Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.

• Proverbs 31:10-15

Proverbs 31:11-12  ”This woman is wise in her ways as well as in her words. Therefore, her husband trusts in her (31:11) and is blessed by her (31:12). If seeking a wife, you can find a pretty woman. You can find a rich woman. But many a man has been disappointed when he discovered that the elegance he saw on the outside didn’t match what was on the inside. So find a wise woman of noble character who loves God, and don’t let her go.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

The Message

A wife of noble character is worth more than rubies.  I did not have verse 10 in mind, but my first trip to Thailand was when I bought my wife a ruby ring.  It became her pearl of great price, although she received many pearls after my first two trips to China.  She found out that the ruby ring was worth well more than ten times what I had paid for it.  And oddly, the store clerk thought it to be costume jewelry.  It was the manager who overheard her description of what was wrong with the ring to realize he needed to make a good offer.  But my wife would never sell.  Her husband had to honor her a great deal to get such a gift.

So, Lemuel starting with a wife of noble character being worth more than rubies strikes a chord with me personally.

Her husband trusts her, and he lacks nothing of value.  Her wisdom and management sense make up for anything that he could lack, and she never harms him or his career.  She adds to what he already has.

Selecting wool and flax might be substituted these days with knowing the value of clothing.  What garment is worth the price.  Flax was the building ingredient for fine linen in those days.  And wool provided warm clothing, but do you get the best gat the best garment for a good price these days?  Labels sell things at a higher price, but could it be that the store brand is made with equal quality?

The idea of bringing food from afar is that you need to know what is fresh.  When I was young, the suppliers of fresh vegetables came from “banana” companies.  They advertised that they could bring fresh, unmarred bananas to market.  Since that was nearly impossible about the time I was born, of course, you would trust your beans and carrots with a reputable “banana” company.  These days with grocery stores having their own supply chains, you learn what and who you can trust, but knowing how to examine the fruit and vegetables is important also.

And finally, in this group of verses, we see the wife of noble character getting up early.  She is obviously well-to-do since she has female servants.

I am reminded of the nomadic gypsies in India.  They travelled from place to place in search for employment.  And the wives nearly worked a full day’s work before the workday began.  She took the clothing to the river to wash the clothing.  I went to the steel mill one day about 2-3 hours before sunrise and I saw the women returning from the river with the cleaned clothing.  Then, about dawn, they return from their next trip with firewood.  Then the husband is awakened.  He starts the fire while the wife goes to get water.  Sometimes the wives walk miles for these things.  Then with a small amount of rice, everyone gets possibly the only meal of the day.  After all this work, the woman goes with her husband to the work site.  They may not do the same thing, but often, the husband is considered the skilled worker, but the wife works twice as hard with the common tasks, only to be paid roughly 80% what the man is paid for the day.

And these people did their work cheerfully.

Whether there are any servants in the household or there are children old enough to do the chores, the wife takes care of the family first so that the people doing the work get the nourishment they need to do the work.

When we sleep until the children are late to catch the bus or they make it to the bus stop without breakfast, we are not acting as someone with noble character, male or female.  But then again, my grandparents awoke at three in the morning, decades after they no longer had to milk the cows.  And my parents awoke long before the sun came up to ensure I had a good breakfast before I went to the bus stop.

The literal concept of minding the flax and wool is replaced by modern convenience, but the diligence is the measure of noble character.

And now let us sing.

The following song is Broken Together.  This is sung by Casting Crowns.  This song might be the song for each week on this topic.  The Scripture speaks of a wife of noble character.  But we can still look at this group of 22 verses, an acrostic poem about a woman of noble character, and see what Paul meant in his charges to husband and wife.  The wife does the best she can to live up to these verses, and in the husbands love of his wife, he helps, provides, and strengthens his wife so that she does the best she can.  And all the while, we are broken together.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us to value wisdom.  Lord, when you break down the tasks that the wife performs and the work that the husband performs that allows the wife to do those tasks, we see a wife who must be superhuman to pull it off, and yet, there are many wives who come close.  It takes putting themselves lower on the totem pole than those that they serve, but it also takes a husband that puts his wife before himself to give her what she needs.  And Lord, help us to be humble and honest.  We are broken vessels trying to do noble deeds with a pauper’s resources.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.