She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She makes herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.
This woman is primarily concerned for her husband and children, not herself. It is a self-oriented narcissistic society that has killed eighty million children by abortion and the abortifacient birth control pill during the last fifty years. But this self-orientation doesn’t stop with abortion. Since the industrial revolution, parents increasingly remanded their children to orphanages and part-time orphanages (known as “daycare centers”). Millions of parents turned their children over to governments to feed through school lunch programs and public welfare. In nations like South Korea, the birth rate fell from 6.0 to 1.1 within about forty years! Whereas China mandated a one child per family policy by forced abortions and infanticide, barely achieving a birth rate of 1.6, South Korea didn’t need to avail itself of such draconian measures at all! They simply adopted the self-centered feminism and existentialism of the West. A publication called The Japanese Journal of Population explains the imploding birth rates in South Korea: “Young women wish to have their own roles in life other than spouse and mother... these young women no longer comply with family arrangements that mothers and grandmothers took for granted; they have invested a lot in education and have their own personal expectations and ambitions. . .they are looking for financial autonomy and they cannot tolerate subordination to male authority.” So the modern woman is concerned with herself, her autonomy, her own roles in life, and her own personal expectations and ambitions. She is mainly concerned with herself. But not so for the Proverbs 31 woman! She makes sure that her household is well taken care of with clothing, proper medical care, food, and nutrition.
Beyond this, she is vitally concerned with the spiritual, moral, and academic condition of her household as well. While the spiritual well-being of the household is ultimately the responsibility of the husband (Eph. 6:4; 1 Thess. 2:11), he may delegate some of it to his wife. The prime example of this is found with Lemuel’s mother who is providing some spiritual training for her son in this final chapter of Proverbs. Of course, there is no hard and fast separation between the academic and the character lessons a child needs to learn. God’s Book of Wisdom carefully intertwines what a child needs to know about human relationships, government, leadership, business, science, epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics, with the character of the child himself. Thus, the Proverbs 31 woman looks well to provide both the material and spiritual clothing for attiring her household.
However, she does not ignore herself entirely. From verse 22 we learn that she decorates herself beautifully with fine clothing. The apostles encourage modesty in dress, employing the Greek word Kosmio (1 Tim. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:3–4). This word means an appropriateness in dress, that is suitable to the person and the situation in which she finds herself. That is, one would not wear a wedding dress to church worship or a bathing suit to a wedding. Also, a woman whose family income stands at $40,000 per year should not be wearing dresses that cost $1,000. These might be more appropriate for a woman whose household income approaches $1,000,000 per year. Moreover, a woman whose husband is a respected leader in the community should dress appropriately to render her husband due honor. If she presents herself in public as a careless slob, she fails to support him in his calling.
From verse 23, we receive a little insight into the particular household to which this woman belongs. Evidently, her husband is a respected leader in the community. Whether church elder or city councilman, it doesn’t matter. He is a pillar in the community. He takes the time to lead because his household is in order and he has a wife who effectively manages the estate (1 Tim. 3:4–5). The social order cracks when women lead in the state, and this sort of thing happens when families disintegrate and fathers abdicate (Is. 3:12). Everything turns on its head. Without men to lead and women to manage the household economies, both churches and civil governments will hardly bear the strains. Unrest, instability, and constant dissension ensue. What God gives us in this passage is a well-balanced social system that really functions well.
1. Who is responsible for providing the spiritual training in the home? Who is primarily responsible? Who is responsible for providing the clothing for the household?
2. What does the Greek word Kosmio mean in reference to clothing?
3. Is it wrong for women to lead in the gates? What is happening to a society where women must lead in the church and in the state?