Proverbs 31:10-31

C. The wise woman 31:10-31

There is much in Proverbs about unwise women. Solomon personified both wisdom and folly as women earlier (chs. 8-9). Perhaps God wanted us to finish reading this book-assured that women are not essentially evil or foolish-but that they can be very good, wise, and admirable. Jewish husbands and children traditionally recited this poem at the Sabbath table on Friday evenings. [Note: Y. Levin, "’The Woman of Valor’ in Jewish Ritual [Proverbs 31:10-31]," Beth Mikra 31 (1985-86):339-47.]

The form of this discourse is an acrostic poem. Each of the 22 verses in the Hebrew Bible begins with the succeeding consonant of the Hebrew alphabet. Such a device not only made for more interesting and beautiful reading, but also aided the Hebrew reader in memorizing this passage. The genre of this section is perhaps a heroic poem. [Note: A. Wolters, "Proverbs XXI 10-31 as Heroic Hymn: A Form-Critical Analysis," Vetus Testamentum 38 (1988):446-57.]

The woman in view in this passage is probably no single historic individual. This seems clear from the fact that the writer described her impersonally in Proverbs 31:10 as "an excellent wife," rather than as Lemuel’s mother or some other specific lady. Furthermore, throughout Proverbs the writers described people generally. They did not use particular individuals as examples, positively or negatively.

Some scholars believe this chapter does not describe women at all but deals with wisdom personified as a woman. [Note: E.g., Ross, pp. 1128-30; and Aitken, p. 158.] It is interesting, however, that even those who hold this symbolic view occasionally speak of the woman in this poem as a real woman. I believe this view is too extreme. Wherever a writer personified wisdom elsewhere in the book it is always clear to the reader that he was using personification as a literary device (cf. Proverbs 8:1; Proverbs 9:1; Proverbs 9:13). That is not the case here. Lemuel’s mother seems to have been describing the eminently wise woman, not just Wisdom as a woman. The woman in view seems to be a role model who epitomizes wisdom. [Note: Tom R. Hawkins, "The Wife of Noble Character in Proverbs 31:10-31," Bibliotheca Sacra 153:609 (January-March 1996):12-23.]

In this chapter, the wife in view does the things that the wife of a prince or courtier in the ancient Near East would do.

"The woman here presented is a wealthy aristocrat who runs a household estate with servants and conducts business affairs-real estate, vineyards, and merchandise-domestic affairs, and charity. It would be quite a task for any woman to emulate this pattern." [Note: Ross, p. 1128.]

Lemuel said nothing of her intellectual interests or pursuits because those things were not significant for his purpose, which was to stress her wisdom. He did not mention her relationship to God or to her husband. The absence of her husband’s involvement in domestic matters fits her station in life as an aristocrat. He would have been busy with public affairs in the ancient Near East.

Probably Lemuel’s mother intended the qualities and characteristics that follow to be a guide to him as he considered marrying. They provide a standard of godly wisdom for women. However, this standard is not within every woman’s reach, since it assumes certain personal abilities and resources that are not available to all. It is idealistic.

The poem presents the height of female effectiveness. Within the sphere of the household we see that the wife has opportunity for great influence and achievement, not only succeeding herself but enabling her husband to succeed as well.

I do not believe we should interpret this poem as denigrating a woman’s work outside the home. It simply addresses a certain kind of woman in a particular social and historical context whose arena of activity was domestic, in the largest sense, almost exclusively. It also advocates characteristics that women can demonstrate in many different contexts in life. Women can manifest them in any period of history and in any culture.