THE PORTRAIT OF A WIFE

Proverbs 31.10-31
THE PORTRAIT OF A WIFE
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

THE LAST 22 VERSES OF PROVERBS FORM A beautifully crafted acrostic poem. Each verse begins with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It honours the "wife of noble character" (v. 10), but oersonified in the woman are also all the qualities of wisdom which is the subject of the whole book. This last section therefore sums up Proverbs.

As Proverbs counsels young men to acquire wisdom (1.8-9,20), it advises them now to find a wife of wisdom. "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the LORD" (18.22). Careful, prayerful thought before we marry will bring a lifetime of blessing. What then is the portrait of a good wife?

Firstly, she affirms her husband. "She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life" (v. 12). She is not the wife who constantly nags and derides her husband, and then wonders why he does not love her. On the contrary, the noble wife's husband "has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value" (v. 11). He praises her (v.28), and the leaders of the community praise him (v.23). 'Respect begets respect" is a maxim which holds true in marriage.

Secondly, she cares for her home. "She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls" (v.15). "She watches over the affairs of her household.... Her children arise and call her blessed..." (vv.27-28). One question a man would like to ask himself before he proposes to a woman is, "Can I entrust her with my children?" Of course, this does not mean that the man has no responsibility in the home or no part in child-upbringing.

If anything, we find in this passage a wife who is quite unlike the traditional picture of a bedraggled housewife, tied down to the house and chained to the sink. Instead, we see her outdoors, negotiating the price of a field (v. 16), doing business with merchants (v.24), clothed with dignity and articulate in her speech (vv.25-26). So thirdly, she develops herself. She does not fall into her husband's shadow and fade into a non-entity.

Finally, and most importantly, she fears the LORD (v.30). Physical beauty is only skin-deep, but inner beauty surfaces and matures with the years. No one is more beautiful than a woman who fears the LORD, because, as the book of Proverbs tells us from the start, that is the beginning — and essence — of wisdom.

Do I long for wisdom and for a wife of wisdom?