proverbs 30 and 31

Proverbs 31:26

Read Proverbs 30 and 31 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 30:1-6 {p} The wise man knows he knows nothing, but every word of God is pure
Pro 30:7-9 {p} Two requests: remove falsehood + let me just what is needed
Pro 30:10-17 {p} The worthless generation
Pro 30:18-20 {p} Four things beyond understanding
Pro 30:21-23 {p} Four things the earth cannot bear
Pro 30:24-28 {p} Four humble things on the earth, but which are exceedingly wise
Pro 30:29-33 {p} Four things majestic in their way
Pro 31:1-7 {p} It is not for kings to waste their strength indulging the flesh, lest they forget the law
Pro 31:8-9 {p} Open your mouth + plead the cause for the speechless + poor +needy
Pro 31:10-31 {p} The woman of valor

The famous passage describing the woman of valor is 22 verses long, and each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet in order, just as the stanzas in Psa 119 do. It forms a chiastic structure:

1a) Pro 31:10, A woman of valor who can find? For her worth is far above rubies;

1b) Pro 31:11-12, The heart of her husband trusts her/ she does him good all the days of her life;

1c) Pro 31:13-16, She diligently provides coverings + food + tasks + produce for her household;

1d) Pro 31:17-22, She girds herself with strength + her merchandise + does not fear the future + opens her hands to the poor;

central axis) Pro 31:23, Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land;

2d) Pro 31:24-26, Her merchandise + Strength her clothing + rejoice in the future + opens her mouth with wisdom;

2c) Pro 31:27, She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness;

2b) Pro 31:28-29 Her children + husband praise her: “Many have done well, but you excel them all;”

2a) Pro 31:30-31, Beauty passes/ she who fears the Lord shall be praised + her works shall praise her.

Now I was struck immediately with the fact that all our modern English Bibles call the woman, a woman of virtue, but the Hebrew Bible in English calls her, a woman of valor. The Hebrew word translated “virtue” or “virtuous” is Strong’s H2428, chayil, חַיִל, chet + yud + lamed. This is the same word we saw used over and over again in Samuel and Chronicles to mean the mighty men of valor!

The Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew says that chayil is “to enable, to concentrate power and resources.” We actually saw this with David’s mighty men, because often times they were up against forces larger than they themselves; where they should have been defeated, but because of valor, they instead defeated their enemies. It is why their fame spread abroad.

The ancient pictographs are of the fence + the closed hand that works or fights + the shepherd’s staff. The primitive root means “to bore,” as a tool called a bow drill was used in ancient days to bore a hole. The bow string wrapped around (fenced) the drill shaft (staff) and by twirling the string, the shaft bored the hole.

How is this related to valor? When an army is faced with a wall, as in a walled city, or a man is faced with a giant, who is as a wall, an obstacle to overcome, it is valor that enables him to concentrate power or resources to bore a hole into that wall, and make a breach.

Now, how is the woman who fears the LORD as a woman of valor? Chaos reigns in a house left to itself. The task of bringing order out of chaos, tidiness out of the ever pervasive accumulation of dirt and clutter, nourishing and delicious food to meet hunger which is never satisfied (because the next day you only have to do it again), and wise children out of fools, is a task that looms before a woman like a wall, every bit as daunting as a walled city. It is not beauty that will bore a hole in that wall to conquer it, but a woman who fears the LORD.

I find it so interesting that the central axis for this paragraph is not about her, but about her husband. But isn’t that the point? She is his help meet, and her purpose in life is to serve and bless someone other than herself.