Krissa Lox
Active Member
Proverbs 31:10
31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Proverbs 31 is one of those parts of the Bible that, in my opinion, are often discussed but seldom understood, and therefore often misapplied.
There's a lot of analogies used in the verses that follow this one that made sense in Old Testament Jewish culture that end up interpreted very differently in modern times, usually to the effect of evaluating character by the evidence of material criteria instead of spiritual. For men, such error in evaluation can lead to inaccurate judgements in what he should be looking for in a supportive partner, for women it can lead to enslavement to non-spiritual ideals to feel worthy of love and acceptance, or even just to be considered a good and competent human being, and for churches it can lead to alienating or misguiding some of their membership and undermining its talents, cohesiveness, and effectiveness as a whole by pressuring individuals in ways that go against God's will and equipping rather than support it.
But analogies are just that. They're communication constructs designed to provide illustration to better understand a concept, but not necessarily the absolute entirety of everything that concept can entail. On top of that, concerns for material considerations were broadly rescinded by Christ's coming, so Old Testament references need to be lessened in priority in comparison to conflicting New Testament teachings:
Matthew 6:24-33
6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
So to really get an applicable understanding of the chapter, I think it's important to be able to separate the material manifestations from the spiritual foundations that underly them. Recently I found this song and thought it a very good expression of the spiritual elements, and over the course of life I've seen a lot of good people (both men and women) who are great blessings to the world in their cultivation of these spiritual principles, but end up being unappreciated, taken advantage of, or knocked back in life from not having societally-defined material attributes to go along with it. But God still finds them valuable even if the world will not.
31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Proverbs 31 is one of those parts of the Bible that, in my opinion, are often discussed but seldom understood, and therefore often misapplied.
There's a lot of analogies used in the verses that follow this one that made sense in Old Testament Jewish culture that end up interpreted very differently in modern times, usually to the effect of evaluating character by the evidence of material criteria instead of spiritual. For men, such error in evaluation can lead to inaccurate judgements in what he should be looking for in a supportive partner, for women it can lead to enslavement to non-spiritual ideals to feel worthy of love and acceptance, or even just to be considered a good and competent human being, and for churches it can lead to alienating or misguiding some of their membership and undermining its talents, cohesiveness, and effectiveness as a whole by pressuring individuals in ways that go against God's will and equipping rather than support it.
But analogies are just that. They're communication constructs designed to provide illustration to better understand a concept, but not necessarily the absolute entirety of everything that concept can entail. On top of that, concerns for material considerations were broadly rescinded by Christ's coming, so Old Testament references need to be lessened in priority in comparison to conflicting New Testament teachings:
Matthew 6:24-33
6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
So to really get an applicable understanding of the chapter, I think it's important to be able to separate the material manifestations from the spiritual foundations that underly them. Recently I found this song and thought it a very good expression of the spiritual elements, and over the course of life I've seen a lot of good people (both men and women) who are great blessings to the world in their cultivation of these spiritual principles, but end up being unappreciated, taken advantage of, or knocked back in life from not having societally-defined material attributes to go along with it. But God still finds them valuable even if the world will not.
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