TO OUR WIVES AND MOTHERS

When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. . . . She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. —Proverbs 31:21, 25

Some years ago, there was a popular Christian movement that urged women to be “Proverbs 31 women,” employing the detailed descriptions of “a wife of noble character . . . worth far more than rubies” (Proverbs 31:10) as a job description of the many roles that a wife and mother ought to fulfill. While perhaps a worthy aspiration, it also seemed to burden many already busy women with a sense of guilt about all the things they were not getting done or achieving in their lives. So, rather than reading Proverbs 31 as a God-inspired “To Do List,” we should first read it as a work of literature. In the original language, the poetic form is an acrostic, meaning that each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

In the Jewish tradition, this chapter was not read as a job description or a standard by which women would always be found wanting but as a psalm of praise using lyrical descriptions to recognize so many of the good things that the women in our lives are already doing and how they have worked and provided for their families.

Belying the way in which these verses have been used as a prescription, they are better read as a script for gratitude, encouragement, and empowerment: “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future” (Proverbs 31:25, NLT).

Such confidence would include a refusal to be burdened with unrealistic expectations of her roles in the family or in the wider world, trusting God’s leading and provision even in the daily tasks that each of us is called to do.