Proverbs 31:10-31 - Exposition

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 Psalms 9:1-20 ; Psalms 10:1-18 ; Psalms 25:1-22 ; Psalms 34:1-22 ; Psalms 37:1-40 ; Psalms 111:1-10 ; Psalms 112:1-10 ; Psalms 145:1-21 ; also Lamentations 1:1-22 ; Lamentations 2:1-22 ; Lamentations 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 ."