Proverbs 31 - Part II

"A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than diamonds." Proverbs 31:10
 
A few years ago, we were doing a bible study at church when we came to these verses in Proverbs 31, commonly known as the Ode to the Virtuous Woman.

The author of the study, a man, opined something like, "Women have been brow beaten with these verses, as if they could attain everything the virtuous woman does, but relax, women, The virtuous women isn't real flesh and blood. These verses are about the Holy Spirit."

I wanted to gag. Seriously, out of the whole Bible, these verses are some of the few that I, as a woman, can turn to that are positive and uplifting. Not only is the woman shown to be capable and accomplished, she is shown to be man's equal, and, in this case, perhaps more than an equal partner to her husband.

So much of the Bible, written in a time of man's dominance, portrays women as weak or conniving, and while men are also presented with all of their flaws, history did treat women differently. I do understanding some of the reasoning behind this attitude toward women. Safety and prosperity for a tribe came from numbers, and numbers came from having lots of children. Reliable birth control has only been available for 60 years, and because of this, women's roles were limited during their childbearing years.

But no, I don't think the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31 is the Holy Spirit, or hypothetical. I personally think she was the mother of King Lemuel herself, a real person, the defacto author of the chapter, as King Lemuel was only writing down "the strong advice his mother gave him."

You go, girl!