The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Proverbs 31:1 The words of king Lemuel E. Paxton Hood. I. THE FIRST THING THAT STRIKES US HERE IS THE MOTHER. "The prophecy which his mother taught him." 1. A mother's anxiety. What shall he be? Better not to be, than to turn out a bad man. Seekest thou great things for the little one by thy side? Seek them not; better is it to be good than to be great; to be obscure in holiness rather than to be conspicuous in sin. 2. This is a pious mother. "The son of my vows." It is a great thing to be the child of a good mother. We do not know the name of this mother — her son's nature we know. What eminent sons have ascribed all their distinction to their mother; but she is out of sight. He attains to fame; she is still unknown. II. THE MOTHER TAUGHT HER SON THINGS PERTAINING TO CHARACTER. Men cannot command circumstances or facts, but they can preserve principles. Principles are like the piles on which you build bridges, or on which you construct railways over morasses and swamps. Principles are the piles of life. Unshaken convictions and principles are only found in profound minds. King Lemuel's mother left, as she might safely do, the technicalities of instruction to others; she looked after character; she laid the foundation strong in goodness. Women teach goodness better than men. There is the right power of woman. When the counsels of good mothers have been disregarded, how often those mothers have been avenged! III. THE PROPHECIES WHICH HIS MOTHER TAUGHT HIM. The words of Lemuel's mother are living still. In youth we love and are loved so quickly. Then love is pure — more of the heart and less of the senses, which all true love is. In noble natures, the purer the heart, the more it is purified by the love of God. Youth is the time for the choice between God and good, and Satan and evil. "Be sober," said this mother. "Do not excite the body, lest the body should rise against the soul and dethrone her." "My soul," said John Foster, "shall either be mistress in my body, or shall quit it." Never were young men in more danger than now. 1. Young men waste time. The wise man must "separate himself." Ill habits gather by obscure degrees. 2. Young men fail in high principle. You see how everything goes down before things of money value. It is hard to reckon things by another than a money value. All fast living means low thinking, or nothing at all. These are the men who see nothing in religion, because they know nothing about it. Our sanctification must be wrought out where we are, not where we are not. Life is serious and earnest, but let us not despair over its failures, even though they abide with us to the close. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise." Walk with them in their books, in solitude, in meditation, and join their company at last. ( E. Paxton Hood. ) The counsels of a noble mother to her son David Thomas D.D. The identity of this man Lemuel is lost in the mist of ages. A motherly ministry is the tenderest, the strongest, most influential of all the Divine ministers of the world, but when the ministry is the expression of a genuinely religious nature, and specially inspired by heaven, its character is more elevated, and its influence more beneficent and lasting. The counsel of this mother involves two things. I. AN EARNEST INTERDICT. With what earnestness does she break forth! Her motherly heart seems all aflame! Her vehement intuition is against animal indulgence in its two great forms, debauchery and intemperance; against inordinate gratification of the passions and the appetites. The reign of animalism is a reign that manacles, enfeebles, and damns the soul. Lust blunts the moral sense, pollutes the memory, defiles the imagination, sends a withering influence through all the faculties of the moral man. II. AN EARNEST INJUNCTION. She enjoins social compassion. Some think in the phrase "ready to perish" there is an allusion to the practice of administering a potion of strong mixed wine to criminals, for the purpose of deadening their sensibility to suffering. But there are ordinary cases of suffering and distress where wine might be administered with salutary effect. What this mother inculcates is compassion to the poor. It is the duty and honour of kings to espouse the cause of the distressed. This mother enjoins not only compassion, but also justice. She is a model mother. ( David Thomas D.D. ) Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Proverbs 31:8 The sin of cruelty to the brute creation David Runciman, M.A. There is no necessary reference in this verse to the inferior animals. We use it merely for our accommodation. That there is such cruelty requires neither proof nor argument. What persuasions should urge to guard against this cruelty in every form? 1. The affecting consideration that the lower animals have not the power of expressing and complaining of their wrongs. 2. Their subserviency to the comfort and happiness of man. 3. They are the objects of God's peculiar and providential care. 4. Cruelty to animals is utterly inconsistent with the spirit and law of Christianity. ( David Runciman, M.A. ) Job's example George Lawson, D.D. Job was an excellent pattern to all princes. He was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, and a father to the poor, and no doubt he was a mouth also to the dumb. Such a prince the mother of Lemuel wishes her son to be. She exhorts him to do justice and judgment to all his people, but to regard with peculiar tenderness those unfortunate men that were in danger of losing their estates and lives by reason of accusations brought against them. If they were unable, through ignorance, or awkwardness, or fear, to plead their own cause, she would have him to be their advocate, and to plead everything that truth and equity would allow on their behalf. But charity to the poor, and clemency to the accused, must not interfere with the due administration of justice. It is the business of princes, in the administration of justice, to see that the poor do not suffer. ( George Lawson, D.D. ) Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10-27 The prophecy of Lemuel's mother A Woman's Sermon to Women. There was never yet a woman who did not wish to have some part in the choice of her son's wife; and the mother of king Lemuel was no exception to the rule. She knew the kind of woman that would make him happy, and she contrived, by some means, to instil the knowledge into the heart of her son. It is a fact, which should ever be before the minds of mothers, that their sons are naturally disposed to love and revere them. This should make all mothers walk warily, and lead them to the source of every good, so that, having sat at the Master's feet and learned of Him, they may go back to their children with His Spirit shining through their eyes, and guiding alike their thoughts, emotions, and actions. The question with which this panegyric begins is rather a startling one. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" Were good women scarce then? and are they rare now? Devoted women, unselfish women, domesticated women, are not too easily discovered. Where a woman's heart is true, and her hands are gentle, where her voice is kind and her eyes far-seeing, where she lives not to herself nor to the world, but to the little circle whose happiness she makes, or to the God who has chosen her lot, there is the virtuous woman of whom the wise man spoke. Nothing so damps the ardour and joy of a man or his children as an incompetent, faulty woman at the head of the household; and nothing can be a greater source of strength than the woman who gives an impulse to all that is good and right, and checks the evil by a significant look or a softly-spoken word. Good women are wanted everywhere. ( A Woman's Sermon to Women. ) Woman's work Stopford A. Brooke, LL.D. The figures of women which pass across the pages of the Old Testament have so much nobility and so much character that even the slight sketches of them in the Bible have always impressed the imagination, and awakened the art of mankind. There is that in the New Testament woman which, in the past, has lifted womanhood into the worship of the world, and in the present has been the foundation of all that has been given to her, and of all that she has won for herself. In this chapter is the image of the perfect wife, done in poetry. The woman here has the attributes of wisdom, for strength and honour clothe her, and her future is secured by it. Her common speech is full of it, and the wisdom of speech is love. So wise is she that trust is safe in her. Her wisdom wins love for her; her children bless her, and her husband praises her. She is the active manager of business as well as of the household. She has her own prosperity, her own work in life; and her charities, which are many, are her own. This is the Jewish ideal of womanhood, yet the Jew of the Old Testament fails to find any ideal for womanhood beyond wifehood and motherhood. Only portions of this belong to the notions which women have in England of wifehood and home. Each class of society — according to the amount of money it can allot to the household — has its own separate ideal of the function of wives and mothers. In every case loveliness and loving-kindness and wisdom and the making of the beautiful, and the adornment of life should be by women combined with work. There is an inexhaustible capacity in women for this twofold life, and for complete success in it; but the idea of it is not as yet justly conceived, and there is no steady education for it. A thousand prejudices stand in the way of such a conception, and of the individual and free effort that it needs. The working class girls find their work so heavy and so long, that they have not strength of body or leisure of soul to learn what belongs to wifehood and motherhood, There is scarcely any class so neglected, so overworked, so put upon by others, so worn out before they are thirty years old. But there are thousands of women who can never marry and never have a home. If they cannot be mothers, let them have the means to be eager, living, and active women, able to work for one another, and for the world; able to invent new work and new spheres of work, fitted for womanhood's special aims and powers, and for the advance of the cause of humanity. This earth should be a fitting place and home for humanity. It is not that now, and one of the reasons, and it may be the most important of them all, is the imprisonment of the energy of womanhood, both by men and by themselves, in a narrow individualism. ( Stopford A. Brooke, LL.D. ) The model woman Robert Tuck, B.A. The chief points commended in the description may be impressed if we deal with woman's love, work, care, charity, speech, and praise. I. HER LOVE. Shown not in professions and demonstration of affection merely, but in trying to occupy faithfully her place. It is far better to show love than merely to speak it. So God wants to see our love to Him in its signs. II. HER WORK. Kinds of work for women differ according to their condition in society; but every woman should have her work. A woman's work is first the feeding and tending of her household; beyond this she may be able to work so as to earn. Show how much there is that young women can do towards a living in these days. All should try to be independent. III. HER CARE. In the ruling of her household; finding for each member work, food, and appropriate clothing. Watching that nothing is either wasted or lost, and everything made the best of. IV. HER CHARITY. Caring for the poor, and distributing of her abundance to them. How important, as an example to the children, is a generous, charitable mother! V. HER SPEECH. Always prudent and kindly. Never gossiping, never slandering, never hasty or passionate. Ever firm but gentle. See how often otherwise good characters are spoiled by the unbridled tongue. VI. HER PRAISE.. It comes from her husband, from her children, and even from her God. "Supreme love to God, which is religion, is that which generates, animates, and adorns all other virtues of character." ( Robert Tuck, B.A. ) The worth and work of woman Richard Glarer. By a virtuous woman is meant one who is characterised by a number of positive virtues and excellences, and chiefly by piety, or the fear and love of God. Illustrate this subject by the life of "Carmen Sylva," Queen of Roumania. I. THE WORTH OF WOMAN. "Far above rubies." Let a man ask himself what would be the worth to his heart, to his home, to his children, to society, of such a woman as is described here — the ideal woman of God's Word, the woman that every woman would be if she only feared God, loved His Word, imbibed His Spirit, and moulded her character upon His most blessed teachings. 1. Consider the worth of such a woman as a daughter. This is the first relationship in life woman is called to fulfil. Who can estimate her worth to her parents, or to her brothers and sisters? She is not wilful, headstrong, passionate, selfish; but humble, respectful, dutiful, affectionate. The foundation of true womanly worth is piety, the fear and love of God. Without true religion the character has no basis. Where that is found we may expect all the virtues to flourish into beauty. 2. The worth of such a woman as a wife. Here is an elaborate description of her housewifely care and prudence, and industry, and economy, and the blessed effects of all this on the happiness of her husband's heart and home, and on his character, reputation, and prosperity. Oh, that young men would look for piety in their wives! Nothing like that to govern their tongues, and to sweeten their tempers, and to make them amiable, pure, and true. II. THE WORK OF WOMAN. Home is her sphere, and her work is to make home happy. Some women think their work is to reform and regenerate the world. So it is, but the proper sphere for their reforming work is not in the publicities of the world, but in the privacies of the home, in their little children's nurseries, and by the side of the domestic hearth. I hold the worth of unmarried women in high esteem. They are of the greatest value to society, and especially to the Church of God. No single woman need pine in ennui for want of useful occupation. ( Richard Glarer. ) Far above rubies W. J. Woods, B.A. The Bible, which is the great reservoir of the rights of man is also the storehouse of the rights of woman. Woman's Magna Charta is the Word of God. It teaches us to honour woman; it warns every man that if he degrades woman he degrades himself, and that everywhere man rises as he lifts woman up. This text is a woman's estimate of what woman should be. All the parts that women have contributed to the Bible are poems; this is no exception. I. THE DOMESTIC QUALITIES OF WOMAN. The question of the text is indeed a warning that the kind of woman about to be described is a model not always attained. It is not every woman whose price is "far above rubies." In ancient times the women made the garments which their husbands wore. We call the unmarried woman a "spinster"; and the word wife means a "weaver." It is the woman who keeps the house together. This is the description which a woman gives of a woman's domestic qualities. She must be wife, she must be lady, she must be housekeeper. II. THE PERSONAL QUALITIES OF THE MODEL WOMAN. It is said that she is strong. As far as her strength is the result of careful and conscientious attention to the laws of health, it deserves to be described as a virtue, and a virtue that ought to be cultivated. If the future race of men is to be strong, the present race of women must first he strong. Then she is industrious. She not only saves the money others have entrusted her with, and uses it well, but she uses her own energy until she sells her own merchandise, and her industry increases her possessions till they become such that the watch-lamp has to be lighted that at night they may be secure. Strong and industrious, she could afford to be generous. But though she is generous, she is provident. She is also elegant, a lover of beauty Ruskin says, "A woman's first duty is to please, and a woman who does not please has missed her end in life." She is beautiful in her speech. She should take an interest in everything that interests every man in the house. She is kind, but orderly. She keeps discipline. III. LOOK AT HER REWARD. "Her husband praiseth her." "Her children call her blessed." The sweetest, daintiest, purest blossoms of a woman's heart will only flourish when she is praised by him she loves best. This is the true reward of the true woman. Her character is the secret of her power and her reward. ( W. J. Woods, B.A. ) A virtuous woman 1. The person inquired after. A virtuous woman is a woman of strength. Though the weaker vessel, yet made strong by wisdom and grace and the fear of God. A woman of spirit, who has the command of her own spirit, and knows how to manage other people's, one that is pious and industrious, and a helpmeet for a man. A woman of resolution. 2. The difficulty of meeting such an one. Good women are very scarce, and many that seem to be so do not prove so. 3. The unspeakable value of such an one, and the value which he that hath such a wife ought to put upon her, showing it by his thankfulness to God, and his kindness and respect to her, whom he must never think he can do too much for. ( Matthew Henry . ) Religion for every day -- Our wives George Bainton. To the young womanhood it may be said — Your capability to fulfil the offices of womanhood will be proportioned to your worth of character, and to the use you have made, or are prepared to make, of your opportunities. Earnestness of life is the only passport to satisfaction in life. I. AS A WIFE, REALISE YOUR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. The husband is the head of the household; but a wife's position does not imply inferiority. She is her husband's companion in life and for life, to be regarded by him as his equal. The husband is the bread-winner, the wife is the bread-keeper and distributor. In all the affairs of domestic life the wife should maintain her position and influence. She should insure her authority by proving her ability to do what the office of a wife demands. Never for a moment permit your husband to feel that he may not trust the concerns of home to your care. Act in such a way that instinctively he will know his property, his honour, his happiness, are safe in your hands. II. CULTIVATE ALL WOMANLY EXCELLENCES. Strengthen and enlarge the best side of life, by developing everything in you that is good. There are certain virtues essential to the ideal wife. Be thoughtful. Be industrious. Be restful. Be loving. A sublime self-forgetfulness lies at the bottom of every noble life, and of every great service wrought for human good. Homely and commonplace as this ideal may seem, it will demand all your resources. What has been urged cannot be attained without time, judgment, care, patience, and the constant aid of Divine grace in adaptation. ( George Bainton. ) A noble woman's picture of true womanhood Homilist. I. MARK HER CONDUCT AS A WIFE. Here is inviolable faithfulness. The husband trusts her character and her management. Here is practical affection. Genuine wifely love seeks the good of her husband, is constant as nature. Here is elevating influence. Her words have inspired her husband with honourable ambitions, and her diligence and frugality have contributed the means by which to reach his lofty aims. Here is merit acknowledged. There are men who are incapable of appreciating the character or reciprocating the love of a noble wife. Blessed is the man who has found s wife approaching this ideal! II. HER MANAGEMENT AS A MISTRESS. Notice her industry. Diligence in useful pursuits should be the grand lesson in all female education. III. HER BLESSEDNESS AS A MOTHER. In the spirit, the character, and the lives of her children she meets with an ample reward for all her self-denying efforts to make them good and happy. Her children's lives are a grateful acknowledgment of all her kindness, and in their spirit and conversation she reaps a rich harvest of delight. IV. HER GENEROSITY AS A NEIGHBOUR. Her sympathies are not confined to the domestic sphere. They overflow the boundary of family life — they go forth into the neighbourhood. V. HER EXCELLENCE AS AN INDIVIDUAL. She was vigorous in body; elegant in her dress; dignified and cheerful in her bearing; devout and honoured in her religion. Religion was the spirit of her character, the germ from which grew all the fruits of her noble life. ( Homilist. ) The virtuous woman as a wife R. F. Horton, D.D. She is a wife. The modern conception of a woman as an independent person, standing alone, engaged in her own business or profession, and complete in her isolated life, is not to be looked for in the Book of Proverbs. It is the creation of accidental circumstances. However necessary it may be in a country where the women are largely in excess of the men, it cannot be regarded as final or satisfactory. In the beginning it was not so, neither will it be so in the end. If men and women are to abide in strength and to develop the many sides of their nature, they must be united. It is not good for man to be alone; nor is it good for woman to be alone. There are some passages in the New Testament which seem to invalidate this truth. The advocates of celibacy appeal to the example of Christ and to the express words of St. Paul. But the New Testament, as our Lord Himself expressly declares, does not abrogate the eternal law which was from the beginning. And if He Himself abstained from marriage, and if St. Paul seems to approve of such an abstention, we must seek for the explanation in certain exceptional and temporary circumstances; for it is precisely to Christ Himself in the first instance, and to His great apostle in the second, that we owe our loftiest and grandest conceptions of marriage. There was no room for a personal marriage in the life of Him who was to be the Bridegroom of His Church; and St. Paul distinctly implies that the pressing troubles and anxieties of his own life, and the constant wearing labours which were required of the Gentile apostle, formed the reason why it was better for him, and for such as he, to remain single. At any rate the virtuous woman of the Proverbs is a wife; and the first thing to observe is the part she plays in relation to her husband. She is his stay and confidence. ( R. F. Horton, D.D. ) The excellent woman W. E. Griffis. In this final chapter of Proverbs we have celebrated in poetic numbers the wife and mother in practical life. Each age has its own ideal. Study this ideal in outline and in detail. Strength, energy, activity, is here the main thought. Foresight, industry, and business capacity are desired. A virtuous woman is a woman with virtue; that is vim , strength. The virtuous woman is virile without being masculine. The virtuous woman, whose price is above rubies, is, like the ideal man, to walk after the law of God in every footstep of life, as well as in every lengthened path of continued duty. Love to God creates a holy ambition. It spurs her on to be what Jehovah intended our first mother to be — a true helpmeet. Full of the detail of daily industry and household management, she is yet far-sighted. Methodical, wise-hearted, kindly in discipline, her household moves like the order of the heavenly bodies. Woman's strength may be in her tongue, even more than in her arms and hands. This edged tool, growing sharper by constant use, must be consecrated, else it will kill more than cure. The secret and spring of such a character as that of the virtuous woman is the fear of the Lord. This fear — reverence mingled with love — is a well-spring of life. Watered by this stream, all fair flowers of grace, and fruits of character grow. ( W. E. Griffis. ) The excellent woman D. J. Burrell. Three things concerning woman as she is portrayed in the Proverbs. 1. Her power both for good and evil is emphasised. She is recognised as important in the social structure. 2. Her position, as portrayed here, gives us a high estimate of the life of the Jews as a nation. You can always tell a nation's character from the character of its women. 3. The Jewish woman was a wife and mother. She took the place God made for her, and filled it excellently; and in that for any one in any place lies the highest success in life. I. THE VIRTUE MOST DEALT WITH HERE IS INDUSTRY. Look at this model woman, accepting with a cheerful and masterly mind the place God has given her, bound to do her best to satisfy its conditions, and so destined to genuine content. To work is God's intention for us, and if we have any thought of wishing to live for Him, work will not be to us an episode so disagreeable that we are to escape from it as soon as possible, but rather that for which we are made and that in which we ought to be most at home. II. THE MODEL WOMAN IS EFFICIENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF HER HOUSEHOLD. The word "virtuous" refers not so much to purity as to adaptation to the place where God has put her. The meaning is, "Who can find a capable woman?" Her capability is shown in her addressing herself in strength to the exigencies of her place. It requires wisdom to do anything well. The ideal woman uses her good sense to advantage in the management of the home. Nothing is more worthy of one's most acute thought than the inconspicuous duties of the home. III. THIS IDEAL WOMAN IS FULL OF ENTERPRISE. There is something very homely and natural in this portrait of the thrifty housewife turning an honest penny when occasion offers. This is the overflow of her exuberant interest in the prosperity of her household. Her business enterprise is not a sign of her seeking new interests outside of the home, but on the contrary a sign of her greater devotion to it. Home over everything, everything for the home, is her idea. IV. THE IDEAL WOMAN IS SYMPATHETIC. She does not forget the poor. Her vigorous mind does not make her a hard, calculating person of business. She is still a woman, full of sympathy for the unfortunate, ready to help the unsuccessful. Back of the calculating mind lies the warm, throbbing heart, thrilled with the highest emotions. V. THE IDEAL WOMAN IS WISE OF SPEECH. She is the counsellor of the household, giving good advice and teaching them that kindness which is life's truest wisdom. The easy running of home affairs makes a great difference in the happiness of every one. Home is where the character of the children is being formed. The widest empire does not offer a more dignified throne for the exercise of high wisdom than the mother's seat in the home. The results of such a good woman's life are visible. She has a happy husband. She has appreciative children. She has a good name. May God give to many a girlish heart a new dream — not of fair, but of good women, that shall reproduce itself in a strong, gentle, wise life. ( D. J. Burrell. ) A helpful wife Writing of the greatness of Mr. D. L. Moody, Professor Drummond says: "If you were to ask Mr. Moody — which it would never occur to you to do — what, apart from the inspirations of his personal faith, was the secret of his success, of his happiness and usefulness in life, he would assuredly answer, 'Mrs. Moody.'" An industrious wife J. B. F. Tinling. Mrs. Henry Clay, the wife of the celebrated American statesman, during her husband's long and frequent absences from home at the seat of government, used to take the reins into her own hands at the farm. She made a practical study of agriculture, oversaw the overseer, and became an oracle among the farmers of the neighbourhood. Preparatory to Mr. Clay's departure from home, she invariably received from him a handsome cheque, which she as regularly restored to him upon his return, with the laconic remark that she found no use for it! ( J. B. F. Tinling. ) A good wife Memoir of J. Stuart Blackie. A good story is told of the famous plaid, without which Blackie was rarely seen. One day, at Dr. Donald Macleod's house, he said, "When I was a poor man, and my wife and I had our difficulties, she one day drew my attention to the threadbare character of my coat, and asked me to order a new one. I told her I could not afford it just then, when she went, like a noble woman, and put her own plaid shawl on my shoulders, and I have worn a plaid ever since in memory of her loving deed!" ( Memoir of J. Stuart Blackie. ) And worketh willingly with her hands Beautiful hands Christian Treasury. As a young friend was standing with us noticing the pedestrians on the sidewalk, a very stylish young lady passed us. "What beautiful hands Miss — has!" exclaimed our friend. "What makes them beautiful?" "Why, they are small, white, soft, and exquisitely shaped." "Is that all that constitutes the beauty of the hand? Is not something more to be included in your catalogue of beauty?" "What more would you have?" "Are they charitable hands? Have they ever fed the poor? Have they ever carried the necessities of life to the widow and the orphan? Has their soft touch ever smoothed the irritation of sickness and the agonies of pain? Axe they useful hands? Have they been taught that the world is not a playground, or a theatre of display, or a mere lounging-place? Do those delicate hands ever labour? Are they ever employed about the domestic duties of life? Are they modest hands? Will they perform their charities or their duties without vanity? Or do they pander to the pride of their owner by their delicacy and beauty? Are they humble hands? Will their owner extend them to grasp the hand of that old schoolfellow who now must earn her living by her labour? Are they holy hands? Are they ever clasped in prayer or elevated in praise?" ( Christian Treasury. ) She layeth her hands to the spindle Homely attainments There is a trite but apposite moral in the anecdote told of James I on having a girl presented to him who was represented as an English prodigy because she was deeply learned. The person who introduced her boasted of her proficiency in ancient languages. "I can assure your Majesty," said he, "that she can both speak and write Latin, Greek, and Hebrew." "These are rare attainments for a damsel," said James; "but pray tell me, can she spin?" She maketh herself coverings of tapestry Needlework Whenever (said Dr. Johnson), whenever chance brings within my observation a knot of young ladies busy at their needles, I consider myself as in the school of virtue; and though I have no extraordinary skill in plain work or embroidery, I look upon their operations with as much satisfaction as their governess, because I regard them as providing a security against the most dangerous insnarers of the soul, by enabling them to exclude idleness from their solitary moments, and, with idleness, her attendant train of passions, fancies, chimeras, fears, sorrows, and desires. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness The nobility of womanhood A. Rowland, LL.B. 1. Tact is evidently the characteristic of one who "openeth her mouth with wisdom." She is not one whose garrulity proves the truth of the proverb, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin," for she has sufficient sense of the seriousness of life to avoid utterances which are idle and thoughtless. Her words are the dictates of that wisdom, the beginning of which is the fear of the Lord. Nor does she merely speak wise words, but, with true wisdom, she recognises that "there is a time to speak and a time to be silent," so that her reproofs and encouragements live long in grateful memories. 2. But authority is quite as important as tact, and this is characteristic of one who has a "law" in her lips. Suppleness in management is of little value unless there be strength behind it. God never meant that women should be always yielding to other people's opinions, or that they should be swayed hither and thither by every passing breeze of emotion. As much as men they need firmness, the royal power of rule, for in the home, in the sick-room, and in the class they have a veritable kingdom in which to exercise authority for God. 3. It must not be forgotten, however, that the authority here spoken of is the law of kindness. Such, in the highest sense, is the authority of Christ over His people. The noblest rule requires, not the display of force, nor the terrors of foolish threats, nor the countermining of a suspicious nature, but the law of kindness, which is obeyed because

Benson Commentary Proverbs 31:1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Proverbs 31:1 . The words of King Lemuel — Of Solomon, by the general consent both of Jewish and Christian writers: this name signifies one from God, or, belonging to God, and such a one was Solomon eminently, being given by God to David and Bath-sheba as a pledge of his reconciliation to them after their repentance. Possibly his mother gave him this name to remind him of his great obligations to God, and of the justice and necessity of his devoting himself to God’s service. It must be acknowledged, some have doubted whether Lemuel was not a different person; but, according to Dr. Delaney and many others, without sufficient reason. “I know,” says that judicious divine: “that some modern critics, contrary to the unanimous judgment and tradition of all antiquity, have raised some scruples upon this head, as if Lemuel were not Solomon, but some other king, they know not who. I have examined them with all the care and candour I am capable of, and conclude, upon the whole, that their objections are such as my readers, of best understandings, would be little obliged to me either for retailing or refuting.” Proverbs 31:2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? Proverbs 31:2 . What, my son — A short speech, arguing her great passion for him; what words shall I take? What counsels shall I give thee? My heart is full; I must give it vent; but where shall I begin? What, the son of my womb — My son, not by adoption, but whom I bare in the womb, and therefore it is my duty to give thee admonitions, and thine to receive them. What, the son of my vows — On whose behalf I have made many prayers and sacrifices, and solemn vows to God; whom I have, as far as in me lay, devoted to the work, and service, and glory of God. Proverbs 31:3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. Proverbs 31:3 . Give not thy strength unto women — The vigour of thy mind and body, which is greatly impaired by inordinate lusts, as all physicians agree, and frequent experience shows; nor thy ways — Thy conversation or course of life; to that which destroyeth kings — The same thing repeated in other words, as is very usual in these books; to the immoderate love of women, which is most destructive to kings and kingdoms, as was well known to Solomon, by the example of his father David, and by many other sad examples, left upon record in all histories. Proverbs 31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Proverbs 31:4-7 . It is not for kings to drink wine — Namely, to excess, as the next verse explains it: Lest they drink and forget the law — The laws of God, by which they are to govern themselves and their kingdoms; and pervert the judgment of the afflicted — Which may be easily done by a drunken judge, because drunkenness deprives a man of the use of his reason; by which alone men can distinguish between right and wrong, and withal stirs up those passions in him, which incline him both to precipitation and partiality. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish — To faint; for such need a cordial. This is to be understood comparatively; to him rather than to kings, because he needs a liberal draught of it more than they do. Let him drink and forget his poverty — For wine moderately used allays men’s cares and fears, and cheers the spirits. Proverbs 31:5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Proverbs 31:7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. Proverbs 31:8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Proverbs 31:8 . Open thy mouth — Speak freely and impartially, as becomes a king and a judge to do: for the dumb — For such as cannot speak in their own cause, either through ignorance, or because of the dread of their more potent adversaries. In the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction — Who, without such succour from the judges, are likely to be utterly ruined. Proverbs 31:9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10 . Who can find a virtuous woman? — Here he lays down several qualifications of an excellent wife, which are delivered in alphabetical order, each verse beginning with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It may be proper to observe here, that the versions, in general, agree in reading this, a strong woman, the words, ???? ??? , being literally, a woman of strength, or firmness: but then it must be observed, that it is equally applicable to strength of body or strength of mind: and therefore may with great propriety be rendered, as in our translation, a virtuous woman, or a woman of a strong, firm, and excellent mind. Proverbs 31:11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverbs 31:11-12 . The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her — For the prudent and faithful management of all his domestic affairs, which are committed to her care; so that he shall have no need of spoil — The sense is, either, 1st, He shall want no necessary provisions for his family, which are sometimes called spoil, or prey: or, 2d, He shall not need to use indirect and unlawful courses to get wealth, as by cheating, or oppressing his subjects, or others, as princes have often done to maintain the luxury of their wives, and as Solomon himself afterward did: because all shall abundantly be supplied to him by her providence. She will do him good, &c. — She will improve and not waste his estate. Proverbs 31:12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31:13-14 . She seeketh wool and flax — That she may find employment for her servants, and not suffer them to spend their time unprofitably. And worketh willingly with her hands — She encourages them to work by her example; which was a common practice among princesses in those first ages. Not that it is the duty of kings and queens to use manual operations, but it is the duty of all persons, the greatest not excepted, to improve all their talents, and particularly their time, which is one of the noblest of them, to the service of that God to whom they must give an account, and to the good of that community to which they are related. She bringeth her food from afar — By the sale of her home-spun commodities she purchases the choicest goods which come from far countries. Proverbs 31:14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. Proverbs 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. Proverbs 31:15 . She riseth while it is yet night — “She doth not indulge herself in too much sleep, but is an early riser, before the break of day, to make provision for those who are to go abroad to work in the fields, and to set her maidens their several tasks at home. The reader will observe that the ideas here refer to those modest and ancient times when female occupations were far different: even of the highest rank, from such as are usual in modern times.” — Dodd. Proverbs 31:16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. Proverbs 31:16 . She considereth a field — Whether it be fit for use and of a reasonable price, and how she may purchase it. This excludes the rashness, as the proceeding to buy it excludes the inconstancy, which is often incident to that sex; with the fruit of her hands — With the effects of her diligence; she planteth a vineyard — She improveth the land to the best advantage. Proverbs 31:17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. Proverbs 31:17-18 . She girdeth her loins with strength — She uses great diligence and expedition in her employment; for which end, men in those times used to gird up their long and loose garments about their loins. And strengtheneth her arms — Puts forth her utmost strength in her business. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good — She finds great comfort and good success in her labours. Her candle goeth not out by night — Which is not to be taken strictly, but only signifies her unwearied care and industry. Proverbs 31:18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. Proverbs 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. Proverbs 31:19 . She layeth her hands to the spindle — By her own example she provokes her servants to labour. And although in these latter and more delicate times such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried, unto this day, are called, in the language of our law, spinsters. Proverbs 31:20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. Proverbs 31:20 . She stretcheth out her hand to the poor — To relieve their necessities. Her designs are generous and noble; for she labours not only to supply her own and her household’s necessities, or to support her own state, much less to feed her pride and luxury; but that she may have wherewith to supply the wants of others, who crave or need her assistance. Which also procures God’s blessing upon her husband and children, and whole family, to whom, by this means, she brings both honour and advantage. Proverbs 31:21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. Proverbs 31:21-25 . She is not afraid of the snow — Of any injuries of the weather. For her household are clothed with scarlet — She has provided enough, not only for their necessity, and defence against cold and other inconveniences, but also for their delight and ornament. She maketh coverings of tapestry — For the furniture of her house. Her clothing is silk and purple — Which was very agreeable to her high quality, though it doth not justify that luxury in attire which is now usual among persons of far lower ranks, both for wealth and dignity. Her husband is known — Observed and respected, not only for his own worth, but for his wife’s sake; when he sitteth among the elders, &c. — In council or judgment. And delivereth girdles — Curiously wrought of linen and gold, or other precious materials, which, in those parts, were used both by men and women. Strength and honour — Strength of mind, magnanimity, courage, activity; are her clothing — Her ornament and glory; and she shall rejoice in time to come — She lives in constant tranquillity of mind, from a just confidence in God’s gracious providence. Proverbs 31:22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Proverbs 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Proverbs 31:24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it ; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Proverbs 31:25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. Proverbs 31:26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. Proverbs 31:26 . She openeth her mouth with wisdom — She is neither sullenly silent, nor full of impertinent talk, but speaks discreetly and piously, as occasion offers. In her tongue is the law of kindness — Her speeches are guided by wisdom and grace, and not by inordinate passions. And this practice is called a law in her tongue, because it is constant and customary, and proceeds from an inward and powerful principle of true wisdom. Proverbs 31:27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27 . She looketh well to her household — She diligently observes the management of her domestic business, and the whole carriage of her children and servants. Whereby he also intimates, that she spends not her time in gadding abroad to other people’s houses, and in idle discourses about the concerns of other persons, as the manner of many women is, but is wholly intent upon her own house and proper business; and eateth not the bread of idleness — That which is gotten by idleness, or without labour. Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also , and he praiseth her. Proverbs 31:28 . Her children arise up — Whose testimony is the more considerable, because they have been constant eye-witnesses of her whole conduct, and, therefore, must have seen her misdemeanours, if there had been any, as well as her virtues; and call her blessed — Both for her own excellences, and for many happy fruits which they have gathered from her wise and godly education of them. Her husband also — Ariseth to bear witness to her excellence; and he praiseth her — Namely, in the following words. Proverbs 31:29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:29-30 . Many daughters have done virtuously — Daughters of men, that is, women, so called, Genesis 34:1 ; Ezekiel 30:18 ; but thou excellest them all — Her husband esteems it but just, that his praises should bear proportion to her real and manifold excellences. Favour — Comeliness, which commonly gives women favour with those who behold them. Deceitful — It gives a false representation of the person, being often a cover to a deformed soul; it does not give a man that satisfaction which at first he promised to himself from it; and it is soon lost, not only by death, but by many diseases and contingences. But a woman that feareth the Lord — Which character is here mentioned, either as the crown of all her perfections, or as a key to understand the foregoing description of her character, as being intended of that wisdom, fidelity, and diligence, which proceed from, or are accompanied with, the fear of God. Proverbs 31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:31 . Give her of the fruit of her hands — It is but just that she should enjoy those praises which her labours deserve. Let her works praise her — If men be silent, the lasting effects of her prudence and diligence will trumpet forth her praises. In the gates — In the most public and solemn assemblies. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Proverbs 31:1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. CHAPTER 32 A GOOD WOMAN "O woman-hearts, that keep the days of old In living memory, can you stand back When Christ calls? Shall the heavenly Master lack The serving love, which is your life’s fine gold?" "Do you forget the hand which placed the crown Of happy freedom on the woman’s head And took her from the dying and the dead, Lifting the wounded soul long trodden down?" "Do you forget who bade the morning break, And snapped the fetters of the iron years? The Savior calls for service from your fears Rise girt with faith, and work for His dear sake." "And He will touch the trembling lips with fire, - O let us hasten, lest we come too late! And all shall work; if some must stand and wait Be theirs that wrestling prayer that will not tire." -R.O. THE last chapter of the book of Proverbs consists of two distinct compositions, and the only connection between them is to be found in their date. The words of King Lemuel, "a saying which his mother taught him," { Proverbs 31:1-9 } and the description of a good woman, { Proverbs 31:10-31 } must both be referred to a very late epoch of Hebrew literature. The former contains several Aramaic words and expressions which connect it with the period of the exile; and the latter is an alphabetical acrostic, i.e. , the verses begin with the successive letters of the alphabet; and this artificial mode of composition, which appears also in some of the Psalms, is sufficient of itself to indicate the last period of the literature, when the Rabbinical methods were coming into use. About the words of Lemuel, of whom it may be observed we know nothing at all, enough has been said in previous lectures. We need here only notice that the mother’s influence in the education of her son, even though that son is to be a king, comes very suitably as the introduction to the beautiful description of the good woman with which the chapter closes. It is said that the mother of George III brought him up with the constantly-repeated admonition, "George, be a king," and that to this early training was due that exalted notion of the prerogative and that obstinate assertion of his will which occasioned the calamities of his reign. Kings have usually been more ready to imbibe such lessons than moral teaching from their mothers; but whatever may be the actual result, we all feel that a woman is never more nobly occupied than in warning her son against the seductions of pleasure, and in giving to him a high sense of duty. It is from a mother’s lips we should all learn to espouse the cause of the helpless and the miserable, and to bear an open heart for the poor and needy. { Proverbs 31:8-9 } But now before coming to examine in detail the poem of the virtuous woman, let us briefly recall what the book hitherto has taught us on the subject of womanhood. It began with solemn and oft-repeated warnings against the "strange woman," and echoes of that mournful theme have accompanied us throughout: the strange woman is a deep ditch, a narrow pit; he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. { Proverbs 22:14 , Proverbs 23:27 } And even where the woman’s nature is not corrupted by impurity we are several times reminded how he may destroy the peace of man’s life by certain faults of temper. If she is contentious and fretful she can make the house utterly unbearable; it will be better to live in a corner of the housetop or in a desert land, exposed to the continual downpour of the autumn rains, than to be assailed by her tongue. { Proverbs 19:13 , Proverbs 21:9 , Proverbs 25:24 , Proverbs 21:19 , Proverbs 27:15 } The attempt to restrain her is like trying to grasp the wind, or to seize an object which is smeared with oil. { Proverbs 27:16 } We are reminded too how incongruously sometimes great beauty of person is combined with inward faults. "As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion." { Proverbs 11:22 } But we must distinctly understand that these severe strictures on woman corrupted and woman imperfect are only so many witnesses to her value and importance. The place she fills in life is so supreme that if she fails in her duty human life as a whole is a failure. In her hands lie the issues of life for mankind. "The wisdom of woman builds her house, and the folly of woman plucks it down with her hands." { Proverbs 14:1 } What the homes of a nation are, the nation is; and it is woman’s high and beautiful function to make the homes, and within her power lies the terrible capacity for marring them. She, much more than the king, is the fountain of honor. { Proverbs 11:16 } The honor she gives and the honor she commands will decide the whole tone of society. Pure, true, and strong, she makes men worship purity, truth, and strength. Corrupt, false, and vain, she blights and blasts the ideal of man, lowers all his aspirations, excites his evil passions to a frenzy of iniquity, degrades his soul to a level below the brutes. The condition of woman is the touchstone of a civilized society. Again, there is a sense in which woman is an interpreter and revealer of God to the human race. She has religious intuitions and spiritual susceptibilities in which the other sex is usually deficient. Most religious systems in the world’s history have overlooked her, and have suffered accordingly. The religion of Jesus Christ recognized her, claimed for her, her rightful place, and to this day does much of its best work in the world through her gracious ministrations, through her unquestioning faith, through her unquenchable love. It is as a foreshadowing of this religious significance which Christ was to give to womanhood that the Proverbs recognize the beautiful direct relation between God and the possession of a good wife. "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord." { Proverbs 18:22 } Wealth, as it is ordinarily understood, is of the earth, -it can be derived from ancestors by inheritance, or it can be earned by toil of hand and brain, -but every wife worthy of the name is far above all wealth: she cannot be earned or inherited; she comes, as the mother of mankind came, direct from the hand of the Lord. The marriage tie is a thought of God’s heart. He Himself has arranged the exquisite blending of life with life and spirit with spirit; He has fitted man to woman and woman to man, so that the perfect man is not the man alone, the perfect woman is not the woman alone, but the man and woman one flesh, mystically united, the completeness each of the other; not two, but a single whole. We may now examine in detail this connected description of the virtuous woman, whose value is not to be measured by material wealth, and who yet, from a merely material point of view, is a source of wealth to those who are fortunate enough to call her theirs. She is a wife. The modern conception of a woman as an independent person, standing alone, engaged in her own business or profession, and complete in her isolated life, is not to be looked for in the book of Proverbs. It is the creation of accidental circumstances. However necessary it may be in a country where the women are largely in excess of the men, it cannot be regarded as final or satisfactory. In the beginning it was not so, neither will it be so in the end. If men and women are to abide in strength and to develop the many sides of their nature, they must be united. It is not good for man to be alone; nor is it good for woman to be alone. There are some passages in the New Testament which seem to invalidate this truth. The advocates of celibacy appeal to the example of Christ and to the express words of St. Paul. But the New Testament, as our Lord Himself expressly declares, does not abrogate the eternal law which was from the beginning. And if He Himself abstained from marriage, and if St. Paul seems to approve of such an abstention, we must seek for the explanation in certain exceptional and temporary circumstances; for it is precisely to Christ Himself in the first instance, and to His great Apostle in the second, that we owe our loftiest and grandest conceptions of marriage. There was no room for a personal marriage in the life of Him who was to be the Bridegroom of His Church; and St. Paul distinctly implies that the pressing troubles and anxieties of his own life, and the constant wearing labors which were required of the Gentile Apostle, formed the reason why it was better for him, and for such as he, to remain single. At any rate the virtuous woman of the Proverbs is a wife: and the first thing to observe is the part she plays in relation to her husband. She is his stay and confidence: "The heart of her husband trusteth in her." She is his natural confidante and counselor; her advice is more valuable than that of much cleverer people, because it is so absolutely disinterested; the hearts are in such vital contact that the merely intellectual communications have a quality all their own. One may often observe in an ideal marriage, though the husband seems to be the stronger and the more self-reliant, the wife is really the pillar of strength; if death removes her, he is forlorn and bereft and helpless; the gradual work of the years has led him to depend on her more and more, to draw from her his best inspirations, and to turn instinctively to her for advice and direction. "She doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life." { Proverbs 31:12 } It is not only when she comes as a young bride into his house, bright with youth, encircled with the glamour of early love, -then, it is true, the thought of her nerves his endeavors and quickens his eager steps as he turns homeward in the evening, -it is not only while her fresh charms last, and her womanly beauty acts as a spell on him, while the desire to retain her love disciplines and strengthens whatever is good in his character; but right through to the end of her life, when she has grown old, when the golden hair is grey, and the blooming cheeks are wrinkled, and the upright form is bent, -when other people see nothing beautiful about her except the beauty of old age and decay, he sees in her the sweet bride of earlier years, to him the eyes appear unchanged and the voice thrills him with happy memories; she ministers to him still and does him good; not now with the swift alacrity of foot and the deft movement of the hand, but with the dear, loyal heart, with the love which the years have mellowed and the trust which the changing circumstances of life have tested and confirmed. It is this strong, sweet core of life in the home which gives the man dignity and honor in public. She is a crown to her husband. { Proverbs 12:4 } His influence in the life of his town or of his country is not always directly traced to its true source. But it is that woman’s noble sway over him, it is the constant spur and chastening of her love, which gives him the weighty voice and the grave authority in the counsels of the nation. "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land." { Proverbs 31:23 } He can make but a poor return to her for all her quiet unobtrusive and self-sacrificing help year after year and on to the end, but he can at least repay her with growing reverence and loyalty; he can tell her, as it were with the impassioned lips of a lover, what he owes to her; when her children rise up and call her blessed, he can praise her, saying, "Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." { Proverbs 31:29 } Indeed it will be his growing conviction that of all the daughters of woman there is none equal to his wife. Her charms have grown upon him, her character has. ripened before his eyes, her love has become at once stronger and more precious every year, It is no flattery, no idle compliment of courting-days, no soft word to win the coy heart of the maiden, but it is his own deep and sincere feeling; it is said to her who is his and has been his for years, and in whose assured possession he finds his greatest peace: "I do not question that other women are good and true, but I am sure that you are better than all." And so she is. Every true wife is the best wife. The next point in the virtuous woman to which our attention is drawn is her unflagging industry. Her husband "shall have no lack of gain." { Proverbs 31:11 } In addition to all those treasures of mutual love and spiritual converse, all those invaluable services of counsel and guidance, of criticism and encouragement, she is a positive source of wealth to him. She is the house-manager. If he earns the bread in the first instance, it is in her hands that it seems to be miraculously multiplied. If he brings home the money which is enough for their wants, it is she who turns the silver into gold and makes the modest means appear great wealth. The fact is her hands are always busy. The spindle, the distaff, the loom, are within her reach and are constantly plied. While she unravels the knotted cares of her husband in the evening with her bright and cheery talk, while she encourages him in all his plans and heartens him for all his duties, her busy fingers are making clothes for the children, repairing, adapting, improving, or else are skillfully constructing ornaments and decorations for the household, turning the poor room into a palace, making the walls beam with beauty and the hearts of all within laugh for joy. There is something quite magical and impressive in woman’s economy: "She is like the merchant ships; she bringeth her food from afar." { Proverbs 31:14 } No one knows how it is done. The table is well spread, the food is daintily served, on infinitesimal means. She finds out by the quick intuitions of love how to get the things which the loved ones like, and by many a little sacrifice unperceived she produces effects which startle them all. She has a secret of doing and getting which no one knows but she. Early passers-by have seen a light in the house long before the day dawns; she has been up preparing the breakfast for the household, and mapping out the work for all, so that no hours may be wasted and no one in the family may be idle. { Proverbs 31:15 } Her boundless economies produce astonishing results. One morning she has to announce to the husband and the children that she has managed to put together a little sum which will purchase the freehold of their house and garden. { Proverbs 31:16 } Her husband exclaims, Why, how has it been done? Where has the money come from out of our little income? She smiles significantly and will not tell; but the tears moisten his eyes as he looks into her face and reads the story of self-denials, and managings, and toils, which have issued in this surprise. And the children look up with a sense of awe and wonder. They feel that there is something of the supernatural about mother; and perhaps they are right. She has all the delicacy and even weakness of a woman, but the life of constant activity and cheerful toil preserves her health and increases her strength. Idle women, who lounge their days away in constant murmurings over their ailments, speak contemptuously about her-"She has the strength of a horse," they say, "and can bear anything." They do not know, they do not wish to know, that she is the author of her own strength. It is her own indomitable will, her own loving heart, which girds her loins with strength and makes strong her arms. { Proverbs 31:17 } There are others who carp at her on different grounds; they do not understand how one with her husband’s income can keep so comfortable a household or dress her children as she does. Those cushions of tapestry, that clothing of fine linen and purple, are an offense to her critics. "How she does it I am sure I don’t know," says one, implying that there is something quite uncanny and disreputable about it. "She works like a slave," says another, with the tone of scorn that one would employ for a slave. But that is the truth: "She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable: her lamp goeth not out by night." { Proverbs 31:18 } She is indeed indefatigable. She actually makes garments which she can sell, girdles for the merchant { Proverbs 31:24 } in addition to looking well to the ways of her household. Certainly she does not eat the bread of idleness. { Proverbs 31:27 } She can, however, very easily bear the contemptuous criticisms of others. The practical results of her life are sufficiently satisfying to make her a little independent. She has secured herself and her household against the contingencies which harass other housewives. The approach of winter has no alarms for her: all the children and servants are warmly and sufficiently. { Proverbs 31:21 } The uncertain future has no terrors for her: she has made ample provision for it, and can regard the unknown chances with a smile of confidence. { Proverbs 31:25 } And indeed, whatever detractors may say behind her back, it is not easy for anyone to say anything severe in her presence. For the same loving, earnest, diligent ways which have made her household comfortable and secure have clothed her with garments better than scarlet and linen. "Strength and dignity are her clothing,"-robes so gracious and beautiful that criticism is silenced in her presence, while the hearts of all good and honest people are drawn out to her. But here is another characteristic of the virtuous woman. Economy and generosity go hand in hand. Frugal livers and hard workers are always the largest givers. This woman, whose toil late at night and early in the morning has enriched and blessed her own, is ready to help those who are less fortunate. "She spreadeth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." { Proverbs 31:20 } Most women are naturally pitiful and shrink from the sight of suffering; but while idle and self-indulgent women try to avoid the painful sight, and turn their flow of pity into the channels of vapid sentimentality, the good woman trains her sense of pity by coming into contact with those who deserve it, and only seeks to avoid the sight of suffering by trying everywhere and always to relieve it. Among all the noble and Christlike offices of woman this is the one which most strikingly connects her with the human life of our Lord. It is her function to excite and to cherish the quality of compassion in the human heart, and by her trained skill and intuitive tact to make the ministrations of the community to the poor, truly charitable instead of dangerously demoralizing. Man is apt to relieve the poor by the laws of political economy, without emotion and by measure: he makes a Poor Law which produces the evil it pretends to relieve; he degrades the lovely word Charity into a badge of shame and a wanton insult to humanity. It is woman that "spreads out her palm and reacheth forth her hand" to the poor, bringing her heart into the work, giving, not doles of money, but the helpfulness of a sister’s love, the tenderness of a mother’s solicitude, the awakening touch of a daughter’s care. And the hand which is thus held out to the poor is precisely the hand which has been laid on the distaff and the spindle; not the lazy hand or the useless hand, but the hand which is supple with toil, dexterous with acquired skill. There are two reflections which must have occurred to us in following this description of the good woman. Her portrait has risen before our eyes, and we ask, Is she beautiful? We have watched her activities, their mode and their result, and we wonder whether she is religious. "Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised." { Proverbs 31:30 } That this woman has a beauty of her own seems clear, and that she fears the Lord is a fair inference to make. It is idle to declaim against the charms of personal beauty; we may call it deceitful and vain, but it will not cease to be attractive. Men will not be reasoned or ridiculed out of that instinctive homage which they pay to a lovely face; the witchery of bright eyes and arch looks, the winsomeness of sweet contours and delicate hues, will last, we may surmise, as long as the sun and moon endure; and why should we dishonor God by supposing that He did not make the beauty which attracts and the attraction which the beauty excites? But it is not impossible to open men’s eyes to the beauty of a less transient and more satisfying kind which lies in the character and conduct of women. If mothers accustom their sons to see those sterling attractions which permanently secure the affection and the devotion of a husband, the young men will not be content with superficial beauties and vanishing charms in the women whom they choose. And is not the beauty of woman such beauty as we have been contemplating the result of fearing the Lord? Is it possible, apart from a living faith in a living God, to maintain that lovely wifeliness, that self-sacrificing, diligent love, that overflow of pity to the poor and needy, which constitute grace and loveliness of character? Has anyone succeeded in even depicting an imaginary woman devoid of religion and yet complete and beautiful? We have already noticed how suited the woman’s nature is to receive religious impressions and to communicate religious influences; we may now notice, in concluding, that this very characteristic renders a woman without God even more imperfect and unsatisfying than a man without God. She is naturally inclined to cling to a person rather than to an idea, to follow a person rather than a theory. The only Person to whom she can cling with absolute good and hallowing results is God; the only Person whom she can follow and minister to without detriment to her womanhood and with gain to her spirit is Christ. A godless woman makes a sore shipwreck of life, whether she becomes sensual and depraved, or ambitious and domineering, or bitter and cynical, or vain and conventional. In her ruin there is always a power as of a fallen angel, and she can drag others with her in her fall. If a man is wise then in choosing for himself a wife, the first thing he will demand is that she shall be one that fears the Lord, one who shall be able to lead him and help him in that which is his truest life, and to maintain for him a saving intercourse with the world of spiritual realities. He may be assured that in her love to God he has the best guarantee of her love to him, and that if she does not fear and love God the main sanction for their wedded happiness will be wanting. Finally, where the woman who has been described is actually found in real life it is for us to recognize her and to reward her. Let society take note of her: "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." The great Greek historian said that woman’s highest praise consisted in not being mentioned at all. That is not the teaching of Revelation. Woman’s best work is often done in silence and without observation, but her highest praise is when the seeds sown in silence have grown into flowers of loveliness and fruit that is sweet to the taste, and the whole community is forced to yield her the honor which is her due, exalting, with heartfelt admiration and with deep gratitude to God, the Wife, the Mother, the Ministrant to the Poor. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.