What is a Woman? Part 1

 

Scripture: Proverbs 31:10-21 (NLT)

A Wife of Noble Character

¹⁰  Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?

She is more precious than rubies.

¹¹ Her husband can trust her,

and she will greatly enrich his life.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.

¹³ She finds wool and flax

and busily spins it.

¹⁴ She is like a merchant’s ship,

bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household

and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She goes to inspect a field and buys it;

with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She is energetic and strong,

a hard worker.

¹⁸ She makes sure her dealings are profitable;

her lamp burns late into the night.

¹⁹ Her hands are busy spinning thread,

her fingers twisting fiber.

²⁰ She extends a helping hand to the poor

and opens her arms to the needy.

²¹ She has no fear of winter for her household,

for everyone has warm clothes.

 

Meditation:

 

            Some months ago, a famous podcast host (Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire) posed the question, “What is a Woman?” in a documentary to various people. From the average Joe or Susie on the street corner to those in the hallowed halls of academia he got only blank stares and hostile reactions. So being the curious person I am I decided to search the classical sources of wisdom for an answer.

 

            This brought me to the Bible. In it I found back in Genesis chapters one and two the basic biological facts about who a woman is. Although it seemed that no one could come up with an answer to these basic biological facts. I thought that maybe I can look deeper than the simple biological fact that an adult female human is a woman.

 

            Pouring over my theological dictionaries and concordances the evidence seemed to begin to pile up In a source of wisdom, which considering my background (Bible Scholar, Doctorate in Theology) I should have more quickly come to mind. The beautiful ode to womanhood that lurks in the final chapter of Proverbs quickly sprang to my mind as a result of my search.

 

            In the first verse of the passage, it seems that a man might have a difficult time finding a woman to marry who has the qualities that the man desires in a woman. A closer reading simply indicates that a woman with these qualities can be found easily enough although some searching is required. You can read for yourselves the specific qualities that are sought out. I have only included the first half of the list; we will examine the rest tomorrow.

 

            Here is the take away from this scripture given for consideration today. The ideal woman has all kinds of categories of skills. She sees a field that she believes will be profitable and she buys it. She always provides for the nourishment of her family. She lends to the poor. And she can be trusted with great responsibility. This may seem like a super woman but is really just a woman who seeks the best for her family. Shall we pray for all the woman out there who know who they are in the Lord.

 

Prayer:

           

            Thank you, God, for creating woman to be guides for us when lost. And to provide beauty and grace for our lives. The Hallmark holiday for Mother’s Day passed in May. We however we want to celebrate the women in our lives every day. Women are fearsome and brave creatures. Praise you Heavenly Father for your gift of womanhood to us who know that we would only be half of what we could be if were not for the women in our lives. Amen.