Who can find…?
01.15.25
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies, (Proverbs 31:1)
We come to the last part of the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs. The first part of this chapter provided advice from a king to his son, based on the teachings of his own mother, a godly and caring woman. He urged his son to beware of the wiles of women, the effects of wine, and urged upon him the necessity of protecting the helpless.
He now gives a wonderful presentation of the woman of virtue. If this king is Solomon using a pen name, he would be thinking of his own mother, Bath-sheba. If this is the case, and It think it is, we must remember that, while Bath-sheba had a tragic entrance into the life of David, she became a good queen and a great queen-mother. She protected her son Solomon so that he would ascend the throne as God had intended.
In any case, this is a picture of the ideal godly wife and mother. True, no one can fully attain to this ideal, but each woman should strive to be like the woman pictured here. She should want to be like the Lord Jesus.
What about the men? Well, there is no chapter 32, ‘the Ideal Man,’ but we have passages such as Psalm 15 and Ephesians 5 to guide us. For men and women alike, the standard is Christ. God’s desire is that we would be made into His image (Romans 8:29).
In this great passage of God’s Word, we find five general qualities of the virtuous woman. We will look at two of them today.
First, she is trustworthy. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil (11). The lady that comes to mind here is Mary, the mother of our Lord. Once Joseph was given the message from the angel, he knew that he could trust Mary to be a sweet and honorable woman. God entrusted the rearing of His Son to this dear young girl.
Another example, this time from the OT, would be Ruth. One of the things that drew Boaz to her was the admiration of her integrity. And Boaz answered and said unto her, “It has fully been shown me, all that you have done unto your mother in law since the death of your husband: and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your nativity, and are come unto a people which you did not know before. The LORD recompense your work, and a full reward be given you of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to trust. (Ruth 2:11, 12)
Second, the virtuous woman is shown to be strong. She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms (17). This speaks not only of physical strength for the tasks of the home, but also mental and emotional strength. We can look to Bath-Sheba who would have had to endure years of scorn, but she was a good mother to Solomon, and stayed by his side to the very end.
Another example of strength would be Leah, one of the wives of Jacob. Despite her having to take second place to her sister Rachel, she bore Jacob six sons and won a place of honor along with Rachel. (Ruth 4:11, 12)
We will consider the other qualities of the virtuous woman next time. As always, if we at Immanuel Baptist Church can be of help to you, please don’t hesitate to call upon us.