish greed to improve her means and enlarge her revenues. She is sympathizing and charitable, and loves to extend to others the blessings which have rewarded her efforts. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. “Hand” is here caph, “the palm,” evidently containing alms. She knows the maxim (Pro 19:17), “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord,” etc.; and she has no fear of poverty. Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. “Hand,” is here yod, with its nerves and sinews ready for exertion (see on Pro 10:4); and the idea is that she puts forth her hand to raise and soothe the poor man, not being satisfied with dealing alms to him, but exercising the gentle ministries of a tender love. Septuagint, “She opens her hands to the needy, and reaches forth her wrist () to the poor.” Like Dorcas, she is full of good works and alms deeds (Act 9:36). It is doubtless implied that the prosperity which she experiences is the reward of this benevolence (Pro 22:9).
Pro 31:21
LAMED. She is not afraid of the snow for her household. “Show,” says Dr. Geikie (‘Holy Land,’ 2.58), “covers the streets of Jerusalem two winters in three, but it generally comes in small quantities, and soon disappears. Yet there are sometimes very snowy winters. That of 1879, for example, left behind it seventeen inches of snow, even where there was no drift, and the strange spectacle of snow lying unmelted for two or three weeks was seen in the hollows on the hillsides. Thousands of years have wrought no change in this aspect of the winter months, for Bennaiah, one of David’s mighty men, ‘slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow’ (2Sa 23:20).” She has no fears concerning the comfort and health of her family even in the severest winter. For all her household are clothed with scarlet; with warm garments. The word used is (shanim), derived from a verb meaning “to shine,” and denoting a crimson or deep scarlet colour. This colour was supposed, and rightly, to absorb and retain heat, as white to repel it; being made of wool, the garments would be warm as well as stately in appearance. St. Jerome has duplicibus (shenaim), “with double garments,” i.e. with one over the other. Warm garments were the more necessary as the only means of heating rooms was the introduction of portable chafing dishes containing bunting charcoal (see Jer 36:22, etc). The Septuagint has taken liberties with the text, “Her husband is not anxious concerning domestic matters when he tarries anywhere [ for which Delitzsch suggests ], for all her household are well clothed.” Spiritually, the Church fears not the severity of temptation or the chill of unbelief, when her children take refuge in the blood of Christ.
Pro 31:22
MEM. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry (marbaddim); as Pro 7:16 (where see note). Pillows for beds or cushions are meant, though the translators are not of one mind on the meaning. St. Jerome has, stragulatam vestem; Aquila and Theodotion, , Symmachus, , “shaggy on both sides;” Septuagint, “She makes for her husband double garments ( ).” Her clothing is silk and purple. (shesh) is not “silk,” but “white linen” (, byssus) of very fine texture, and costly. Purple garments were brought from the Phoenician cities, and were highly esteemed (see So Pro 3:10; Jer 10:9). The wife dresses herself in a way becoming her station, avoiding the extremes of sordid simplicity and ostentatious luxury. “For my own part,” says St. Francois de Sales, quoted by Lesetre, “I should wish any devout man or woman always to be the best dressed person in the company, but at the same time, the least fine and affected, and adorned, as it is said, with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. St. Louis said that every one ought to dress according to his position, so that good and sensible people should not be able to say you are overdressed, nor the younger under dressed” (‘Vie Devot.,’ 3.25). So the Church is clothed in fine linen, clean and white, even the righteousness which Christ bestows (Rev 19:8), and invested in her Lord’s royal robe, who hath made her children kings and priests unto God (Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10).
Pro 31:23
NUN. Her husband is known in the gates. Such a woman advances her husband’s interests, increases his influence, and, by attending to his domestic concerns, enables him to take his share in public matters, so that his name is in great repute in the popular assemblies at the city gates (Pro 31:31; Pro 8:3). She is indeed “a crown to her husband” (Pro 12:4). When he sitteth among the elders of the land. Homer introduces Nausikaa speaking to her father of her duty to see that he is honourably clad when he goes to the council
.
(‘Odyssey,’ 6.60.)
“For our costly robes,
All sullied now, the cleansing stream require;
And thine especially, when thou appear’st
In council with the princes of the land,
Had need be pure.”
(Cowper.)
St. Gregory sees here an adumbration of the day of judgment: “For the Redeemer of mankind is the “Husband” of holy Church, who shows himself ‘renowned’ (nobilis, Vulgate) in the gates. Who first came in sight in degradation and in mockings, but shall appear on high at the entering in of his kingdom; and ‘he sitteth among the elders of the land,’ for that he shall decree sentence of condemnation together with the holy preachers of that same Church, as himself declares in the gospel (Mat 19:28)” (‘Moral.,’ 6.9).
Pro 31:24
SAMECH. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it. The word for “fine linen” is sadin, not the same as in Pro 31:22. but equivalent to , and denoting linen garments; Delitzsch calls it “body linen” (comp. Jdg 14:12, Jdg 14:13; Isa 3:23). Delivereth girdles unto the merchant; literally, unto the Canaanite; i.e. the Phoenician merchant, a generic name for all traders (see Isa 23:8; Zec 14:21). Girdles were necessary articles of attire with the flowing robes of Eastern dress The common kind were made of leather, as is the use at the present day; but a more costly article was of linen curiously worked in gold and silver thread, and studded with jewels and gold (see 2Sa 18:11; Dan 10:5). So Virgil (AEneid,’ 9.359) speaks of “aurea bullis cingula.” We read of Queen Parysatis having certain villages assigned her for girdle money, (Xen; ‘Anab.,’ 1.4, 9). Cicero alludes to the same custom in his Verrine oration (Pro 3:33): “Solere aiunt barbaros reges Persarum ac Syrorum plures uxores habere, his autem uxoribus civitates attribuere hocmodo: haec civitas mulieri iu redimiculum proebeat, haec in collum, haec in crines”. Such rich and elaborately worked girdles the mistress could readily barter with Phoenician merchants, who would give in exchange purple (Pro 31:22) and other articles of use or luxury. On this passage St. Gregory thus moralizes: “What is signified by a garment of fine linen, but the subtle texture of holy preaching? In which men rest softly, because the mind of the faithful is refreshed therein by heavenly hope. Whence also the animals are shown to Peter in a linen sheet, because the souls of sinners mercifully gathered together are enclosed in the gentle quiet of faith. The Church therefore made and sold this fine garment, because she inparted in words that faith which she had woven by belief; and received from unbelievers a life of upright conversation. And she delivered a girdle to the Canaanite, because by the might of the righteousness she displayed, she constrained the lax doings of the Gentile world, in order that that might be maintained in their doings which is commanded. ‘Let your loins be girded about'” (‘Moral.,’ 33.33).
Pro 31:25
AYIN. Strength and honour are her clothing (Pro 31:17); , Septuagint. She is invested with a moral force and dignity which arm her against care and worry; the power of a righteous purpose and strong will reveals itself in her carriage and demeanour. And thus equipped, she shall rejoice in time to come; or, she laugheth (Job 5:22; Job 39:7) at the future (Isa 30:8). She is not disquieted by any fear of what may happen, knowing in whom she trusts, and having done her duty to the utmost of her ability. The Greek and Latin versions seem to take the expression as referring to the day of death; thus the Vulgate, Ridebit in die novissimo; Septuagint, “She rejoices in the last days ( ).” But it is best interpreted as above. The true servant of God is not afraid of any evil tidings, his heart being fixed, trusting in the Lord (Psa 112:7).
Pro 31:26
PE. She openeth her mouth with wisdom. She is not merely a good housewife, attending diligently to material interests; she guides her family with words of wisdom. When she speaks, it is not gossip, or slander, or idle talk, that she utters, but sentences of prudence and sound sense, such as may minister grace to the hearers. The Septuagint has this verse before Pro 31:25, and the first hemistich Again. after Pro 31:27. So in Lam 2:1-22, Lam 3:1-66, Lam 4:1-22, the pe and ayin vetoes change places. This is also the case in Psa 37:1-40. In the former passage the LXX: renders, “She openeth her mouth heedfully and lawfully ( );” and in the other, “wisely and in accordance with law ( ).” In her tongue is the law of kindness (thorath chesed); i.e. her language to those around her is animated and regulated by love. As mistress of a family, she has to teach and direct her dependents, and she performs this duty with gracious kindness and ready sympathy. Septuagint, “She places order on her tongue.”
Pro 31:27
TSADE. She looketh well to the ways of her house; the actions and habits of the household. She exercises careful surveillance over all that goes on in the family. Eateth not the bread of idleness; but rather bread won by active labour and conscientious diligence. She is of the opinion of the apostle who said “that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2Th 3:10). Septuagint, “The ways of her house are confined ( ), and she eats not idle bread.” The first of these clauses may mean that the proceedings of her household, being confined to a narrow circle, are readily supervised. But the meaning is very doubtful; and Schleusner renders, “continuae conversationes in aedibus ejus.” St. Gregory applies our verse to the conscience, thus: “She considers the ways of her house, because she accurately examines all the thoughts of her conscience. She eateth not her bread in idleness, because that which she learned out of Holy Scripture by her understanding, she places before the eyes of the Judge by exhibiting it in her works” (‘Moral.,’ 35.47).
Pro 31:28
KUPH. Her children arise up, and call her blessed. She is a fruitful mother of children, who, seeing her sedulity and prudence, and experiencing her affectionate care, celebrate and praise her, and own that she has rightly won the blessing of the Lord. Her husband also, and he praiseth her; in the words given in the next verse. Having the approbation of her husband and children, who know her best, and have the best opportunities of judging her conduct, she is contented and happy. Septuagint, “Her mercy () raises up her children, and they grow rich, and her husband praises her.”
Pro 31:29
RESH. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. The versions and some commentators take the encomium in the mean and restricted sense of praise for the acquisition of riches. Thus the Vulgate, Multae filiae congregaverunt divitias; Septuagint, “Many daughters have obtained wealth.” But it adds another rendering, “Many have wrought power (),” which is nearer the meaning in this place. Chayil (as we have seen, Pro 31:10) means “force,” virtus, “strength of character” shown in various ways (comp. Num 24:18; Psa 60:12). “Daughters,” equivalent to “women,” as Gen 30:13; So Gen 6:9. Roman Catholic commentators have, with much ingenuity, applied the whole description of the virtuous woman, and especially the present verse, to the Virgin Mary. We may regard it as a representation of the truly Christian matron, who loves husband and children, guides the house, is discreet, chaste, good, a teacher of good things (1Ti 5:14; Tit 2:3, etc.).
Pro 31:30
SHIN. The writer confirms the husband’s praise by assigning to it its just grounds. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain. Chen, “favour,” may signify either the good will with which one is regarded, or gracefulness, beauty. As being in close parallelism with the next words, it is best taken as referring to loveliness of form. Mere gracefulness, if considered as a token of a wife’s work and usefulness, is misleading; and beauty is transitory and often dangerous. Neither of them is of any real value unless accompanied by religion. As the gnomic poet says
.
“Judge not at eight of beauty, but of life.”
But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. So we come back to the maxim with which the whole book began, that the foundation of all excellence is the fear of the Lord (Pro 1:7). Such, too, is the conclusion of Ecclesiastes (Ecc 12:13), “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Septuagint, “False are charms (), and vain is the beauty of woman; for a prudent woman is blessed, and let her praise the fear of the Lord.”
Pro 31:31
TAV. Give her of the fruit of her hands. So may she enjoy the various blessings which her zeal, prudence, and economy have obtained. Psa 128:2, “Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.” Septuagint, “Give her of the fruit of her lips.” And let her own works praise her in the gates. She needs no farfetched laudation; her life long actions speak for themselves. Where men most congregate, where the heads of the people meet in solemn assembly, there her praise is sung, and a unanimous verdict assigns to her the highest honour. Septuagint, “Let her husband be praised in the gates.” This frequent introduction of the husband is cuprous. St. Gregory thus spiritualizes the passage: “As the entrance of a city is called the gate, so is the day of judgment the gate of the kingdom, since all the elect go in thereby to the glory of their heavenly country .Of these gates Solomon says, ‘Give her of the fruit of her hands, and her own works shall praise her in the gates.’ For holy Church then receives of ‘the fruit of her hands,’ when the recompensing of her labour raises her up to the possession of heavenly blessings; for her ‘works then praise her in the gates,’ when in the very entrance to his kingdom the words are spoken to his members, ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat,’ etc.” (‘Moral.,’ 6.9).
HOMILETICS
Pro 31:1
A mother’s counsel
The last chapter of the Book of Proverbs gives us the picture of a mother’s counsel to her sonwise and good and eloquent with love and yearning anxiety. Here is a picture to suggest the inestimable advantage to a young man of a mother’s guidance. In thoughtless, high-spirited youth this too often passes unheeded, and precious advice is then wasted on ungrateful ears. It would be more seemly to consider its unique merits.
I. IT SPRINGS FROM A WOMAN‘S NATURE. We have many beautiful pictures of women in the Bible. Inspired women have conveyed to us some parts of the biblical teaching. Deborah (Jdg 5:7), the mother of Samuel, and now the mother of Lemuel, all help us with great Divine truths or holy thoughts and influences. It is the gift of women to see into truth with a flash of sympathy. The wonder is that we have so small a part of the Bible from the tongue and pen of women.
II. IT IS INSPIRED BY A MOTHER‘S HEART. The biblical gallery of holy women does not introduce us to the cloisters. The Hebrew heroines were “mothers in Israel,” not nuns. Maternity completes woman. “The perfect woman, nobly planned,” is one who can think, love, and act with the large heart of a mother.
III. IT IS CHARACTERIZED BY UNSELFISH DEVOTION. There is nowhere in all creation such an image of utterly unselfish, of completely self-sacrificing love as that of a woman for her child. She almost gives her life for his infant existence. All through his helpless years she watches over him with untiring care. When he goes forth into the world, she follows him with never-flagging interest. He may forget her; she will never forget him. If he does well, her joy is unbounded; if he does ill, her heart is broken. Without a thought of self, she spends herself on her child, and finds her life or her death in his conduct.
IV. IT IS GUIDED BY DEEP KNOWLEDGE. The mother may not know much of the outer world; she may be quite ignorant of the most recent dicta of science; some of her notions may seem old-fashioned to her modern-minded son. But foolish indeed will he be if he dares to despise her counsels on such grounds. She knows himhis strength and his weakness, his childish faults and his early promises. Here lies the secret of her wisdom.
V. IT CANNOT BE NEGLECTED WITHOUT CRUEL INGRATITUDE. The son may think himself wiser than his mother, but at least, he should give reverent attention to her advice. So much love and care and thoughtfulness do not deserve to be tossed aside in a moment of impatience. The wise son will acknowledge that his mother’s wishes deserve his most earnest consideration. It may be, then, that he will be held back in the hour of temptation by the thought of the poignant grief that his shameful fall would give to his mother. It is much for a life to be worthy of a good Christian mother’s counsel.
Pro 31:10-31
The typical woman
I. HER SPHERE. This is domestic.
1. In marriage. The typical woman is a wife and mother, not a St. Agnes, the mystical bride of Christ, nor even a Virgin Mary. We see her in Sarah, in Naomi, in Hannah, in Eunice. There is invaluable service for the world which only women who are free from the ties of home can accomplish; there is a noble mission for single women. But there is nothing in Scripture, reason, or conscience to suggest that virginity is more holy than marriage, that the maiden is more saintly than the matron.
2. In the work of the home. Moreover, for unmarried women household cares and quiet home duties usually have the first call. Some women may be called to more public positions. A queen may adorn a throne. A Florence Nightingale may live as an angel of mercy to the suffering. But these are exceptional persons. Every Jewess was not a Deborah, and even the martial prophetess, unlike her French counterpart, Joan of Are, was “a mother in Israel.”
3. Therefore with domestic responsibility. The typical woman will be judged primarily in regard to domestic duties. The true wife is the helpmeet of her husband. Her first aim will be to “do him good” (Pro 31:12). If she falls here, her public service is of little account.
II. HER CHARACTER. This is described in a graphic picture of her lifea picture which is in striking contrast to the ignorance, the indolence, the inanity of an Oriental harem. Observe its chief features.
1. Trustworthiness. The true wife is her husband’s confidant. She must be worthy of confidence by icing
(1) faithful,
(2) sympathetic,
(3) intelligent.
2. Industry. Nothing can be more foolish than the notion that a “lady” should have no occupation. The ideal woman rises early and busies herself with many affairs. In old days, when the spinning was done at home and most of the family garments were made by the women of the house, the clothing of husband and children bore testimony to the industry of the wife. Machinery has destroyed this antique picture. Yet the spirit of it remains. The true wife still finds an abundance of domestic occupations.
3. Thrift. The wife of the Proverbs is quite a business woman, selling the superfluous work of her hands to merchants, and buying land with the proceeds. Yet by her foresight she provides warm clothing for the winter, and therefore she can afford to laugh when the snow cometh.
4. Strength. “She girdeth her loins with strength.” The physical education of women is just now receiving especial attention, and rightly so. It is a woman’s duty to be strong, if by means of wholesome food and exercise she can conquer weakness. No doubt the ailments of many women spring from lassitude, indolence, and self-surrender. But eve, when bodily trailty cannot be conquered, strength of soul may be attained.
5. Charity. The strong and thristy with might be hard, cold, and selfish. But the true woman “stretcheth out her hand to the poor” (verse 20).
6. Gracious speech. So energetic a woman might still be thought somewhat unlovable if we had not this final trait: “in her tongue is the law of kindness” (verse 26). How much may the tone of a woman’s conversation do to keep peace in a household, and shed over it a spirit of love and gentleness!
7. True religion. This is the root of the matter. The typical woman “feareth the Lord” (verse 30).
III. HER REWARD.
1. In her influence. “Her husband is known in the gates.” She helps him to honour. Herself too busy in the private sphere to take her part directly in public life, yet indirectly she is a great force in the large world through her influence over her husband.
2. In the success of her energies. We have here a picture of a wife in affluencenot of a poor domestic drudge in the squalor of abject poverty. Nevertheless, the prosperity of the home largely depends upon her. Her thoughtfulness, energy, careful oversight of others and kindness of heart and words, are the chief causes of the welfare of her happy, comfortable home.
3. In the honour of her family. “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her” (verse 28). Surely this is a better reward than public fame.
4. Continued influence. This true woman deserves to have “the fruit of her hands.” If she is to be spoken of “in the gates,” it should be in praise of her domestic duties, which cannot but be known to her neighbours, however modest and retiring her manners may be.
Pro 31:30
Rival attractions
Lemuel’s mother warns her son against the fascinations of superficial charms in his choice of a wife, and points to the attractiveness of a God-fearing woman.
I. THE VANITY OF BEAUTY.
1. It is but temporary. The bloom of beauty fades with youth; but a wife is to be a man’s helpmeet throughout life, and, if both are spared, his companion in age. In making a choice for life a man should consider enduring traits.
2. It is superficial. Beauty of face and grace of form are only bodily attributes, They may have no corresponding mental, moral, and spiritual merits.
3. It is deceptive. The fascination of a pretty face may delude a man into neglecting more important considerations in the woman of his choice. Ill temper may be taken for strength of character, frivolity for liveliness, mere softness of disposition for love. But the great disillusion of lifelong companionship will dispel all these mistakes, when the discovery is to, late to be of any use. On the other hand, there is no need to take refuge in a monkish contempt of beauty. All beauty is a work of God. It is the duty of a woman to make herself pleasing to others. The finest beauty is a product of health, good temper, and the expression of worthy sentimentsall of them desirable things. Note: The vanity of beauty shows the mistake of pursuing “art for art’s sake,” to the neglect of morality, duty, truth, and charity.
II. THE GRACE OF RELIGION. The “woman that feareth the Lord” is to be prodded. Though, perhaps, less beautiful in form and countenance, she has the higher beauty of holiness. The Madonna stands infinitely above the Venus. The grace of the God-fearing woman has its own true attraction for those who can appreciate it.
1. It is enduring. Beauty fades; goodness endures. This should ripen with years into a more rich and mellow grace.
2. It is deep. The prolonged acquaintanceship that reveals the utter hollowness and unreality of those attractions which consist only in bodily form and skin-complexion only makes more apparent the treasures of a true and worthy character. Trouble that ploughs fatal furrows in the cheek of the mere “beauty” unveils the tender grace of the truly godly woman. Those scenes wherein earthly beauty fails open up wondrous treasures of heavenly grace.
3. It is satisfying. A feverish excitement accompanies the adoration of earthly beauty; but the beauty of a sweet, true, generous soul is restful and comforting.
4. It is worthy of honour. Poets give us their dreams of fair women. A higher subject would be the praises of God-fearing women. How much of the world’s blessedness springs from the devotion of unselfish womenthe self-sacrifices of true wives, the toils and prayers of good. mothers!
Pro 31:31
Woman’s rights
The strenuous advocacy of the rights of women by shrill oratory has injured the true cause of women by covering a serious subject with ridicule, and suggesting the unreality of the grievances urged. When extravagant demands are made, people assume that every just right has been conceded; and when the self-elected advocates of women put forth a programme which the great body of wives and daughters repudiate, it is supposed that there is no ground for considering any complaint as to the legal and social treatment of women. But this is unreasonable and unjust. There are women’s rights, and these fights are by no means universally conceded.
I. WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO WORK. The Oriental notion, that women are but idle ornaments of the harem, finds no place in the Bible. Here they appear freely in the world, and, though their first duties are in the home, they are not idle, nor are they wanting in enterprise. The ideal woman in the Book of Proverbs is a manufacturer, a merchant, and a landowner. Woman’s work cannot be wholly the same as man’s, because nature has placed limitations upon her physical energies. But she has spheres for work, and it is cruel, unjust, and selfish to keep her out of any region of activity where she can do good service, by law or by social displeasure. Two wrongs in particular need to be swept away.
1. The motion that work is degrading to a woman. Surely idleness is more degrading. It is rightly said that woman’s sphere is the home. But it is not every woman who has a home. Surely it is a degrading and insulting idea that the main business of a young woman is to secure a husband, and so obtain a home. There are women who are manifestly cut out for other positions; many women never have an opportunity of obtaining a home of their own except by sacrificing themselves to men whom they do not love. In early life young girls are not the better for being kept in idleness, waiting for the chance that may turn up. Half the ailments of women of the comfortable classes come from want of occupation. It needs to be known and recognized that it is a right and honourable thing for a woman to be engaged in any ordinary occupation that is suitable to her powers.
2. The fear of rivalry with men. There have been professions the members of which have bitterly resented the invasion of their ranks by women. Such trade unionism is most ungenerous. It is an humiliation to have to confess that men could not hold their own unless under a system of protection against the competition of women. Certainly no Christian principle can justify such selfishness.
II. WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO THE RESULTS OF THEIR WORK.
1. In payment. The wife who earns wages has a right to her purse as much as the husband to his. Where there is a true marriage, no thought of separate interests will rouse any jealousy as to the several possessions of the two. But true marriage is not always realized. We see brutal husbands living idly on the earnings of their wives. It is not enough that the poor women are supposed to be protected by a Married Woman’s Property Act, for the husband is still too often the tyrant of the home. We shall only see a more just arrangement when Christian principles are applied to domestic practices.
2. In honour. “Let her own works praise her in the gates.” Women who contribute to the service of society are deserving of double honour, because they have had to work under exceptional disadvantages. Women who have proved themselves wise, industrious, and generous in the home life do not receive their meed of praise. Too much is taken for granted, and accepted without thanks, because the service is constant and the sacrifice habitual. In after years, when it is too late to give the due acknowledgment, many a man has had to feet sharp pangs of regret at his heedless treatment of a wife’s patient toil or a mother’s yearning love.
3. In position. Opportunity should be proportionate to capacity. If women can work, they should have scope for work. It is the duty of Christian society to give to woman her true position. If she be “the weaker vessel,” she needs more consideration, not less justice. Christ gave high honours to women, accepted their devoted service, and laid the foundation of Christian justice in regard to them.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Pro 31:1-31
The words of Lernuel
The fear of God is the leading thought in these meditations; and this in a twofold relationto the king in his rule in the state, and the woman in her rule in the house.
Pro 31:2-9
A mother’s maxims
The mother’s heart, deep in emotions of affection and urgent solicitude, is expressed in the passionate form of the address.
I. ON WOMEN OR THE DUTY OF CHASTITY. (Pro 31:3.) The weakness of this passion was one of the things, Alexander the Great was wont to say, which reminded him that he was mortal David and Solomon were both warnings and beacon lights against yielding to it.
II. ON WINE, OR THE DUTY OF TEMPERANCE. (Pro 31:4. sqq.) Here is a sin in close affinity to the former (Hos 4:11).
1. A vice degrading in all, drunkenness is most especially unbefitting those in high station. Elah (1Ki 16:8, 1Ki 16:9), Benhadad (1Ki 20:16), and Belshazzar (Dan 5:2-4), were all dark examples of the danger (comp. Hos 7:5).
2. It may lead to moral perversion. (Pro 31:5.) The woman wrongly condemned by Philip of Macedon exclaimed, “I appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober.” Ahasuerus (Est 1:10, Est 1:11) and Herod (Mar 6:21-28) appear to have been guilty of arbitrary conduct under the same besotting influence. Men “err through strong drink” (Isa 28:7).
3. The true use of wine. (Pro 31:6.) It is a medicine for the fainting. It is a restorative under extreme depression. The Bible tolerates and admits the blessing of wine in moderation as promotive of social cheerfulness. It “maketh glad the heart of man,” and is even said to “cheer God” (Jdg 9:13). Hence libations were a part of the sacrificial feast offered to the Majesty on high. As an anodyne it is admitted here (Pro 31:7). But all this does not exempt from close circumspection as to time, place, persons, and circumstances in its use. The priests, when performing their sacred functions in the tabernacle and temple, were to abstain from wine. But here, as in other matters, there is large latitude given to the exercise of the private judgment, the personal Christian conscience. Any attempt to overrule the right of personal freedom creates a new class of evils. Let those who see their duty in that light adopt total abstinence; and others labour according to their ability to strike at the indirect and deeper causes of what many regard as a national vice. Wherever there is a widespread vice, it is rooted in some profound misery. The surest, though longest, cure is by the eradication of the pain of the mind which drives so many towards the nepenthes, or draught of oblivion.
III. ON THE FREE AND FULL ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. (Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9.) The royal heart and hand are to be at the service of those who cannot help themselvesthe widow, the orphan, the poor, and “all that are desolate and oppressed” (Job 29:15, Job 29:16). He is to be both advocate and judge. He is to be an earthly type of God. “Let his representatives on earth study the character of their King in heaven, and be conformed more fully to his image of forgiveness and love.”J.
Pro 31:10-31
The virtuous housewife
I. HER INFLUENCE IN THE SPHERE OF HOME. (Pro 31:10-22.)
1. Her exceeding worth. (Pro 31:10-12.) A costly treasure not everywhere to be found; no commonplace blessing: an ornament and a joy above all that earth affords of rare and beautiful. A treasure on which the heart of the possessor ever dwells with delight.
“Continual comfort in a face,
The lineaments of gospel books.”
She is the rich source of revenue to her husband in all good things.
“All other goods by fortune’s hand are given;
A wife is the peculiar gift of Heaven.”
(Pope.)
“If women be good,” said Aristotle, “the half of the commonwealth may be happy where they are.” “The greatest gift of God is a pious, amiable spouse, who fears God, loves his house, and with whom one can live in perfect confidence” (Luther).
2. The picture of her domestic industry. (Pro 31:13 – 22.) It is an antique picture, the form and colouring derived from ancient custom; but the general moral effect is true for all times. The traits of the housewifely character are:
(1) The personal example of diligence. She is seen from day to day spinning at her loom, the chief occupation of women in ancient times. She is an early riser (Pro 31:15).
(2) Her unrelaxing energy. (Pro 31:17.) She has no idle hour; her rest is in change of occupation.
(3) Her personal attention to business. (Pro 31:16, Pro 31:18.) Whether examining land with a view to invest her savings in purchase and cultivation, or inspecting goods, her mind is in all she does She is not slothful in business, but glowing In spirit, and all that she does is done with heart.
(4) Her benevolence. Her thrift is not of the odious form which begins and ends with home, and breeds a sordid miserliness out of hard won gains. Her open hand outstretched to the poor (Pro 31:20) is one of the most winning traits in the picture. She has no lack of good herself, and always something over for the needy.
(5) Her care both for comfort and for ornament. (Pro 31:21, Pro 31:22.) Both the very spheres of woman’s activity. But she observes their true order. Her first thought is for the health of her household; she provides the warm “double garments” against the winter’s snow. Her leisure is occupied with those fine works of artistic needlework by which elegance and beauty are contributed to the scene of home. Refinement adorning comfort,this is the true relation. In finery without solid use and comfort there is no beauty nor worth.
II. FURTHER TRAITS AND DETAILS OF THE PICTURE, (Pro 31:23-31.)
1. She reflects consideration on her husband. Her thrift makes him rich; her noble character gives him additional title to respect. His personality derives weight from the possession of such a treasure, the devotion of such a heart. Her business capacity, her energy, and the quiet dignity of her life and bearing; the mingled sense and shrewdness, charm and grace of her conversation (Pro 31:24-27);are all a source of fame, of noble self-complacency, of just confidence to the man who is blessed to call her “mine.”
2. Her life and work earn for her perpetual thanks and benedictions. (Pro 31:28, Pro 31:29.) Her children, as they grow up, bless her for the inestimable boon of a mother’s care and love. She has revealed to them God; and never can they cease to believe in goodness so long as they recollect her. She basks in the sunshine of a husband’s constant approved. “Best of wives!” “Noblest of women!” is the thought ever in his heart, often on his lips.
3. It is religion which gives enduring worth and immortality to character, (Pro 31:30, Pro 31:31.) Beauty is a failing charm or a deception of the senses. But religious principle gives a spiritual beauty to the plainest exterior. Being and doing from religious motives, to religious ends,this is a sowing for eternal fruits. And the works of love for God’s sake and man’s fill the air with fragrance to the latest end of time, and are found unto praise, honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Pro 31:1-3
Motherhood
We have not many words from women’s lips in the inspired record, and we may therefore esteem the more highly those we possess. The verses bring out
I. THE STRONG CLAIMS OF MOTHERHOOD. “The son of my womb;” “the son of my vows.” These claims are based upon:
1. Motherhood as such. Upon all that motherhood means to us; upon the fact that the mother has borne her child, has cherished him at her own breast, has watched over his infancy and childhood with sedulous care, has shielded and succoured him, has fed and clothed him; as we say in one wordhas “mothered” him.
2. Motherly training and dedication. The early experiences of the mother include much beyond the physical realm; they include the education of the intellect, the training of the Will, the first imparting of religious instruction, the solemn dedication of her child to the service of God, repeated and earnest prayer on his behalf. Her child is not only her offspring; he is “the son of her vows,” the one on whom she has expanded her most fervent piety.
3. Maternal affection and anxiety. The words of Lemuel’s mother are charged with deep affection and profound solicitude. And it is those who truly love us, and who are unselfishly devoted to our interest, that have the strongest claim upon us. A claim which is only that of natural relationship, and is not crowned and completed by affection, falls very short indeed of that which is strengthened and sanctified by sacrificial love.
II. THE HOPE OF MOTHERHOOD. The mother hopes for good and even great things for and from her child; he is to stand among the strong, the wise, the honoured, the useful.
III. ITS BITTER AND CRUEL DISAPPOINTMENT. When the son of much sorrow and prayer, of much patient training and earshot entreaty, who had a noble opportunity before himwhen he virtually signs away his inheritance, “gives his strength” to the destroyer, takes the path which leads to entire dethronement and ruin, then is there such a bitter and such a cruel disappointment as only st mother’s heart can feel and know. Then perishes a fond and proud and precious hope; then enters and takes possession a saddening, a crushing sorrow.
IV. ITS RIGHT TO REMONSTRATE. “What, my son? This of thee?of thee whom I have loved and taught and trained? of thee for whom I have yearned and prayed? of thee from whom I have had a right to hope for such better things? Oh, lose not thy fair heritage! take the portion, live the life, wear the crown, still within thy reach!” A true and faithful mother has a right which is wholly indisputable, and strong with surpassing strength, to speak thus in affectionate expostulation to one who owes so much to her, and has returned her nothing. And what is
V. THE FILIAL DUTY? Surely it is to receive such remonstrance with deep respect; to give to it a patient and dutiful attention; to take it into long and earnest consideration; to resolve that, cost what it may, the path of penitence and renewal shall be trodden; that anything shall be endured rather than a mother’s heart be pierced by the hand of her own child!C.
Pro 31:6
The allowable as the exceptional
It is often the case that that which is wrong as a rule is right as an exception; what it would be unwise, if not unlawful, to do under ordinary circumstances, it may be most wise and even obligatory to do in emergencies. This applies particularly, but not exclusively, to the subject of the text
I. THE USE OF STIMULANTS. In a state of health and during the discharge of daily duties, shun the use of stimulants; depend upon that which nourishes and builds up. “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish;” to the man who, by exposure or by some suddenly inflicted wound, or by starvation, is brought down to the brink of death, administer the reviving cordial. What we should not depend upon for daily strength we do well to fall back upon in the time of extremity, or in the case of special need.
II. THE EMPLOYMENT OF STRONG LANGUAGE OR VERY VIVID ILLUSTRATION. It is a great mistake to be always speaking in superlatives, or to be habitually indulging in expletives, or to be regularly resorting to highly coloured illustrations. It is a sign and also a source of weakness. These very soon lose their power by repetition, and then there is nothing in reserve. And the man who has no power in reserve is he who will find himself beaten in the battle. Temperate language, moderation in the use of imagery and the expression of disapproval, is the true and wise course. Strong language is for quite exceptional cases; it has its opportunity, but should be content to wait for it.
III. RESORT TO VIOLENCE. There are occasions when physical force should he and must he employed. The magistrate is compelled to resort to it; so also is the schoolmaster, and even the parent. But the less the better. Bodily chastisement is always regrettable, and only to be resorted to when all other means have failed. Its constant exercise only hardens the object of it, and it is not unlikely to harden the hand that administers it. The wise teacher and the wise parent will do his best to reduce it to its very lowest point.
IV. AFFECTIONATE DEMONSTRATIVENESS. This has its time and place, hut it is an exceptional rather than a constant one in the conduct of our life. When any one has lacked the tenderness and the affection which our heart craves, and is hungry for human love, when the free and full manifestation of heartfelt kindness will be like water to the parched lips, let it be freely and fully given. But the perpetual exhibition of endearment, whether in word or deed, is a mistake.
V. THE APPEAL TO SELF–INTEREST ON THE PART OF THE MORALIST AND RELIGIOUS TEACHER. We should, as a rule, place moral obligations and religious duty on the ground of conviction; we should continually endeavour to impress men with the reeling that they ate sacredly bound to respect themselves, to regard the rights of their brethren, to respond to the claims of God, their Father and their Saviour. Religion is the response of the human soul to the boundless claim of Infinite Goodness and Love. But Christ has himself taught us that it is right and well sometimes to make our appeal to the sense of self-interestto say to men, “If not for Gods sake, who has a sovereign and supreme claim on your attention; is not for the sake of those who are related to you and dependent on you; yet for your own sake, because you love life and hate death, hearken and obey”.C.
Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9
The function and the privilege of power
God gives to some men place and power; they may inherit it, or they may win their way to it by the force of their talent or their merit. When they have reached it, what should be the use they make of it? We may look first at
I. WHAT HAS BEEN ITS HABIT. Only too often the actual use that has been made of high station and of civil or military lower is that of
(1) indulgence; or
(2) appropriation; or
(3) oppression.
Men have used their elevation only to drink the sweet cup of pleasure; or to secure to themselves the spoils of high office, the treasures which law within their grasp; or to find a mean and despicable gratification in the enforcement of their own dignity and the humiliation of those beneath them. This is “human,” if by human we understand that which is natural to man as sin has dwarfed and spoilt his nature, perverting his powers and degrading his delights. But of man as God meant him to be, and as a Divine Redeemer is renewing him, all this is utterly unworthy, let us see
II. WHAT IS ITS TRUE FUNCTION. It is that of righteousness. A man is placed on high in order that he may “judge righteously.” Whether he be the king, as in David’s and Solomon’s time; or whether he be the magistrate, as in our own time; or whether he be the teacher, or the manufacturer, or the farmer, or the master or father in the home; whatever be the kind or measure of authority enjoyed, the function of power is to judge righteously; it is to do justice; it is to see that innocency is acquitted and guilt condemned; it is to take pains and exercise patience in order that worth may be rewarded and that sin may be shamed; it is to be a tower of refuge to those who are conscious of rectitude, and to be a source of fear to those who know that they have been “doing evil;” it is to be a strength to the righteous and a terror to the guilty.
III. WHAT IT SHOULD COUNT ITS PECULIAR PRIVILEGE; IT IS TO BEFRIEND THE FRIENDLESS. There are those who are too weak to be of much service to their neighbours; there are those who are too selfish to cherish the ambition; but the strong man who is the good man, the man in power who has in him the spirit of his Master, will rejoice in his power mainly because it enables him to help those who would otherwise go on and go down without a helper;
(1) those suffering from physical privationthe blind, the deaf, the dumb;
(2) those lacking mental qualificationsthe weak minded, the timid, the reserved;
(3) those too poor to purchase the aid that is sometimes essential to justice and right;
(4) those over whom some great disaster, which is at the same time a cruel wrong, impends”appointed to destruction.” To lift up those who have been wrongfully laid low, to befriend the unfortunate and the desolate, to stand by the side of those who cannot assert their own claims, to be eyes to the blind and a voice to the dumb, to “make the widow’s heart to sing for joy,” to place the destitute in the path which leads up to competency and honor,to act in the spirit and to promote the cause of beneficence is the true privilege, as it is the brightest crown and the deepest joy, of power.C.
Pro 31:10-31
Christian womanhood
If Solomon did write these words, we need not he surprised that he speaks of the rarity of the ideal woman; for she is hardly to be found in a crowded harem. It is the Christian home that contains her. We look at
I. HER CHARACTERISTICS. And these are:
1. Piety. “She feareth the Lord” (Pro 31:30). She has within her the spirit of reverence, and the life she lives is one in which worship and the study of the will of God have no small share. She has a seat and is at home in the sanctuary; she is also constant and earnest in the quiet chamber of devotion; she knows well that the happiness of her home and the well being of her household depend upon the favour of the heavenly Father.
2. Purity. She is a “virtuous woman” (Pro 31:10). She gives her whole heart to her husband, and enjoys his full confidence (Pro 31:11).
3. Industry. The writer dwells upon the labours she puts forth for the sake of her husband and her household.
4. Wisdom. (Pro 31:26.) Her conversation is far removed from mere idle gossip or the vanities of an empty curiosity. She is familiar with “the Law of the Lord;” she knows what is the secret of lasting happiness. She can guide her sons and daughters in the way of life; and she instills her heaven born wisdom into minds that welcome it and will never lose it.
5. Kindness. “The law of kindness is on her lips.” She is one that does not rule by the “constant droppings” of censure, hut by the never-failing stream of gentleness and encouragement. Love, not fear, is the sceptre which she holds, and is the source of her strength.
6. Beneficence. (Pro 31:20).
II. HER REWARD.
1. Affection and honour on the part of those who are nearest to her. Her husband trusts and praises her (Pro 31:28), and her children “rise up and call her blessed.”
2. Strength and dignity in her home. She is “clothed upon with” the tributes woven by love and esteem. Her influence is felt much oftener than it is recognized, and long after her face and her voice are no longer seen and heard.
3. Security against future want. She “laugheth at the time to come,” while those who lack her prudence and her skill have reason to shrink from the thought of it.
4. The prosperity of her relatives. Her husband, relieved of care and worry at home, is able to do his proper work, and succeeds in his sphere (Pro 31:23).
III. HER COMMONNESS IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. It might be difficult to find “the virtuous woman” in the land and the time when Lemuet dwelt (Pro 31:10); but she may be found today in any number of Christian homes. Holding the faith of Jesus Christ, governed by his principles, living his life, animated by his Spirit, fulfilling his law of love, the wife and mother is to be seen taking an honored place, filling her home with the sweet fragrance of purity and affection, exerting her benign and gracious influence on her husband and her children. You have not to take a long journey to reach her, nor to take much pains to find her; she is at home in “the castle of the noble, in the mansion of the wealthy, and in the cottage of the poor and the lowly.”
1. Let us freely acknowledge our great indebtedness to her. Those who have had the priceless advantage of a mother possessed of the Christian virtues and graces have more to thank God for than if they had inherited a titled name or an ample fortune.
2. If it be open to us, let us join her ranks. To be a woman living under the commanding influence of Christian principle, breathing a Christian spirit, and shedding a Christian influence in the home in which we live,what is there, this side the gate of heaven, that any human spirit could more wisely wish to be? To be such is to be doing a most excellent work of God; it is to be filling a most honourable and useful sphere.C.
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#define abbreviation=Pulpit Commentary-Ecclesiastes_Song of Solomon
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Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Pro 31:1. The words of king Lemuel This chapter, say the generality of commentators, contains Bathsheba’s words to Solomon, and his commendation of her. Some, however, have doubted whether Lemuel was not a different person. “I know,” says Dr. Delaney, “that some modern critics, contrary to the unanimous judgment and tradition of all antiquity, have raised some scruples upon this head, as if Lemuel were not Solomon, but some other king, they know not who. I have examined them with all the care and candour I am capable of, and conclude upon the whole that their objections were such as my readers of best understandings would be little obliged to me either for retailing, or refuting. I shall barely mention that of greatest weight; it is this, That his mother, thrice in this chapter, when the calls him her son, makes use of the word bar, to express it by: a word no where used throughout the whole Old Testament, except in the second psalm, at the 12th verse. This then is the strength of the objection; that Solomon cannot be Lemuel, because Lemuel’s mother calls him son, by a word which no sacred writer ever made use of before, except Solomon’s father upon a like occasion. Besides, the very name sufficiently shews Lemuel to be Solomon; for Lemuel signifies belonging to God; and to whom can this possibly be applied so properly, as to Solomon, to whom God expressly declared he would be a father.” See Delaney’s Life of David, book 4: chap. 21 and Calmet on the place. Grotius conjectures, that Hezekiah was the person here meant, and that these proverbs were collected by his mother Abiah, the daughter of Zechariah, a person illustrious for his wisdom; and taught him as the precepts of his father. Houbigant renders it, The words of Lemuel, king of Mesha, with which his mother instructed him. See Gen 10:30.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Second Supplement
The words of Lemuel, together with the poem in praise of the matron
Chap. 31
a) Lemuels maxims of wisdom for kings
Pro 31:1-9
1Words of Lemuel the king of Massa
with which his mother instructed him:
2Oh, my son! ah, thou son of my womb!
oh thou son of my vows!
3Give not thy strength to women,
nor thy ways to destroy kings.
4Not for kings, oh Lemuel,
not for kings (is it becoming) to drink wine;
nor for princes (wine) or strong drink;
5lest he drink and forget the law,
and pervert the judgment of all the sons of want.
6Give strong drink to him that is perishing,
and wine to him that is of a heavy heart.
7Let him drink and forget his poverty,
and let him remember his want no more!
8Open thy mouth for the dumb,
for the right of all orphan children.
9Open thy mouth, judge righteously,
and vindicate the poor and needy.
b) Alphabetical song in praise of the virtuous, wise and industrious woman
Pro 31:10-31
10A virtuous woman who can find?
and yet her price is far above pearls.
11The heart of her husband doth trust in her,
and he shall not fail of gain.
12She doeth him good and not evil
all the days of her life.
13She careth for wool and linen,
and worketh with diligent hands.
14She is like the ships of the merchant,
from afar doth she bring her food.
15She riseth up while it is yet night,
and giveth food to her house
and a portion to her maidens.
16She considereth a field and buyeth it,
a vineyard with the fruit of her hands.
17She girdeth her loins with strength,
and maketh her arms strong.
18She perceiveth that her gain is good,
her light goeth not out by night.
19She putteth her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers lay hold on the spindle.
20She stretcheth forth her hand to the poor,
and extendeth her arms to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
for all her household is clothed in crimson.
22Coverlets doth she prepare for herself;
fine linen and purple is her clothing.
23Her husband is known in the gates,
when he sitteth with the elders of the land.
24She maketh fine linen and selleth it,
and girdles doth she give to the merchant.
25Strength and honor are her clothing;
she laugheth at the future.
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom,
and the law of kindness is on her tongue.
27She looketh well to the ways of her household
and the bread of idleness she will not eat.
28Her sons rise up and praise her,
her husband, he also boasteth of her:
29Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou hast excelled them all!
30Grace is deceitful, beauty is vanity,
a woman that feareth the Lord; let her be praised!
31Give to her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro 31:2.[, where it occurs the third time, is pointed , as is not uncommon in repetitions, to secure variety; see Btt., 499, c. The consonant succeeding is the same in the three cases.A.]
Pro 31:3.Hitzig changes the (Inf. Hiph. from ) to the fem. part. of , to leer or ogle, : and give not thy way to them (the seductive courtesans) who leer after kings (?). [Btt. prefers to make of it Kal part. fem. plur. from , and would point and render the caressers of kings. This is certainly easier than the causative Infinitive with its abstractness. See Btt., 1089, 2. , an Aramaic form immediately followed in Pro 31:4 by the regular plural twice repeated. Green, 199, a; Btt. 277, 3.A.]
Pro 31:4.We render or according to the Kthibh, which is recommended by like examples of a distributive location of this disjanctive particle (such as Pro 30:31 [where Btt. would read rather than allow the irregularity]; Job 22:11). We do not need therefore to substitute for it , desire (that is, for strong drink, Gesen. and others), or to read with the Kri , where? (where is strong drink for princes? comp. Gen 4:9). [Btt. regards it as a probable Simeonite synonym for , desire, 438, 3; 453, g. The two forms of the kings name, and , a genitive in Pro 31:1 and a vocative in Pro 31:4, also deserve attention. The changing person of the verbs is no uncommon phenomenon. See Ewald, 309, a.A.]
Pro 31:5., a Pual part, from , signifies that which is decided, the prescribed, and is therefore equivalent , law.
Pro 31:6.[ the permissive use of the Imper.; Btt., 959, 5.A.]
Pro 31:12. is used with two accusatives as in 1Sa 24:18.
Pro 31:13.[The fem. noun seems to be used of the raw material, flax, white this plural from is used of the product, the materials for clothing.A.]
Pro 31:15. (comp. the verb in Pro 30:8) is a strong expression for , Pro 31:14 (comp. above in Pro 31:11, , spoil).
Pro 31:16.The Kthibh , stat. constr. from , planting, Isa 5:7, is undoubtedly to be preferred to the Kri , notwithstanding all the old versions prefer the latter (see Bertheau and Hitzig on the passage). [Btt. defends the Masoretic reading, and renders as a verb.]
Ver.21.[The short form of the part. seems to be explained and justified by the close connection of words and the sequence of . Btt., 994, 6.A.]
Pro 31:27.Instead of the Kthibh we must either with the Kri read , or regard the former as an Aramaic collateral form () for .
Pro 31:30. before is here the stat. constr. not of the abstract substantive , but from the fem. part. , the woman who feareth.
EXEGETICAL
1. Pro 31:1. The superscription to Lemuels discourse.Words of Lemuel, king of Massa.That we must, in disregard of the Masoretic pointing, connect the Massa with the first clause, and regard it as a genitive governed by the , which has no article, was the right view taken as early as the Syriac version, when it interprets the by king of utterance (regis prophet). We ought, however, here, as in Pro 30:1, to regard rather as the name of a country, and Lemuel, the king of the land, as perhaps a brother of Agur, and consider his mother as the same wise princess who was there designated as ruler of Massa. To her therefore belong properly and originally the counsels and instructions for kings contained in Pro 31:1-9. And yet, since Lemuel first reduced them to writing, and so transmitted them to posterity, they may well be called also words of Lemuel,a title which there is therefore no need of altering (with Hitzig) to words to Lemuel. The name Lemuel, or, as it is written in Pro 31:4 by the punctuators, Lemuel, appears furthermore to be quite as properly a genuine Hebrew formation as Agur (see above, Exeg. notes on chap. 30, No. 2). It is probably only a fuller form for that which occurs in Num 3:24 as an Israelitish masculine name, , to God, for God (Deo deditus). That it is purely a symbolical appellative designation, a circumscribing of the name Solomon, and that accordingly by the mother of Lemuel no other than Bathsheba is intended, this opinion of many old expositors (and recently of Schelling, Rosenmueller. [Words.], etc.) lacks all further corroboration. [The impossibility of regarding without an article as an appositive of , even though be not a limiting genitive, but an appositive to , is not admitted by those who defend the prevailing interpretation of Pro 31:1. The construction is admitted to be exceptional, but claimed to be possible (see, e.g., Green, 247, a). Hitzig, Bertheau, Z. and others make this one chief reason for seeking a new rendering. Another is the peculiar use of out of prophecy, and as an appositive to the sufficient and more appropriate . Here as in Pro 30:1 Kamph. retains the ordinary meaning of , while S., here as there, follows Hitzig.A.] In regard to the peculiar linguistic character of the section Pro 31:1-9, which in many points agrees with Agurs discourse [and in which Bttcher again recognizes a Simeonitish cast], see above, p. 246.
2. Pro 31:2-9. The rules of wisdom from Lemuels mother.Oh my son! Oh thou son of my womb! etc.The thrice repeated , usually whatwhich Luther appropriately rendered by Ach! is plainly an impassioned exclamation expressing the inward emotion of the mothers heart at the thought that the son might possibly fall into an evil way (Elster); it is therefore substantially What, my son, wilt thou do? or How, my son, wilt thou suffer thyself to be betrayed? etc.With son of my vows comp. 1Sa 1:11.
Pro 31:3. Give not thy strength to womeni.e., do not sacrifice it to them, do not give thy manly strength and vigor a prey to them. It is naturally the ways of licentiousness that are intended, which ruin physically and morally kings and princes who give themselves up to them. See Critical notes.
Pro 31:4. This warning against licentiousness is immediately followed by a dissuasion from drunkenness, which is naturally closely connected with the preceding.Also not for princes (is wine) or strong drink.See Critical notes. For , mead, strong drink, comp. notes on Pro 20:1.[Gesen., Btt., De W., H., N., S., M., etc., would render by desire, if the Kthibh is followed, which they are disposed to do. The Kri, pointing , suggests either the interrogative , where, or an abbreviated form of the negative . Fuerst renders as an interrogative here.A.]
Pro 31:5. Lest he drink and forget the lawi.e., the king, who is here in question. The construction (drink and forget instead of drinking forget) is like that in Pro 30:9.And pervert the judgment of all the sons of wanti.e., of all the poor and helpless. For the Piel , in deterius mutare, to distort, wrest, destroy, comp. Job 14:20. For the sentiment comp. Pliny, Hist. Nat., XXIII. Proverbs 25 : In proverbiam cessit sapientiam vino obumbrari. [It has become proverbial that wisdom is clouded by wine.]
Pro 31:6-7. The enjoyment of wine and strong drink is seasonable in its cheering influence upon the sorrowful, whom it is desirable to cause to forget their sorrow; comp. Psa 104:15; Mat 27:34.Give strong drink to him who is perishingthe man who is on the point of perishing, who is just expiring, as Job 29:13; Job 31:19 : the heavy in heart are afflicted, anxious ones, as in Job 3:20; 1Sa 22:2, etc. [That even these be made to drink to unconsciousness is not the recommendation, but that in their extremity, physical or mental, wine be given to fulfil its office in imparting elasticity, and increasing power of endurance, and taking the crushing weight from calamities that might otherwise be overwhelming. As there is a misuse pointed out before in drinking to the destruction of kingly competence and the thwarting of kingly duty, self-indulgence, sinful excitement and excess overmastering reason and conscience,so it is a kingly grace to bear others burdens by ministries of helpful kindness. As on the one hand there is nothing here to preclude the pressing of other pleas for abstinence, so on the other there is nothing to encourage the too early and willing resort to the plea of necessity, or to commend in any case drinking to utter oblivion.A.]
Pro 31:8-9. Continuation of the exhortation, commenced in Pro 31:5, to a righteous and merciful administration.Open thy mouth for the dumb.That is, help such to their right as are not able to maintain it for themselves; be to them a judge and at the same time an advocate (comp. Job 29:15-16).For the right of all orphan children.Sons of leaving, of abandonment or disadvantage (not of destruction, as Ewald and Bertheau would interpret here, with a reference to Psa 90:5; Isa 2:18), are clearly those left behind as helpless orphans; the word therefore conveys a more specific idea than the sons of want in Pro 31:5.
3. The praise of the virtuous matron (Pro 31:10-31) is an alphabetic moral poem (like Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 119; Lamentations 1-4, etc.), a golden A B C for women according to Dderleins pertinent designation, a highly poetic picture of the ideal of a Hebrew matron. Not the alphabetic structure indeed, which it has in common with, not a few Psalms of high antiquity, partly such as come from David (comp. Delitzsch, 1:69; 2:187), but very probably some traces that are contained in it of a later usus loquendi, especially the more frequent scriptio plena, even apart from the distinctive accents (comp. Hitzig, p. 334), and also in particular the position assigned it by the compiler, even after Hezekiahs supplement and Agurs and Lemuels discourse, mark the poem as a literary work produced quite late after Solomons time, and even as probably the latest constituent of the whole collection. Although separated from the words of Lemuel by no superscription of its own, it shows itself to be the work of a different person from the wise prince of Massa, and that probably a later poet, by its not sharing the linguistic idioms of that section, and by the whole of its characteristic bearing and structure. Besides, in its contents and general drift it does not stand in any particularly close and necessary connection with the maxims of wisdom from the mother of Lemuel. And that it has by no means steadily from the beginning held its place immediately after these, appears with great probability from the fact that the LXX attach it directly to Pro 29:27, and give to the proverbs of Agur and Lemuel an earlier place (within the limits of the present 24th chapter), Comp. Introd., 13, p. 30.
With the greatest arbitrariness, R. Stier (Politik der Weisheit, pp. 134 sq.) has felt constrained to interpret the matron of this poem allegorically, and to make the application to the Holy Spirit renewing men and educating them for the kingdom of God. The whole attitude of the section speaks against such an interpretation, most of all the praise bestowed in Pro 31:23 sq. upon the influence of the matron as advancing the standing of her husband in the political organization of the State, as well as what is said in Pro 31:30 of the fear of God as her most eminent virtue. Comp. Von Hofmann, Schriftbew., II., 2, 378. [According to Wordsw. we find here a prophetic representation of the Church of Christ, in her truth, purity and holiness, and as distinguished from all forms of error, corruption and defilement, which sully and mar the faith and worship which he has prescribed.A.]
4. Pro 31:10-22. The action and management of the virtuous woman within her domestic sphere. A virtuous woman, who can find? The virtuous woman, as in Pro 12:4; Pro 11:16. [The transition is easy, from physical strength to moral strength and probity. The word virtuous is therefore to be taken in this high sense.A.]. The interrogative exclamation who will find? express the idea of a wish, as does elsewhere; it is therefore equivalent to would that every one might find so gracious a treasure!And yet her price is far above pearls. The and at the beginning of this clause is either the exegetical, that is, that is to say, as in Pro 25:13, etc. (thus Hitzig), or, which seems to be more natural, the adversative and yet, however (Ewald, Elster). For the figure comp. Pro 3:10; Pro 8:11. [Thomson, Land and Book, II. 572 sq. illustrates the force and fitness of the successive points in this description in contrast with the ordinary ignorance, weakness and worthlessness of the women of the East,A.]
Pro 31:11. And he shall not fail of gain. , strictly the spoil of war, is a strong expression to describe the rich profit to which the co-operation of the efficient wife helps her husbands activity in his occupation. According to Hitzig, spoil, fortunate discovery, is to be taken here as in Psa 119:162; Isa 9:2, figuratively, and to be interpreted of the joy which the wife prepares for her husband (?).
Pro 31:12. She doeth him good and not evil. Comp. 1Sa 24:12.
Pro 31:13. She careth for wool and linen; lit., she seeketh (busieth herself with) wool and linen, i.e, she provides these as materials for the products of her feminine skill.And worketh with diligent hands; lit., and laboreth with her hands pleasure (Umbreit, Ewald, Elster) [De W., K., E. V., N., S., M.], or inasmuch as might here signify occupation (as in Isa 58:3; Ecc 3:17); and laboreth in the business of her hands (Hitzig).
Pro 31:14. She is like the ships of the merchant, so far forth as she selling her products to foreigners (Pro 31:24), brings in gain from remote regions (comp. b), and provides long in advance for all the necessities of her house.
Pro 31:15. And distributeth food to her house. The portion of the next clause is not a possible synonym for the food of this, so that it should denote the definite allowance of food, the rations of the maidens (Luther, Bertheau [E. V., S., M.] etc.); what is described by it is the definite pensum, what each maid has to spin of wool, flax, etc., and therefore the days work of the maidens (Ewald, Umbreit, Hitzig [De W., K., H., N.] etc.).
Pro 31:16. She considereth a field and buyeth it, that is, for the money earned by her diligent manual labor.A vineyard (Z. a vineyard-planting) with the fruit of her hands. A planting of a vineyard (genit. apposit.) is however the same as a planting of vines. See Critical Notes for another construction and rendering.
Pro 31:17. Comp. Pro 31:25 a.
Pro 31:18. She perceiveth that her gain is good. For this verb to taste, i.e., to discern, to become aware, comp. Psa 34:9. For the succeeding phrase, excellent, charming is her gain, comp. Pro 3:14. What she now does in consequence of this perception of the pleasing nature of her gain, is shown in the 2d clause.
Pro 31:19. She putteth her hands to the distaff. This is the usual rendering. But probably Hitzigs rendering is more exact (following Vatabl., Mercerus, Gesen., etc.): Her hands she throweth out with the whorl, for is not properly the distaff, but the whorl, or wheel, verticulum, a ring or knob fastened upon the spindle below the middle, that it may fall upon its base, and may revolve rightly. [Kamph. rejects this explanation, and gives an extract of some length from a Book of Inventions, Trades and Industries, to justify his own, which is the old view. The word translated fingers is literally her bent hands.A.]
Pro 31:20. Her hand she stretcheth forth to the poor, lit., her hollow, or bent hand, in which she holds her gift.
Pro 31:21. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, lit., feareth not for her house from snow. The snow stands here for winters cold, and for this reason,that the sharpest possible contrast is intended with the clothes of crimson wool, woolen stuffs of crimson color with which her household go clothed in winter. The same alliterative antithesis of and is found in Isa 1:18.Umbreit, Ewald, Bertheau, S., etc., render incorrectly by purple garments (see in objection to this Baehrs Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus, I. 333 sq.), while the LXX, Luther, Rosenm., Vaihinger, II., etc., read (vestimenta duplicia, double clothing), by which the strong contrast is sacrificed.
Pro 31:22. Coverlets doth she prepare for herself. For the coverlets comp. Pro 7:16. An article of clothing can be intended no more here than there. In the costly articles of apparel which the woman wears, the contrasted colors, white and purple, recur again. The byssus (Copt, schensch) and the purple (reddish purple in contrast with the (violet) bluish purple ) are both foreign materials, the one an Egyptian, the other a Syro-phnician production.Comp. Baehr, ubi supra; Winer in his Realwrterb. Articles Baumwolle and Purpur.
5. Pro 31:23-31. The influence of the matron beyond the narrow sphere of the domestic life.Her husband is well known in the gates, because the excellence of his wife not only makes him rich but important and famous. With this being known in the gates, see also Pro 31:31 b (i.e., well known in counsel), comp. Homers: , Iliad ii. 202.
Pro 31:24. She maketh fine linen, etc. = (comp. LXX here and in Jdg 14:12) fine linen and shirts made of it (comp. Mar 14:51; Isa 3:23, and Hitzig on this passage).And girdles doth she give to the merchant, lit, to the Canaanite, the Phnician merchant, who knows well how to prize her fine products, and to dispose of them.
Pro 31:25. With a comp. Pro 31:17; Job 24:14.She laugheth at the future. In reliance on her ample stores, and still more her; inward strength and skill, she laughs at the future as respects the evil that it may perchance bring. [E. V.: She shall rejoice in time to come; H., M., W.; while De W., K., Bertheau, Muffet, N., S., etc., take our authors view. This laughing at the future is of course not to be understood as expressive of a presumptuous self-confidence, but only of a consciousness of having all appropriate and possible preparation and competence for the future.A.]
Pro 31:26. Her mouth she openeth with wisdom. Hitzig well says: The mouth, which in 25 a, is smiling, is here a speaker.The law of kindness in b is not amiable, loving instruction, but that which is pleasing, gracious; comp. Isa 40:6; and especially Luk 4:22 ( ).
Pro 31:27. She looketh well to the ways of her household; lit. she who looketh, etc.for the partic. is probably to be connected, as Hitzig takes it, as grammatically an appositive to the subject of the preceding verse, so that according to this view, it is now the object of her pleasing instruction that is given. The ways of the house are naturally its organization and management, the course of the household economy (comp. Luther: How it goes in her house).
Pro 31:28-29 describe the praise which the excellent housekeeper has bestowed upon her by her sons and her husband. The words of the latter are expressly quoted, but they are probably not to be extended through the last three verses (as Umbreit, Ewald, Elster, etc., would do), but to be restricted to Pro 31:29; for verse 30 immediately separates itself as a proposition altogether general, by which the poet comes in with his confirmation of the husbands praise. [So De W., Bertheau, K., N., S., M.].Many daughters have done virtuously. The husband says daughters and not women, because as an elder he may put himself above his wife (comp. Heb 7:7). With the phrase have done virtuously, or show themselves virtuous, lit. make, produce, manifest virtue, comp. Num 24:18; Rth 4:11.
Pro 31:30. Grace is a deception, beauty a breath; both are no real abiding attributes of man, and are, therefore, not to be praised. As an imperishable and therefore really praiseworthy possession, there is contrasted with them in b the disposition to fear God. Comp. Isa 40:6; Psa 103:15-18; 1Pe 1:24-25. [Observe how our book just at its close dwells in a very different way, yet with a significant emphasis, upon that fear of the Lord, which in Pro 1:7 was pronounced the beginning of wisdom.A.]
Pro 31:31. Give her of the fruit of her hands, i.e., of the praise which she has deserved by the labor of her hands.And let her work praise her in the gates [not with Z., let them praise her work in the gates, for the verb has its object in its suffix.A.]. In the place where the population of the city gathers in largest numbers, in the assembly of the community at the gate (Pro 31:23), there must the praise of her excellent life and work resound.
DOCTRINAL, ETHICAL, HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
The central idea to which we may trace back the two divisions of this concluding chapter, quite unequal, it is true, in their size, is this: Of a pious administration, as the king should maintain it in the State, and the woman in her family. For the fear of God quite as really constitutes the foundation of the virtues of chastity, sobriety, righteousness and compassion, to which Lemuels mother counsels this son of hers (Pro 31:2-9), as it, according to Pro 31:30, forms the deepest basis and the glorious crown of the excellenses for which the virtuous matron is praised (Pro 31:10 sq). It has already been brought out prominently in the exegetical comments, that the delineation which is shaped in praise of the latter, in turn falls into two divisions (which are only relatively different),the first of which treats of the efficiency of the virtuous woman within the circle of her domestic relations, the second of her activity as extending itself beyond this sphere into wider regions.
Homily on the chapter as a whole:Of the pious administration of the king in his State and the woman in her household; what both should shun and what they should strive for, with an exhibition of the blessed reward that awaits both. Or, more briefly: A mirror for rulers and a mirror for matrons, with the fear of God as the centre and focus of both.Stcker: I. Instruction of Solomon the king by his mother. a) To be shunned: lust and drunkenness. b) To be practised: justice. II. Praise of a virtuous woman. 1) Her duties or general virtues; 2) her ornaments or special virtues (Pro 31:25-27); 3) her reward (Pro 31:28-31).
Pro 31:1-9. Tbingen Bible (on Pro 31:1): How good is the report when parents, especially mothers, teach their children good morals. It is the greatest love that they can show them, but also their foremost duty!Geier (on Pro 31:2): If parents have dedicated their children from birth to the Lord, they must so much more carefully educate them from youth up, and so much more diligently pray for them.(On Pro 31:3): Let every husband be content with the wife conferred upon him by God, let him live with her chastely and discreetly, and serve God heartily; that is a truly noble, kingly life.Starke (on Pro 31:6-7): A draught of wine which is bestowed on a suffering member of Christs body on his sick or dying bed is better appropriated than whole casks that are misemployed for indulgence.Von Gerlach (on Pro 31:8-9): The highest duty of kings is to befriend the helpless.
Pro 31:10 sq. Luther: There is nothing dearer on earth than womans love to him who can gain it. Comp. also P. Gerhards poetical treatment of the passage, Voller Wunder, voller Kunst, etc. (Gesamm. geistl. Lieder, No. 107).Melanchthon: As virtues of the true matron there are named, above all the fear of God as the sum of all duties to God; then chastity, fidelity, love to her husband without any murmuring; diligence and energy in all domestic avocations; frugality, moderation and gentleness in the treatment of servants; care in the training of children, and beneficence to the poor.Zeltner (on Pro 31:11 sq.): God gives to pious married people their subsistence and their needed bit of bread, yea, He blesses them, yet not without prayer and work.[Arnot: Empty hours, empty hands, empty companions, empty words, empty hearts, draw in evil spirits, as a vacuum draws in air. To be occupied with good is the best defence against the inroads of evil].Geier (on Pro 31:23): A pious virtuous wife is her husbands ornament and honor (1Co 11:7). A vicious one, however, is a stain in every way (Sir 25:22 sq.).[Arnot (on Pro 31:25): If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime; but if clothing be your honor, it will soon be worn threadbare].
Pro 31:30-31. Luther (marginal, on Pro 31:30): A woman can dwell with a man honorably and piously and be mistress of his house with a good conscience, but must to this end and with this fear God, trust and pray.Cramer: The fear of God is the most beautiful of all ornaments of womans person; 1Pe 3:4.Zeltner: If thou hast outward beauty see to it that thy heart and soul also be beautified before God in faith.[Trapp: The body of honor is virtue, the soul of it humility.Arnot: True devotion is chiefly in secret; but the bulk of a believers life is laid out in common duties, and cannot be hid. Lift up your heart to God and lay out your talents for the world; lay out your talents for the world and lift up your heart to God].Starke (on Pro 31:31): Works of piety and love preserve among men a good remembrance, and are also rewarded by God of His grace ins everlasting joy; Heb 6:10; Psa 61:6. My God, let my works also graciously please Thee in Christ Jesus.
AMEN.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS.
This chapter, like the former, is styled a prophecy. And whether written, as some think, by Solomon, and others not; yet as in form and manner it is exactly like the former, it forms a very proper conclusion to the book of Proverbs.
Pro 31:1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Many construe Lemuel, for Solomon: for as the name Jeddidiah, beloved of the Lord, was given him, over and above that of Solomon: So Lemuel, which signifies one for God, they think may be his also. 2Sa 12:25 . But this is but conjecture. Taught of his mother, should seem to carry with it, that it means no more than that the mother of Lemuel brought him up, as all pious parents are taught to do, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Eph 6:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Perfect Woman
Pro 31
This chapter contains the words of King Lemuel, and a full portrait of a good wife. The word “Lemuel” may be regarded as meaning “dedicated to God.” The words of the mother are here quoted. We have seen that mothers were regarded with great veneration in the East. The mothers of kings were treated with great distinction, and were known as “queen-mothers.” We have seen that they were not always good women; on the contrary, some of them seem to have been inspired by the very spirit of evil. The mothers of Jewish kings are constantly mentioned in the Bible. It has been noticed as characteristic of Oriental courtesy that the mother of the Khedive ranks before his principal wife. It would seem then as if mothers were the orators of their families, teaching, exhorting, and stimulating them with many words of kindness and wisdom. The mother was indeed the schoolmistress of her family, the governess in the best sense, not looking merely after their bodily health and social comforts, but after the training and culture of their noblest nature. The style of Lemuel’s mother is peculiar. She begins her exhortation by a thrice-repeated question: “What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? ” meaning, What shall I say? what words shall I choose? how shall I best acquit myself of a very serious responsibility towards my child?
Lemuel was the son of his mother’s vows. He may have been given, like Samuel, in answer to her prayers. She took a highly religious view of his personality, character, and destiny, and in this noble spirit she addressed to him certain noble moral exhortations. She would, for example, have him abstain from wine and strong drink, lest he should forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Observe how the control of a personal habit is based upon a grand moral reason. The principal concern of the mother was that the law should be remembered, and that judgment should be kept from perversion. Coming to her son in this relation, she came with infinite advantage, because it was to be assumed that as a king he was anxious to maintain the law and sustain the dignity and pureness of judgment. Lemuel’s mother was wise in recognising that strong drink might be given to the man who was ready to perish, and wine might be administered to those that were of heavy hearts. It has been supposed that out of a merciful remembrance of this passage the pious ladies of Jerusalem were accustomed to provide a medicated drink for criminals condemned to be crucified. It is supposed further that this kind of preparation was offered to our Lord. It was not given to increase his pain, but to mitigate it. Probably the drink had some deadening effect upon the pain of the sufferer. Jesus Christ declined to have his agony assuaged by any such human invention. He would bear the anguish in every pang, and with a cloudless mind would pass through all the tragedy of his sacrifice. Lemuel’s mother was thus anxious that her son’s body and mind should be kept healthy and clear. Every evil thought takes so much force out of the brain; every passionate desire seems to diminish the immortality of man, that is to say, it takes out of him some degree of his vital power, lessens his manliness, nobility, and moral majesty. Surely a man may think an evil thought and be none the worse? Far from it: no evil thought can pass through the mind without leaving the mind poorer and weaker for its passage. The mind is, so to say, constituted with awful delicacy: it is sensitive beyond all we know of sensitiveness in material things; a shadow passing over it brings with it a deadly chill; one wandering thought wrecks the integrity and spoils the beauty of the mind. Thus many men deplete themselves inwardly whilst apparently living respectable lives. The depletion is not to be found in overt act, in outward and visible criminality: in such cases the iniquity is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel; the heart keeps silence in its festival of darkness; the soul and the devil commune in whispers, but not the less deadly is the effect of that whispered communion. Coming from it, man is enfeebled in prayer, bewildered in mind, beclouded in hope; a general sense of loss settles upon all the faculties of manhood, and night displaces day. Is there not room then for the exhortation of the moralist or the pious minister of God? Is he a fanatic who warns the young man to watch the rising of passion, to take care of the wandering of desire, to abstain from wines and strong drink? Such exhortation is not fanaticism: it is based on the highest psychology and physiology; for the good man sees that every thought that is not lifted upwards must drag the mind in a wrong direction, and every passion that strays away in illicit directions carries the mind with it into captivity.
The king’s mother now advances in her pleas and arguments. Sweetly she says,
“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy” ( Pro 31:8-9 ).
Observe, Lemuel is a king, and yet his mother invests him with the functions of an advocate. He is to be more than dignified; he is to be human, sympathetic, fraternal. He is no king who as an ivory deity sits upon a gilded throne at an immeasurable distance from the daily experience of his subjects: he is the true king who mingles with the people, who is the subject of his own nation, and who lives not for himself but for the public weal. The “dumb” are those who on account of timidity or ignorance cannot state their own case to advantage, cannot argue it with cogency and eloquence, and who for want of the power to put their case aright may be misjudged and even doomed. The Bible is in thorough consonancy with itself in all these exhortations. This is no solitary instance in which the dumb are entrusted to the eloquent, and in which the poor are placed under the fraternal patronage of the wealthy, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour” ( Lev 19:15 ). Thus in the very earliest pages of the Bible we find a tender regard for the poor.
The seventy-second Psalm is full of music regarding One who is to come and reign over the earth. We are anxious to know the attributes of the King who is to have dominion from sea to sea; the very greatness of Ms dominion interests us in his moral character; if such dominion be not associated with the highest moral graces it will of necessity be an infinite disaster. What, then, is said of him who is to handle the universal sceptre? These are some of his characteristics: “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.” Ought not the poor to reverence a book filled with such exhortations and predictions? Is the Bible wholly given over to metaphysical disquisition, to the discussion of words, and to the illumination of mystical points? No better answer can be given than is found in Psa 82:3-4 : “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.”
Thus the moral qualifications of men are put above all merely intellectual and ceremonial dignities. The greater the intellect the more mischievous the ministry, if it be not balanced by a noble and sympathetic heart. If we cannot all be great we can all be good, and the time will come when goodness will be discovered to be the true and abiding greatness.
Next follows a full-length portrait of a virtuous woman or wife. It has been noticed that this is written in the form of an acrostic, the twenty-two verses composing it each commencing with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This may have been done, as in the case of several of the Psalms which are of a didactic character (for example, xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii., cxix.), to render it more easy for committal to memory. Such is the opinion of a writer in Bishop Ellicott’s Commentary, and the same authority points out that the ninth Psalm is cast in the same form. The tenth verse opens with an ominous question, “Who can find a virtuous woman?” Some have supposed this woman to be a symbolical or mystical character, representing in human outline the Law, the Church, or the Holy Spirit. There is no need to refer to such figurative representation. Womanhood, as we understand it, may be represented in all the features which are here so graphically depicted. “Who can find a virtuous woman?” is an interrogation not to be understood as denying the existence of such; the question is used for the purpose of magnifying the price of the ideal and perfect womanhood, “Her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.” Whatever he earns by industry she will multiply by economy. His capital shall bring a rich interest by reason of the carefulness of his wife. She is a working woman; she does not live in luxury and indolence: contrariwise, “she seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands,” that is, with the pleasure or willingness of her hands, as if her hands caught the inspiration of her heart, and her labour ceased to be a toil, and became a pleasure and a most profitable delight. “She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar:” she is always looking out for chances, for advantages of a legitimate kind; if necessary she will not consider distance any disadvantage in order that she may live economically, or turn to the best use such property as may be entrusted to her.
“She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens” ( Pro 31:15 ).
“She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard” ( Pro 31:16 ).
“She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy” ( Pro 31:20 ).
“Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land” ( Pro 31:23 ).
So closes the Book of Proverbs. In the first chapter we found father and mother advising a listening son; now we find a woman drawn in full-length with the skill of heaven and the feeling of love. Such a woman is the mother of the world. Evermore will the world need such a mother, to nurse it in sickness and comfort it in all the darkness of sorrow. The Bible recognises the beauty, the dignity, and the worth of women beyond all other books. Would you see a true woman: she is here drawn at full length. What feature is wanting? What hue is lacking? By this standard may women measure themselves; in this mirror may women see themselves; this is the ideal woman, therefore the real woman, not as seen in any one individual, but as totalised in the womanhood of the world.
“A woman’s affection is often the cause of a woman’s wit. “It was a beautiful turn given by a great lady who, being asked where her husband was, when he lay concealed for being deeply concerned in a conspiracy, resolutely answered, ‘She had hid him.’ This confession drew her before the king, who told her nothing but her discovering where her lord was concealed could save her from the torture. ‘And will that do?’ said the lady. ‘Yes,’ said the king, ‘I give you my word for it’ ‘Then,’ said she, ‘I have hid him in my heart, where you’ll find him.'”
Few writers have had greater power of expression than Ralph Waldo Emerson, and even he rose to an unusual eloquence when he discoursed upon the moral glories of womanhood. Speaking of women he says, “They are more delicate than men delicate as iodine to light and thus more impressionable. They are the best index of the coming hour.” Quoting Coleridge, he says, “Take their first advice, not their second.” Coleridge once applied to a lady for her judgment; when she gave him her opinion, she added,” I think so, because——-” “Pardon me, madam,” he said, “leave me to find out the reasons for myself.” Continuing, Emerson says, “In this sense, as more delicate mercuries of the imponderable and immaterial influences, what they say and think is the shadow of coming events…. Men remark figure; women always catch the expression. They inspire by a look, and pass with us not so much by what they say or do, as by their presence. They learn so fast, and convey the result so fast, as to outrun the logic of their slow brother and make his acquisitions poor. ‘Tis their mood and tone that is important. Does their mind misgive them, or are they firm and cheerful? ‘Tis a true report that things are going ill or well. And any remarkable opinion or movement shared by woman will be the first sign of revolution.”
Emerson attributes high influence to the silent ministry of women. Without saying much they may do much, and even when they say much their action may far transcend the eloquence of their mere words. The philosopher says, “Women are, by their conversation and their social influence, the civilisers of mankind…. They finish society, manners, language; form and ceremony are their realm. They embellish trifles…. Their genius delights in ceremonies, in forms, in decorating life with manners, with proprieties, order, and grace. They are, in their nature, mere relative; the circumstance must always be fit; out of place they lose half their weight out of place they are disfranchised. Position, Wren said, is essential to the perfecting of beauty, a fine building is lost in a dark lane; a statue should stand in the air. Much more true is it of woman.”
But what will avail all eloquent description? The portrait of a true woman is drawn, not to be admired, but to be reproduced in living character. It will be a grievous mistake to suppose that nothing that is less than heroic is to be attempted either by men or women. We deceive ourselves when we think that if some great occasion would arise we should be equal to the sublime opportunity, but it is not worth our while to attend to daily tasks and little services and small occasions. Here the rule holds good as elsewhere, “He that is faithful in little is faithful also in much.” Every man or woman can find a sphere of usefulness if disposed to find it What a school may the house become; what a church of the living God is the family; within the four walls of a home what battles may be fought, what victories may be won! Each should consider what he can do to contribute towards the general weal. A gracious word, a tender look, an assurance of sympathy, how far these go, and what miracles they work! How they abide in the memory; how they enable the soul to sing in the nighttime; how full they are of divine encouragement We are to look, in many things, towards the ideal, and not to content ourselves with a cold estimate of the actual. Nor are we to mock the actual by its shortcoming in view of the ideal. It is enough for us that we strive towards the right mark, that we press in the prescribed direction, that we feel after God with all the determination of inspired energy. A man who so acts will feel more than any of his critics can feel how far he fails in attaining the object he has in view; but there is reward in the strenuous endeavour. Heaven itself begins in this purposed industry, this industry that has about it the sacredness of a consecration and a sacrifice. The Bible is full of ideal characters, and it is not afraid to show actual character in some of its completest humiliations. The two pictures are bound in the sacred volume. We have moral loftiness that is apparently unapproachable; we have degradation that shocks the very first sensations of morality; we have exhortations that encourage the weakest of us to attempt: the greatest things that have ever taxed human energies. In the ideal we are to see what we may become: in the actual we see what we have to avoid. In all these struggles after the higher life our only safety is in companionship with Jesus Christ. He will sympathise with us in our failures; he will know when we set out with a high purpose, and when we have been faithful in a wise resolution, and according to our inward thought will he abundantly reward us at the last. He never complains of any man who does his best. Of one poor woman he said, “She hath done what she could.” That is the spirit in which he will judge us. At last he will surprise us by finding beauty where we have seen none, and by rewarding excellences where we ourselves have been bowed down in a spirit of dejection. Let us not judge ourselves, and let us not judge other men. One is our judge, and his criticism will be full of grace and truth. Blessed is that heart which can say, Lord, have me always in thy keeping: mould me, inspire me, and complete thy purpose in me, giving me contentment and enriching me with hope.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXIV
OTHER PROVERBS OF SOLOMON AND THE APPENDICES
Pro 25:1-31:31
The title of the section, Pro 25:1-29:27 , is found in Pro 25:1 : “These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.” Perowne says,
This title is interesting as affording a proof that revival of literary activity accompanied the revival of religion and of national prosperity which marked the reign of Hezekiah. Hezekiah himself was a poet of no mean order (Isa 38:9-12 ); and “the men of Hezekiah” were doubtless a body of scribes engaged under the direction of the king in literary labors. But beside this, this brief title is one of those “fragments of history,” which, as Professor Sayce has shown, “have been illuminated by the progress of oriental research,” and “the importance and true significance of which can now be realized for the first time.” This title points, he thinks, to the existence of a royal library in Jerusalem, into which these proverbs, never before edited, were now gathered and “copied out” and similar to the libraries which are now known to have existed in the cities of Babylonia and Assyria. The vassalage of Judah to the king of Assyria in the reign of Ahaz had necessarily led to the introduction of Assyrian culture into Jerusalem. Ahaz himself had led the way. In the court of the palace he had erected a sundial, a copy of the gnomons which had been used for centuries in the civilized kingdoms of the Euphrates and the Tigris. But the erection of the sundial was not the only sign of Assyrian influence. The most striking feature of Assyrian and Babylonian culture was the libraries, where scribes were kept constantly employed, not only in writing and compiling new books, but in copying and re-editing older ones. The “men of Hezekiah” who “copied out” the proverbs of Solomon performed duties exactly similar to the royal scribes in Nineveh.
It would be a profitable exercise to note all the varieties of stanza, and to select a number of the most beautiful proverbs found in this section, and then compare Pro 25:7 with Luk 14:8-10 as an example of the New Testament elaboration of a proverb, but these matters must be left to the Bible student to be worked out for himself. The author recommends an earnest reading and careful study of this wonderful section of the proverbs of Solomon.
The collection of proverbs in Pro 30 is ascribed to a philosopher, or teacher, named Agur, the son of Jakeh, and is addressed by him to Ithiel and Ucal, presumably his scholars or disciples. The name Ithiel occurs again as that of a Benjamite in Neh 11:7 . Ucal as a proper name is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. Horton says, Whoever Agur was, he had a certain marked individuality; he combined meditation on lofty questions of theology with a sound theory of practical life. He was able to give valuable admonitions about conduct. But his characteristic delight was to group together in quatrains visible illustrations of selected qualities or ideas.
The following is a brief analysis of Pro 30 :
The chapter, which is highly interesting and in some respects unique, on which account it may have been selected out of other similar literature for publication as an Appendix to this book, consists of a Title, or note of authorship (Pro 30:1 ), followed by a prologue, in which in a spirit of deep abasement, which is the spirit of true wisdom, the author confesses his own utter ignorance in view of the great questions which offer themselves for solution. The study of nature makes it clear that there is a God; but who can tell Who and What He is (Pro 30:2-4 )? Only by revelation can He be known; and in that revelation, held sacred from all admixture, man finds Him and is safe (Pro 30:5-6 ). To the God thus found and trusted the writer turns with a two-fold prayer that he may be in himself a real and true man; a prayer that in his earthly lot he may have the happy mean, removed from the temptations which belong to the extremes of poverty and riches (Pro 30:7-9 ). Then, after an isolated proverb of the familiar type (Pro 30:10 ), another peculiarity of this Collection, which may have been a further reason for its being appended to the Book of Proverbs, is introduced. A series of five “numerical proverbs,” or “quatrains,” as they have been called, groups of “four things,” with a single proverb inserted between the second and third groups (Pro 30:17 ), brings the Collection to a close with the exception of one final proverb at the end of the chapter (Pro 30:32-33 ). CAMBRIDGE BIBLE
It is very interesting to note in this chapter Agur’s prayer (Pro 30:7-9 ), the four insatiable things (Pro 30:15-16 ), the four inscrutable things (Pro 30:18-20 ), the four intolerable things (Pro 30:21-23 ), the four wise little things (Pro 30:24-28 ) and the four stately things (Pro 30:29-31 ), all of which have their lessons for us. There are several fine isolated proverbs here (Pro 30:10-11 ; Pro 30:14 ; Pro 30:17 ; Pro 30:32-33 ), each with its own lessons.
Pro 31:1-9 has King Lemuel for its author. This is just another name for Solomon. Taking the chapter as a whole, the following is a good, brief analysis:
1. Salutation (Pro 31:1 )
2. Maternal admonitions (Pro 31:2-9 ).
3. Characteristics of a worthy woman (Pro 31:10-31 ).
From the salutation we learn that King Lemuel was the author of Pro 31:1-9 which is the oracle taught him by his mother. This is a fine example of maternal influence. There can be no finer compliment to a good mother than the effect of her life and teaching finding expression in the conduct and writings of her children.
The maternal admonitions in Pro 31:2-9 are expressions of the desire of a true mother’s heart for her children. The warning here concerning strong drink with its results in the lives of kings and princes might be good advice for kings, princes, governors, and others in high positions today. It will be noted that the admonition here relative to strong drink is immediately connected with the admonition concerning women and it does not require an extensive observation now to see the pertinency of these warnings. These are twin evils and wherever you find one of them you find the other also. It is not to be understood that there is sanction here of strong drink as a beverage, but rather the medicinal use of it as in the case of Paul’s advice to Timothy to take a little wine for the stomach’s sake. It may also be noted here that righteous judgment is unjoined and this, too, is always in danger at the hands of those who indulge in strong drink.
The passage, Pro 31:10-31 , is an acrostic, or alphabetical poem, and a gem of literature. This passage is the picture of a worthy woman. In the Cambridge Bible we have this fine comment:
The picture here drawn of woman in her proper sphere of home, as a wife and a mother and the mistress of a household, stands out in bright relief against the dark sketches of woman degraded by impurity, or marred, by imperfections, which are to be found in earlier chapters of this Book (Pro 2:16-20 ; Pro 5:1-23 ; Pro 5:7 ; Pro 22:14 ; Pro 23:27-28 , and Pro 11:22 ; Pro 19:13 ; Pro 21:19 Corruptio optimi pessima. We have here woman occupying and adorning her rightful place, elevated by anticipation to the high estate to which the Gospel of Christ has restored her. It is an expansion of the earlier proverbs: “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord” (Pro 18:22 ). The ideal here set forth for the woman is fine and represents her at her best and most influential business, viz: that of making a home.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the title of the section, Proverbs 25:1-29:28, and of what is it a proof?
2. What are the varieties of stanza found in this section?
3. What kinds of parallelism are found in this passage?
4. Give ten of the most beautiful proverbs found in this section, showing their application.
5. What proverbs in this section are elaborated in a New Testament parable?
6. Who were Agur, Ithiel, and Ucal and what may be remarked especially of Agur?
7. Give a brief analysis of Pro 30 .
8. What is Agur’s prayer?
9. What are the four insatiable things according to Agur?
10. What are the four inscrutable things?
11. What are the four intolerable things?
12. What are the four wise little things?
13. What are the four stately things?
14. Who was King Lemuel?
15. Give a brief analysis of Pro 31 .
16. What do we learn from the salutation?
17. What are the maternal admonitions in Pro 31:2-9 and what do you think of them?
18. What can you say of the passage, Pro 31:10-31 ?
19. According to this passage what is the picture here of a worthy woman?
20. What do you think of the ideal here set forth for the woman?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Pro 31:1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
Ver. 1. The words of King Lemuel. ] Lemuel’s lesson, Bathsheba’s catechism. Lemuel she calls him, because God had owned him. “I will be his father, and be shall be my son”; 2Sa 7:14 and was “with him” so long as he was “with God,” according to 2Ch 15:2 . Indeed, when he grew discinct and dissolute, then God’s soul sat loose to him, and was disjointed from him, Jer 6:8 and the rather because he had had the benefit of better education. His father had taught him, and had taken much pains with him. Pro 4:4 His mother a also had counselled and cautioned him early not to give his strength to wine and women; and yet he was most inordinate in his love to these two. Ecc 2:1-26 This was almost as great an aggravation of his sin, that he had been better taught and brought up, as that other, that he forsook the Lord that had “appeared unto him twice.” 1Ki 11:9 The “words of King Lemuel” they are called, because, though composed by his mother, yet for his use, in the same sense as Psa 127:1 , is styled “A song of degrees of Solomon,” or “for Solomon,” though made by his father, who tells him there that which he found true by experience, “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord,” &c., for by all his wives Solomon had none but one son, and him none of the wisest either.
a Aristippus dictus est , quod eum mater Areta docuisset.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The words, &c. The Hebrew dibrey has no governing noun; so one must be understood thus. “[An unnamed one’s] words [addressed] to king Lemuel: a burden which his mother [repeatedly] taught him”.
king Lemuel = to El and for El, a king. Compare Jedidiah = beloved of Jah (2Sa 12:25). Solomon was the royal seed in the line of Him Who is King of kings and Lord of lords. The Talmud says (Avoth d’Rab. Nathan, c. 39): “Solomon was called by six names: Solomon, Jedidiah, Koheleth, Son of Jakeh, Agur, and Lemuel”.
prophecy = oracle, oracular utterance, or burden.
his mother. Compare the Structure, (p. 864).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 31
Now the thirty-first proverb are,
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him ( Pro 31:1 ).
So these are really the words of King Lemuel’s mother unto him. The advice of a godly mother to her prince son who one day is to reign over the people. There are those who think that Lemuel is indeed Solomon, and that these are the words of Bathsheba unto Solomon. Whether or not that is so is a matter of argument among the theologians, of which I have no desire to enter into. “The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.”
What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroys kings. For it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; or for princes strong drink ( Pro 31:2-4 ):
Now in the scriptures, in the New Testament we find that wine was forbidden for a man who was an overseer in the church. “If any man desires the office of the bishop or an overseer, he desires a good thing. But he’s not to be given to wine, no striker. Taking care of his own family,” and so foRuth ( 1Ti 3:1 , 1Ti 3:4 ). So wine was prohibited for any person who has a position of leadership in overseeing in the church. Here we are told that wine is not for kings. Anyone in the ruling capacity. Why? Because God doesn’t want your mind to be colored by any kind of a false stimulant. He doesn’t want anything to cloud your judgment. He wants your mind to be perfectly clear.
God doesn’t really want to communicate with a foggy mind. It’s hard to communicate with people who come to you and who are on drugs or who are, say, drunk. You know that they don’t know what they’re really saying. You know that they don’t really mean. You don’t really know who you’re talking to. You’re not dealing with the real person. And to try to counsel them is futility, because you’re not really dealing with the true issues and with the real person until their mind is totally clear.
I love having a clear mind. I love having a mind that is not under the influence of any outside kind of a stimulant or force or whatever. I love being able to think clearly. I can’t understand why a person would want to fog up their mind or alter their conscious state. I love so much the clear ability to reason, to think, to see things clearly. I don’t want to fog up my mind and perhaps destroy my ability of judgment. So as the king, wine wasn’t for the king because it has the possible altered conscious state. The same was for the bishop, the overseer in the church. The same was true for the priest in the Old Testament when he offered sacrifices before the Lord. He wasn’t to drink wine lest he be serving God under some kind of a false fire, a false stimulant. Aaron’s sons were destroyed because of the false fire that they offered unto God, strange fire that they offered. And God doesn’t want strange fire.
So these things are spoken, the mother was speaking to Lemuel and said, “Hey, wine isn’t for kings or strong drink for princes.”
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted ( Pro 31:5 ).
Lest through your drinking your state of consciousness is altered and you are not clear in the judgment that you make.
Give strong drink to him who is ready to die, and wine unto those who are of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. But open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and the needy ( Pro 31:6-9 ).
So the exhortation of Lemuel’s mother to him as he is to be a king over his judgment and in the responsibility that will be his in offering and in giving judgment.
Now who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies ( Pro 31:10 ).
So it is possible that at this point, if indeed this is Solomon, and Bathsheba’s talking to him, it would with all of his wives, it would be interesting if he had found a virtuous woman among them. “Her price is far above rubies.” Her description.
The heart of her husband does safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil ( Pro 31:11 ).
You just can trust your wife completely. It’s so glorious to have a wife that you can have total trust in. You don’t have to be suspicious. You don’t have to be questioning. But you can just have that total confidence that they are true, that they are pure, that they are honest. Virtuous woman. Price is above far above rubies.
She will do him good and not evil all of his days. She seeks wool, and flax, works willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; in that she brings her food from afar ( Pro 31:12-14 ).
She shops the ads, gets the best buys from the various markets.
She rises up also while it is yet night, and gives meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens ( Pro 31:15 ).
Industrious.
She considers a field, and buys it: with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night ( Pro 31:16-18 ).
I mean, she is just a very industrious woman indeed.
She lays her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretches out her hand to the poor; yea, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: all of her household are clothed with scarlet. She makes herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land ( Pro 31:19-23 ).
Now the gates were an important place of a city, for the gates were the place of judgment. When persons had any kind of business to transact, legal business and all, they would always come into the gates of the city, and the men who sat in the gates of the city were the renowned men of the city and they would come to them for judgments. Her husband is known in the gates. He sits along the elders of the land.
She makes fine linen, and sells it; and delivers girdles to the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favor is deceitful, beauty is vain: but a woman that reverences the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates ( Pro 31:24-31 ).
What a beautiful, beautiful tribute to the woman. To the truly beautiful woman. The one that God honors because she honors God. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband praises her. Guys, aren’t we lucky that all of us have found these beautiful women? How thankful we are to God for our wives. What a blessing they are to us. What a value. What a joy. What an asset. You couldn’t buy her with rubies. Her value is far above them. What an asset they are to the husband, to the family and to God. Thank God for a virtuous wife. Over and over I thank God for Kay and what she means to me and what she means to our family. How privileged. And each one of you men, as you think of that wife that God has given to you, a precious jewel indeed.
We are told in the scriptures, cherish her, nourish her, love her, even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. Thank God. What a beautiful picture we have here.
But this verse, for you young ladies, “Favor is deceitful, beauty is vain.” Some of you are bemoaning the fact, “Oh, I’m not beautiful.” It seems like there are very, very, very few women who are satisfied with their looks. Most women think of themselves as rather ugly. Most women have a low self-esteem. Very, very few women. There are some but they are rare who really think that they are beautiful, and those that think they are beautiful are usually odious. They’re hard to be around. They’re intolerable. A woman who really thinks she’s beautiful. You don’t want her. You’ll never be able to keep her up. But the true beauty.
So don’t worry if God hasn’t put the perfect face on you, because beauty is deceitful, favor is deceitful, beauty is vain. It’s empty. And it’s so true. You listen to some of these Hollywood beauties and what’s more empty than the head of a Hollywood beauty queen? Some of those that primp and think they’re so beautiful and are posing constantly. But you listen to their words and they just express the empty head. They never had to think. You see, everybody is always flattering them and all. And they’ve never had to really develop character. And they’re about as shallow as you can be. You just listen to them talk and you find out how empty and shallow they are. They’ve never seen any need for developing character. Beauty is vain.
But a woman who really reverences the Lord, a woman who lives a godly life. A woman who loves the Lord. There’s nothing more beautiful in all of the world than a woman who is righteous and loves God. Oh, how beautiful. That’s true beauty. You see that woman who is relating to God, the beautiful life is the one that is in the right relationship with the Lord. “The woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”
You guys that are looking for a gal, don’t look for the pretty face. You’re liable to find an empty head. Look for the one who knows how to pray. Look for the one who is interested in the things of the Lord. Look for that one who is seeking God and seeking her life to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. You’ll have a wife that will be true and faithful and loving and glorious all of your life. You’ll be happy. She is the one that you’re really wanting. She shall be praised. But you know, God is so good that God makes them to look more beautiful to us than anybody else anyhow. That’s just God’s little plus benefit.
Father, we thank You for the wisdom, the instruction, the knowledge that You have given to us even in these little pithy sayings and in the proverbs. We thank You, Lord, that we can learn how to live through Thy Word. What to seek and what to shun. And help us, Lord, to seek Thee. Thy kingdom, Thy righteousness above everything else. Now Lord, hide away in our heart these truths. And may they become the guiding principles of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Pro 31:1
Pro 31:1
“The words of Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.”
This verse is rendered differently in some translations: “The word of Lemuel, king of Massa, which his mother taught him. “These are the solemn words which King Lemuel’s mother said to him. If these renditions should be allowed (and we seriously doubt it), then Lemuel was not even an Israelite. “Massa was an Arab tribe descended from Abraham through Ishmael (Gen 25:14)”; but there is no record whatever of any such thing as a state called Massa ruled by a king. See the comment on Pro 30:1 regarding the importance of translating the word here as “oracle,” indicating the authority of the passage. “There is no need to suppose that Lemuel was the author of that beautiful poem on the perfect wife that follows. That Lemuel himself was indeed a king appears in his mother’s words, although, “king of what,” no one knows.
McGee and others have supposed that Lemuel was the same as King Solomon. “Lemuel was Bathsheba’s `pet name’ for her son Solomon. There’s nothing in this passage that sounds like Bathsheba to this writer.
Pro 31:1. This chapter is another supplement (just like Chapter 30). History has not preserved, nor has archaeology uncovered, information that would help us identify king Lemuel. If his father was a king with a harem of wives, the rearing and teaching of his sons became the work of his own mother. Oracle indicates a divine message. We are glad for this supplement that closes out the book of Proverbs, especially the material about the virtuous woman (Pro 31:10-31).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This is the second section of the appendix. There have been many conjectures as to who King Lemuel was, but nothing certainly can be said. It is divided into two parts, the first of which consists of his mother’s advice to him. This advice urges him against becoming the slave of passion, warns him that while there may be some excuse for the man who is ready to perish if he take strong drink, it must be utterly avoided by kings and princes. And, finally, she sets before him the first duty of the kingly office, that is, caring for all who are oppressed and needy.
The second half is a beautiful picture of a virtuous woman, and may be supposed to be King Lemuel’s picture of his mother. After a fine description of her beauty and her diligence, and the helpful influence she exerted in bringing her husband to places of power, he ends with the declaration:
Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all, and with a blessing on her.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Worthy Woman
Pro 31:1-9
In these words of King Lemuel, we notice a mothers influence in the education of her son. A woman is never more nobly occupied than in warning her son against the seductions of pleasure and in giving him a high sense of that which is right. The sins of the flesh have been the peculiar snare of royal personages, preventing them from pleading the cause of the desolate and ministering judgment to the poor and needy. What a contrast to the glory of the sovereignty of Jesus! When Savonarola preached with his burning eloquence in Florence, the people cried, Jesus is our King, only Jesus! That is what we all need. He is the King of whom His subjects need never be ashamed.
We cannot interpret Pro 31:6 and Pro 31:7 as a divine injunction, but rather as an admission that alcohol imparts a temporary stimulus to the despairing and the dying. We must remember Pro 20:1. Still speaking of the king, Lemuel shows how best his influence can be employed, Pro 31:8 and Pro 31:9. But the same obligation and privilege rests on us all.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Proverbs 31
The final chapter of the book of Proverbs is designated as The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
31:1
It is generally believed that Lemuel was the name Solomons mother used for him. There was no King Lemuel among those who sat on the thrones of either Judah or Israel; nor do we have any record of a king by that name among the surrounding nations. This title occurs only in this chapter and is probably intended for the son of David and Bathsheba. The name simply means Unto God, or, With God.
It is most interesting and deeply affecting to be permitted to listen to a part of the instruction given to the young prince by his mother. It is also precious to note how grace had worked in her soul, if she was indeed Bathsheba, so that she, whose history had been so sadly blotted, could be her sons guide and counselor in matters of such great importance. No doubt the loss of her first-born, taken away in the Lords discipline, made Solomon (also called Jedediah, Beloved of Jehovah) all the dearer to her heart (2Sa 12:24-25). He was probably in her company often, learning to value greatly her instruction and her loving care. How much he was indebted to her for that godliness which marked his early reign, will never be known until the records are read at the judgment seat of Christ. The influence of a God-fearing mother is beyond all telling.
31:2
The opening verse of her prophecy seems to imply her deep concern that she give her son the appropriate counsel.
The thrice-repeated what has the force of what shall I say? She desired to have the mind of God concerning that which she endeavored to impress on his young heart. Words were sacred things with Lemuels mother; for she felt keenly the need of instructing her son correctly and feared lest she in any way should mislead him.
The expression son of my vows speaks volumes. Like Hannah, she had doubtless been much in prayer for her child both before and after his birth. She was humbled, repentant, and deeply exercised over the recent sin in which she had participated; there would be cause for much concern as to the future of the child whose mother had so sadly failed. This keenly felt concern would seem to have resulted in pious vows concerning her son. They expressed the purpose of her heart to bring up her child in the fear of God.
Some might seek to use such a passage as authority for making vows now, and especially baptismal and confirmation pledges. But this passage does not address this issue. Though none can doubt the sincere piety and the good intentions of many who make these vows, such a practice is thoroughly opposed to the letter and spirit of the New Testament. In a legal age making vows was quite in keeping with Gods ways, and He gave full instruction concerning them and the necessity of paying them. He made known also how a wife or a minor might be released from such a vow, if on the day of the promise, the husband or father disallowed them. See Leviticus 27. But nothing like this is known in the Epistles, which were written to unfold the doctrine and practice pertaining to the church of God.
Undoubtedly, Christian parents can and should bring their children to God in prayer. They must seek divine wisdom to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the present age of grace, this exercise replaces the vows and pledges made by godly parents of the previous dispensation.
If, through ignorance and legality, one has made a vow which he afterwards learns is opposed to the truth of God, he should go at once to the Lord in contrition of heart confessing his error. To go on as though this vow had really bound his soul would be a serious mistake. For instance, a Roman priest takes a vow of celibacy. If, after discerning more clearly the will of God, he leaves the apostate system wherewith he has been connected, his vow is in no sense binding once he repents. Such a case is contemplated in 1Co 7:25-28,36. He who has pledged himself to perpetual virginity, if he finds later that he has made a mistake and put himself under severe restraint, is free to marry, and the Word says, He sinneth not. The solemn words of Ecc 5:4-6 do not affect the question at issue. What is contemplated there is a vow made in accordance with the law, in the legal dispensation. Ye are not under the law but under grace (Rom 6:14).
31:3
Lemuel was faithfully warned against the snare of licentiousness. How well would it have been for Solomon if he had ever persevered in the path of temperance and self-control advised in this verse. He should have remembered the admonition, Neither shall he multiply wives to himself (Deu 17:17). His early life seems to have been marked by obedience to this command of God and by heeding his mothers warning. But in his later years he cast discretion to the winds, and the sad result was, his wives turned away his heart (1Ki 11:3).
31:4-9
He who would rule well over a nation must first be master of himself. It was in this area of self-control that Noah failed when set over the renewed earth (Gen 9:20-21). Earnestly Bathsheba warns her son of the evil effects that follow intemperate indulgence in wine and strong drink. It is not for kings to be given to inebriation, for drunkenness clouds the understanding and desensitizes the mind. Drinking immoderately, they are likely to forget the law, and thus be rendered unfit to try a case in righteousness.
Kings of the past ages were the representatives not merely of the executive power but, in a large sense, of the judicial and the legislative sides of government as well. The afflicted and the oppressed would not receive justice from a drunken king, therefore it was extremely important that his mind remain clear.
If any drink to the point of intoxication let it be those who are ready to perish and those who are disheartened and bitter of soul. There is a tinge of undisguised irony in the sixth and seventh verses that must not be overlooked. Strong drink might help the despondent to forget their poverty and to remember their misery no more. But the true remedy is for the temperate judge of the oppressed to hear their cause patiently and render a decision in righteousness. He is to open his mouth for those who cannot speak for themselves and deliver any who would be in danger of undeserved destruction. See Pro 24:11-12.
31:10-12
From verse 10 to the end of the chapter, the subject is the virtuous woman. This section is an acrostic poem. In the original language, each verse begins with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It was a favorite form of composition among the Hebrews and is used frequently in the Psalms and in the Lamentations of Jeremiah.
Virtuous is used in the sense of thrifty and devoted. Of course the devoted wife would be faithful to her husband; but chastity is not what is particularly before the mind. The virtuous woman is a dependable woman, one who can be counted on in every emergency. She is capable and energetic, with a high sense of the dignity and importance of administering the affairs of the home. Her worth is beyond that of the most valuable jewels.
In such a wife the heart of her husband may safely confide. In her love and unselfish affection he finds treasure so vast that, whatever his circumstances, he will never be in poverty. Her influence is for good and not evil all the days of her life. It is a lovely picture of the mutual relationship of Christ and the church. The church acknowledges Him as Head and delights to love and serve Him; while He finds His joy in her and sees in her an inheritance of untold value!
31:13-15
Finding her deepest joy in loving service, the virtuous wife takes delight in weaving with her own hands the wool and the flax which are to be the clothing for her household. The picture is an Eastern one, but nonetheless lovely to Western eyes. Kitto says, In the state of society to which this description belongs, every kind of drapery for the person, the tent, or the house, is manufactured at home by the women, who make it a matter of pride to be able to boast that their husbands and children are entirely clad by the labor of their hands; and the mans robe clings the more sweetly to him,- is warmer in winter, and cooler in the heat, from his knowledge of the dear hands by which every thread has been prepared.
Dainty delicacies or coarse fare when provided by her hands become sweet indeed to her family. She is not content with slipshod service but is constantly finding new things, as the merchant ships bring to us the treasures of distant lands.
She shames slothfulness by her early rising, even before the first beams of the sun begin to light the horizon. In Syria, the women are up long before the dawn to prepare the morning meal; this enables the men to go to work early, so they can rest during the hottest part of the day.
Only love can make such diligent service sweet and delightful. Where love is lacking, this work will be the worst drudgery. Paul exemplified this attitude of loving commitment when he called himself and his fellow-laborers bondservants of Jesus Christ. This should be the churchs happiness-to serve the living and true God, while waiting with eager expectancy for His Son from Heaven.
The wife described here is secure in her true state in the home. Unless that is settled all would be fear and anxiety. So it is with the Christian. Service springs from the knowledge of an established relationship. It is not a price paid to win the favor of an unreconciled God. But believers, having been reconciled to Him, serve in newness of the spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. All uncertainty is gone, and willing hands work as a result of the power of Christs constraining love.
31:16-18
Unlike the unfaithful servant, who wrapped his talent in a napkin and hid it away where he could not use it, the prudent wife is continually adding to her husbands possessions by her economy and foresight. She enlarges her territory and becomes keeper of a vineyard, which indicates joyful service; for the fruit of the vine throughout Scripture symbolizes gladness. The bride in the Canticles had to acknowledge, mine own vineyard have I not kept (Song of Solomon 1:6); but it is blessedly otherwise with the virtuous wife described in this chapter.
The girding of the loins for service may well remind us of that obedience to the truth of God which characterizes the devoted soul (see Eph 6:14). The truth of Gods Word equips us with strength and fitness to perform our daily tasks. No believer can render proper service unless his mind is controlled by the unerring Word of the Lord. The virtuous woman wraps her loose flowing garments tightly about her, drawing them up to leave the feet free to go about her work, doing with her might what her hands find to do.
She finds profit in her labor; her lamp does not go out by night, for she realizes the importance of being ever watchful as well as energetic. How many a soul has sadly failed because, while very active in the Lords work he has not maintained watchfulness. The lamp of his testimony has been allowed to burn very dimly or to die out. Forgetting his responsibility as a child of light, the careless soul has been found a child of darkness, sleeping among the dead.
31:19-21
The nineteenth verse has reference to the ancient custom of spinning without the use of a wheel; this practice is still prevalent among some Eastern peoples. They hold the distaff in one hand and twirl their long wool spindles with the other, stopping to wind the thread on them as fast as it is drawn out. Thus, by diligence and economy, the virtuous woman is able to minister with loving care to the lowly and the needy. Her charity begins at home, for she watches solicitously for the comfort of her family. By her own skill she makes scarlet garments of warm wool for their covering in time of cold and snow.
Some prefer the rendering double-garments to scarlet, as they do not see what the color has to do with keeping out the cold. But the Hebrew word used in this verse is never so translated elsewhere in Scripture. It is the scarlet obtained from the Tola, a cochineal-like insect. When crushed, it produces a fine deep red, or rich crimson dye, much admired by the orientals. It is the worm of Psa 22:6, to which our Lord likens Himself; He who was bruised and slain that all His redeemed might be clothed in splendor for eternity.
It is noteworthy that to the present day, the mountain Nestorians and other Eastern tribes clothe their households in a scarlet or striped fabric, much like Scottish tartan in texture and material. Our text refers to garments such as these. Even in the smallest details the Word of God is absolutely correct.
31:22-24
The kjv uses the word silk in describing the clothing of verse 22. However it is now well-known that silk was not brought to the Mediterranean region from China until the reign of Justinian. Fine, white linen, glistening like silk, such as the bride is arrayed with in Revelation 19, is what is undoubtedly intended. As elsewhere in Scripture purple and fine linen are used together to describe the attire of the well-clothed. See Luk 16:19.
The purple was obtained from the juice of a certain species of shell-fish found on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean sea. The juice of the entire fish was not used, but only a little of its liquor, called the flower, contained in a white vein, or vessel, in the neck.
Typically, the fine linen and purple picture practical righteousness and royal glory, as in the tabernacle hangings. In the rich man referred to in Luk 16:19 we see an example of how one could be outwardly covered with that which represents uprightness and privilege, while actually being poor, and wretched, and blind, and miserable, and naked. On the other hand, the virtuous wife is clothed in what portrays her true character and dignity.
Her husband too is honored and esteemed. His place as sitting among the elders of the land implies that he occupied a seat in the gate of the city as a judge or a magistrate. See notes on Pro 22:22 and 24:7. His wifes thrift and good judgment reflect credit on him, adding to the respect in which he is held. His wife is indeed an help meet for him (Gen 2:18).
Not only has she enough to clothe her household and herself, but her unwearying industry enables her to produce linen garments and girdles for the caravan merchants. They readily purchase the work of her hands to carry them to distant places. Thus she is bearing fruit through her good works, and her abundant labors provide clothing for those far removed from her own dwelling. The spiritual lesson is easily seen. She who is faithful in ministering at home and clothes herself in a garment of practical godliness and righteousness will have enough and more to spare for the blessing of others.
31:25-27
Every clause here is of the deepest importance. The fine linen and purple of verse 22 are explained symbolically in verse 25- Strength and honour are her clothing. That is of course strength of character, or uprightness of heart and conduct, coupled with that gracious dignity which belongs to one who walks with God. No wonder it is written, she shall rejoice in time to come. Godliness and joyfulness are inseparable. The joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh 8:10). There is no real happiness apart from righteousness, and vice versa. Where the conscience is at rest, the heart sings for joy. When David sinned, he did not lose his salvation, but the joy of it. It did not return until his sin was confessed in the presence of God, and he became once more a man in whose spirit there is no guile (Psa 32:2). Then he could call on the upright in heart to join with him in songs of rejoicing. Contrast Psalms 51 and 32.
As long as the soul has any controversy with God-if persisting in any known sin, refusing to confess evil doing, or failing to walk in any truth revealed in the Word-there will be only unrest and lack of peace and joy. The secret of a happy Christian life is very simple. It consists in walking in the power of an ungrieved Spirit. Compromise with unholiness, grieves the Spirit of God who dwells in every believer, thereby robbing him of peace of mind and joy of heart. But when all that is contrary to His holy will is dragged out into the light and judged, then the confiding saint can lift up his voice in song and make melody to the Lord in his heart. Nor will this gladness fade away while daily reckoning oneself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Rom 6:11).
Fittingly the next verse shows that the words of the virtuous woman are gracious. Like Priscilla instructing Apollos, she opens her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is in her tongue. What a contrast to the shrewish and contentious woman, condemned several times in earlier chapters (see Pro 21:19 and 27:15-16). Because of the pureness of her heart, she delights to utter words of grace and truth (see 22:11). Who does not prize fellowship with such a rare saint as this! When, instead of petty complaints and wretched, slanderous tales, the lips speak words of lovingkindness and truth, conversation becomes profitable. By such well directed wisdom and tenderness, the hearers are edified and refreshed.
The twenty-seventh verse emphasizes something that is unspeakably precious in a wife and mother. She looks well to the ways of her household. Solicitously she notices the habits and actions, as well as marking the speech, of her children. Without nagging and ill-temper, she exercises a firm but loving discipline over each one; checking here and encouraging there as she sees either to be needed. Never too busy to seek to win an erring one from the snares of worldliness and pride, she does not eat the bread of idleness. By both example and precept she endeavors to guide her offspring in the way of peace. How poignant is the grief of this mothers heart, how strong the reprovings of her conscience, if the feet of any of her household go astray for a time in paths of sin!
31:28-29
As the children of the virtuous wife mature they recognize the wisdom and love demonstrated in her firm but tender discipline and attribute their well-being and blessing to her godly training and instruction. They rise up and shower praises on her. While her husband, rejoicing in such a partner of his joys and sorrows, exclaims in honest praise, Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. He has found in her what the heart craves-one whose comeliness of soul and mind excel even beauty of face and form.
In his admiration and delight we see a picture of the tender love with which our heavenly Bridegroom will regard His bride, the church. He will present her to Himself in the soon-coming day of glory, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph 5:27).
31:30-31
In these verses we read the secret of her devoted, virtuous life: She fears the Lord. This fear of the Lord, which the book of Proverbs has declared to be the beginning of wisdom, is her abiding characteristic. Her words, her ways, her dress, and her household discipline are all ordered as in His presence.
Others may pride themselves on their beauty or endeavor to obtain favor by winning words and pleasing manners; but if there is no true character behind such charms, the day will soon come when praise will give place to contempt. However, she who fears Jehovah will be honored by all who appreciate virtue and excellence of spirit. Her beneficent labors also will receive their public and well-merited recognition.
We who have the light of New Testament revelation can see in this last verse more than a hint of what awaits the Christian at the judgment seat of Christ. When the mists of earth have gone forever, its pride, folly, and iniquity eternally past, such a virtuous woman will appear in her Lords own presence with rejoicing, bearing her sheaves with her. At His feet she will cast down the fruit of her hands and the works accomplished through His grace to have all surveyed by Christ. How sweet to hear His words of approval in the gate, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.. .Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord (Mat 25:21).
At that moment who will regret the days of toil and nights of watching? Who then would exchange the saints path and portion, with all its responsibilities as well as privileges, for a place of ease and careless enjoyment of a few fleeting hours on earth? Not one.
Living in view of that sacred hour when all our works will be inspected by Him who has won our deepest affections, may we purposely and earnestly cling to Christ. May we hold fast to His faithful Word, not denying His name, while we wait here for His return.
If these notes and meditations assist any to do so, they will have accomplished the authors most cherished desire.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
VII. THE WORDS OF KING LEMUEL TAUGHT HIM BY HIS MOTHER
CHAPTER 31 The Virtuous Woman
The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him; this is the superscription of this chapter. Who is King Lemuel? No king by that name is known. We do not hesitate in saying that it is Solomon. It means unto God one who is devoted to the Lord. In all probability Solomons mother called her boy by this name, and here is the record therefore of the instruction given by Solomons mother. The warning is once more, and that very earnestly (shown by the thrice asked what? What shall I say unto you?) against licentiousness, against wine and strong drink. The brief words of the mothers exhortation end with a request to act righteously as king, to stand up for those who are appointed to destruction, to plead the cause of the poor and needy.
The final portion of the book of Proverbs is a description of the virtuous woman. This section is quite different from the rest of the book, like many Psalms and the Lamentations it is alphabetically arranged. The virtuous woman, who is far more valuable than rubies, is described in her home as a faithful wife, a painstaking mother and the competent mistress of her household. There is no need to allegorize this description and apply it to the Church, as some have done. But this virtuous woman stands out in prominent and bright relief–a relief against the descriptions of the strange woman, the adulteress so repeatedly mentioned in Proverbs Pro 2:16-22; Pro 5:1-23; Pro 22:14; Pro 23:27, etc.). One of the proverbs is expanded in this beautiful picture drawn by the Spirit of God: Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor from the LORD. But how few of the modern women reach this ideal! How few among Christian women measure up to it!
Thus ends the book of Proverbs, the book filled with practical instructions, warnings; food for thought and meditation; filled with wholesome counsel, with direction and guidance, the wisdom which is from above.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
the prophecy: Pro 30:1
his: Pro 1:8, Pro 6:20, 2Ti 1:5, 2Ti 3:15
Reciprocal: Pro 31:28 – children 1Th 2:11 – as
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 31:1. The words of King Lemuel Of Solomon, by the general consent both of Jewish and Christian writers: this name signifies one from God, or, belonging to God, and such a one was Solomon eminently, being given by God to David and Bath-sheba as a pledge of his reconciliation to them after their repentance. Possibly his mother gave him this name to remind him of his great obligations to God, and of the justice and necessity of his devoting himself to Gods service. It must be acknowledged, some have doubted whether Lemuel was not a different person; but, according to Dr. Delaney and many others, without sufficient reason. I know, says that judicious divine: that some modern critics, contrary to the unanimous judgment and tradition of all antiquity, have raised some scruples upon this head, as if Lemuel were not Solomon, but some other king, they know not who. I have examined them with all the care and candour I am capable of, and conclude, upon the whole, that their objections are such as my readers, of best understandings, would be little obliged to me either for retailing or refuting.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 31:1. The words of king Lemuel. Ancient kings had many names and surnames which embarrass history. The first name of Solomon was Jedidiah, or Jedid-jah, beloved of God. 2Sa 12:25. Lemuel is analyzed, Lemo-ail, sacred to God. Solomons appointment to the throne was also of God, he being the youngest was preferred before his elder brethren. But if another conjecture should be true, that Lemuel was a prince in a neighbouring kingdom to Israel, and his mother was a descendant of Davids house, the doctrine of this chapter is not the less worthy of sacred regard.
Pro 31:2. What, my son? She addresses the young king with a feeling heart, and in poetic boldness. What, my son? What, the son of my womb, the son of my vows; do I see in thee youthful propensities, which I wish to check in their earliest dawn?
Pro 31:3. Give not thy strength unto women. Excess of connubial pleasures will degrade thy character, weaken thy intellect, and superinduce infirmities of age in the middle of life. Marriage therefore, without the strictest chastity, is not pleasing to God; and young men should most cautiously avoid all habits which injure the health, and degrade the soul. This address was highly proper to an eastern prince; for the princes of Asia were haughty and corrupt beyond a name.
Pro 31:4. It is not for kings to drink wine. She cautions him against wine, often productive of the crimes before mentioned. And if we may credit Xenophons Cyropdia, lib. 1., scenes of intoxication were habitual in the court of Ecbatana. When young men live too free, it forces the constitution as a plant in a hothouse: an abstemious temperance is a most hopeful ornament in the character of youth. It is better to give the wine to the sick and the dying, than waste it after a luxuriant dinner. The harem, and the festive board, have been the destruction of kings. What can a numerous race of seventy sons do for the support of the throne? They pull it down by oppression and luxury; they destroy the peace of the family by their quarrels, often killing one another; the jealousy of so many queens must communicate their miseries to the monarchs mind. Corpulency steals on his body, while his intellectual powers and passions approximate to those of the brutes. God made Adam but one wife; and those who violate the pure laws of nature must be daily drenched with the bitter cup of their own mixing.
Pro 31:8. Open thy mouth for the dumb. She charged him when on the bench of justice to advocate the cause of the dumb; for countrymen introduced into a court cannot talk there as at home, how good soever their cause may be. Chastity, temperance, and justice, are high virtues in the humble character; but in a prince they shine with a lustre which dazzles the eyes of an empire.
Pro 31:10. Who can find a virtuous woman? We have next an acrostic, comprising the twenty two letters of the alphabet, a fine poem in praise of a virtuous woman. It opens with a boldness peculiar to ancient poetry. Who can find a virtuous woman, a woman of a strong and noble mind?
And truly he who is so favoured receives one of Gods best gifts; and he is indeed a Nabal who does not prove himself worthy of so great a gift. Her leading virtues are classed under seven heads.
(1) She is industrious in business. She girds her waist to labour, and takes the lead in the manufacture of wool and flax established in her house. The work of her hands is admired in distant nations. How different from the polished ladies of Jerusalem, Isa 3:16, and the ladies of modern Europe. Sardanapalus, effeminate as he was, assigned his ladies their tasks at the distaff. Justin, lib. 1. cap. 3.
(2) Encreasing in opulence by industry, she purchases land when offered for sale. So husbandry and trade shake hands, and wealth flows from every source. It is as the accession of rivulets which augment the stream.
(3) As riches encrease, she augments her benevolence and bounty to the poor and needy. The blind and the lame eat in her house, the widow tells her troubles there, and finds compassion and comfort; and the orphans are sheltered and employed under her roof. Thus it is that heaven takes delight to entrust its treasures in bounteous hands.
(4) The virtuous woman elevates her husband to wealth, honour and happiness. He is honoured by the public as a happy man, and head of a rising house. When he takes his seat in the gate, where sitting magistrates judge causes, he is known or reverenced by the public.
(5) When critical affairs happen in her house, she opens her mouth in wisdom. (6) So when introduced into company, and company the best informed, she knows when to speak, and when to be silent; then no one will controvert her words, but all applaud her judgment.
(7) Her husband and children bless her in life, and posterity will revere her memory. Envy and rivalship subside with death; then the public appreciates worth with a sober decision. Then this womans virtues will be held up as the glory of her house, and the model of her age. Then this womans worth will be found to be more than the favour of princes, for they may discard a favourite in a moment; and her virtues will far exceed beauty, for that fades with sickness, and vanishes in death; but her virtues live for ever, because they were done in the fear of the Lord; and the noble motives of piety conferred a celestial lustre on all her conduct. The day a man receives the hand of so much worth, his cup begins to overflow with the richest favours of Gods providence. The christian fathers, in their allegorical mode of exposition, make this woman a figure of the church.
Pro 31:31. Let her own works praise her in the gates. These are the laurels; and these after death keep the cypress evergreen.
At the end of two hundred and sixty Greek proverbs, I find this adjection. If these proverbs are good, make use of them; if otherwise, write better.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 31:1-9. Second Division. Sayings of Lemuel.A manual of directions for kings. Pro 31:1. The title is uncertain. RV is not grammatically correct. Read mg.Massa (mg.), rendered oracle in Pro 31:30, and here by RV, is the regular word for the oracles of the earlier prophets, but is strange in this connexion. There is a Masa mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser IV along with Teima in N. Arabia. This was one of the traditional seats of wisdom, like Edom, and possibly the name was adopted in view of this. But of Massa, both here and in Pro 30:1, is conjectural (cf. Gen 10:30; Gen 25:14, and 1Ch 1:30, also article in HDB).
Pro 31:3. RV is incorrect; read mg.
Pro 31:8. such as are left desolate: too free a paraphrase. Heb. is all the sons of change (cf. mg.), change being unwarrantably interpreted as those who suffer a change of fortune. A slight emendation gives the sense those who suffer
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
In THE FINAL CHAPTER of the book has also a peculiar character, King Lemuel is the writer, but not the author, for he simply quotes the words of his mother. Actually, no king of Israel or Judah is known by this name, and it would seem most likely that Lemuel is a name given Solomon by his mother. If this is so, then it bears lovely witness to the godly character of Bathsheba, whose experience of shame with David no doubt wrought to produce a serious self-judgment and resulting sober concern for her child. This too would be consistent with the character of these last seven chapters of Proverbs, which we have been considering, for God’s provision for man in times of failure and ruin is the predominant subject. How beautifully therefore the grace of God shines out, especially in this concluding seventh chapter, with its picture of quiet rest and satisfaction. Indeed, Solomon’s own failure to properly heed the instruction of his mother here given, serves to accentuate the greatness of that grace.
But also, it bears witness to the fact that this prophecy looks much beyond Solomon, to a King in whom these characteristics of faithfulness and truth are seen in perfection of beauty. The first part of the chapter – to verse 9 – shows His throne established in righteousness (blessed anticipation indeed), while the second – from verse 10 to the end – adds the lovely picture of His Bride, “An help meet for Him,” in whom He finds deep and precious delight. How unspeakably sweet to the true heart in times when a ruined church testimony grieves the soul, to look beyond the ruin to contemplate the absolute certainty of God’s counsels concerning Christ and the church, His Bride!
The mother of the king would here speak of Israel elect by grace in contrast to the bondwoman, as Sara the free woman was the mother of Isaac, the child of promise, a lovely type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not the fruit of Israel’s boasted lawkeeping, but the precious Fruit of the grace of God operating in the little remnant of Israel elect by the pure grace of God. Compare Gal 4:22-31. How sweetly this evidence of grace and its results are seen in the lowly character and words of Mary the mother of the Lord (Luk 1:46-55).
“What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?”
The language here is quite in contrast to that of arbitrary commandments: legality is given no place. But it is an earnest appeal to the heart and conscience of her son, a practical pressing upon him to answer decidedly for himself. She appeals to him on the ground of her giving birth to him, and also on the ground of her vows, which no doubt were those of devoting her son to God, as his name Lemuel (“unto God”) implies. a reminder of Hannah’s vowing that Samuel would be given to God all the days of his life. Certainly only in Christ we see the perfection of such devotion, the perfect carrying out of the godly instructions we find here; but they are intended for both the exercise of Solomon and of all the children of God today, who are “made unto our God kings and priests,” and whose character therefore is to be patterned after that of Him who is “Lord of lords and King of kings.”
“Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.”
The tragedy of Solomon’s disregard for this first of his mother’s instructions is a painful comment on the impotence of the greatest human wisdom. It was Solomon’s many wives who turned away his heart from obedience to God (1Ki 11:3). Nor have more recent philosophers been men of exemplary moral lives. Greece, with all its culture and philosophy, destroyed itself through idolatry and moral corruption. Did Solomon not know better than to serve idols? Certainly, but his knowledge was not sufficient to preserve him. If he had learned to distrust himself, as did Agur, he might have known how to depend in communion upon the Lord, Who Himself is the Preserver of men. Many saints of God in the Old Testament were sadly guilty of polygamy, and some have dared to justify this merely on the ground that these men were believers. But this evil was first introduced by Lamech, of the line of Cain (Gen 4:23), a gross despising of the words of God: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife” (Gen 2:24). It is true enough that God did not enforce this upon men, but the Lord Jesus reaffirmed it as that which was true “from the beginning of the creation” (Mar 10:2-9), and it is Christianity alone which has brought back some measure of true submission to this holy principle of God. Faithful devotion to one wife is beautifully seen in the love of Christ for the church (Eph 5:25-29), and this is the sacred standard for the child of God as regards the sanctity of the marriage bond. Violation of this is the thing that “destroyeth kings.”
“It is not for kings, o Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; not for princes strong drink: lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.”
Whatever others may be at liberty to do, there are certain positions that demand a different standard of conduct. For instance, an airline pilot or a rail engineer cannot be allowed to indulge in strong drink for obvious reasons. A king too is in a place of trust, responsible for the welfare of many subjects, and it is imperative that he maintain at all times sobriety of judgment that is wise and fair. If others indulge in wine and strong drink, this is not for him.
Did Solomon not know this without having to learn it by experience? Yet here again he ignored his mother’s advice, as Ecc 2:3 tells us, only to learn by painful experience that his mother was right. In Christ alone we see the perfection of sober, undeviating wisdom and faithfulness in judgment. For wine speaks of anything that merely exhilarates or stimulates for the time. Man may be intoxicated by pleasures, as Solomon was for a time, or by personal pride, by money-making, or any of those multitude of things that influence the desires of the flesh. These may so affect the thoughts that proper, sober judgment is for the time impaired. Let us remember these things too in being exhorted, “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). The believer, is here to represent the Christ whose royal dignity is perfection itself: let us follow Him in some true measure. The world will certainly show the opposite character: all the greater therefore is the responsibility of the Christian to bear a true witness.
Yet strong drink is to be given to those ready to perish, and wine to those heavy of heart. Is there not here the implied truth of the Gospel of grace? A lost, hopelessly miserable soul needs the reviving, resuscitating joy of the knowledge of forgiveness, the “pouring in” of the oil of the Holy Spirit, and of the wine of a new-found joy in trusting to the precious blood of Christ. This initial, effervescent joy of a newborn soul is most precious in its place; but this should lead to a sober, faithful, devoted character of solid dependability. Wine is not to be the diet of the soul after conversion, but the milk and solid food of the Word of God.
“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”
This is the last of the three basic characteristics of the true King. The glory and wealth of Solomon’s kingdom was such that it ought to have been a simple matter for him to follow this sound advice of his mother. Yet, do we find it so? In fact, nothing is said positively as to his so doing; while his son Rehohoam later acknowledged to Israel, “My father did lade you with a heavy yoke;… my father chastised you with whips” (1Ki 12:11). The taxes he laid upon the poor evidently reached the point of oppression. How tragically sad a comment on the fact of man according to flesh being exalted in authority! It may be that Solomon began well, and paid some attention to his mother’s instruction, but in the end he violated all of it! How the earth groans for the coming of the King of kings and Lord of lords, He whose reign will be perfect equity, kindness, compassion, judging righteously, pleading the cause of the poor, delivering those appointed to destruction, so that the whole earth will break forth into singing! It is surely this we are to take as the implication in these first nine verses of chapter 31: there is a King of whom all these things are true.
The latter part of the chapter is a grand completion of the prophecy, presenting as it does a wife suitable for the King, her character answering beautifully to His own. This is in thorough contrast to what we have seen of the vanity of man in the flesh, his failure and untrustworthiness; for it is the lovely fruit of the grace of God, responded to by faith: she is God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph 2:10), and to be presented to the Lord Jesus without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27). How it adds to the greatness of His own glory to contemplate the wonder of His work in transforming a loveless, lifeless, sinful people into a company united in devoted affection and obedience to Himself! It is said that we shall be “to the praise of the glory of His grace,” and also “to the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:6; Eph 1:12).
The completeness of satisfaction involved in this is further enhanced by the fact that this section is an acrostic, using the entire Hebrew alphabet, each verse beginning with a letter of the alphabet, in proper order. It may be helpful to indicate this in quoting the text.
10.(Aleph) “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.”
11. (Beth) “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need (or lack) of spoil.”
12.( Gimel ) “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.”
Does the question of verse 10 not imply that a virtuous woman is not to be found everywhere, just as another question is raised in chapter 20:6, “A faithful man who can find?” Virtue does not only refer to moral purity, it is evident, but to all the characteristics of faithfulness, diligence, dependability that the chapter outlines. How refreshing to see in any good measure these qualities in a woman. But it is impossible apart from the grace of God having wrought in her heart. No material price can possibly give a recompense for her. The precious red ruby, or many of them together have no comparison to her worth. But are we not given a veiled hint here that her value is only measured by the precious blood of Christ, the price of her redemption? It is He Himself who has placed this value upon her: His heart safely trusts in her: He will have no lack of spoil, that is, no lack of gain through her. Not only will she refrain from harmful things, but “she will do Him good,” as the good servant who reports to his master, “Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.” She is too busily occupied with good to allow time for even worthless things, let alone evil things. And this continues “all the days of her life:” there is no growing weary of diligent devotion.
13.(Daleth) “She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands”
14.(He) “She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.”
15.(Vau) “She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.”
Her clothing is not ready made nor even the fabric, for of course it was common in the east for women to both weave the fabric and make the clothes for her family. Wool is for warmth, the product of the sheep, the sacrificial animal. This would speak of the “work and labor of love,” warm and affectionate, which Heb 6:10 tells us God will not forget. Flax is the material for weaving “fine linen,” and the garment in this case cool in comparison to the wool. Rev 19:8 interprets this for us, “the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints.” If in the case of the wool, the hands perform a work and labor of love, the linen tells rather of works of righteousness, the result of a living faith. How good to see these two lovely characteristics in balance! Her working “willingly” too is in lovely contrast to any spirit of legality.
The symbolism of verse 14 is excellent also: as the merchants’ ships bring food from long distances, so she draws her provision from beyond the realm of observation. The spiritual significance of this is of course the important matter: the believer’s provision of food for the soul is not found in his local circumstances, for the world around him is a wilderness: it is from the very presence of God we must draw that which our souls require day by day. Prayer, dependence, meditation, are the means by which we may do this.
Moreover, her faithful use of it is seen in verse 15. When the soul has learned from God, being filled with purest good, does it not delight in sharing with others, and practising self-denial in order to do so? Early in the morning, the people came to the temple to hear the Lord Jesus in the days just before His death: how precious that readiness to give the Word of God to souls in need. For He spent the nights in the mount of Olives: for the sake of others He would not spare himself (Luk 21:37-38). Thus too the virtuous woman will rise before the night has passed, because of her concern for her household and her maidens. Her maidens are of course servants, yet she also will serve them when occasion may arise for it. Has not the Lord of Glory Himself in grace come among us as “He that serveth”?
16. (Zain) “She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard”
The word for “buyeth” here is actually “acquireth.” She is busily engaged in seeking gain for her husband, not only that he might have the property, but that she might make good use of the property. Again, the spiritual meaning predominates in this. In New Testament language, “the field is the world” (Mat 13:38), and the Lord Jesus has, in the sacrifice of Himself, “sold all that He had” to buy the field (Mat 13:44). Therefore, the believer, united as by a marriage bond to the Lord, has very real title to this vast possession: “all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world. or life or death, or things present or things to come: all are yours: and ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1Co 3:21-23). How important to insist that we are not the world’s, but the world is ours. It is therefore merely to be as a servant for our use: we are not to be entangled by it but to use it insofar as it will serve the interests of our Lord. Practically speaking, we may not, as the viruous woman, have considered the world from this viewpoint, and thus not have “acquired” it in the sense of having it under our feet for the sake of the gain of our Lord. But “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1Jn 5:4).
Also, in the field she plants a vineyard, with the fruit of her hands. Paul speaks of this in connection with the work of the Lord, establishing the assembly in testimony to His grace: “Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof?” This labor of planting in the world, a blessed witness of Him who “is not of this world,” is another lovely characteristic of the true church of God. This is indeed a proper use of the world, and will bear fruit for eternity for the sake of our adorable Lord and Master.
17. (Cheth) “She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.”
We have before mentioned the Lord’s girding Himself to serve the disciples. In the girding of the loins the loose flowing garments are drawn up and securely fastened to allow unimpeded progress or labor. Thus 1Pe 1:13 exhorts us, “Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober.” Our minds should be under proper control, no loose ends allowed to hinder our spiritual progress. This honest self-discipline of our minds is true spiritual strength; and thus too our arms will be strengthened for work. It is the precious principle of going “from strength to strength” ( Psa 84:7).
18.(Teth ) “She perceiceth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.”
Experience in dealing with Divine things will deepen the soul’s conviction that this is true good. Is this not clearly declared for us in Php 1:9-10 : “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are more excellent.” This perception of what is good will so occupy us with good that evil will have no place; and the candle of testimony will burn brightly all through the night of our brief sojourn on earth. But if souls choose the world’s goods just because they “see no harm in them,” then it is evident they have not perceived the “good” that so permeates all the things of God, and their candle will grow dim proportionately.
19.(Yod.) “She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.”
20.(Caph.) “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.”
These two verses show her hands properly and diligently occupied, first at home, and secondly, for the sake of others outside. With no spinning wheel, her labor was more thoroughly manual, as she used the long spindle with one hand and the distaff with the other, taking long hours to spin only small amounts. Yet how much better is this than the boredom of having everything manufactured by machine and selfishly piling up clothes that are unnecessary. Is it not a pointed question to us today that, since we possess more, do we not have more to give away? For this virtuous woman stretches out her hand to others also; and as though one hand is not enough, the other hand follows willingly, her whole heart expressed in her liberality. Why do we not more joyfully follow her example? It may be remarked that her hands are spoken of seven times in the chapter, a beautiful indication that her works are found perfect before God. (Contrast Rev 3:2).
21.(Lamed) “She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.”
The advent of winter is symbolical of the cold desolation of the judgment of God, the snow adding its voice of white, spotless purity, which man in his guilt is rightly afraid to face. But she fears not, for her household is clothed with scarlet. How lovely a picture of the blessed covering of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Scarlet is the warm, attracting color, and is the dye taken from a worm-like insect, with which the scarlet fabrics of the tabernacle were dyed. This very insect is that referred to in the words of the Lord Jesus in Psa 22:6, “I am a worm, and no man,” in view of His sufferings for sin on Calvary. Blessed covering indeed for every child of God! – a covering that removes all fear, because it removes all guilt.
22. (Mem.) “She maketh herself coverings of tapestry: her clothing is silk (or byssus) and purple.”
It is good that we be reminded that much of our time is rightly spent in covering ourselves; for this is significant of the fact that personally we are not acceptable to God; but when self is covered by that which speaks to God of His own beloved Son and of His great work, then the heart of God cannot but find deepest pleasure in us. Let us note again however that verse 21 has shown the first covering to be that of redemption: this must come before the fine linen and purple, or the putting on of the two last would be mere hypocrisy, as in the case of the rich man of Luk 16:19 “clothed in purple and fine linen.” Byssus is so fine a linen as to resemble silk, and is beautifully significant of the righteousnesses of saints, as we have seen, and would remind us that believers are “holy priests,” characterized by priestly purity, and privileged to enter the presence of God (1Pe 2:5). Purple is the royal color, speaking of the dignity of kings given to the children of God. Thus, as “royal priests” we are to “show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1Pe 2:9). This is a testimony of noble dignity before the world. Not that believers are entitled yet to reign as kings: we are not; but true kingly dignity is to be seen in our moral character, as those who represent a king who is not of this world. and is at this time rejected.
23. (Nun ) “Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.”
If in one respect this looks on to the blessing of the millennium, when the Lord Jesus will sit as Judge in the gate, known of all, and administering in perfect justice, yet also at the present time we who are of faith are privileged to know Him in His faithful administration in connection with the church of God: thus in a spiritual way we anticipate those blessings that in a public way will be known in the millennium.
24. (Samech) “She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.”
It may seem amazing that this industrious soul, after so fully caring for her own household, and for the poor, would still have time and energy to produce fine linen for the market. What an example indeed! Does this not teach us that not only ought we to consider the Lord’s interests in our immediate contacts; but to have a missionary spirit, concerned for others too whom we may never meet on earth? How precious a reflection of the gracious heart of our Master!
25. (Ain) “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laugheth at the coming day” (New Trans.).
Is there not the salutary reminder here that a believer’s strength is not in himself? Nor in fact is true dignity a virtue of the flesh: these are “her clothing,” and certainly typical of Christ, as the apostle could joyfully claim, “I can do all things through Christ. Who strengtheneth me” (Php 4:13). And again, “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption” (1Co 1:30), a dignity certainly infinitely above the highest attainments of the flesh. It is because of this that “she laugheth at the coming day,” that is, the future holds for her no fear whatever: she “may have boldness in the day of judgment, for as He is, so are we in this world” (1Jn 4:17).
26. (Pe) “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
We have already seen that this precious soul is a worker, not a talker; yet there is lovely moral balance here, for she knows how to give “a word in season”: when she does open her mouth, it is that words of wisdom may be spoken. This compares with 1Pe 4:11 : “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.” If we obeyed this instruction, how much evil and vanity would be avoided, and how much good accomplished! “The law of kindness” in her tongue is no doubt a designed contrast to “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” ( Eph 2:15). Legality has utterly no place in her character: her words of grace are consistent with her gracious actions: if this is called a “law,” this simply indicates that it is her settled principle of conduct. It is far from looseness and indulgence of evil, but firm in kind consideration of the needs of others.
27. (Tsaddi) “She looketh well to the way of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”
It is the household in which the character of the inmates is fully seen; and doubtless we are intended to apply this to “the household of faith.” In the church as the house of God we look for order, government, proper discipline, and here again is a sphere we must not be guilty of ignoring. But along with this “she eateth not the bread of idleness”: it will take our whole energy of faith to maintain both a true Gospel witness, and proper care for the house of God: we shall have no idle time, just as a mother who must continually watch as to the ways and tendencies of her children if she is to preserve them in faith and love, from snares of sin and disobedience.
28.(Koph) “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”
If discipline and proper care seem irksome to a child, so that rebellion may smoulder for a time, yet when the Spirit of God works in the soul to give the knowledge of salvation and spiritual light, the children later will look back with true thankfulness for that same discipline, and when it is accompanied by tenderness, love, and diligent faithfulness, the children will not eventually fail in commendation of their mother. May this be truly so in every sphere in which we are called upon to bear an influence in preserving godly Christian character. If in the assembly of God this honorable, loving concern for order and true discipline is practised, it may not always be taken kindly at first, but in the end souls will recognize the value of it, and so express themselves. But more important is the fact that “her husband also … praiseth her.” Is the church not above all things responsible to please her Master? His commendation is how infinitely precious. Do we not deeply desire to hear Him say “Well done”?
29. (Resh.) “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.”
If in verse 10 she is called “a virtuous woman,” yet this verse clearly shows that it is a prophecy intended to be specific: “thou excellest them all.” How precious is the delight that our blessed Lord finds in His Bride! No doubt it could be applied to the earthly bride Israel, in connection with earthly circumstances, but in a higher way to His bride, the church; and this surely draws our hearts out with deepest desire to respond fittingly to such affection and commendation on His part.
30.(Schin) “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”
31.(Tau.) “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”
How fitting that a book characterized by the fear of the Lord should end in this way. However others may seek to obtain favor by pleasant manners or beautiful appearance, the eyes of the Lord look deeper than this, and see the heart made known in consistent daily conduct and devotion. He will not be deceived, nor will the vanity of fair appearances make any impression upon His heart of absolute truth and purity. Is there not here also the clearest significance of the judgment seat of Christ? “She shall be praised.” Not only will others eventually recognize her value, but far above all else, God will express His own approbation. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come: and then shall every man (or each) have praise of God” (1Co 4:5). How deeply thankful then will each saint be who has honestly sought, with single heart, the pleasure of the Lord. We know that nothing will escape His eyes, nothing be forgotten that has been the fruit of faith working by love. And what child of God now would not yearn with desire for the joy of hearing those precious words from the Lord’s lips, “Well done. thou good and faithful servant”?
But not only is she praised: she is also given the fruit of her own hands. Just as the servants who gained by trading with their Master’s pounds were allowed to keep what they had gained, so the goodness of God abundantly rewards those who have labored truly for Him ( Luk 19:24-26). We shall find that what we have gained for Him has really been for ourselves also.
And finally, there will be public recognition of those works in the Day to come. Is this not implied in the Bride’s being clothed in fine linen, pure and white, which is the righteousnesses of saints? We cannot now be allowed to be clothed in our own righteousnesses, for in our present state this would be mere self-righteousness, not purified from the imperfections and soiling of our own hands; but in that Day our robes will have been washed, our motives purified by the complete judgment of the flesh in every feature of it. But “in the gates,” the very place of public administration, God will see that the righteousnesses of saints are displayed for the recognition of the whole creation. For this will all be “to the praise of His glory,” whose grace has so marvelously wrought in precious souls; and His Name will thus be exalted for eternity.
How complete, and satisfying, is the conclusion of this book, in contrast to Ecclesiastes; – at least as precious as it is possible in the Old Testament. But it is food for our souls, intended to be well digested, to permeate our entire life and character, till we see His face.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
31:1 The words of king {a} Lemuel, the {b} prophecy that his mother taught him.
(a) That is, of Solomon who was called Lemuel, that is, of God, because God had ordained him to be king over Israel.
(b) The doctrine which his mother Bathsheba taught him.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
VII. COLLECTION 7: THE WISDOM OF LEMUEL CH. 31
Some commentators have regarded only the first nine verses of this chapter as Lemuel’s writing. One reason for this is that the Septuagint translators separated Pro 31:1-9 from Pro 31:10-31 by five chapters (chs. 25-29). However, the Hebrew text implies that Lemuel wrote the whole chapter since it connects these two sections.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
A. The introduction of Lemuel 31:1
King Lemuel was evidently not a king of Israel or Judah. No king by this name appears in Kings or Chronicles. Some scholars have suggested that "Lemuel" (lit. "Devoted to God") may have been a pen name for Solomon. There is no evidence for this. Yet this is the only reference to a king by name in Proverbs, an unusual feature in wisdom literature from the ancient Near East. [Note: Leah L. Brunner, "King and Commoner in Proverbs and Near Eastern Sources," Dor le Dor 10 (1982):210-19.]
"Since such a king is unattested in Israel’s history, he is probably a proselyte to Israel’s faith." [Note: Waltke, The Book . . . 31, p. 503.]
The use of foreign loanwords in this poem supports this view. Proverbs generally contains the counsel of aged courtiers to the sons who were in line to succeed them as government officials, as previously mentioned. We have also noted that both parents normally shared the training of these young men. [Note: See my comments on 1:8-19.] In chapter 31, we have King Lemuel’s recollections of the instruction he had received from his mother earlier in life. Perhaps his father had died, or was unable to instruct him, or gave him other teaching not recorded here. According to Jewish legend, Lemuel was Solomon and his mother was Bathsheba. [Note: Greenstone, p. 329.] There is no factual basis for this tradition, however.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 32
A GOOD WOMAN
“O woman-hearts, that keep the days of old
In living memory, can you stand back
When Christ calls? Shall the heavenly Master lack
The serving love, which is your lifes fine gold?”
“Do you forget the hand which placed the crown
Of happy freedom on the womans head
And took her from the dying and the dead,
Lifting the wounded soul long trodden down?”
“Do you forget who bade the morning break,
And snapped the fetters of the iron years?
The Savior calls for service from your fears
Rise girt with faith, and work for His dear sake.”
“And He will touch the trembling lips with fire, –
O let us hasten, lest we come too late!
And all shall work; if some must stand and wait
Be theirs that wrestling prayer that will not tire.”
-R.O.
THE last chapter of the book of Proverbs consists of two distinct compositions, and the only connection between them is to be found in their date. The words of King Lemuel, “a saying which his mother taught him,” {Pro 31:1-9} and the description of a good woman, {Pro 31:10-31} must both be referred to a very late epoch of Hebrew literature. The former contains several Aramaic words and expressions which connect it with the period of the exile; and the latter is an alphabetical acrostic, i.e., the verses begin with the successive letters of the alphabet; and this artificial mode of composition, which appears also in some of the Psalms, is sufficient of itself to indicate the last period of the literature, when the Rabbinical methods were coming into use.
About the words of Lemuel, of whom it may be observed we know nothing at all, enough has been said in previous lectures. We need here only notice that the mothers influence in the education of her son, even though that son is to be a king, comes very suitably as the introduction to the beautiful description of the good woman with which the chapter closes. It is said that the mother of George III brought him up with the constantly-repeated admonition, “George, be a king,” and that to this early training was due that exalted notion of the prerogative and that obstinate assertion of his will which occasioned the calamities of his reign. Kings have usually been more ready to imbibe such lessons than moral teaching from their mothers; but whatever may be the actual result, we all feel that a woman is never more nobly occupied than in warning her son against the seductions of pleasure, and in giving to him a high sense of duty. It is from a mothers lips we should all learn to espouse the cause of the helpless and the miserable, and to bear an open heart for the poor and needy. {Pro 31:8-9} But now before coming to examine in detail the poem of the virtuous woman, let us briefly recall what the book hitherto has taught us on the subject of womanhood. It began with solemn and oft-repeated warnings against the “strange woman,” and echoes of that mournful theme have accompanied us throughout: the strange woman is a deep ditch, a narrow pit; he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. {Pro 22:14, Pro 23:27} And even where the womans nature is not corrupted by impurity we are several times reminded how he may destroy the peace of mans life by certain faults of temper. If she is contentious and fretful she can make the house utterly unbearable; it will be better to live in a corner of the housetop or in a desert land, exposed to the continual downpour of the autumn rains, than to be assailed by her tongue. {Pro 19:13, Pro 21:9, Pro 25:24, Pro 21:19, Pro 27:15} The attempt to restrain her is like trying to grasp the wind, or to seize an object which is smeared with oil. {Pro 27:16} We are reminded too how incongruously sometimes great beauty of person is combined with inward faults. “As a jewel of gold in a swines snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.” {Pro 11:22} But we must distinctly understand that these severe strictures on woman corrupted and woman imperfect are only so many witnesses to her value and importance. The place she fills in life is so supreme that if she fails in her duty human life as a whole is a failure. In her hands lie the issues of life for mankind. “The wisdom of woman builds her house, and the folly of woman plucks it down with her hands.” {Pro 14:1} What the homes of a nation are, the nation is; and it is womans high and beautiful function to make the homes, and within her power lies the terrible capacity for marring them. She, much more than the king, is the fountain of honor. {Pro 11:16} The honor she gives and the honor she commands will decide the whole tone of society. Pure, true, and strong, she makes men worship purity, truth, and strength. Corrupt, false, and vain, she blights and blasts the ideal of man, lowers all his aspirations, excites his evil passions to a frenzy of iniquity, degrades his soul to a level below the brutes. The condition of woman is the touchstone of a civilized society. Again, there is a sense in which woman is an interpreter and revealer of God to the human race. She has religious intuitions and spiritual susceptibilities in which the other sex is usually deficient. Most religious systems in the worlds history have overlooked her, and have suffered accordingly. The religion of Jesus Christ recognized her, claimed for her, her rightful place, and to this day does much of its best work in the world through her gracious ministrations, through her unquestioning faith, through her unquenchable love. It is as a foreshadowing of this religious significance which Christ was to give to womanhood that the Proverbs recognize the beautiful direct relation between God and the possession of a good wife. “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord.” {Pro 18:22} Wealth, as it is ordinarily understood, is of the earth, -it can be derived from ancestors by inheritance, or it can be earned by toil of hand and brain, -but every wife worthy of the name is far above all wealth: she cannot be earned or inherited; she comes, as the mother of mankind came, direct from the hand of the Lord. The marriage tie is a thought of Gods heart. He Himself has arranged the exquisite blending of life with life and spirit with spirit; He has fitted man to woman and woman to man, so that the perfect man is not the man alone, the perfect woman is not the woman alone, but the man and woman one flesh, mystically united, the completeness each of the other; not two, but a single whole.
We may now examine in detail this connected description of the virtuous woman, whose value is not to be measured by material wealth, and who yet, from a merely material point of view, is a source of wealth to those who are fortunate enough to call her theirs.
She is a wife. The modern conception of a woman as an independent person, standing alone, engaged in her own business or profession, and complete in her isolated life, is not to be looked for in the book of Proverbs. It is the creation of accidental circumstances. However necessary it may be in a country where the women are largely in excess of the men, it cannot be regarded as final or satisfactory. In the beginning it was not so, neither will it be so in the end. If men and women are to abide in strength and to develop the many sides of their nature, they must be united. It is not good for man to be alone; nor is it good for woman to be alone. There are some passages in the New Testament which seem to invalidate this truth. The advocates of celibacy appeal to the example of Christ and to the express words of St. Paul. But the New Testament, as our Lord Himself expressly declares, does not abrogate the eternal law which was from the beginning. And if He Himself abstained from marriage, and if St. Paul seems to approve of such an abstention, we must seek for the explanation in certain exceptional and temporary circumstances; for it is precisely to Christ Himself in the first instance, and to His great Apostle in the second, that we owe our loftiest and grandest conceptions of marriage. There was no room for a personal marriage in the life of Him who was to be the Bridegroom of His Church; and St. Paul distinctly implies that the pressing troubles and anxieties of his own life, and the constant wearing labors which were required of the Gentile Apostle, formed the reason why it was better for him, and for such as he, to remain single.
At any rate the virtuous woman of the Proverbs is a wife: and the first thing to observe is the part she plays in relation to her husband. She is his stay and confidence: “The heart of her husband trusteth in her.” She is his natural confidante and counselor; her advice is more valuable than that of much cleverer people, because it is so absolutely disinterested; the hearts are in such vital contact that the merely intellectual communications have a quality all their own. One may often observe in an ideal marriage, though the husband seems to be the stronger and the more self-reliant, the wife is really the pillar of strength; if death removes her, he is forlorn and bereft and helpless; the gradual work of the years has led him to depend on her more and more, to draw from her his best inspirations, and to turn instinctively to her for advice and direction.
“She doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.” {Pro 31:12} It is not only when she comes as a young bride into his house, bright with youth, encircled with the glamour of early love, -then, it is true, the thought of her nerves his endeavors and quickens his eager steps as he turns homeward in the evening, -it is not only while her fresh charms last, and her womanly beauty acts as a spell on him, while the desire to retain her love disciplines and strengthens whatever is good in his character; but right through to the end of her life, when she has grown old, when the golden hair is grey, and the blooming cheeks are wrinkled, and the upright form is bent, -when other people see nothing beautiful about her except the beauty of old age and decay, he sees in her the sweet bride of earlier years, to him the eyes appear unchanged and the voice thrills him with happy memories; she ministers to him still and does him good; not now with the swift alacrity of foot and the deft movement of the hand, but with the dear, loyal heart, with the love which the years have mellowed and the trust which the changing circumstances of life have tested and confirmed.
It is this strong, sweet core of life in the home which gives the man dignity and honor in public. She is a crown to her husband. {Pro 12:4} His influence in the life of his town or of his country is not always directly traced to its true source. But it is that womans noble sway over him, it is the constant spur and chastening of her love, which gives him the weighty voice and the grave authority in the counsels of the nation. “Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.” {Pro 31:23} He can make but a poor return to her for all her quiet unobtrusive and self-sacrificing help year after year and on to the end, but he can at least repay her with growing reverence and loyalty; he can tell her, as it were with the impassioned lips of a lover, what he owes to her; when her children rise up and call her blessed, he can praise her, saying, “Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.” {Pro 31:29} Indeed it will be his growing conviction that of all the daughters of woman there is none equal to his wife. Her charms have grown upon him, her character has. ripened before his eyes, her love has become at once stronger and more precious every year, It is no flattery, no idle compliment of courting-days, no soft word to win the coy heart of the maiden, but it is his own deep and sincere feeling; it is said to her who is his and has been his for years, and in whose assured possession he finds his greatest peace: “I do not question that other women are good and true, but I am sure that you are better than all.” And so she is. Every true wife is the best wife.
The next point in the virtuous woman to which our attention is drawn is her unflagging industry. Her husband “shall have no lack of gain.” {Pro 31:11} In addition to all those treasures of mutual love and spiritual converse, all those invaluable services of counsel and guidance, of criticism and encouragement, she is a positive source of wealth to him. She is the house-manager. If he earns the bread in the first instance, it is in her hands that it seems to be miraculously multiplied. If he brings home the money which is enough for their wants, it is she who turns the silver into gold and makes the modest means appear great wealth. The fact is her hands are always busy. The spindle, the distaff, the loom, are within her reach and are constantly plied. While she unravels the knotted cares of her husband in the evening with her bright and cheery talk, while she encourages him in all his plans and heartens him for all his duties, her busy fingers are making clothes for the children, repairing, adapting, improving, or else are skillfully constructing ornaments and decorations for the household, turning the poor room into a palace, making the walls beam with beauty and the hearts of all within laugh for joy.
There is something quite magical and impressive in womans economy: “She is like the merchant ships; she bringeth her food from afar.” {Pro 31:14} No one knows how it is done. The table is well spread, the food is daintily served, on infinitesimal means. She finds out by the quick intuitions of love how to get the things which the loved ones like, and by many a little sacrifice unperceived she produces effects which startle them all. She has a secret of doing and getting which no one knows but she. Early passers-by have seen a light in the house long before the day dawns; she has been up preparing the breakfast for the household, and mapping out the work for all, so that no hours may be wasted and no one in the family may be idle. {Pro 31:15} Her boundless economies produce astonishing results. One morning she has to announce to the husband and the children that she has managed to put together a little sum which will purchase the freehold of their house and garden. {Pro 31:16} Her husband exclaims, Why, how has it been done? Where has the money come from out of our little income? She smiles significantly and will not tell; but the tears moisten his eyes as he looks into her face and reads the story of self-denials, and managings, and toils, which have issued in this surprise. And the children look up with a sense of awe and wonder. They feel that there is something of the supernatural about mother; and perhaps they are right.
She has all the delicacy and even weakness of a woman, but the life of constant activity and cheerful toil preserves her health and increases her strength. Idle women, who lounge their days away in constant murmurings over their ailments, speak contemptuously about her-“She has the strength of a horse,” they say, “and can bear anything.” They do not know, they do not wish to know, that she is the author of her own strength. It is her own indomitable will, her own loving heart, which girds her loins with strength and makes strong her arms. {Pro 31:17} There are others who carp at her on different grounds; they do not understand how one with her husbands income can keep so comfortable a household or dress her children as she does. Those cushions of tapestry, that clothing of fine linen and purple, are an offense to her critics. “How she does it I am sure I dont know,” says one, implying that there is something quite uncanny and disreputable about it. “She works like a slave,” says another, with the tone of scorn that one would employ for a slave. But that is the truth: “She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable: her lamp goeth not out by night.” {Pro 31:18} She is indeed indefatigable. She actually makes garments which she can sell, girdles for the merchant {Pro 31:24} in addition to looking well to the ways of her household. Certainly she does not eat the bread of idleness. {Pro 31:27}
She can, however, very easily bear the contemptuous criticisms of others. The practical results of her life are sufficiently satisfying to make her a little independent. She has secured herself and her household against the contingencies which harass other housewives. The approach of winter has no alarms for her: all the children and servants are warmly and sufficiently. {Pro 31:21} The uncertain future has no terrors for her: she has made ample provision for it, and can regard the unknown chances with a smile of confidence. {Pro 31:25} And indeed, whatever detractors may say behind her back, it is not easy for anyone to say anything severe in her presence. For the same loving, earnest, diligent ways which have made her household comfortable and secure have clothed her with garments better than scarlet and linen. “Strength and dignity are her clothing,”-robes so gracious and beautiful that criticism is silenced in her presence, while the hearts of all good and honest people are drawn out to her.
But here is another characteristic of the virtuous woman. Economy and generosity go hand in hand. Frugal livers and hard workers are always the largest givers. This woman, whose toil late at night and early in the morning has enriched and blessed her own, is ready to help those who are less fortunate. “She spreadeth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” {Pro 31:20} Most women are naturally pitiful and shrink from the sight of suffering; but while idle and self-indulgent women try to avoid the painful sight, and turn their flow of pity into the channels of vapid sentimentality, the good woman trains her sense of pity by coming into contact with those who deserve it, and only seeks to avoid the sight of suffering by trying everywhere and always to relieve it.
Among all the noble and Christlike offices of woman this is the one which most strikingly connects her with the human life of our Lord. It is her function to excite and to cherish the quality of compassion in the human heart, and by her trained skill and intuitive tact to make the ministrations of the community to the poor, truly charitable instead of dangerously demoralizing. Man is apt to relieve the poor by the laws of political economy, without emotion and by measure: he makes a Poor Law which produces the evil it pretends to relieve; he degrades the lovely word Charity into a badge of shame and a wanton insult to humanity. It is woman that “spreads out her palm and reacheth forth her hand” to the poor, bringing her heart into the work, giving, not doles of money, but the helpfulness of a sisters love, the tenderness of a mothers solicitude, the awakening touch of a daughters care. And the hand which is thus held out to the poor is precisely the hand which has been laid on the distaff and the spindle; not the lazy hand or the useless hand, but the hand which is supple with toil, dexterous with acquired skill.
There are two reflections which must have occurred to us in following this description of the good woman. Her portrait has risen before our eyes, and we ask, Is she beautiful? We have watched her activities, their mode and their result, and we wonder whether she is religious. “Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised.” {Pro 31:30} That this woman has a beauty of her own seems clear, and that she fears the Lord is a fair inference to make. It is idle to declaim against the charms of personal beauty; we may call it deceitful and vain, but it will not cease to be attractive. Men will not be reasoned or ridiculed out of that instinctive homage which they pay to a lovely face; the witchery of bright eyes and arch looks, the winsomeness of sweet contours and delicate hues, will last, we may surmise, as long as the sun and moon endure; and why should we dishonor God by supposing that He did not make the beauty which attracts and the attraction which the beauty excites? But it is not impossible to open mens eyes to the beauty of a less transient and more satisfying kind which lies in the character and conduct of women. If mothers accustom their sons to see those sterling attractions which permanently secure the affection and the devotion of a husband, the young men will not be content with superficial beauties and vanishing charms in the women whom they choose.
And is not the beauty of woman such beauty as we have been contemplating the result of fearing the Lord? Is it possible, apart from a living faith in a living God, to maintain that lovely wifeliness, that self-sacrificing, diligent love, that overflow of pity to the poor and needy, which constitute grace and loveliness of character? Has anyone succeeded in even depicting an imaginary woman devoid of religion and yet complete and beautiful? We have already noticed how suited the womans nature is to receive religious impressions and to communicate religious influences; we may now notice, in concluding, that this very characteristic renders a woman without God even more imperfect and unsatisfying than a man without God. She is naturally inclined to cling to a person rather than to an idea, to follow a person rather than a theory. The only Person to whom she can cling with absolute good and hallowing results is God; the only Person whom she can follow and minister to without detriment to her womanhood and with gain to her spirit is Christ. A godless woman makes a sore shipwreck of life, whether she becomes sensual and depraved, or ambitious and domineering, or bitter and cynical, or vain and conventional. In her ruin there is always a power as of a fallen angel, and she can drag others with her in her fall.
If a man is wise then in choosing for himself a wife, the first thing he will demand is that she shall be one that fears the Lord, one who shall be able to lead him and help him in that which is his truest life, and to maintain for him a saving intercourse with the world of spiritual realities. He may be assured that in her love to God he has the best guarantee of her love to him, and that if she does not fear and love God the main sanction for their wedded happiness will be wanting.
Finally, where the woman who has been described is actually found in real life it is for us to recognize her and to reward her. Let society take note of her: “Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” The great Greek historian said that womans highest praise consisted in not being mentioned at all. That is not the teaching of Revelation. Womans best work is often done in silence and without observation, but her highest praise is when the seeds sown in silence have grown into flowers of loveliness and fruit that is sweet to the taste, and the whole community is forced to yield her the honor which is her due, exalting, with heartfelt admiration and with deep gratitude to God, the Wife, the Mother, the Ministrant to the Poor.