After hearing Proverbs 31 discussed a bit in a podcast episode last night, my daily devotional just happened to land me there for my Bible reading this morning. As a young mom, I can remember that even just reading Proverbs 31 would exhaust me. This woman was busy with a capital “B”! And yet her energy and enthusiasm, unlike mine, seemed endless.
What hit me today as I read through this chapter was the irony that so many Bible teachers use the Proverbs 31 woman as a model of our modern-day notions of domesticity. But when read without preconceived ideas and twenty-first century assumptions, this chapter presents a woman that doesn’t fit that model we’ve tried so hard to squeeze her (and maybe ourselves) into.
It’s not that she ignores the needs of her household. Not at all. She is, in fact, quite the provider. Far from being holed up with her kids day and night within the four walls of her home, she is seen making and selling, buying and planting, speaking and instructing, turning a profit and helping the poor. She even features in conversations at the city gate — the very hub of social, economic, and political life. Honestly, she strikes me as the kind of woman who might have a nanny and a housekeeper. With her successful business endeavours, she could probably afford domestic help. I mean, how else could she tackle all these things?
The descriptor used to introduce her character in verse 10 is usually translated as noble, virtuous, worthy, capable, competent, or excellent. But when I read it in my Hebrew Bible this morning, I was surprised to see that it’s actually the word I learned for “army” in Hebrew.
Really? I’m not sure most translations capture that aspect of the word well. This woman was a force (which is, interestingly, the first definition of the word חיל in my Greek and Hebrew dictionary: “a force, whether of men, means or other resources.”*)
״אשת-חיל מי ימצא״
“A woman of force who can find?”
I admit, it has a strange ring to evangelical ears. But God seems quite pleased with her!
Jessica Jenkins helps explain this passage in its original context, describing the Proverbs 31 woman as a woman of valour. I like that word. I think it perfectly captures her courage, strength, competence, and virtue.
Living in a box of preconceived notions or expectations is exhausting. I dream of the day when each of us as God’s children are fulfilling our unique callings, operating to capacity in the gifts He has given, and cheering each other on to live valiantly for Him.
* Strong, James. The New Strong’s Concise Dictionary of Bible Words. Nashville: Nelson, 1996.