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  THE EXCELLENT WOMAN OF PROVERBS 31
  by Anne Pratt
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Pratt's verse-by-verse exposition of Proverbs 31 describing the virtuous woman,
covering 22 qualities including industry, trustworthiness, business sense,
strength, charity, wisdom, and household management as an ideal of biblical
womanhood.

  Chapters: 22

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 01. Pro_31:10 - Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman? For Her Price Is Far Above Rubies.
    2. 02. Pro_31:11 - The Heart Of Her Husband Doth Safely Trust In Her, So That He Shall Have No Need ...
    3. 03. Pro_31:12 - She Will Do Him Good, And Not Evil, All The Days Of Her Life.
    4. 04. Pro_31:13 - She Seeketh Wool And Flax, And Worketh Willingly With Her Hands
    5. 05. Pro_31:14 - She Is Like The Merchants' Ships; She Bringeth Her Food From Afar.
    6. 06. Pro_31:15 - She Riseth Also While It Is Yet Night, And Giveth Meat To Her Household, And A Po...
    7. 07. Pro_31:16 - She Considereth A Field, And Buyeth It: With The Fruit Of Her Hands She Planteth ...
    8. 08. Pro_31:17 - She Girdeth Her Loins With Strength, And Strengtheneth Her Arms.
    9. 09. Pro_31:18 - He Perceiveth That Her Merchandise Is Good: Her Candle Goeth Not Out By Night.
   10. 10. Pro_31:19 - She Layeth Her Hands To The Spindle, And Her Hands Hold The Distaff.
   11. 11. Pro_31:20 - She Stretcheth Out Her Hand To The Poor; Yea, She Reacheth Forth Her Hands To The...
   12. 12. Pro_31:21 - She Is Not Afraid Of The Snow For Her Household; For All Her Household Are Clothe...
   13. 13. Pro_31:22 - She Maketh Herself Coverings Of Tapestry; Her Clothing Is Silk And Purple.
   14. 14. Pro_31:23 - Her Husband Is Known In The Gates When He Sitteth Among The Elders Of The Land.
   15. 15. Pro_31:24 - She Maketh Fine Linen, And Selleth It; And Delivereth Girdles Unto The Merchants.
   16. 16. Pro_31:25 - Strength And Honour Are Her Clothing; And She Shall Rejoice In Time To Come.
   17. 17. Pro_31:26 - She Openeth Her Mouth With Wisdom; And In Her Tongue Is The Law Of Kindness.
   18. 18. Pro_31:27 - She Looketh Well To The Ways Of Her Household, And Eateth Not The Bread Of Idleness.
   19. 19. Pro_31:28 - Her Children Arise Up, And Call Her Blessed: Her Husband Also, And He Praiseth Her.
   20. 20. Pro_31:29 - Many Daughters Have Done Virtuously, But Thou Excellest Them All.
   21. 21. Pro_31:30 - Favour Is Deceitful, And Beauty Is Vain: But A Woman That Feareth The Lord, She S...
   22. 22. Pro_31:31 - Give Her Of The Fruit Of Her Hands; And Let Her Own Works Praise Her In The Gates.

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  CHAPTER 1: 01. PRO_31:10 - WHO CAN FIND A VIRTUOUS WOMAN? FOR HER PRICE IS FAR ABOVE RUBIES.
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WHO CAN FIND A VIRTUOUS WOMAN? FOR HER PRICE IS FAR ABOVE RUBIES.

Proverbs 31:10

The whole of this beautiful description of female excellence consists of
twenty-two verses, distinct from the remaining part of the chapter, and forming,
in themselves, a poem, of which each verse commences with a letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. It is the conclusion of that book which has been called the storehouse
of practical wisdom; and, like the chapters of proverbs which precede it, it is
admirable for its just delineations of human character, its wise practical
directions, and its appropriate commendations and reproof. To the female sex, in
all ages, it presents many striking and valuable lessons. To the Hebrews,
indeed, accustomed to a highly figurative mode of discourse, and a perpetual
reference to proverbs and wise sayings, the various portions of this book seem
singularly appropriate; and perhaps many of those holy women of old, of whom we
read in the New Testament, learned by the study of this poem the duties enjoined
by the God of their fathers, on those who professed to be his servants. Some of
the lessons which it teaches belong especially to older time; to days when
patient unremitting labour, and submission, and modesty, were the virtues most
highly commendable in women: but all Scripture has been written for our
learning, and its instructions belong to all times; and the Christian woman who
has received a larger Bible, and a clearer discovery of Divine light, has, while
striving to imitate the virtues and graces here enjoined by God’s Holy Spirit,
the influence of even a stronger motive than any which Jewish females could
feel, since Christ has said to his followers, “If ye love me, keep my
commandments” (John 14:15). This poem has occupied much of the attention of the
learned. The simple reader of Scripture would infer from it one of two things.
Either that it was the description of some woman whose character was present to
the mind of the writer; or that it was a picture of such a woman as the inspired
writer would propose as a general example. It is by many supposed to have been
written by Bathsheba, and intended as a direction to Solomon, under the name of
Lemuel, in his choice of a wife.

It would seem, on reading the comments on Scripture, both of old and modern
authors, as if learning sometimes served chiefly to perplex and confound simple
things. Dr. Doddridge has observed, that the meaning of Scripture, as it
presents itself to the unlearned but intelligent reader, is generally the sense
in which it is intended; and, though some limitation must be made to this
remark, especially in cases in which a knowledge of oriental character and
customs aids in so important a manner the illustration of Scripture truth, yet
it is, in the main, a just conclusion. Some of the fathers of the church, not
content to see in this description a beautiful exhibition of female character,
searched for a hidden meaning in its simple declarations. One believed that the
virtuous woman shadowed forth the sensitive soul, subject to the understanding
and the reason. Another considered that God’s holy word, the Scripture of truth,
was thus signified. Some thought, with more apparent reason, that it was
emblematic of wisdom; and many, with Ambrose and Bede, have regarded the
virtuous woman as a type of the church of Christ. Leaving, however, these
mystical and spiritual interpretations of the passage, we shall consider it as
an example of moral and religious excellence, presented by God to every woman
whose standard of life and character is found in his written word. The word
translated “virtuous,” in the first verse of this poem, has a reference also to
strength of character, and implies mental and moral energy, or courage. So, too,
in the command of the apostle Paul, “Add to your faith virtue,” the more strict
reading of the word would be, “courage.” “The word,” says bishop Patrick,
“signifies both strength, or rather courage, and riches, and virtue. Thus in the
description of fitting persons for the magistracy (Exodus 28:21), Jethro, in
general, says, they should be anschee chajil, which we translate, able men; and
then follows more particularly wherein their ability should consist. Such as
fear God, men of truth, men hating covetousness. I take therefore the word to
include, a great fear of God, which is so powerful as to endue one with courage
to do well, when piety is contemned, nay, laughed at and abused.”

There is throughout this portrait a firmness and consistency of character, which
renders it truly worthy of admiration, and which, owing to the sensibility with
which women generally are endued, is a virtue demanding great moral and
religious principle. Women, influenced as they necessarily are by their feelings
and affections, and rendered, by their dependence on the stronger sex, more
liable to adopt the sentiments of others, and to have the character moulded by
those to whom they are attached, are peculiarly liable to a want of firmness in
conduct. Yet the highest commendation of God is given to this strength of
character. We find it recommended in the sacred writings, and especially
enjoined on every Christian. “Wherefore add to your faith virtue” (2 Peter 1:5);
“be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” (1Cr
15:58), says St. Paul. Our Christian profession requires indeed to be held with
firmness, in days when those who are called Christian women are often found
conforming so much to the spirit and manners of the world. “Hold fast,” says the
apostle, “the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end”
(Hebrews 3:6); and we are to “hold fast our profession,” seeing that we have “a
great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens” (Hebrews 4:14), and
therefore by him we may approach boldly unto the throne of grace, to ask for
that firmness and consistency which we so much need. And great encouragement,
too, is given to firmness; for when we are desired to “hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering,” we are directed to the cheering consideration of
the unchanging promises of Christ, “For he is faithful that promised” (Hebrews
10:23).

There was among the Hebrews a strong and deep earnestness of character,
contrasting remarkably with the listlessness and supineness of many oriental
people; and the Scripture exhibits numerous instances of moral strength, among
the Jewish women. There was Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, who in those
days when Israel’s God had led them through the dry land, and overwhelmed their
enemies in the deep waters, left the privacy of domestic life, and joined with
all the Hebrew women in publicly praising their Great Deliverer; and in a noble
fervour of inspired feeling, sang that song, which no poet of later ages has
ever equalled in sublimity:

“Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; The horse and his rider
hath he thrown into the sea.” (Exodus 15:21)

There was Deborah, who sat beneath the palm-tree judging Israel (Judges 4:4-9),
and even went up fearlessly to the battles of the Lord. There was the
noble-minded daughter of the rash Jephthah, whose moral courage failed not in
the hour of danger, but who, even in the prospect of personal sacrifices, could
rejoice that her father had conquered the enemies of her people; and with firm
integrity could urge him to keep a promise very injurious to herself. “My
father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that
which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken
vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon” (Judges
11:36). In the less troublous times of Israel, no doubt, Jewish women could be
found who, like the female of the text, were quietly performing the duties of
life, with strength and steadiness of character. But the records of domestic
life are written chiefly in the hearts of the home circle: its events, important
as they are, not only to that circle, but also, in their eventual influence, on
the whole character of a nation, are yet too uniform and simple for the page of
either inspired or profane history; and the detail given of the Excellent Woman
in this book, is the fullest picture which is to be found in the sacred
writings, of the excellency and employments of a holy woman in her home. Happy
is that woman who well performs the duties of home, to whom home is the sphere
which concentrates her ambition, and has the largest share of her love; and who
governs her household actively and diligently, and in the fear of the Lord! But
although no other part of Scripture gives so connected a detail of a pious
woman’s works and duties, yet all the various directions to the female sex, with
which the writings of the apostles abound, accord with its principles. “Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord” (Colossians
3:18); even so must the wives “be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all
things.”

Again—She is to be well reported of for good works; if she have brought up
children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if
she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good
work. “In behaviour,” good wives were to be “as becometh holiness: not false
accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;—to be sober, to love
their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home”
(Titus 2:3-5).

It was from such holy mothers that the saints of the New Testament were
descended. Of such a mother, and such a grandmother, young Timothy learned the
Holy Scriptures. In homes like this were reared Martha and Mary; those sisters
of Bethany, that family whom Jesus loved, and one of whom he gently reproved,
because her energy of character led her to a restless anxiety of serving at a
moment when she should have sat and listened to the words of her Lord. In
households like these dwelt the mother of our Saviour, and Elizabeth the blessed
of the Lord—names ever dear to us all. From such sprung Priscilla, who received
the young Apollos into her home, and expounded unto him the way of God more
perfectly; and who, with her husband, is said, by the apostle, to have been
ready, for his life, to have laid down their own necks. Of such were Phebe, the
servant of the church at Cenchrea; and Mary, who bestowed much labour on the
ministers of Christ; and many others, who, when faithful stedfastness and pious
strength of resolution led to death, yet shrunk not even from suffering, but
joined the noble army of martyrs, and are among those who “came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb.”

Even in that deeply solemn hour, when the blessed Saviour yielded his life on
the cross, to atone for sinful man; at an hour when the fear of death had power
to triumph over the faith of many; when his disciples forsook him and fled, yet
holy women shrunk not from following him to the cross. When foes the hand of
menace shook, And friends betrayed, denied, forsook, Then woman, meekly constant
still, Followed to Calvary’s fatal hill: Yes, followed where the boldest failed,
Unmoved by threat or sneer: For faithful woman’s love prevailed O’er helpless
woman’s fear. To a woman, the pious virgin Mary, the mother of the Saviour, his
dying eyes were directed, and his dying bequest made, that the beloved disciple
would take her to his own home. Oh that woman’s stedfastness of character may
shrink not, either in the day of persecution, or in the daily acts of household
duty, since strength and wisdom are given now by Him who gave it to holy women
of old; that now, as then, they may follow the Lord fully! The example here
given should lead every female to seek from the Holy Spirit, the grace to abound
in holy courage and devotedness to the Lord.


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  CHAPTER 2: 02. PRO_31:11 - THE HEART OF HER HUSBAND DOTH SAFELY TRUST IN HER, SO THAT HE SHALL HAVE NO NEED ...
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THE HEART OF HER HUSBAND DOTH SAFELY TRUST IN HER, SO THAT HE SHALL HAVE NO NEED
OF SPOIL.

Proverbs 31:11

The perfect confidence described in this verse, implies not only a conviction of
simplicity and guilelessness of character in the wife, but it also assures us of
her discretion. No man could safely trust in one whose conduct was not unspotted
in all her intercourse with society. The heart of her husband had no care, lest
by any unguarded act, any imprudence on her part, she should bring a reproach
upon his name, or a sorrow into his bosom. Such a woman must have shunned even
the appearance of evil. She must have acted on the principle of the Hebrew
proverb, “A good name is better than precious ointment, and loving favour to be
chosen rather than choice gold;” and, by the uniform consistency of a virtuous
life, have gained the entire confidence of him who best knew her character. But
while the text implies this, yet it mainly refers to the assurance entertained
by her husband, of her care and skill in the management of her household.
Archbishop Cranmer renders this passage, “So that he shall fall into no
poverty,” and Boothroyd translates it,“And of his property he will not be
deprived.” The Septuagint Version understands the word spoil, as referring to
the woman, and not to her husband, “Such an one as she shall not want good
spoils.” But, in any case, it signifies that provident care and management, that
looking after the concerns of her family, for which we find her so often
commended throughout the poem. The need of spoil must be explained by a
reference to the usage of the Hebrews, at this period of society. The Israelites
had often obtained spoils in their encounters with neighbouring nations. The
reign of David had been occupied by continual warfare. The pastoral community at
this time were not a tribe of idle shepherds, but those who had been men of war
from their youth; and their frequent expeditions were regarded as acts of
retaliation, for similar offences, from the herdsmen of neighbouring tribes.
Saul and David had been great warriors; and, under the latter king, the
Israelites had been so trained to military discipline, that they appear to have
been always victorious in the field, and are frequently represented as sharing
that spoil which in the more peaceful days of Solomon was less generally
enjoyed. The first public act of Saul had been a battle against Nahash the
Ammonite; and in the description of the spoil taken, when Saul and Jonathan, and
all the Hebrews, encountered the Philistines, we see the nature of the wealth
gained by the Israelites. In the narrative given in 1 Samuel 15, we find that
the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep and oxen and calves. And when, in
the following chapter, we read that Saul fought against the Amalekites, and
sinned against Jehovah, by appropriating, as spoil, those things which he had
commanded him to destroy, we find enumerated the sheep, and oxen, and lambs,
which formed the wealth of a pastoral people. But if Saul, as had been sung by
the Hebrew maidens, had slain his thousands, David had slain his tens of
thousands, and the records of his life display how much wealth had been gained
by the Israelites from their enemies. At the time when David, driven from his
home by the jealousy of Saul, wandered with his men to the wilderness of Paran,
they probably supported themselves by spoil gathered from the tribes who came
down upon the shepherds of the land. The narrative of Nabal’s churlishness
refers to David’s protection of the herdsmen from incursions of this nature; for
when their unthankful master refused his help to the wanderer, the young men
told Abigail, and said of David’s host, “They were a wall unto us both by night
and day, all the while we were with them keeping sheep” (1 Samuel 25:16). And
now when peace was in Israel generally, yet in adjacent countries the same
practices were continued, and the man who sought to be rich, often shared the
spoil taken from others. But in the case of this Jewish family there was no need
of such spoil. Industry supplied the household wants, and care kept that from
waste which industry had gathered, and the husband had no occasion to go out to
the warfare. Under the shadow of his own vine and his own fig-tree, he could
enjoy the blessings of a peaceful life; and in his earthly home could find that
love and quietness, which might prove the best foretaste that earth can give of
the heavenly home to which he was tending.


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  CHAPTER 3: 03. PRO_31:12 - SHE WILL DO HIM GOOD, AND NOT EVIL, ALL THE DAYS OF HER LIFE.
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SHE WILL DO HIMGOOD, AND NOT EVIL, ALL THE DAYS OF HER LIFE.

Proverbs 31:12

It is much in the power of all who dwell in the same household to benefit each
other. Hourly opportunities occur of showing kindness, of lending aid, of
practising forbearance, and of constantly doing mutual good. But this is most
especially the case with husbands and wives. If we except the strongest of all
earthly influences—that of the mother on her child, there is none which can
equal that of the conjugal relation. Time and eternity are connected with it.
Happiness or misery is dependent on the way in which it is exercised; so
important is it, that the wise and inspired man said, “A good wife is from the
Lord” (Proverbs 18:22).

“See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22), said
the apostle Peter, when enjoining on the early converts the duties of the
Christian life; and if this is commanded to all, how much more is it to be
cultivated by those who are attached by the strongest domestic tie! And as no
marriage should be contracted without mutual love, so the principle of love
should guide a woman in all her married life, and lead her always to do good to
her husband. A wife can do much good to her husband, by promoting his domestic
comfort. This is, indeed, placed almost wholly in her hands; it rests with her
to see that the fireside is the place of attraction, that home is the brightest
spot on earth. And love will teach ingenuity to the faithful wife, and show to
her a thousand ways by which she may endear the home circle. If she wish to
enjoy her husband’s society, she must be a keeper at home; and so arrange her
family, as that he, when he returns from the care, and noise, and contention of
the world, shall find a retreat, in which sweet converse shall beguile him of
his cares, and peace, and love, and order, and gentle welcome, and soothing
sympathy, shall form a striking contrast to the scenes he has just quitted.

Another way in which we may feel certain that the matron of the text did good to
her husband, was by sharing his cares. On many, in modern times, the charge is
not incumbent, of labouring with the hands to provide food and raiment for the
family, as did this eminent example of female virtue. The different constitution
of modern society has placed upon men the duty of maintaining a family, and left
to woman the sweeter privilege of ordering the charities of home. Yet, even now,
a wife may do much to lessen the cares of a husband. She may not fully
understand the nature of his employments, she cannot exactly enter into the
details of his business: but she can give the attentive ear; she can endeavour
to comprehend his difficulties; she can forbear the mention of any irritating
domestic circumstances; she can soften down annoyances. Sometimes she can cheer
him by reminding him of some consoling promise of God’s word. She can show him
the command of holy writ, to cast his care upon God. She can tell him that “they
that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing” (Psalms 34:10), and perhaps
lead him to say with David, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee”
(Psalms 56:3). And when all these fail, and her anxious eye sees the cloud still
darken over his brow, then she can pray, with a firm, unwavering faith, that God
would indeed “lift up the light of his countenance upon him, and give him peace”
(Numbers 6:26). Nor is it less her duty to share in his joys. If her husband
have succeeded in some pursuit, with what heartiness should the wife enter into
his pleasure. Never should the wandering eye betray that she listens with
indifference to the details which interest him. She should value his pursuits,
if for no other reason than because they are his; and by an ever ready sympathy
should “do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:12).
Never should the depressing fear, or the ardent hope, be thrown coldly back
again on him who utters it. One such repulsion will do more to alienate the love
of a sensitive mind, than many little acts of neglect or annoyance. A wife will
also do her husband good by encouraging him to holiness and virtue, and warning
him against sin. In the intimacy of domestic life, the first tendency to evil is
sometimes evident to the wife, and it is her duty to rebuke with all gentleness,
and to plead with all earnestness, against conduct which may be displeasing to
God and man. Abigail’s reproof and counsel of David, is a beautiful instance of
womanly tact and delicacy thus employed. When Nabal, in return for David’s
kindness and protection, had contemptuously refused refreshments to the warrior
shepherd, how does Abigail propitiate David’s wrath, and dissuade him from
revenge! “And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord
according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have
appointed thee ruler over Israel; that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor
offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or
that my lord hath avenged himself” (1 Samuel 25:30-31). And in like manner, how
often may the wife expostulate with her husband, and thus keep him from evil
that it may not grieve him; and in after days, he may look back with gratitude
and affection for the warning voice which checked his onward course, and bade
him pause and consider. The wife of the text did her husband no evil. She
neither wasted his wealth, nor neglected his comfort, nor was careless of his
reputation, nor provoked him to anger. She loved him with a steady love all the
days of her life; in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health. Years passed
on and saw it fixed, while all around was changing. It was not like the vapoury
cloud upon the blue sky, driven about by every wind of heaven, and skimming
lightly over the surface; but as the rock in the midst of the waters, against
which the waves might dash and bring no change, and on which all the
alternations of sun and wind fell harmlessly, and which stood unshaken by all
things. Seldom is love like this—love which can bear the test of time, and the
shock of adversity—love which can flourish even amid infirmities: seldom is it
found but in the home of the loved and loving.

They who love us till we die, Who in sorrow have been tried, Who will watch our
closing eye When all grows cold beside: Where shall friends like these he found,
Search the earth and ocean wide; On what hallowed spot of ground Save our own
fireside?


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  CHAPTER 4: 04. PRO_31:13 - SHE SEEKETH WOOL AND FLAX, AND WORKETH WILLINGLY WITH HER HANDS
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SHE SEEKETH WOOL AND FLAX, AND WORKETH WILLINGLY WITH HER HANDS

Proverbs 31:13

The whole description, given by the inspired writer, of the employments of the
Jewish matron, belongs either to primitive ages, or to those pastoral regions of
modern times, in which commerce with other nations has made little progress, and
foreign manufactures are almost unknown. Recently the Hebrew people had been
engaged continually in battle, and now the men of Israel were chiefly occupied
with agriculture and pastoral employments. Trade with other lands was confined
to occasional barter, and the various stuffs needful for the clothing of the
household, though sometimes wrought by the professed weaver, were chiefly
fabricated by the hands of the mistresses or maidens of the Jewish homes.
Solomon, indeed, had fetched spices from Arabia, and fine linen from Egypt; and
in his love for natural history, had assembled in his capital the birds and
animals of distant countries; yet his traffic seems to have been almost confined
to his own requirements, and not to have extended itself to his subjects. In
such a state of society, the domestic industry of the female part of the
population becomes so necessary, that it is always encouraged and valued. The
ancient Romans, under circumstances somewhat similar, expected from their wives
a great degree of attention to household employments, and this was enjoined by
their marriage rites. So also among the Greeks, in the early ages of the world,
the mistress worked with her servants, and the high-born lady as well as the
daughter of the peasant performed those humble and more active duties, generally
left, in our time and country, to the poor. Homer intimates that the daughters
of princes washed in the fountain the clothing of the family; while from
Scripture we learn, that Rebecca, the heiress of a pastoral prince, gave drink
to the servant of Abraham, and afterwards drew water for himself and his cattle.
Rachel, too, the beautiful daughter of one who possessed sheep and herds in
abundance, yet kept her father’s flocks on the plains of Syria, exposed to the
scorching heat of day, if not to the heavy dews of night. Even now in the
pastoral regions of Asia, it is the glory of a woman that her own hand has
wrought the clothing of her husband, son, or brother, and has decked the walls
of their dwellings; and a helpless, useless woman, would be despised by the
other females of her tribe. So it was of old, That woman’s hand, amid the
elements Of patient industry and household good, Reproachless wrought, twining
the slender thread From the light distaff; or in skilful loom Weaving rich
tissues, or with glowing tints Of rich embroidery, pleased to decorate The
mantle of her lord. And it was well; For in such sheltered and congenial sphere
Content with duty dwell. And this diligent industry, so applicable to the wants
of the people, had its praise of God, while the luxurious and delicate habits of
the daughters of Zion, in later ages, are marked with his displeasure. It is
with stern reprobation that the prophet Isaiah speaks of the rings, and chains,
and mufflers, and fine linen, of the Jewish ladies, whose haughty demeanour
called for the solemn threatenings of God; and all whose ornaments were to be
forgotten soon, when Zion, the faithless Zion, should be full of mourning and
lamentation, and “being desolate should sit upon the ground” (Isaiah 3:16-26).

Owing to the almost unchanging customs of Eastern nations, the people of modern
Palestine are probably clothed nearly in the same manner as the ancient Hebrews,
and a variety of woollen and linen garments are still worn in that land. When
Hannah made the young Samuel a little coat, and brought it to him, year by year,
as she came up with her husband to the yearly sacrifice, she performed the part
of a mother in Israel; and in all likelihood carried to her beloved child a
garment of pure white linen, or wool, for such were much worn by the ancient
Jews, to whom frequent purifications and washings were commanded by Israel’s
God. It might have been, however, a coat, like that of Joseph, of many colours,
for brilliant dyes and skilful embroidery were often used by the Israelites to
ornament their dresses. One prohibition on the subject of woollen clothing had
been given to the Jews. God had forbidden them to wear a garment made of woollen
and linen, for in such a dress the heathen priests worshipped their false gods,
in the superstitious hope of a blessing on their flax and their sheep; and the
one true God, the Great Jehovah, would that his chosen race should come out from
idolaters, and be a separate people. The excellent woman whom we are
considering, was evidently a person of wealth and distinction—she was the wife
of one who sat among the elders of the land, and we may reasonably suppose that
she gathered the flax from her own fields, as well as that the wool was the
produce of her own flocks. Flax was one of the plants earliest cultivated by
mankind in masses. Its bright green stalks withered before the plague of hail,
which came upon Egypt, when the flax and barley were smitten; and its bright
blue flower seems to have been very abundant in That fertile land, where mighty
Moses stretched His rod miraculous. A little later in the history of the world,
we find a woman preparing it for use, for Rahab had laid the stalks of flax on
the roof of her house, that the scorching sun and the damp Syrian dews might
macerate its fibres, when the spies entreated her compassion, and were hidden by
her among the half-dried plants. “By comparing the several passages in
Scripture,” says Kitto, “in which flax is mentioned, we shall find the amount to
be, that flax was cultivated to a considerable extent in Palestine; that
garments of it were worn not only by the priests and Levites, but very largely
by the people. The coarse linen cloths were manufactured at home by the women,
but the finer were imported from Egypt; the ancient celebrity of which country,
for its linen fabrics, is abundantly confirmed in Scripture. We cannot find that
flax is now much cultivated in Palestine, although considerable attention is
paid to the culture of cotton. It may be that the soil and climate are less
suited than that of Egypt to its production.”

There is a cheerfulness and heartiness in the character which the inspired
writer gives of the Jewish woman. She “worketh willingly,” or as some translate
it, “with the delight of her hands;” and it is this willingness which lends a
grace to every household employment, and infuses a spirit of alacrity into the
daily duties of life. Cheerful willingness is no small virtue in a woman; for
the duties performed with a smiling countenance and a ready hand, are far
differently done from those which seem wrung out of necessity, and are
accompanied by a mournful voice, and a languid footstep. A willing mind is
enjoined, by God’s word, on every performance of duty. With the Most High, the
motive of the heart is regarded, rather than the outward act. So we learn that
in working for God, “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according
to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Chronicles 8:12):
while to both mistress and servant comes the exhortation respecting the humble
duties of every-day life, “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and
not unto men” (Colossians 3:23).

If we consider the benefits which we hourly receive from the Great Giver of all
good gifts, we shall see that a willing cheerfulness is indeed but the proper
response which should be given by his human family. There may, it is true, be a
cheerfulness which is in no way connected with thankfulness, but never yet was
there a thankful spirit which did not lead to acts of cheerful service. And
notwithstanding the various sorrows which sin has brought into the world, yet
how much remains to gladden the heart of one who is disposed to observe God’s
goodness. How do all our senses minister to enjoyment! The sense of touch, and
the sense of taste, are continually gratified, and delicious odours greet us
from a thousand flowers. And the eye of man, how is it an inlet to wisdom, and
what beautiful forms, and what gorgeous colourings please our sight, and thus
charm our imagination, till we are, lost in wonder at the sublime, or melt in
tenderness at lowly beauty! And the ear, too, made as it is to receive the
impression of all sweet sounds and concords, how do the tunes of birds, and the
roar of waters, and the sweet tinklings of the distant bell, and the low
murmuring of the pleasant brooks, and the soothing influence of kindly voices,
bring through it a song of joy to the spirit, or, sweeter still, a song of
softened and pensive tunefulness. And when outward nature speaks to us through
the senses, then and then only is it rightly received, while it tells of God and
his goodness; and when the grateful heart prompts words of thankfulness to the
ready tongue, and the willing hand performs the active service, in the spirit of
him who said, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his mercies?” (Psalms
116:12). And if all might render willing service to God in acknowledgment of
mercies, how much more shall the child of God be ready to perform every duty
with an enlightened thankfulness! To him is given the precious Bible; on him are
bestowed its promises, cheering him under every sorrow, and telling him that God
is with him in the darkest hour, yea, even in the valley of the shadow of death.
To him is access given to the throne of grace, so that his prayers rise up to
God, through the intercession of the great Mediator. For him the Saviour lived a
life of sorrow and humiliation, and died a dishonoured death, that his sins
might be pardoned, and his soul saved from the wrath which God denounces against
the transgressors of his holy law. To him are often given holy aspirations after
God’s presence, and a sure sense of his love; so that he seems able to join even
in the songs of heaven, and his spirit seems carried away for a while from his
earthly house, up to that glorious home of rest which is eternal, and where God
and the blessed angels shall at last receive him.

Every one must have remarked how pleasant is that household in which a cheerful
spirit of energy is cultivated by the mistress and mother. It is a pleasant
thing to dwell with one who is not troubled by trifling annoyances, who is
skilled in looking at the bright side of things, and hoping for the best; with
one who believes that all the ways of the Lord are right, and who attaches a
deep importance to duty. Such a one will work willingly, in the belief that God
has appointed both her lot and her duties, and it is surprising how many
obstacles are met and overcome by such a spirit. The wise and active conquer
difficulties By daring to attempt them. Sloth and folly Shiver and shrink at
sight of toil and trouble, And make the impossibilities they fear. The
employments of daily life, of women especially, need often the remembrance that
they are done in the sight of Him, in whose eye the lowliest act is of
importance. There are many persons who do not perform them well, because they do
not look upon them as part of their religious duties. Such persons could perhaps
make great sacrifices for conscience sake; they could act nobly and wisely if
any great service were demanded; but they do not consider that the whole
progress of human life consists of a succession of small acts. It is often with
lesser duties as with lesser trials, that strength to do or to bear is not
sought of God. Some great trial befalls us, some important sacrifice is
required, and feeling our helplessness, we fall back upon God, and support is
given; but every-day events are, by their very monotony, unimpressive; we think
lightly of them, and the help of God is not sought, and they are not duly
considered, and so are performed in a careless, perhaps in an unwilling spirit.
But He who is the Judge of all the earth, looks down with approval on the mother
whose life is one daily course of self-sacrifice, on the daughter whose gentle
smiles and willing work render home happy, rather than on her who is roused from
a course of usual listlessness to some one act of great exertion, or to some one
costly deed of self-denial. The flash of lightning produces a great effect; and
the clearer air, and the cloudless sky, show that it has well performed God’s
mission; yet who would not rather that her light should shine like that of the
evening star, whose tranquil rays nightly guide the traveller home, and cheer
the mariner on the deep, and smile sweetly on the shepherd who watches by his
fold, till they “fade away into the light of heaven.”


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  CHAPTER 5: 05. PRO_31:14 - SHE IS LIKE THE MERCHANTS' SHIPS; SHE BRINGETH HER FOOD FROM AFAR.
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SHE IS LIKE THE MERCHANTS’ SHIPS; SHE BRINGETH HER FOOD FROM AFAR.

Proverbs 31:14

The merchants’ ships, in king Solomon’s days, might, indeed, be said to bring
their cargoes from afar. If we look at the record of the sea voyages made at
this time, when the Hebrew king was assisted by Hiram, who furnished him with
“shipmen who had knowledge of the sea,” we shall find that they occupied a very
considerable period. “For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy
of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and
silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks” (1 Kings 10:22). The Phoenicians, who
resided on the north-west of Palestine, are known to have had a commercial
settlement, called Tartessus, on the Atlantic coast of Spain, near to the modern
Cadiz; and whatever may be the various opinions respecting the situation of
ancient Ophir, there is little doubt that this port was the Tharshish of the
Scriptures. In the imperfect state of navigation, the voyages, performed as they
were in small and ill-constructed vessels, would seem to the Israelites “afar”
indeed, and attended with very considerable peril. But as food rather than other
merchandise seems alluded to in the text, it is probable that the ships which
brought corn from Egypt are here referred to. Although the ancient Hebrews were
decidedly an agricultural community, and the rich valley of Palestine abounded
in corn and wine, yet in seasons of dearth, as well as on other occasions, the
Jewish people appear to have traded with Egypt for corn. On the fertile lands of
that well-watered country, corn grew so abundantly, that Egypt was the general
granary of the East; and the touching narrative of Joseph and his brethren at
once occurs to the mind, as an instance in which men went down into Egypt to buy
corn. The Israelites were by no means a maritime people; yet bordered as the
Holy Land was by the Great Sea, now called the Mediterranean, which was the very
highway of commerce, and familiar as they were with the Nile, on whose shores
their fathers had served a hard service to the line of Pharaohs, they doubtless
had many ships of burden, which were, at least, as well-constructed as those in
the western parts of the world at the same period of time. It must be remembered
that their vessels were almost exclusively ships of merchandise. As yet, no
battle-ship had carried proud defiance to the peaceful shores; no cannon
thundered its awful challenges on the deep: but the ship, in its occasional
course over the waters, brought from afar the luxuries or the food of other
lands, and bore in its welcome progress nothing to fill the heart with sorrow,
or to leave a trace of that anguish and desolation which war brings so often now
over the distant sea.

Very early mention is made in Scripture of ships. “Zebulun shall dwell at the
haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships” (Genesis 49:13), was
the prophecy of the dying patriarch, as his eye, though dimmed to the sights of
this world by the film of death, glanced forth and kindled at the view of
futurity: and yet no regular trade by sea seems to have been established in
Solomon’s day, since he was obliged to seek aid from Hiram. Many beautiful spots
on the shores of the sea are familiar to Scripture readers, and the vessels
which floated on the Lake of Gennesareth were often honoured by the presence of
Him, who disdained not the poor and the lowly, but gathered his apostles from
among fishermen, and standing on the prow of a Jewish vessel, delivered to the
people on the shore those beautiful parables, and those teachings of heavenly
love and wisdom, which brought many to his feet as his disciples, and are now
the treasure of millions of hearts, to whom the truths taught by the Saviour are
dearer than gold or silver, more precious than life itself. The Jewish matron,
whose various kinds of manufacture are so specifically named, would have much to
offer in exchange either for corn or other commodities, which the merchants’
ships convey. Garments, made of fine wool or of hair stuffs; gorgeous tapestry
wrought by her own hands; fine linen girdles—all were suitable objects of
barter; and the rich clusters of grapes which her vineyard could furnish, and
the well-dried flax from her fields, constituted a store, from which something
might be well spared. It seems probable, however, that the articles chiefly sent
by her, either to distant tribes, or perhaps occasionally to lands beyond the
seas, were those costly and magnificent dresses, which form the wealth of the
eastern female, and which are highly scented with perfumes, and laid up for many
years, to be brought out only on important occasions. The use of dresses also as
presents, in the East, would render the barter of them a very likely and
considerable source of profit, and this would enable this Jewish lady, whose
intelligent and well-devoted industry is so often commended, to procure for her
family some of those enjoyments from afar, which the home produce would not
supply.


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  CHAPTER 6: 06. PRO_31:15 - SHE RISETH ALSO WHILE IT IS YET NIGHT, AND GIVETH MEAT TO HER HOUSEHOLD, AND A PO...
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SHE RISETH ALSO WHILE IT IS YET NIGHT, AND GIVETH MEAT TO HER HOUSEHOLD, AND A
PORTION TO HER MAIDENS.

Proverbs 31:15

It is said in a proverb in the preceding part of this book, that “every wise
woman buildeth her house, while the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”
The stability and comfort of the household are, indeed, so dependent on the
domestic arrangements of her who presides; punctuality and order in the wife are
so necessary for the preservation of the property which may have been acquired,
that the truth of the old Irish saying, “A man must ask his wife’s leave to be
rich,” is very apparent. Early risers will not often be found among those whose
habits are irregular and disorderly. The practice of beginning the work with the
commencement of the day, is almost always found in conjunction with punctual and
diligent habits, and with such love of order and management as is described in
the text. The learned Aben Ezra poetically interprets the expression of the
former part of the verse, “She riseth before the ascent of day.” Early rising in
the East is different from that of our native land. To be up with the lark, or
when the robin is first uttering his morning song; to brush away the pearls from
the grass, while the sun is just driving afar the grey mists of the morning—this
is, with us, to rise early. But the diligent man of eastern lands is up long
before sunrise, long before Morn, her rosy steps Advancing, sows the earth with
orient pearls;” and has begun his labour at an hour when the European is
sleeping still, with the sound sleep of midnight. And when the dawn breaks over
the vineyards of Palestine, and the sun sheds his red lustre on her ruddy hills,
the vine-dresser has tended his vine, and the shepherd has led forth his flock
from the fold. In the city, too, the merchant is busy in the shop; and the
courtier and the king are occupied in the business of the court; and the women
are spinning the web of industry. Among the Hebrews, it was also customary for
the diligent women to be up earlier than the men; for adding to the usual
domestic employments of females in general, the duty of manufacturing various
fabrics of use or merchandise, the day was never too long for their busy skill,
and they knew nothing of that weariness which belongs to the idle, and which
deprives them of that freshness and energy of character which make existence a
blessing.

We find continual reference in Scripture to the habit of beginning the business
of the day at a very early hour in the morning. Thus when Moses was sent to
Pharaoh, by the Lord God of the Hebrews, and the haughty king was commanded to
let the people of Israel go out from their cruel bondage, the Jewish lawgiver
was commanded to rise up early in the morning, and to stand before Pharaoh as
“he cometh forth to the water” (Exodus 8:20). And when the vain and deceitful
Absalom sought to win away the hearts of Israel from their allegiance to his
father, “he rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate” (2 Samuel 15:2)
of the city; for he well knew, that passing through its arches, he should meet
those who were going out of the town to the daily labour of the fields, or find
there assembled the concourse of merchants. And in that day of Israel’s
affliction and reproach, when the walls of Jerusalem had been broken down, and
the gates thereof burned with fire; and Nehemiah and the Jews laboured amidst
danger and anxiety to build again the walls of their beloved city, we find them
early at their work, cheered by the promises and prayers of the diligent
prophet; and while some laboured, half of them “held the spears from the rising
of the morning till the stars appeared” (Nehemiah 4:21). And well would it be
for us if we could return to the early rising and retiring, once general even in
our own land, when our forefathers saw the sun set on their native hills, and
slept on their less luxurious couches, at an hour far earlier than the business
of the day now closes on busy multitudes. The description given by the Hebrew
writer is so graphic, that our imaginations can easily picture the Jewish
matron, as surrounded by her family at early day, and apportioning to each of
her household, not only daily food, but also daily work. One is going to the
field, another to relieve the herdsman who has watched through the starry night
on the hill side, or on the plain. Her daughters and her maidens will ply the
distaff, or with the needle weave delicate embroideries; and the materials for
the work of each must be selected, and, by a judicious division of labour, all
be made easy. And in this diligent and well-ordered family, not only must the
domestic animals be cared for, but the young infant must be tended, and the
older child taught to walk in wisdom’s ways, and to know the law of the God of
Israel. The word here translated “portion,” seems certainly to include work as
well as food. The Targum renders it by service, and interprets the passage as
meaning employment, rather than a portion of daily meat. The same word is used
in Exodus 5:14, when the taskmasters of the children of Israel demanded,
“Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and
today as heretofore?” The Septuagint, as well as the Syriac and Arabic versions,
render the word “works.” The ancient custom of dividing the food into separate
portions, is alluded to not only in several parts of the Sacred Scripture, but
is frequently mentioned by profane writers. Thus when the ambassadors of
Agamemnon were received at the table of Achilles, the warrior distributed to
every man his portion. Among the Romans an officer presided over this
distribution at the ancient meal, and seems to have borne a similar office to
him who is mentioned in the narrative of the marriage of Cana, as the governor
of the feast. And when Joseph entertained his brethren who had come up to Egypt,
we mark how, with the peculiar love which the man of the East feels for the
brother who claims the same mother as himself, he apportioned to his beloved
Benjamin a mess five times as large as that of any of his other brethren. Not
but that each had a portion large enough for his refreshment, but that a
stronger warmth of hospitality might mark his deeper love to him, whom his dying
mother had called “the son of my sorrow.” The right economy of time is a highly
important duty. To those who are called to exercise the duties of active life,
this is very evident. The mistress, the mother, and the domestic servant, these
will all feel the value of time; yet no gift is more often wasted, by those to
whom God has allotted a large portion of leisure. The waste of time is a sin
especially chargeable on a large number of the female sex in the present day.
Hours are wasted in frivolous accomplishments; in the performance of some of the
lighter works of art; in dissipated visiting; in reading novels and idle books;
and in absolute lounging and indolence: so that if we could trace the history of
the life of many an Englishwoman, we should find her employments of little more
worth to herself and others, than those of the butterfly which skims from flower
to flower, the gay creature of the summer’s day. And yet to every reasonable
being existence brings an amount of responsibility, which we shall comprehend
only in eternity. Time is given us for duty, for the preparation for a future
state, for the good of others; and every fragment of it should be gathered up,
that nothing of so precious a gift may be lost. It should become a subject of
deep and frequent thought to every woman, and especially to every Christian
woman, whether her time is rightly spent. Owing to the great improvements in
manufactures, and the high civilization of modern society, women in the middle
and higher classes of life are rarely required to apply unremittingly to any
pursuit which can be called toil or labour. Many have no pursuit at all. And is
there nothing to do, that God should look down on the couch of the luxurious,
when the morning sun has long shed his light on its drapery, and should see the
sleeper still seeking repose? Is there nothing that the daughter or sister can
do to lighten the cares or anxieties of parents or brothers? Is there no active
duty, which, if cheerfully done, would make home happier? If we are not
required, like the excellent women of old, to rise while it is yet night, and to
apportion to those of our household food or work, yet there is still enough to
do. There are our hearts to examine as in the sight of God. There are prayer and
meditation, and reading of the Scripture, all best done in the quiet of early
day, ere the noise and tumult of the tempting world have distracted the
thoughts. David could say, when referring to his moments of prayer, “My soul
prevented the dawning of the morning,” and could deem it a “good thing” to “show
forth the loving-kindness of the Lord in the morning” (Psalms 92:2) and as his
soul thirsted for God, he exclaimed, “Early will I seek thee.” In the solemn
moment of approaching suffering, our Saviour himself rose a great while before
day, that he might commune with his Father (Mark 1:35). But besides the study of
God’s word, there is also the duty of mental improvement. For this end, we
should seek to redeem the time, and see that the early hours are not wasted. An
hour gained daily from sleep, how much might be done with this, in the study of
any valuable species of knowledge! How much might we learn of any one portion of
nature, by an hour of daily reading and observation! And does not nature tell of
God? It is not the stars alone, and the sun and moon, which speak of God’s
greatness and power, and so from day unto day utter speech, and from night unto
night teach knowledge. All his works praise him. The sea, with its ebb and flow,
and changing tides, and all its curious store of weeds and corals, and its
silver-spangled fishes, has a wondrous lesson to teach the docile spirit, of
God’s power and love. The softly flowing stream, gladdening the verdant herbage,
and serving as a home of happiness to the living creatures which inhabit it, and
as a scene of sport to the brilliant-winged insects of all the bright hues of
earth and heaven, which hover above it: the flowery meadow, and the dark-robed
forest; the bird with its plumage dipped in hues of Paradise, and its song
suggesting thoughts of poetry,—all, all have been studied by human minds, which
have lived in ages before we were born, and their wonders and their histories
have been traced by human pens, and we may read their records in books, and
learn their teachings beneath the morning sunshine. And health, too, that
valuable blessing, how greatly is it promoted by early hours! Many diseases, and
especially those called nervous disorders, were almost unknown in Britain a few
ages since, when luxury had not yet made it a common practice to be found in bed
in full day. Many serious illnesses would take their flight before the
long-continued and diligent practice of an early morning walk; and the cheek now
pale from indolent habits, and the eye now dim from want of the exercise
required by the frame, might glow and sparkle with the bloom and vigour of life,
if, like the country labourer, or the diligent rustic maiden, and the excellent
woman of the text, we should rise with the ascent of day. And if we redeemed an
hour in the morning, it might leave sus one in the after day to visit the poor
and afflicted, to instruct the ignorant, to help those who need our aid. If
household duties demanded exertion, then the gained hour might enable us to pass
through them more leisurely and more pleasantly, and we might be saved the
irritation of hurried business; or if we gave that hour to God, who shall say
what blessings our prayers might bring down on ourselves, and on those dear to
us, on the church of God, and on the world at large!


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  CHAPTER 7: 07. PRO_31:16 - SHE CONSIDERETH A FIELD, AND BUYETH IT: WITH THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS SHE PLANTETH ...
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SHE CONSIDERETH A FIELD, AND BUYETH IT: WITH THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS SHE PLANTETH
A VINEYARD.

Proverbs 31:16

In observing the various employments of the Hebrew woman, we cannot fail to
remark the great and entire confidence which must have been placed in her by her
husband. That he should leave to her care the management of her house and
servants, and in great measure the training of her children, seems, at all
times, natural, and in the state of society we are considering, peculiarly so;
but we should scarcely expect to find a Jewish female left so entirely to her
own judgment in matters of business. It was probably, however, not unusual at
this time. Abigail, the wife of Nabal, seems to have had an entire command over
the family property, when she hesitated not to take two hundred loaves, and two
bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and fruits and other valuable
articles of food, and give them to David (1 Samuel 25:18). That the woman of the
text was worthy of this entire confidence is very evident, for hers was the
systematic industry of a well-ordered mind, and not the occasional result of
mere impulse. She deliberated on the best plan to be pursued. She saw that her
children were rising up, her household numerous, her husband a man of wealth and
distinction; and the requirements of such a family demanded a careful
consideration.

Perhaps, in looking around her in order to make a provision for an increasing
household, the eye of the Hebrew woman often rested on some field of waving corn
which lay near her own estate; and she saw, in its golden ears, the prospect of
an abundant store for the food of her family; and then, with the fruits of her
own hands, the works which her own fingers had wrought, she purchased the land.
The luxuriant vegetation of the vineyard, watered by the fruitful rill, or lying
on the hill side, where the morning sun shed most of his light and warmth, would
attract her notice, and the wild roses, and the bright pomegranates, shedding
the deep red lustre of their flowers in the hedges which surrounded it, and
wafting to her some of the sweetest of eastern odours, would convince her that
the soil which yielded them would repay careful culture. The rich drapery of the
vine, though now less cultivated in the Holy Land, once formed one of its most
striking and picturesque objects. Far away over the hills of the then fruitful,
though now neglected, Palestine, might be heard the joyous song of the
vine-dressers, speaking of peace and plenty, and attesting the happy feeling and
the joyous emotion of the natives of a pure and lovely climate, whose animal
spirits and earnest feelings seemed wrought upon by the gladness of nature, till
they flowed forth in song. And many a pious Israelite may have sung with the
sweet singer of his country, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”
(Psalms 24:1); and as he looked upon his rich corn-fields, have chanted gladly,
“Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the
river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast
so provided for it. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop
fatness” (Psalms 65:9; 65:11). But although the modern inhabitant of Palestine
no longer labours assiduously as did the ancient Israelite, to render his
beautiful land an earthly paradise, though in many parts joy and gladness have
ceased from the fruitful field, and all the daughters of music are brought low,
yet the vineyards are often beautiful still. On the Syrian hills and plains may
yet be seen the tower or the lonely cottage in a vineyard, on which the eye of
the evangelical prophet rested when he foretold the desolation of the daughter
of Zion (Isaiah 1:8); or when he spake of the vineyard in the fruitful hill,
planted with the choicest vine, in which the lord of the vineyard built a tower,
and made a wine-press, and looked for the grateful fruits of his culture, and
found nothing but wild grapes (Isaiah 5:4), —sad emblem of the sins and
idolatries which ran wild in the heart of God’s chosen and cherished people. In
this tower of the vineyard were kept, in former days, and may still be seen, the
various implements of husbandry, and all the means of pressing the grapes and
making them into wine, so that it may be called “the farm of the vineyard.” But
the chief use of the tower, both in ancient and modern times, is as a
dwelling-place and defence to the keeper of the vineyard, who, when the grapes
are ripening, takes his station there, lest others should deprive him of the
produce of his labour. M’Cheyne, describing the vine-yards of Hebron, as he saw
them in the year 1842, says, “They are of the most rich and fertile description,
each one having a tower in the midst for the keeper of the vineyards. We were
told that bunches of grapes from these vineyards sometimes weigh six pounds,
every grape of which weighs six or seven drachms. Sir Moses Montefiore mentioned
that he got here a bunch of grapes about a yard in length.”

It is not possible for the reader of Scripture to have passed unnoticed the
various allusions to the culture of the grape by the Hebrews. The great care
which they bestowed on their vineyards, in selecting an appropriate spot of land
for their growth, as well as in training the vine, is very apparent from the
records of holy writ. Almost every part of Palestine is favourable to the
culture of the grape; but the grapes of Eshcol, and Carmel, and Hermon, and the
wines of Lebanon, were ever renowned for their sweetness, and are still
unrivalled in the land of the sun. Sometimes the luxuriant plant hung its
graceful festoons about the reed trellis; at others it clung from pole to pole,
or clad the wooden palisade with a garment of verdure. Often, too, the
vine-dresser directed its flexible branches over the side of the sunny wall, and
then its boughs, as they ran over their support, suggested such images as
lingered in the mind of the dying Jacob, when, describing the fruitfulness, and
alluding to the protection given by his beloved son, he, in the figurative
language of the eastern husbandman, said, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a
fruitful bough by the side of a well; whose branches run over the wall” (Genesis
49:22).

Frequent and beautiful as are the poetic figures of the Old and New Testament,
yet no object of nature furnished so great a variety of allusions as did the
vine. Wherever the ancient Israelite looked round, there its broad leaves and
wide-spreading boughs, and its purple clusters, caught his eye; and the holy
prophet of old, and the Divine Saviour himself, ever ready to lead the mind from
the fields of nature to the field of holy thought and spiritual communion,
failed not to associate with it such lessons of joy and thankfulness, or of
solemn admonition, as might recur again and again, in after ages, to him who
walked in the vine-yard. In the earliest parable of Scripture, that of the Trees
choosing a King, we find the vine, in the language of allegory, exclaiming,
“Shall I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over
the trees?” (Judges 9:13) thus adverting to the use of wine in sacrifice, or to
the first-fruit offering of the grape on the altar of God, as well as to its
benefit to mankind. In that beautiful lament of forsaken Israel, expressed in
Psalm lxxx., the writer portrays the sorrows of the church of God, under the
image of a vine; and carries out, through a long succession, a series of figures
so beautiful and touching, that he who now reads it mourns over ancient Israel’s
woes, and remembers, too, periods in the history of the Christian church, when
the vine seemed indeed trodden down, and when, for “a small moment,” God “hid
his face” from his people. “Once,” says the sorrowing Asaph, “the hills were
covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs were like goodly cedars. She sent
out her boughs to the sea, and her branches unto the river. Now the boar out of
the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.” And
surely, as we look upon God’s ancient people, and see how their loved and holy
city is trodden down of the Gentiles, we should breathe the aspiration of the
psalmist, “Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and
behold, and visit this vine; and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,
and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself” (Psalms 80:14-15). In later
days, our Saviour told his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the
husbandman.—As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the
vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:1, 4). Then perchance he
looked from the table, around which the disciples were gathered, and saw the
graceful plant waving to the gentle summer wind, and putting forth its fruits
for the vintage.

There is something pleasing in considering the Hebrew matron in the text, as
planting a vineyard for the use of her family. It was not enough for her that
only what was absolutely needed should be supplied. She acted in the wise and
beneficent spirit of the Great Creator, who scatters with liberal hand, not only
the supply of our necessities, but the means of enjoyment; who charms the eye
with verdure, and the ear with the songs of nature. We, in our northern climate,
can scarcely form an idea of the value of the vineyard to an eastern family: the
cooling shade of its overhanging boughs, in a land where the sun shines hotly
through the long summer day, is indeed delightful; and in the Syrian vine-clad
arbour, the Jewish families assembled, as do the natives of modern Palestine,
beneath the vine and fig-tree. There, in pleasant groups, sitting in the soft
air, we can fancy the pious mother, surrounded by her family, speaking with
cheerful and thankful spirit of God’s goodness to them all, and partaking
together with them of the large clusters of yellow or purple fruits, gathered
from the boughs. There lay the goodly cluster, and each took from it the welcome
refreshment; and of the fruits which were to spare, the labourer gathered and
packed in baskets, and probably laid, as they would do now, the broad palm
leaves above them to preserve their coolness. The month of October is that of
the vintage; and on the hills once trod by the feet of the patriarchs, the
autumnal vintage is yet gathered. The Christian inhabitants of Lebanon, and
other parts of Palestine, cultivate the grape for wine, both for themselves and
for exportation; and the Moslems, as they do not drink wine, value the vine for
its shadow, its fresh fruit, and for the raisins which they dry from it; besides
that, vinegar is made from the grape, and the vine-leaves are eaten by cattle.
This latter practice is referred to in the Jewish law, where Moses commands, “If
a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast,
and shall feed in another man’s field; of the best of his own field, and of the
best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution” (Exodus 22:5). Chandler
says of this practice in the East: “We remarked that about Smyrna, the leaves
were decayed or stripped by the camels and herds of goats, which are admitted to
browse after the vintage.”

Travellers who now visit the Holy Land, are struck however, with the desolate
appearance exhibited by spots once famous for corn and wine, and the luxuriant
vegetation of the East. God has turned “the fruitful land into barrenness, for
the wickedness of them that dwelt therein” (Psalms 107:34). The old inhabitants
of the land of the Hebrews are scattered as God predicted; and the thin
population of strangers who now dwell there, take little pains to cherish the
soil. The want of agricultural industry is every where apparent; and he who
loves the hill of Zion and the mountains about Jerusalem, because associated in
his mind with all that is holy and all that is dear, longs for that glorious
day, when the Jews shall again be gathered under their native vines and
fig-trees.

It is thought by most writers, that the autumnal feast of Tabernacles, held by
the Jews, had especial reference to the ingathering of the vineyard. “When ye
have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord
seven days” (Leviticus 23:39), were the words which enjoined this festival. The
Syrian winter does not commence until December, and in that pleasant climate,
the month of October was well suited for the joyous outdoor life which ancient
Israel spent on this occasion. Then the song of praise and gratitude went up
from the arbours formed of the “boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees,
and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook” (Leviticus 23:40). Then
a loud burst of national thanksgiving was offered to the God who brought his
people into a land flowing with milk and with honey; and every Jewish family
brought its tribute of gratitude and praise.


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  CHAPTER 8: 08. PRO_31:17 - SHE GIRDETH HER LOINS WITH STRENGTH, AND STRENGTHENETH HER ARMS.
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SHE GIRDETH HER LOINS WITH STRENGTH, AND STRENGTHENETH HER ARMS.

Proverbs 31:17

The figurative expression here used refers to the practice of girding tightly
for any great exertion. The girdle which confines the loose and flowing garments
of the native of the East, is broad and long, and can, when occasion requires
it, be bound several times round the waist and over the chest. This tight
girding enables the men of oriental countries to perform wonderful feats of
strength, especially in running; as they will make a journey of several miles,
keeping pace with a horseman, or with the chariot of the great man. Sometimes
the girdle is so tightly bound as to endanger life, and the editor of the
“Pictorial Bible” mentions that he saw, at Ispahan, a pillar raised to mark the
spot on which one of these tightly-girded runners expired, in attempting to
stoop to the ground.

Scripture contains many references to this practice of girding. Thus we read,
that when the prophet Elijah accompanied the bold and wicked king, “He girded up
his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel” (1 Kings 8:46). Even
on occasions which demanded less exertion, it was usual to gather up the garment
under the girdle, lest it might incommode the progress of the wearer. So our
blessed Saviour represents the master as addressing his servant, “Make ready
wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me till I have eaten and
drunken” (Luke 17:8), and when urging his disciples to a constant readiness for
that spiritual warfare which they must encounter, and that watchfulness which
the servants of the Lord must always exercise, he said, “Let your loins be
girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait
for their lord” (Luke 12:35). This figure of girding the loins would be
especially expressive to the eastern, as well as to the ancient Greek and Roman
people, among whom the practice prevailed. With the latter, it was considered
very effeminate for a man to be seen abroad either without his girdle, or
loosely girded; and to be ungirt, became an expression of an unmanly luxury.
Sulla reproached Caesar that he was ungirt; and Maecenas was blamed because he
wore his girdle loosely.

Boothroyd renders the passage, She girdeth up her loins for strength, And by
exercise giveth vigour to her arms; and it very evidently implies that she
preserved her health by the very best means, that of cheerful and earnest
employment. When we look at our bodily frames, and see how they are formed for
exercise; when we mark how the muscles of the active arm are firm, and those of
the indolent soft and tender, we see something of the bodily ills to which
indolence exposes, and are convinced that a healthy frame can be preserved only
by a due attention to activity; and when we mark, too, how painful and weary a
thing sickness is, and how great is the physical enjoyment of health, it seems
strange that exercise is so much neglected by thousands who have the means of
taking it. How much exquisite enjoyment is afforded by the mere possession of
health! the pure taste, the high spirits, which render existence itself an
enjoyment and a blessing; the good humour, the pleasure in innocent delights,
the light and refreshing sleep, the appetite which needs no dainties, the
untiring footstep, and the placid breathing, which scarcely quickens at the
ascent of the mountain. Oh, if some of those of the female sex, who now spend
their days on sofas, and their nights in unquiet dreams, would, like the
excellent woman, strengthen their arms by exercise, and gird up their loins by
some vigorous exployment, how great a change should come over their
constitutions, and how great a blessing should they gain for themselves!

There are also higher considerations than those of mere enjoyment, which should
induce us to cultivate the means of health. To do so is a religious duty. Health
is one of the gifts which God has bestowed for usefulness—one of those talents
of which he has said, “Occupy till I come;” and if it be wasted either by
intemperance, indolence, or carelessness, we shall have to account for it at the
great and solemn day of final retribution. If the hand of God deprive us of it,
then may we calmly say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be
the name of the Lord;” and appropriate the blessed promises to sufferers,
contained in holy writ; and while we remember, that they also serve God who only
stand and wait, we may learn many blessed lessons, when like David we can say,
“Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word.” But if God
has given us a robust constitution, or at least one that might, by exertion, be
rendered such, then our very sickness is a sin. “Health,” says Jeremy Taylor,
“is the opportunity of wisdom, the fairest scene of religion, the advantages of
the glorification of God, and the charitable ministeries of men; it is a state
of joy and thanksgiving, and in every one of its periods feels a pleasure from
the blessed emanations of a merciful Providence. No organs, no lute, can sound
out the praises of the Almightly Father so spritefully, as the man that rises
from his bed of sorrows, and considers what an excellent difference he feels
from the groans and intolerable accents of yesterday.” Health carries us to the
place of worship, and helps us to rejoice in the communion of saints. But though
the text has an especial reference to the strengthening of the body, yet that
vigorous resolution, inculcated by the apostle Paul, may also be intimated
here.“ Wherefore,” says the inspired writer, “gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, and hope to the end” (1 Peter 1:13). A holy resolution, a moral courage,
a steady determination in all things to obey the voice of conscience, seems a
strong feature of the character of the Jewish woman. It is true, that no
resolution made in our own strength can avail us. Our hearts are sinful by
nature, and ever ready to depart from God and holiness. Satan, like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour, is ever watching to hinder the progress of
every right resolve. The world, with its anxious cares on the one hand, and its
fascinating vanities on the other, is present with us to banish every pious
motive, and drive us into forgetfulness and sinful weakness. Yet, unless we
resolve rightly, we cannot act rightly; and there is a way of keeping the
promise made to our own hearts and to God. There is a strength given to all who
humbly ask it, in the name of the Great Mediator; a strength to will, to do, and
to endure, even to the death; a strength, given by God, enabling the timid to be
brave, and imparting a consistent firmness, even to those who feel themselves
ready to be shaken by every breeze. But unless we seek from Heaven this
consistent firmness of principle, our goodness shall be but as the morning
cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away. Without it, no Christian course
can be a happy or a useful one. It is not enough to know and approve what is
right. Principle must be acted upon, whether the world smile or condemn; and the
diligent and steady cultivation of firmness be sought in humble dependence on
God. And as the eastern traveller girded his garments from the dust, so, too,
must Christians keep themselves unspotted from the contamination of vain
intercourse, and the defilement of sin; and as the Hebrew matron girded herself
for strength, so should we strive to invigorate our principles by holy
determination, by steady watchfulness, and by humble prayer; so that we may say
with the apostle, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”
(Php 4:13).

"Weak as I am, yet, through my grace, I all things can perform."


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  CHAPTER 9: 09. PRO_31:18 - HE PERCEIVETH THAT HER MERCHANDISE IS GOOD: HER CANDLE GOETH NOT OUT BY NIGHT.
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HE PERCEIVETH THAT HER MERCHANDISE IS GOOD: HER CANDLE GOETH NOT OUT BY NIGHT.

Proverbs 31:18

The regular and constant industry for which the excellent woman is commended,
gives every reason for the conclusion that the work which she wrought, or which
she superintended, would be of a good and valuable description. Diligence and
perseverance in any pursuit give skill and taste in its performance, and enable
the worker to excel one who is little interested in his work. Such a matron
would, in time, become known and confided in for promptness and regularity, and
for durable and beautiful workmanship; and as Boothroyd renders the passage,
would see “that her traffic is profitable.” The tapestry, and girdles, and
garments, all carefully woven and beautifully ornamented, would not disappoint
the purchaser, who expected them, perhaps, to last a life-time; and the maker
would soon gain an established reputation among those who bought, and thus in
every way her merchandise would be good.

Archbishop Cranmer renders this verse: “If she perceives that her merchandise is
good, her candle goeth not out by night.” This might signify, that if, on any
particular occasion, this Jewish lady saw some desirable objects of purchase,
she and her maidens would work long and diligently—even till night was far
advanced, in order to procure it in exchange for her manufactures. Be that as it
may, however, it is no uncommon thing, either in our own or other lands, for
those engaged in manufactures to fulfil any large order by occasionally spending
even a part of the night in its execution. In those eastern dwellings in which
stuffs are made, there is great attention to business; and It sometimes occurs,
that not only a busy group work from before the dawn till day is over, but that
parties of workers are employed through the night, one party rising to work when
the other retires to repose.

Dr. Clarke suggests that this burning of the lamp, however, implies rather a
careful vigilance than a perpetual industry, in the Hebrew mistress. He suggests
that it was probably burned on account of the numerous banditti and lawless men,
from various wandering tribes, who might come suddenly and endanger the family
during the hours of darkness; and this caution to avert an ill, rather than to
suffer it, well corresponds with the general character given by the description
of the poem.

It appears to have been a very common practice among the ancient Hebrews, as it
is now with nations of the East, for careful persons to burn a lamp by night in
their dwellings. Candles are not burned in any oriental country, and therefore
the word thus rendered refers to the lamp, of which we have so many notices in
Scripture. Even as early as the time of Abraham we find a “burning lamp”
mentioned, which appeared to him as a revelation from God (Genesis 15:17).
Gideon, when he led out his men against the host of Midian, bade them take their
lamps in their pitchers; and from these early records of patriarchal times, even
to the days of those whose pens concluded the pages of holy writ, we find the
lamp and the oil continually referred to. Lamps were used in the tabernacle, and
at marriage festivals were hung around the room, and cast down their light from
above. Herodotus describes the lamps of the ancient Egyptians, as “small vases,
filled with salt and olive oil, in which the wick floated and burned during the
whole night;” and as this description of the lamp exactly accords with the
eastern lamp of modern usage, it seems probable that it was also a common form
of the Jewish lamp. Many lamps, too, appear, like that of our engraving, to have
had a small handle for the convenience of removing them from place to place.
Vegetable oil of some kind, and most probably exclusively olive oil, was burned
by the Hebrews. Thus we find Moses commanding the Israelites to prepare the lamp
for the tabernacle, which was to burn from evening to morning before the Lord:
“Thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive
beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always” (Exodus 27:20). The
wicks of the lamps were made of the coarser fibres of flax; and the Rabbins
record, that the old linen garments of the priests were unravelled, to furnish
those of the sacred lamps in the tabernacle. The general use of the lamp
naturally made it a frequent subject of metaphor and simile among ancient
writers. Thus the wise man says, “The light of the righteous rejoiceth; but the
lamp of the wicked shall be put out” (Proverbs 13:9); and again, the sudden
extinction of the lamp served as a figure to express the wrath of God against
him who cursed father or mother; for “his lamp shall be put out in obscure
darkness” (Proverbs 20:20). Many writers think that the expression “outer
darkness,” often used in Scripture, refers to the contrast of the outward
darkness of night, when compared with that of the chamber in which it was so
customary for the light to be burning. Our Saviour, addressing those who were
accustomed to the highly poetic imagery of the East, spoke of the professor of
piety under the figure of a lamp; and in the well-known and beautiful parable of
the wise and foolish virgins, showed the danger of a careless and unwatchful
profession of religion, commanding his followers to have their lights always
burning. In all ages, the lamp beaming from the chamber window on the dimness
and gloom of the outward world, has awakened pleasurable and poetic associations
in the mind of the traveller; and whether we are attracted by the small light of
a cottage candle, seen from afar, or the still fainter lustre of an eastern
lamp, yet our minds form some picture of the home within. The writer of the book
of Proverbs, whose eye might rest on such a lamp, would imagine a home of
industrious application. To him it would speak of care and vigilance, of the
mistress and maidens gathered round it at their work; of children striving to
lend a helping hand; and of a domestic scene of cheerful employment. To all of
us such a lamp might seem like the hope which burns in the breast of one who
loves and fears God. Now, perhaps, it burns feebly: some passing object dims its
brightness, and suggests the idea of the worldly anxiety, or the sinful
infirmity, which shadows that hope in the human bosom. Again, it rises into
abright and steady flame, cheering and gladdening all around it; and so the
Christian’s hope, soaring above these passing shadows, burns with its holy and
life-giving lustre, shining brighter and brighter, till that perfect day of pure
and unshadowed light. Perhaps it was after wandering in some lonely spot in the
dimness of night, that David came upon some household lamp, and exclaimed as it
guided him onwards, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”
(Psalms 119:105); and while he blessed God for his holy word, added, “Thou shalt
guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory” (Psalms 73:24).
Our blessed Saviour said to his disciples, “Ye are the light of the world”
(Matthew 5:14), and bade them, and us for whom also his blessed words were
spoken and afterwards written, so to let our light, shine before men, that they,
seeing our good works, might glorify our Father which is in heaven.


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  CHAPTER 10: 10. PRO_31:19 - SHE LAYETH HER HANDS TO THE SPINDLE, AND HER HANDS HOLD THE DISTAFF.
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SHE LAYETH HER HANDS TO THE SPINDLE, AND HER HANDS HOLD THE DISTAFF.

Proverbs 31:19

Had not the sacred writer further enlarged upon the character of this woman, had
this single praise been uttered of her, it would, to those for whom it was
immediately intended, be of itself a high commendation. The Rabbins record an
old saying of the Hebrews, that there is no wisdom in a woman but in the
distaff; implying, as do the words of the text, that a woman’s great praise is
her industry. The Greeks and Romans would have accorded fully with the implied
sentiment. When a Roman lady became a bride, she received many a hint from the
marriage ceremony, that she was about to enter on active domestic employment;
and again and again, the word thalassioresounded on her ear. This word, which
signified the vessel in which were kept the materials for spinning, and the work
already spun, reminded her, not only of the spindle and the distaff, to which it
might directly refer, but was also significant of the various household
occupations, in which the women of ancient days felt it their duty and their
honour to excel. In those old times, There was far less of gadding, and far more
Of home-born, heart-felt comfort, rooted strong In industry, and bearing such
rare fruit As wealth might never purchase.”

It was not until the more degenerate days of Rome, when luxury had supplanted
the habits of the older state of society, that spinning and weaving were left to
the slave. In earlier times, the bride went to her new home amid the throng of
rejoicing maidens; and the young attendants carried in their hands the distaff
and the spindle, with the gay-coloured wools hanging about them;—to all it spoke
the same lesson—the lesson so often inculcated by the Roman writers, that a
woman should resemble the bee for industry, and imitate Minerva, whose wisdom
was so truly womanly in its direction, that she was said to be the first who
ever wrought a web.

It was the pride of Augustus Caesar, that his imperial robes, his fringed tunic,
and costly girdle, were wrought in his household, by the hands of his wife, his
sister, his daughter, and his grand-daughters. So, too, Alexander the Great,
when advising the mother of Darius to teach her nieces to imitate the Grecian
ladies in spinning wool, showed her the garments which he wore, and told her
they were made by his sisters. The virtuous Lucretia worked with her maidens at
the spinning-wheel; and Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquin, wrought woollen robes so
well, that long after her death, her spinning implements, together with a robe
of her manufacture, were hung up in the Temple of Fortune; a constant monument
of her taste and skill, and an intimation to Roman maids and matrons, that they,
too, should lay their hands to the spindle, and their hands should hold the
distaff. The Jewish Scriptures so frequently refer to the industry of women in
occupations of this kind, that one can easily imagine the matron,

“At her wheel. Spinning amain, as if to overtake The never-halting time; or, in
her turn, Teaching some novice of the sisterhood Her skill in this or other
household work.” The ancient spindle or spinning-wheel was held by the right
hand, and turned round, while the distaff or staff around which the wool was
rolled was held in the bend of the left arm, and the thread drawn over the
fingers of the left hand, so that both hands were employed. The spindle and the
distaff are the most ancient form of the spinning apparatus, and, in an improved
condition, were long used even in our own country; hence the word spinster; and
the English maiden or mother might often be seen sitting at her wheel In summer,
ere the mower was abroad Among the dewy grass—in early spring, Ere the last star
had vanished.” But time has brought its wondrous improvements and great changes,
and the well-constructed spinning machinery of modern days has banished from our
cottage-doors the busy hum of the wheel. The cottager who once turned it gaily
round, has now to change her mode of industry, and has only to make up with her
needle, into garments, the fabric which she would once have manufactured for
herself. But besides the actual spinning or weaving of the wool and flax, the
preparation of these substances gave much employment to the Jewish household.
The flax required drying and preparing for use. The wool, after being combed,
and picked, and carded, was put up, in round balls, ready for the spindle. It
was sometimes left for use with the natural moisture which fresh-cut wool always
yields, and which reminds us of the wool of Gideon’s fleeces, out of which, in
the Syrian climate, he could wring dew, “even a bowl full of water” (Judges
6:38). Wool in this state was called plump-wool; but when the manufacturers were
about to make some, of those brilliant garments, whose tints no modern skill can
furnish, the wool had to be subjected to the various processes of dyeing. In
this case it was usual to anoint the wool with wine, or with some unctuous
substance, preparatory to plunging it into the dye.


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  CHAPTER 11: 11. PRO_31:20 - SHE STRETCHETH OUT HER HAND TO THE POOR; YEA, SHE REACHETH FORTH HER HANDS TO THE...
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SHE STRETCHETH OUT HER HAND TO THE POOR; YEA, SHE REACHETH FORTH HER HANDS TO
THE NEEDY.

Proverbs 31:20

It would be impossible for any reader of the Holy Scriptures not to see how
careful the great Jehovah has been, both under the old and new dispensation, to
recommend to the care of the rich, the wants of their poorer brethren. The law
of Moses abounded in humane institutions respecting the poor, and these would be
familiar to the Jewish woman. Though her Bible had not the Gospels, with their
illustrations of the living and dying love of the Redeemer; though the sacred
volume of the ancient Hebrew told not of the self-denying zeal of St. Paul, or
other holy men of old, who lived and laboured and suffered for others; though it
had not the gentle and affectionate tenderness of the lovely and beloved
disciple, yet its law made provision for kindness and humanity; and the poor and
the destitute, the fatherless and the widow, were ever described as the peculiar
objects of God’s love and compassion, and were recommended to the care of those
to whom God had given wealth. “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord
will deliver him in time of trouble” (Psalms 41:1) had been sung by the
psalmist; and still the words resounded in the tabernacle of the righteous, and
still were met by answering feelings, in the hearts of those who loved and
feared Israel’s God. It was in the exact spirit of the Divine law, that this
woman acted: Moses had said, “The poor shall never cease out of the land:
therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy
brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).

There is something very expressive in the figure of the text: “She stretcheth
out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” It
would seem to imply an attention to the wants of the poor, not forced upon her
by immediate neighbourhood. She waited not for the poor man to come to her door,
but she went out to look for him. She did not deal out her bounty grudgingly,
and by slow degrees, but gave with bounteous hands, and anticipated the duty
taught afterwards: “Freely ye have received, freely give.” She might have been
seen, like Dorcas, making clothing for the poor, and distributing it with
cheerful and willing kindness. She knew well that God loveth a cheerful giver.
She was described as a woman “who feared the Lord,” and his commands were her
standard of duty. She would feel that the destitute ought to have a portion in
all riches, so that God’s blessing might rest on the wealth which she had
gained. Such a woman could appreciate the kind and considerate command of her
holy law, so suited to the agricultural habits of the people of a rich and
fertile land: “When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field and hast forgot
a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the
stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless
thee in all the works of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou
shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard,
thou shalt not glean it afterwards; it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow” (Deuteronomy 24:19-21). And whether it were the
gleanings of her harvest field, or the wool of her flock, it was given with
gladness. The poor who were near her rejoiced in her bounty, and the poor afar
off were not forgotten. Even so may we see the ripplings of the waters around
the pebble which is cast into the stream; and the ridges of water are fuller and
larger nearest to the stone, and though they lessen as they recede, yet they
form widening circles still, until they enclose the whole lake: just so were the
deeds of love wrought by this woman, fullest in the charities of home, yet
widening ever, until they encompassed the whole world in their embrace.

Dr. Adam Clarke considers the expression “needy,” as applying especially to the
afflicted poor. The poor whom sickness prevented from labour; the aged man whose
limbs refused to bear the weight of toil; the little child, too young to help
himself; or the houseless stranger, who came to the gate of the Israelitish city
to ask for succour—the latter had been especially commended to the pity of the
ancient Hebrew: “Love ye therefore the stranger,” said the Lord to his chosen
people; “for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). And he
whom adverse circumstances had brought low, was cared for in the humane precepts
of the law. “If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then
thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner; that he may
live with thee” (Leviticus 25:35).

If we find it commanded as a duty, and named as a praise, of the Hebrew woman,
that she reached forth her hands to the poor and needy, how much more should
this kindness to the indigent be expected of women reared in a country, in which
the gentle and loving spirit of the gospel is fully known! The ancient duty of
remembering the poor, so far from being abrogated by the New Testament, is
enforced by more numerous and direct commands, and by the living example of our
blessed Saviour, who “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38).

One thing which must ever endear to the Christian his poorer brethren, is the
remembrance that Jesus Christ himself was the member of a poor family. The
disciple of the Lord, who had not where to lay his head, and who was supplied by
the kind women who ministered to him, should feel a sincere pity and regard for
the poor, for verily the Lord of glory took not upon him the nature of an angel;
he came not with wealth or power, but made himself of no reputation, and for
more than thirty years endured poverty and privation, that we might have
everlasting happiness; that to the poor the gospel might be preached, and that
they might be made “rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.” In all the solemn
and affectionate appeals made in God’s holy word in behalf of the poor, there is
not one which comes home more fully than this to the heart of God’s children:
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2
Chronicles 8:9). Oh! if we could ever remember how short our time is for doing
good, that our sun may go down suddenly, while it is yet day; that if even the
threescore years and ten of this mortal life should be allotted to us, it will
be too short for half our projects, surely we should hasten to-day to labour in
God’s vineyard; making sacrifices of time, and talents, and property, for the
poor and needy of God’s heritage; and labouring diligently ere the night cometh,
when no man can work. Nor must it be forgotten, that on a Christian devolves the
duty, not only of doing good to the body, but to the soul. Every one who has
himself received the gift of God’s Spirit—whose sins are pardoned through the
Redeemer’s grace, is bound to study and promote the eternal welfare of others.
Woe be to us, if our poorer brethren shall say at the day of judgment, “No man
cared for my soul!” If we have the tongue of the learned, and can give good
instruction, yet forbear to give it; if we can help the ignorant with a word of
counsel; if we can bestow upon him the word of life, or induce him to join the
assembly of God’s earthly worshippers on the Sabbath day; if we can set before
him a holy example; if we can send the missionary to the crowded alleys of our
cities, or help him to traverse the wide waters to the dim and dark recesses of
ignorance and cruelty,—and yet sloth, or carelessness, or self-indulgence, or
parsimony, lead us to inertness; then we are robbing those whom God has given
into our care, and God will require their souls at our hands. But if we stretch
out our hands to the needy, then may we hope for God’s promised blessing, and
our own spiritual wants will be supplied while we are aiding others.

There is also a peculiar feature in love to the poor, which is impressed on the
doctrines of the New Testament with greater distinctness than on those of the
Old. Besides the general commands to love our poorer neighbour, we are
especially “to do good to them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians
6:10). So much is this love to the disciples of Christ inculcated in the
writings of the evangelists and apostles, that we are told we ought to “lay down
our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). It is even made a test of our love to
God. “Whoso hath this world’s good,” saith St. John, “and seeth his brother have
need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love
of God in him?” (1 John 3:17). The contributions for the poor saints were not
forgotten by the apostle Paul and the early Christians; and while it is the duty
of Christians to do good to the bodies and to the souls of all, to stretch out
the willing hand to the poor and needy, the poor of God’s adopted family should
be the especial objects of their love and care.


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  CHAPTER 12: 12. PRO_31:21 - SHE IS NOT AFRAID OF THE SNOW FOR HER HOUSEHOLD; FOR ALL HER HOUSEHOLD ARE CLOTHE...
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SHE IS NOT AFRAID OF THE SNOW FOR HER HOUSEHOLD; FOR ALL HER HOUSEHOLD ARE
CLOTHED WITH SCARLET.

Proverbs 31:21

We are so accustomed to hear of the serene skies and genial warmth of the
climate of Palestine, that we are, in our thoughts, apt to invest that
interesting land with a perpetual sunshine. The flowery heights of the fragrant
Carmel; the magnificent and enduring vegetation of Lebanon; the smiling plains
of the still lovely and verdant Sharon; the grapes of Eshcol—these are the
features of the landscape most familiar to our mind. Although the cold of winter
is not so severe as in some other parts of Syria, still it is scarcely less than
that experienced in our own country. The autumnal shower is the early rain, for
which the “husbandman long waited,” that he might sow his seed: and in December,
which is the first winter month, the rain falls in torrents, and the snow covers
the plains occasionally, and lies on the elevated mountains long after spring
has made considerable advance; while hoar-frost scatters its diamonds, or a
mist, like that of our northern climates, obscures the face of nature.

Owing to the great inequalities of surface in the Holy Land, there are some
sheltered and favoured spots which are free from the cold of winter. Here the
season is soft and mild, snow is seldom seen on the plains, and the orange-tree
and the citron, and the goodly palm, contrast with the white summits and
glittering icicles of Lebanon. On the mountains the snow is peculiarly deep from
December, and scarcely decreases before the month of July. Dr. E. D. Clarke,
speaking of one of the hills which forms a part of the majestic Lebanon, says:
“The snow entirely covers the upper part of it; not lying in patches, as I have
seen it, during summer, upon the tops of very elevated mountains, for instance
that of Ben Nevis in Scotland; but investing all the higher part, with that
perfect white and smooth velvet-like appearance, which snow only exhibits when
it is very deep: a striking spectacle in such a climate, where the beholder,
seeking protection from a burning sun, almost considers the firmament to be on
fire.”

We have various other instances in Scripture, besides that quoted at the head of
the chapter, of the cold and snow of Palestine. The psalmist of Israel sung of
the fleeces which the Creator “giveth like wool,” and prayed that he might be
purified and made “whiter than snow.” We infer the cold from the statement of
the prophet Jeremiah, when he described Jehoiakim, king of Judah, as sitting
with his nobles around the hearth, and daringly cutting with his penknife, and
casting into the fire, the scroll which contained the denunciations of the
Almighty. So again, in that sad hour, when the affectionate but frail apostle
denied the Master whom he loved, we read that they had kindled a fire in the
midst of the hall, and that Peter and others sat down together by it, “for it
was cold.” The writer of the “Pictorial Palestine,” describing the severe
weather of January, says: “Major Skinner, who states that he traversed this
country in a season unusually severe, speaks much of snow and cold. He mentions
a village under Mount Carmel, in which many houses had been destroyed by the
great quantities of snow which had fallen. He spent a night in that village, and
on the morning of the twenty-eighth, found the court-yard full of snow, which
had fallen during the night. Snow was then resting on the ridge of Mount Carmel.
Penetrating to the interior of the country, the same traveller reached Nazareth
on the thirtieth. The heights around the town, and many of the houses, were
covered with snow; large heaps of which were piled up in the court-yard of the
convent. Many of the smaller houses had been destroyed by it; and the next day
he found that the deep snow in the streets rendered it impossible to quit the
city, and difficult to move about in it. A thaw had, however, commenced. The
snow falls thick, and lies long on the mountains and high and intervening plains
and valleys of Jebel Haouran, which may be said to bound eastward the country
beyond Jordan. Madox found it so at the end of January. The same traveller, on
the thirteenth, found Damascus covered with snow, as well as the mountains and
plains round it.”

Most commentators think that the Hebrew word rendered “scarlet,” would be more
correctly translated by the marginal reading, “double garments.” It is thus
rendered by Boothroyd in his version of Scripture, and the Septuagint and Arabic
versions give it thus. The twice dyeing, which formed part of the process used
in obtaining the brilliant scarlet of the East, caused this colour to be
expressed in the original language, by the verb to redouble, and thus leaves the
rendering in some measure doubtful. Dr. Adam Clarke states, in his commentary,
that his old manuscript Bible renders this part of the passage “ben clothed with
double;” and adds that Coverdale, with equal propriety, translates it, “For all
hir household folkes are duble clothed.” Whether we regard this double clothing
as relating to an additional number of garments, put on during the winter
season; or whether we consider it as relating to a double stock of clothes,
suitable for the winter, as well as the summer, it still marks the care of her
household shown by the mistress and the mother.

There are, however, some commentators who consider scarlet as the right
rendering of the word from the original. Dr. Gill remarks, that if the word here
used had been designed to be “double,” it would have been in the dual number;
and as this is not the case, he considers that in this, and similar instances,
it is used for the scarlet colour. He adds that both the Targum and Aben Ezra
thus interpret it.

Supposing the word scarlet to be the correct translation in this passage, it
would refer to the clothing provided by the Jewish matron for her husband and
children only, and would not include the dress of her servants. Scarlet was a
colour much esteemed in the East, and the Jewish nobles and courtiers were
accustomed, on state occasions and festivals, to wear robes of this brilliant
dye. In that exquisitely touching lament, uttered by David over the fallen king,
he exclaims, “Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in
scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel” (2
Samuel 1:24). So, too, Belshazzar was decked in the robe of scarlet; and when
the prophet meant to contrast the wealth and luxury of Israel with its deepest
degradation, he said, “They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills”
(Lamentations 5:5). And now, in the land endeared to us by holiest associations,
the bright colouring of the scarlet robe still attracts the eye of the
traveller, in the winter season; and Lamartine speaks of the picturesque scarlet
mantles of the Druses of Lebanon, and of the brilliant vests of scarlet velvet
sometimes adopted by the Arab women.

If we keep to the latter rendering of the word, the passage would leave us
simply to infer, that as the ordinary clothing of the family was that of the
wealthier classes, there would not fail to be a provision of warm raiment
prepared for the inclement season. The ancient scarlet appears to have been
sometimes a vegetable dye, obtained from the berries of a tree common in Canaan,
and at others to have been procured from an insect, resembling the American
cochineal, though of a less brilliant tint. This insect, which was found chiefly
on the leaves of the evergreen oak (ilex aculeata), was called by the Greeks and
Romans coccus, but by the Arabs kermes, and from this latter word we derive our
crimson and carmine. This scarlet dye is supposed to have been common in Egypt
before the time of Moses, and to have been brought by the Israelites from that
land. It is considered by most writers to be the scarlet named among the colours
of the hangings of the tabernacle, by the cunning (or skilful) workman and
embroiderer (Exodus 35:35). In the national character of the Hebrews, we can,
through all ages, perceive the virtue of forethought—a characteristic which
appears the more striking if we contrast it with the carelessness of the future
exhibited by our warm-hearted neighbours, the Irish, or with the love of mere
present gratification which marks the people of some continental nations. In the
long series of cruel and oppressive acts, to which, in comparatively modern
times, the ancient people of God have been subjected, this forethought has, in
many instances, degenerated into a spirit of covetousness; and the love of
hoarding has been censured in the Jew, by the very men whose rapacious tyranny
turned this characteristic virtue into a vice. But the bright example of this
pious woman, as portrayed by the Hebrew writer, under the direct inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God, is not that of a mean selfishness, not That strict
parsimony Which sternly hoarded all that could be spared From each day’s need,
out of each day’s least gain:” hers was an enlarged and bounteous providence,
one which, while it sought to guard against the ills, and provided for the
comforts of the coming days, while it gathered for her family enough and to
spare, yet could have an open hand for the poor and needy. She acted on the
principle of the charge given by the wise man to the sluggard, when he bade him
consider the ways of the ant, “which provideth her meat in the summer, and
gathereth her food in the harvest.” She could give liberally to those who had
nothing, while she avoided the censure afterwards pronounced by the apostle, “If
any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath
denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8). We have
sometimes need to be reminded, that prodigality is not generosity; that there is
a prudent care for ourselves and others, which may consist in economising
present provision, so as to afford future comfort: and which is, as in the
beautiful illustration of womanly virtue now before us, the result of a generous
and enlarged thoughtfulness, which forgets not to consider the poor, nor
neglects the enjoyment of present good.

Prudence is that necessary part of wisdom, which while it adapts its means to
the end, refers chiefly to the prevention of ill. In looking to the future, we
must see that evil of one kind or other waits us, if not met by a careful
prudence. Even the warm and pleasant days of Palestine—its myrtles and roses—its
many-tinted hues of sky—all had to yield to the winter’s snows, and coldness,
and barrenness; and thus it is with our life itself. The “prudent man foreseeth
the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished”
(Proverbs 22:3); and the wretched fate of the imprudent man, whose want of
consideration for the future leads him to poverty and ruin, is too often before
us to be forgotten. But there is a worse evil to be prepared for than mere
earthly poverty, and cold, and want, and suffering. Death is in itself an evil.
Even the apostle could say, when speaking of the disunion of soul and body, “Not
for that we would be unclothed” (2 Chronicles 5:4). And if the Christian
naturally shrinks from the prospect of death, though his life has been a
preparation for heaven, and he knows that God will be with him in dying, oh! how
fearful must it be to him, who in life never looked forward to his dying hour!
The infidel is an imprudent man, for he hideth himself not from coming evil, but
boldly defies the wintry hour of life. The worldly man is imprudent, for he
sends forward no careful thought into the long future; and though even our ages
are but as a few waves from the great sea of Eternity, which ebb back again into
the boundless ocean, yet he lives as if all our interests belonged to Time. The
profligate man who despises God, and loses in the sense of present gratification
all consciousness of the evil which lies beyond, laments bitterly on his dying
bed his neglect of the duty of forethought.

Forethought, however, must be distinguished from foreboding; that cheerful
calculation on future events, and providing against the vicissitudes of life,
which are exemplified in the text, are wholly different from the dread of coming
evil, the anxiety about sorrows which may never happen, which arises from a
mistrust of the providence of God. Some people build castles in the air; others
seem intent on building dungeons. The over-anxious mind is distrustful, and
makes its owner miserable, when he ought calmly and happily to wait on God, and
rely on his promises. To such might be applied the words of the poet:

“Does each day upon its wing Its allotted burden bring? Load it not beside with
sorrow Which belongeth to the morrow. Strength is promised—strength is given
When the heart by God is riven: But foredate the day of woe, And alone thou
bear’st the blow.”


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  CHAPTER 13: 13. PRO_31:22 - SHE MAKETH HERSELF COVERINGS OF TAPESTRY; HER CLOTHING IS SILK AND PURPLE.
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SHE MAKETH HERSELF COVERINGS OF TAPESTRY; HER CLOTHING IS SILK AND PURPLE.

Proverbs 31:22

It has ever been, in the East, customary for persons of wealth to dress in
magnificent clothing, and to furnish their dwellings in a sumptuous and tasteful
manner. There is indeed but little furniture in an oriental house. Couches and
sofas, and hangings at the doors, are almost the only objects on which skill can
be exercised, or which will admit the display of wealth in the possessor. In
such a condition of society, it was certainly the duty of the wife of a Jewish
magistrate, both to dress herself, and to array her house, in a style becoming
the place and time. Had she done otherwise, she would have neglected the duties
of her station, exposed her husband to censure, and herself have borne the
reputation of a careless housewife. While to be clothed in silk and purple would
be no praise of the modern female, in her it was significant of that sense of
propriety which, in all ages, especially becomes the feminine character. The
same duty of making home comfortable, of providing suitable furniture and
clothing for the family, and of dressing according to her station, is practised
by the excellent woman of modern times; and she who is not attired with a
woman’s neatness, and is indifferent even to the appearance of her house and
family, has no claim to the reputation of a good wife, nor can she expect that
her children will rise up and call her blessed. The coverings of tapestry named
in this passage refer probably to those embroidered quilted coverlets used in
all parts of Asia for the divan or sofa. They might, however, signify carpets
for her guests to sit upon; or those richly worked curtains often hung at the
oriental door-way, to keep the warm rays of the sun from entering the apartment;
and which, separating the room from the beautiful garden into which it opens,
yet admit the soft wind laden with odours from shrubs and flowers. It seems most
likely that these coverings of tapestry were worked with the needle, for
although in very early days the Greeks and Romans used the loom in embroidering
their tapestries, yet the practice of working by the needle was not only
earlier, but was continued long after the introduction of the loom, and indeed
to comparatively modern times. The Hebrews derived their skill in this art from
the Egyptians, and, among this people, either the loom or the hand was employed
in this kind of manufacture. Until within the last few centuries much female
skill and ingenuity have been bestowed on the working of tapestry, of which the
celebrated Bayeux tapestry is a well-known instance. This piece of needlework,
wrought either by the hand of Matilda, the wife of the Norman Conqueror, or
worked by her maidens under her direction, is a standing monument of feminine
perseverance. It is twenty inches wide, and two hundred and fourteen long. It is
worked in woollen threads, and resembles a large sampler: portraying, in figures
somewhat uncouth, the various events connected with the Norman Conquest. The
curtains of the Jewish Tabernacle described in the book ofExodus 26-27, “made of
fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet,” are generally supposed to
have been made of needlework, in which the Jewish women are known to have
excelled. Some of these curtains had precious stones, and wires of gold worked
in among the threads, as we see in the “clothes of service,” and “holy
garments,” described by Moses. “And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and
cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the
scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work” (Exodus 39:33). That pictures
describing various scenes of life or landscape were traced by female hands on
their tapestries, there can be little doubt. Archbishop Cranmer translates the
first and second verses of Exodus 26:1-37 (Exodus 26:1-2): “Thou shalt make
curtaynes of whyte twyned silke, yelowe sylke, purple and scarlet. And in them
thou shalt make pyctures of broidered work.” The celebrated Babylonian
tapestries were wrought with the needle, and represented either the mysteries of
religion, or some historical incidents; and the Greek and Roman ladies wrought
embroideries, which told to the eye a tale of hunting or war, of love or sorrow,
and even in those early days wove tapestry, little inferior to that which graces
the halls of some of our old English castles and mansions. The taste for
brilliant colouring, so marked among the people of the East, seems a natural
consequence of the bright hue of nature in the lands in which they reside; and
the sober tints of our colder climate may have had their effect in moderating
that taste in our own land. In countries in which the flowers are so brilliant,
that the flame itself seems hardly to exceed their brightness; where insects of
ruby colour or of brightest emerald unfold their wings; and birds varying in
tint from every shade of purple to faintest azure fly among the trees, there is
a depth of richness of colouring to which our eye is unaccustomed. The amethyst
sky at sunset; the very mountain peaks, tinged as they are, in some eastern
lands, with hues of rose and violet, and orange—

“For God has set his rainbows on them, while the cloud Lies at their feet:”

These, when seen constantly, tend to impart to the taste a love for the bright
and gorgeous tints which God has sent to colour this earthly home. Blue, in
every variety, was a favourite colour with the ancient Hebrews. We find it
mentioned continually in the decoration of the Tabernacle, and the dress of the
priest; and it is generally thought to have been procured from indigo, which
appears from the mummy cloths to have been used by the Egyptians, and was
therefore doubtless known to the Jews. It is rather remarkable, that in modern
times this colour is not esteemed in Palestine, nor admired as it once was, but
has become connected with the idea of meanness, and worn only by the poorest of
the people. But the purple was the colour which appears to have had pre-eminence
in ancient times, and which was so generally appropriated to kings and important
personages, that even unto modern days the purple robe is emblematic of royalty.
At a period early as that when Israel was ruled by judges, we find mention of
this colour, as worn by royal persons; and on that eventful day,

“When grove was felled, and altar was cast down, And Gideon blew the trumpet,
soul-inflamed, And strong in hatred of idolatry”— the kings of Midian appeared
“clothed in purple raiment” (Judges 8:26). It was, too, with the purple robe
that Mordecai was decked, when he was promoted to honour by the Persian king;
and to be clothed in purple and fine linen, was the distinction of the rich man
in the parable of the New Testament. The purple mentioned in the text, is
believed by most writers to be the highly valued Tyrian dye. This colour was
known in very ancient times, and prized, not only by the Hebrews, but by the
Greeks and Romans. It was procured from two species of fish found on the shores
of the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas: the one (buccinum) adhered to the rocks;
the other (purpura) floated in the sea, and it was this species which afforded
the dye most in request, and which is called in the Apocrypha, the purple of the
sea. From various varieties of these two species of shell-fish several tints of
purple were obtained. The one was of a paler hue, and more resembling our
scarlet; another was a deep violet tint, a colour much valued by the Roman
ladies in the time of Augustus; but the hue most admired was that deep purplish
crimson, which resembles clotted blood. This is said by Mr. Harmer to be the
most sublime of all earthly colours, “having the gaudiness of red, of which it
retains a shade, softened with the gravity of blue.”

We can form some idea of the expensive nature of Tyrian purples, when we
consider how large a number of shell-fish must be collected to furnish even a
small quantity of the dye. These fish were sometimes two feet in length, but the
only portion which yielded the colour was a small white vein in the neck, so
that a number of fishermen must have been employed, for many days, before they
could obtain enough to colour even a single garment. The art of dyeing the
Tyrian purple is now lost, but it is probable that its place is well supplied by
the rich hues of vegetable dyes employed in modern times. The Rev. A. Bonar and
Robert M’Cheyne, who lately visited the Holy Land, on a mission of inquiry
respecting the Jews, remark of the shore near the Bay of Acre: “We saw some of
our neighbours seeking for specimens of the shell-fish, from which in ancient
times used to be extracted the famous purple dye. We did not find any specimens,
but were told it is still to be found there. It used to be found in all parts of
the Bay, and there were two kinds of it. One of these yielded a dark blue
colour, the other a brighter tint, like scarlet; and by mingling these two
juices, the true purple colour was obtained.” “It was thus,” adds the writer,
“that Asher, whose rich and beautiful plain supplied viands fit for the table of
kings, yielded also the dye of their royal robes, conveyed to many a distant
coast by the merchants of Tyre and Sidon; and thus we see the full meaning of
Jacob’s blessing on Asher, ‘‘he shall yield royal dainties.’” The great use of
the purple colour among the wealthy classes of the Hebrews gave employment to
many of the Tyrian merchants. Thus we find that when Ezekiel addressed Tyrus, in
the language of prophecy, he referred to it: “Syria was thy merchant by reason
of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with
emeralds, purple, and broidered work” (Ezekiel 27:16). In later ages, we read of
a very interesting character, Lydia, who was “a seller of purple” at Thyatira,
whose “heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were
spoken of Paul,” and whose warm and earnest love to the apostle and his
companions, urged her to constrain them to dwell in her house (Acts 16:14-15);
and this rich colour, in which the matron of the text is said to be clothed, was
probably one of those species of merchandise which she is said, “like the
merchants’ ships, to have brought from afar.”


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  CHAPTER 14: 14. PRO_31:23 - HER HUSBAND IS KNOWN IN THE GATES WHEN HE SITTETH AMONG THE ELDERS OF THE LAND.
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HER HUSBAND IS KNOWN IN THE GATES WHEN HE SITTETH AMONG THE ELDERS OF THE LAND.

Proverbs 31:23

It is indeed a high praise of a woman, that her husband should be known and
honoured for her sake; that in the places of public resort he should be
recognised as the husband of a wife, who so arranged the household duties, and
took so practical a part in the concerns of the family, that he was enabled to
devote his time to public business. His dress, too, ever becoming his station,
and wrought with industrious skill in his own home, would be noticed in an
oriental assembly; while an unspotted reputation, gained by a virtuous and
consistent life, reflected its lustre on all connected with the Jewish women.
And as it was in the days of old, so is it now, that whatever position in life
we may occupy, we cannot, stand alone. Whether individual conduct bring
disgrace, or win respect, others must share in it. So, too, we all must
influence others; and of all means of moral influence, none is greater than that
of a good reputation. Without it, indeed, all good influence is lost. The
Scripture proverb says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than precious
ointment;” and for the preservation of this good name, a woman’s conduct must
not only be marked by integrity and simplicity, but it must be steady and
uniform. The very shadow of ill, the very appearance of evil, is to be shunned
by every woman professing godliness; and in the eye of the world she should be
blameless, approving herself not only unto God, but also unto men. When we find
it implied that a woman’s character brought an honour to her husband, we are
quite sure that it was marked by consistency. This can be the result only of the
possession of good principles, and of a determination, by the grace of God, to
make these principles the basis, not only of every important duty, but of the
lesser acts of life. It must proceed from a high and enlarged sense of
responsibility, and was never yet attained by any who had not seriously studied
her own particular duties, and cultivated also the duty of firmness. We all rely
fully on a consistent person, and instinctively value his opinion. Every one
must have seen that there are some, who without attempting to gain influence
over others, yet possess it to so great a degree, that even vice stands abashed
in their presence: the swearer will fear to utter his oath; the drunkard will
feel ashamed of his sin; and the frivolous will stay his folly. Even the little
child recognises consistency, and feels the force of reproof or praise uttered
by its possessor. It is remarkable, too, that our characters are generally read
fairly, and well understood by those around us. Weight of character never fails
to make its due impression. We are judged, not only by the expression of our
sentiments—for in these we might deceive—but by the hourly acts which make up
human life, the impulse which prompts the unconsidered word, the very look which
betrays the thought; the little things, which, in their individual
manifestation, seem nothing, yet the amount of which make up our character and
cause it to be rightly read. The ancient custom of holding meetings for public
justice under the gateway of the town, as well as the reference to the elders,
leads us to the conclusion, that the husband of the Jewish woman held some
office of public trust. As early as the time of Abraham, we find business
transactions performed in the gate, when the patriarch purchased the cave of
Machpelah, in the audience of the children of Heth; and the silver was weighed
in the presence of all them that went in at the gate of the city (Genesis
23:10-16). And Boaz bought of Naomi the land of his family, in the presence of
the witnesses at the gateway, and of the elders (Ruth 4:9). The convenience of
the gate, as being not only a regular place of thoroughfare in and out of the
city, but a public place of resort, rendered it peculiarly suitable for the
transfer of property, at a time when written documents were little known, and
the transaction had consequently to be attested by several of the inhabitants of
the neighbourhood. Homer states of the Trojans, that their elders assembled in
the gate to judge of the rights between man and man. In the law of Moses we find
direct reference to the practice of holding law-courts in these entrances to
towns. “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the
Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people
with just judgment” (Deuteronomy 16:18). And when Job looked back on more
prosperous days, and compared with them his state of present sorrow, he says:
“When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the
street: the young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood
up:” (Job 29:7-8), while the mournful Jeremiah predicted as one of the signs of
desolation on his native land, that the elders should cease from the gate. But
besides the business of judging the people of Israel, and of conveying estates
or other property, the gateway was often a market-place; and there were
assembled the merchants who trafficked in the various goods of the East. Thus we
find Elisha announcing to the famished people of Samaria, “To-morrow shall a
measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a
shekel, in the gate of Samaria” (2 Kings 7:1).

It can easily be imagined that a place of such great concourse would become a
resort, not only for men of business, but for men of leisure; and the oriental
gateway held the same place in the town, which is now occupied by the
coffee-house. There neighbours met to talk over the affairs of the city, to
speak of the past, and to speculate on the future; to dwell on the faults of
their fellow townsmen, or to expatiate on their worth. If any man wished to meet
with his neighbour, he went up to the gateway; if he had public news to
communicate, he carried it thither. If he wished to attract the notice, or to
win the ear of the governor of the city, he would sit day by day, as Mordecai
did, in the king’s gate. So, too, we find Isaiah speaking of him “that reproveth
in the gate” (Isaiah 29:21); and Jeremiah delivered his solemn warnings and
commands “in the gate of the children of the people” (Jeremiah 17:19); and it
was when the psalmist felt that he had become the object of the unjust
reproaches of his neighbours, that he said, “They that sit in the gate speak
against me.” (Psalms 69:12)

It does not appear that the assembly of people who thus met in the gateway
formed any hinderance to the passing of the townspeople in and out of the city.
In eastern gateways, in the present day, there is a slightly raised seat on both
sides of the arch; and, under the pleasant shadow of the wall, the man of the
East still lounges and chats, and receives company. Such accommodation no doubt
belonged to the Hebrew gate. There are, besides, on each side of some gateways
open rooms or cells in the walls of the gate, in which a number of people sit
during the greater part of the day.

It was because of the publicity of the Hebrew gateway, that the Lord commanded
the ancient Israelite to write upon it the words of his holy law. Texts of the
sacred book were ordered to be transcribed upon the posts of their houses, and
upon their gates, that all Israel might continually be reminded of the Great
Jehovah, and of his high and holy commands. The labourer, as he went forth to
his fields and his vines, looked up to the written words, and the merchant’s
busy thoughts of gain were sometimes arrested and brought into a different
course. Many a pious Israelite regarded them with love and reverence, and
perhaps, like David, thanked God for them, and could exclaim, “Thy word is very
pure; therefore thy servant loveth it:” and often they suggested thoughts of
prayer, or led the mind of the pious Jew forward to the Great Messiah, who
should come one day to fulfil all those solemn types and shadows which the law
now set forth, and who should, under a more glorious dispensation, himself
magnify the law, and make it honourable.


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  CHAPTER 15: 15. PRO_31:24 - SHE MAKETH FINE LINEN, AND SELLETH IT; AND DELIVERETH GIRDLES UNTO THE MERCHANTS.
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SHE MAKETH FINE LINEN, AND SELLETH IT; AND DELIVERETH GIRDLES UNTO THE
MERCHANTS.

Proverbs 31:24 The Hebrew word translated “fine linen” has been much studied by
the writers on Biblical literature, as our translators have thus rendered
several words from the original. Woollen garments seem to have formed the chief
articles of dress among the ancient Jews; but, both in Egypt and Syria, garments
were also worn of fine linen and cotton, as well as of a substance called
byssus. This latter material seems to have been a fabric of fine muslin—one of
those “webs woven of hair,” which in India are worn at the present day, and
which the Hindoo ladies wrap around them in numerous folds of drapery. It seems
probable that persons of wealth and distinction in Canaan, as well as the
priests and Levites, wore garments of fine linen, either white or dyed; made of
the linen manufactured either in Egypt, or of the somewhat inferior quality made
in the Jewish household, such as was wrought by the excellent woman in the text.
The general culture of flax in Palestine, the statement that the women spun it
for the hangings of the tabernacle, and the still more immediate fact that this
woman, when she worked willingly with her hands, sought flax as well as wool,
leads us to infer that in this passage at least the rendering of linen rather
than silk or cotton is the true one. Although, according to the Talmudists, the
ancient Hebrew wore a woollen garment next his skin by day, yet cleanliness and
comfort rendered it necessary that the nightly dress should be made of linen,
and this appears to have been the general practice. Many of the robes of purple,
scarlet, blue, and other colours, of which we read, appear to have been of a
linen fabric. But this word is thought by some writers to imply a loose inner
garment, generally worn in the East—a kind of shirt. Kimchi thinks the word
signifies a night-covering, and considers that it ought to be translated “linen
sheets.” “The Arabic,” says Dr. Clarke, “gives a remarkable rendering of this
verse: ‘She maketh towels or table-cloths, and sells them to the inhabitants of
Bozra—a city of Mesopotamia—and fine linen, and sells them to the Canaanites.’”
Kitto concurs with the Rabbi in thinking that the word here used, describes
either sheets, or else under garments made of linen. It is the same as is
rendered sheets in the book of Judges, where Samson promised thirty sheets and
thirty changes of raiment, as a reward for guessing his riddle. It is not at all
probable that in this latter case sheets are intended, because when Samson slew
thirty Philistines near Ashkelon, it is hardly to be supposed that they were
carrying their bed-clothes with them. Besides, they would, like all other
eastern beds, have had two sheets, and therefore thirty would have provided
twice the number required, while the shirts taken from the bodies of the slain
would have exactly supplied Samson with the means of performing his promise. As
no pictures or monuments have descended from the people of Israel to the modern
Jew, we have no definite means of ascertaining their mode of dress. Scripture
allusions form our chief guide, but tradition, as well as the costumes figured
on the monuments of the other ancient nations of the East, and the present mode
of dress in Egypt and the Holy Land, afford some assistance. It is still
customary for the Bedouin to wear a cotton or woollen shirt or frock, generally
fastened round the waist with a girdle. This is often, in summer, the only dress
of the poor, and is the usual indoor dress even of the wealthy class of society.
In winter, persons of humble condition wear over this garment the woollen mantle
or “hyke,” a kind of dress very similar to the plaid of the Scottish Highlander.
The hyke may be described as a large woollen blanket, serving as a covering both
for day and for night; and was, most likely, the garment referred to in that
humane provision of the law, where, if the Israelite took a pledge of his poorer
brother, he was enjoined: “In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again
when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee:
and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy
24:13). The Talmud enumerates eighteen several garments, as forming the dress of
the ancient Israelites; and it is evident from Scripture, that many robes and
garments were worn by the rich, though the frock and mantle might serve for the
poor. That fine linen was worn only by persons of distinction in Canaan, is very
apparent, from the value attached to it, and the comparisons it suggested. When
the beloved apostle John wrote, in the isle of Patmos, that solemn revelation of
prophecy, so much of which yet remains unfulfilled to the church and to the
world, the fine linen, pure and white, presented to his mind an image of the
righteousness of the redeemed church. “And to her,” says he, “was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints,”—that spotless robe wrought by the Saviour, for every
child of God, redeemed from among men by the blood of the Lamb, sanctified by
his Spirit, and made meet for tuning the golden harp of the celestial city—that
robe, of which the Saviour says, “I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed;” lest, being unclothed, the sinner should find, at
the great day of God’s judgment, that he was “poor, and miserable, and blind,
and naked, having nothing in which to appear but his own righteousness,” which
the Scripture has declared to be, in the sight of God, but as “filthy rags.” In
a house in which the manufacture of various tissues seems to have been carried
on so diligently, as in that of the excellent woman, linen enough would be
wrought for traffic. Both this and the girdles were probably sold, not only to
the merchants of her own city, but also to the Canaanites, or Phoenicians, who
traded with them to Egypt and other distant lands, which their ships visited.
The continual reference to the girdle in Scripture, establishes the fact, that
among the ancient Hebrews it was considered as necessary an article of attire,
as it is in the present day in oriental countries. Its use in girding the loins
for exertion has been already referred to, but it served also for various other
purposes. The ancient Jews are supposed to have worn two girdles, the one around
the body, under their inner garment, the other around their outer dress. It was
this latter girdle which was tightened for exercise. The wealthy Jews, who
evidently paid much attention to dress, no doubt prided themselves upon the
taste and manufacture of this portion of it. In the present clay, the Arabs
wear, as a girdle, an embroidered shawl, or a figured muslin, and the girdle is
a piece of outward finery throughout the East. Sometimes it is beautifully
wrought with coloured wools or silks, shells, beads, etc. Among the poorer
classes, leathern girdles are still worn, and probably differ little from that
with which John the Baptist fastened his camel’s-hair garments. Leathern girdles
are also worn by the richer Arab, when he prepares his dress for a journey. The
girdle most commonly worn by the ancient Hebrews, was probably made of woollen
fabric, skilfully wrought by woman’s hand with embroidered patterns. It folded
several times round the body, and confined the floating garment. One end of this
girdle was doubled back, and sewn at the edge, so as to form a purse, and was
most likely referred to by our Saviour, when, sending forth his apostles on
their holy mission of love, he said, “Provide neither gold nor silver, nor
brass, in your purses.” The Romans and Greeks also formed their purses by the
folding of the girdle, and there carried their money. Paxton quotes the saying
of C. Gracchus, in Aulus Gellius: “Those girdles which I carried out full of
money, when I went from Rome, I have, at my return from the province, brought
home empty. Forbes mentions that the Mahrattas of the present day generally
carry in their leathern girdles, covered with velvet, their most valuable papers
and precious jewels.

It appears from the Scriptures, that the ancient Hebrews, like the modern Turks,
wore a poniard or sword in their girdle; for we read: “And Joab’s garment that
he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened
upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.” (2
Samuel 20:8). This practice must not be understood as designed for a cruel and
revengeful purpose, but originated in the want of knives. The Turkish secretary,
or writer of modern days, substitutes for this weapon in his girdle, the
ink-horn and the pen; and it seems probable that those among the Jews whose
employments were of a literary character, wore ink-horns in their girdles. Thus
we read in Ezekiel, of one who was clothed with linen, and had an ink-horn by
his side (Ezekiel 9:2). The pens too are placed in the girdle, and the ink-horn
is firmly closed with a clasped lid. The manufacture of girdles for the
merchants, would of course employ many hands. When we consider, too, that
girdles, as well as robes, are in request for presents all over the East, this
alone requires a great supply. The Rev. W. Jowett has said, that the two words
“give, give,” might very properly be taken as a motto to the armorial bearings
of Syria. No one would think of appearing before a great man without a present
in his hand: as, says the proverb, “A man’s gift maketh room for him, and
bringeth him before great men” (Proverbs 18:16); and the habit of giving gifts,
especially of various parts of the dress, extends itself to the most ordinary
occasions. The gift of a girdle from a warrior was evidently a great mark of
friendship. Among the Greeks and Romans, also, it was thus considered. When
Hector and Ajax ceased from the combat in which they had encountered each other,
Hector gave his girdle to Ajax as a token of amity. In the book of Samuel we
find Joab blaming the man who saw Absalom hanging in the wood, in these words,
“Why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee
ten shekels of silver, and a girdle” (2 Samuel 18:11). Jonathan, too, the
“lovely and pleasant” Jonathan, when about to certify the covenant made between
himself and his friend, gave, among other things, his girdle to David; and even
to the present day, the girdle is often loosed and given to one who is beloved.
“And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to
David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle”
(1 Samuel 18:4).


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  CHAPTER 16: 16. PRO_31:25 - STRENGTH AND HONOUR ARE HER CLOTHING; AND SHE SHALL REJOICE IN TIME TO COME.
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STRENGTH AND HONOUR ARE HER CLOTHING; AND SHE SHALL REJOICE IN TIME TO COME.

Proverbs 31:25

The stability of the conduct of this Jewish woman and the good reputation which
it gained her, render this figure sufficiently expressive. She was, indeed,
clothed in strength and honour, and might well rejoice in coming days. For old
age she had prepared something more than a store of mere worldly good. She had
not only been provident of present wealth, and wrought such works as time should
not easily injure—such as she should not blush to acknowledge as hers in future
time,—but she had laid up in the hearts of her husband and children, and the
poor and needy, a treasure of love, which time should not change. Above all, if
the days should come, when, in the figurative language of Solomon, the
grasshopper should be a burden, and desire should fail, and the almond tree
should blossom, her help and stay would be on God, her hope and trust in heaven,
and the joy of the Lord should be her strength. He who had sustained her through
the active period of life; who had kept alive in her heart his love and fear, at
a period when temptations from outward circumstances and inward feelings were
great, would not fail her, in days when exertion would become toil, and when the
desire of rest had taken the place of pleasure in her heart; for he had said,
“Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.”

How beautiful and graceful is the repose of the aged servant of God! How placid
the mental rest and assurance of one who has served God from youth upward! The
Christian graces, mellowed by time, shine now with a mild and settled lustre,
and the meek waiting upon God diffuses over the later hours of life its calm and
steady light, like the soft tints which the moon casts on the tranquil sea.
Every one too must rejoice, who has been enabled, by God’s grace, to maintain
through life a consistent profession of holiness; and to have spent the days in
useful employment, must bring to old age its pleasant recollections. No
self-gratulation would indeed fill the pious mind on a review of the past. “Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name” be the praise (Psalms 115:1),
would be the exclamation of one who opened her mouth with wisdom; but she would
trace with thankfulness, how God had led her all her life through the
wilderness; how he had placed her in a land where his ordinances were known, and
his name honoured; and had enabled her to conduct her household in the fear of
the Lord, and to provide them with every temporal and spiritual good. For such
blessings she would rejoice in the time to come, in the season of grey hairs;
for such pleasant remembrances, she would lift up her heart to God and be
thankful. But the time to come may have reference to the day of death—to that
solemn hour of final parting with earth—to that glorious moment of entering
heaven; and at a period when the worldly woman might shrink with fear, she might
rejoice in the Lord. For David sang, and the response to his harp has been
echoed by millions of God’s children in the last hour: “Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art
with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalms 23:4). Leaning on this
staff, how many pious men and women of all ages have entered the valley, singing
as they went! Many years before this time Jacob had said on his dying bed, “I
have waited for thy salvation, O Lord;” and Job, full of a fervent faith, had
exclaimed, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet
in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26). We have not recorded for us the
last breathings of Moses, yet how calmly and cheerfully did he resign his
breath! and when the Lord bade him go up alone to Mount Nebo, and to die there,
after having given his last glance to the promised land, what was his testimony
of his heavenly Father? “Yea,” said the dying saint, “the Lord loved his
people;” and looking up to God, he added, “all his saints are in thy hand”
(Deuteronomy 33:3), and thus he rejoiced in God, when heart and flesh were
failing. “Ah!” said a holy woman known to the writer, “in a few moments I shall
be in heaven; I have nothing to do now; I am only waiting: oh, how I long to be
released! Christ is with me; nature may fail, but he never will.” The “time to
come” may also have reference to eternity—to the unending myriads of years to be
spent in the presence of God—to the days of glory to be passed in that heavenly
city, to which the pious Jew, as well as the Christian, was tending, where the
inhabitant shall no more go out. And who shall describe or imagine the joys of
heaven? What earthly tongue shall tell of the rejoicing in that time to come,
when the Lord shall say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord?”


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  CHAPTER 17: 17. PRO_31:26 - SHE OPENETH HER MOUTH WITH WISDOM; AND IN HER TONGUE IS THE LAW OF KINDNESS.
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SHE OPENETH HER MOUTH WITH WISDOM; AND IN HER TONGUE IS THE LAW OF KINDNESS.

Proverbs 31:26

It is pleasing to turn from the contemplation of the active duties of this
Jewish matron, to the gentle graces which adorn her character. So many proofs of
practical judiciousness are exhibited in this portraiture, that we are not
surprised to find that she also opened her mouth with wisdom. It is, however, a
most difficult part of self-government to guard the tongue. The apostle James
recognised this, when he said, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a
perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” And yet how important a
medium of good or ill is conversation! The children in a household gather
instruction not only from direct teaching, but from the casual expressions to
which they listen. A word spoken in due season, how good is it! and happy are
they, who form part of the domestic circle of one whose piety and experience of
life enable her to give wise counsels, and to utter sentiments of justice and
truth! The wisdom for which this woman is commended, related not alone to the
things of the present world. She was one who feared the Lord. She could tell to
her listening household of the wonders of nature, of the deliverances wrought by
God’s providence to ancient Israel. How he brought them through the Red Sea, and
out of the land of bondage, and gave them the promised country. She could point
to the infallible laws of nature, and show that the morning sun and the evening
star never disappointed him who watched for them in the heavens. She could point
to the lily of the field, which bloomed at its appointed season, and to the
swallow which knew the time of its coming, and infer from them, that he who gave
his written promise would as assuredly fulfil this also. She could discern, in
the types and figures of God’s law, the shadows of a more glorious future; and
the promise of Messiah, the Hope of Israel, who was to bring comfort and
holiness to the church of God, was a living fountain of joy in her bosom.
Doubtless, too, she could tell of family and individual mercies, for God never
implanted his fear in any human heart, but in that heart was awakened a chord of
love and gratitude, which excited it to praise. She could remind her children of
God’s solemn commands, and, speaking of the saints of older times, could bid
them to be “not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherited the promises.” Hers was the wisdom described in Scripture, as that
which cometh from above, which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy
to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy” (James 3:17). But the wisdom of the Jewish woman related not alone to
the things of our better life, it took cognizance also of the affairs of this.
While she did not always speak of the things of religion, she spoke always as a
religious woman, as one who felt the responsibility of life and duty.

“Methinks we see thee, as in olden times, Unmoved by pomp or circumstance—in
truth, Inflexible, and with a Spartan zeal Repressing vice and making folly
grave. Thou didst not deem it woman’s part to waste Life in inglorious sloth—to
sport awhile Amid the flowers, or on the summer wave, Then flee, like the
ephemeron, away; Building no temple in her children’s hearts, Save to the vanity
and pride of life Which she had worshipped.” The wisdom with which this woman
opened her mouth, was most likely that derived from experience of life, from
thought and observation, and a knowledge of her own heart. It was something
better than mere learning, and did not consist in a simple acquaintance with
facts. Facts, with such a woman, would form the basis of intelligent thought;
and while her wisdom would not be opposed to cheerful converse and the play of
fancy, it would discountenance sin and folly, and all profane jestings or
irreligious allusions, and qualify her to give good counsels as a mother in
Israel.

“Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connexion. Knowledge
dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to
their own. Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, The mere material with which
wisdom builds, Till smoothed and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but
encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so
much— Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.”

It is a beautiful and appropriate praise of woman, that on her tongue is the law
of kindness. When we look on this fallen world, and see what misery has been
brought into it by sin; that the storm, and the famine, and poverty, and
sickness, bring sufferings which none can avert; and when we see, too, that
there exist sorrows deeper still than these, and hear the expressions wrung out
from hearts full of anguish, how strange does it seem, that any should add to
the afflictions of life by a want of kindness, or aggravate by cruel words the
bitterness with which the heart is already breaking! And if the sorrows of life
demand sympathy and help from every member of the human family—if it is by
bearing one another’s burdens that we are to fulfil the law of Christ, surely
there is an especial claim on woman for deeds and words of kindness. On her
devolve all the tender offices of life. To her care is given the frail and
helpless infant, needing from the hour of its birth all that deep and earnest
solicitude, and patience, and self-denial, which God has provided for in the
richness and fulness of maternal love. In her charge, too, is placed the simple
child, with its questionings of wonder, and its innocent confidence; needing the
exercise of love and tenderness, to restrain the sinful propensities of its
nature, and to lead into the paths of peace. And where is woman’s kindness more
often needed, or more often seen, than in the chamber of sickness? It is hers to
watch through days and nights by the couch of suffering; to tread so softly as
not to disturb the lightest sleep; to anticipate every want; to bear patiently
with the irritability of pain; and to minister relief with a tact and
unweariedness, to be found no where so securely as in woman’s love. It is often
woman’s lot, too, to point the dying man to that atonement for sin, which the
death of the Saviour has provided; and frequently, in dwellings where the foot
of the man of God may not have found its way, she may be found bringing the
joyful tidings of salvation to the repentant sinner.

“O woman! though thy fragile form Bows like the willow to the storm, Ill suited
in unequal strife To brave the ruder scenes of life: Yet, if the power of grace
Divine Find in thy lowly heart a shrine; Then, in thy very weakness strong, Thou
winn’st thy noiseless course along; Weaving thine influence with the ties Of
sweet domestic charities, And softening haughtier spirits down By happy contact
with thine own.”

God has provided for woman’s duties, by endowing her with the faculties which
tend to their performance. He has given the quick sensibility; the lively
imagination, which helps her to guess, by a word or glance, at the feelings of
others; and in most cases a warm devotion to those whom she loves: and it cannot
be denied, that impulses of kindness are generally found in the female sex. It
remains for a holier motive than mere human feeling, to make this kindness
constant and enduring; and it needs a sense of duty, derived from a
consideration of love to God, to enable woman to be kind always, and be kind to
all, even her enemies, and especially to let all her words be governed by the
law of kindness.

It is often a painful subject of remark, that sometimes the very woman whose
kind acts may be depended on is guilty of a serious want of kindness in her
conversation; but it must be admitted that many, even of the educated in our own
land—nay, many even among Christian women, are lamentably deficient in this
respect. This we shall see, if we consider to what the law of kindness in the
tongue is opposed. It is opposed to angry words. How many yield to angry
passions, and utter, in unguarded moments, words which can never be recalled,
and which leave a painful impression on others not to be effaced, while they
thus lay up for themselves a store of bitter remembrances! Many reproofs are
given in anger, which excite in the person reproved no feeling but that of ill
will; whereas, had they spoken wisely and gently, they might have softened the
heart. Anger is a temporary madness, discomposing the spirit and rendering it
unfit either for earthly duty or heavenly communion. It is, as the proverb
declares, “a snare to the soul.” A person cannot pray while under its influence.
How can we ask for sins to be forgiven, if we are either angry without a cause,
or even on lawful causes are carrying anger too far? or who can turn, in the
midst of proud and angry words, to the lowly prayer, the confession of sin, the
deep humility of heart, with which alone we can approach the footstool of
Jehovah? It is not before God’s throne that we can indulge in wrath; and as we
may at any moment be called to die, so we ought at every moment to be fit for
prayer. And wrath and anger are especially sinful and displeasing in a woman, as
gentleness is her especial virtue. “A man,” says a female writer, “in a furious
passion is terrible to his enemies: but a woman in a passion is disgusting to
her friends; she loses the respect due to her sex, and she has not masculine
strength and courage to enforce any other species of respect.”

There is indeed an anger which is not sinful, nor contrary to the law of
kindness which should ever govern a woman’s tongue. There is a righteous
indignation against sin and oppression, which we find enjoined in Scripture by
the words, “Be ye angry, and sin not,” and which the holy apostles, and even our
Saviour himself, so often expressed while on earth. Had not public anger been
shown against slavery, our country might still have laboured under its heavy
guilt, and our fellow-creatures under its mighty curse. Against this, as against
other national and individual sins, woman’s voice was not wanting to express
displeasure, nor was woman’s hand slow to aid the great philanthropists who
sought its extinction. So in private life, warm and indignant words against
wrong and guilt, so far from offending God, are often marked by his approbation,
as proofs of that deep feeling of right, and that moral courage, for which the
holy woman of the text was commended by the pen of inspiration. The apostle
James, whose epistle contains more admonitions against the sins of the tongue
than can be found in any other portion of holy writ, has said, “The tongue is a
fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth
the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire
of hell” (James 3:6). Oh! beautiful on woman’s lips is the law of kindness,
turning away wrath by a soft answer; bearing with the irritabilities or the
infirmities of others, who have had fewer advantages in early training;
enforcing truth with gentleness and persuasion, and uttering that love which is
described by St. Paul, as that which “beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, and endureth all things” (1 Chronicles 13:7). But far more
commonly, among women in general, is the law of kindness violated by
censoriousness, or by sarcastic remark, than by anger. This sin of the tongue is
peculiar to neither sex, but is one which prevails to a great extent in female
society. The peculiar faculties of women, as well as their habits, make this an
offence against which they ought to be watchful. In them exist a quickness of
perception and imagination, and consequently a ready sense of the ludicrous; and
these, combined with a facility of speech, a power of detail, and often a great
degree of leisure, expose them to the temptation of indulging in that “evil
speaking,” which God’s word has commanded us to put far away from us. The habit
of censuring the absent has much in it which ought to be offensive to every
generous mind. “Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf,” is one of the commands
of the law of Moses, which appeals to every right sentiment; yet the same
principle might be carried further, and lead us to avoid speaking ill of the
absent. Nor is censoriousness chargeable only on those who strive to exaggerate
the reports of evil which they may have heard, or who put on them the worst
possible construction. To a sin like this surely Christian women cannot be
addicted; but many, alas! are not exempt from the habit of dwelling, in
conversation, on the actual faults and follies of others. Few seem to think it
is a sin, yet it is decidedly opposed to the law of kindness that should
regulate the tongue. It is a practice, too, which increases by indulgence.

It may begin by an expression of displeasure against vice, but soon advances to
a watchfulness for offences in others. If we are to make a man an offender for a
word; if we are to watch narrowly for his faults, it is generally easy enough to
find some cause of censure. In many things we offend all; and few indeed are
they who can be found always exempt from the blame of censoriousness. But when
we are speaking of the faults of our neighbour, we are sinning against love. And
how many are the reputations which have been injured by the repetition of casual
remarks! Well might the Hebrew sage declare, that “life and death are in the
power of the tongue;” for unkind remarks, and unjust suspicions, have sometimes
subjected the sensitive to griefs more distressing than even death itself.

“Oh! never, never let us fling The barb of woe to wound another; Oh! never let
us haste to bring The cup of sorrow to a brother.” And who are they who are
foremost to detect the faults of others, and to judge them severely? Certainly
not those who have watched most diligently over their own hearts. They who have
striven and longed most for conformity to the law of God, and to the example of
the Saviour, know best, how many graces need diligent cultivation, how many sins
need to be subdued. They know, too, that often when they have believed that some
sin had been conquered, it has, in an unguarded hour, again given them sorrow,
and again they have had to pray for help, and to strive against it. And ever has
it been seen, that the best and holiest are the most pitiful; and that they who
have the law of kindness on the tongue are the very women who are most likely
also to open the mouth with wisdom, and to live in the consistent practice of
every feminine duty. And the sarcastic reply, too, how frequently does it wound!
If others sin, we are not to let that sin pass unnoticed. “Thou shalt in any
wise rebuke thy brother, and not suffer sin upon him.” But in what way is
reproof to be administered? We are told to rebuke with all long-suffering and
gentleness. Sin is a deep evil: it is not to be spoken of lightly, nor to be the
subject of a bitter jest. It is to engage our earnest expostulation. The apostle
spoke, even weeping, of those who were enemies to the cross of Christ; and with
a conviction of our sinful nature, and our dependence on the grace of God for
safety, we are to reprove others. Sarcasm should never be on the lip of a
Christian woman, for she, indeed, should ever be found with the law of kindness
on her tongue. If bitterness is in the word of reproof, the reprover is not
sinless; and her rebuke does not originate from the love of God, and the hatred
of sin, but from the indulgence of a sinful nature. Pride must not be met by
pride: pride in others is never cured by being mortified and insulted, but is
rather increased into hatred and revenge. Wherefore, putting away all wrath and
malice, and evil speaking, “be kindly affectioned one to another” (Romans
12:10). The law of kindness is often broken, also, by haughty words spoken to
inferiors, when, forgetful that the dependant is one of God’s large family, he
is addressed as a stranger and an alien. The haughty look and the proud heart
are an abomination unto the Lord. Pride ever proceeds, too, from an ignorance of
ourselves, as Wordsworth has said:—

“He who feels contempt for any living thing Has faculties within his soul which
he has never used; And thought with him is in its infancy.” Who has not marked
the mild and blessed influence of her on whose tongue is the law of kindness? It
is to such a woman that the little child comes for direction. It is to such that
the sufferer tells his tale of sorrow, in full certainty of that ready sympathy,
which can do so much to lessen it; and whether the tale be that of bodily pain,
or of the deeper woe of mental emotion; whether it be of the convinced spirit
struggling with a sense of sin, and with only a vague idea of the possibility of
pardon, or perhaps with no idea at all; or whether it be some temporary cause of
depression, some worldly loss, or some unexpected unkindness, yet all may be
soothed by the gentle accents of compassion and tenderness. How many quarrels
are averted by the mediation and counsel of such a woman! how many beginnings of
strife stopped in their progress by a word of gentle remonstrance! and how many
little domestic troubles prevented or met by her kindly warning or
encouragement! And let no woman say that she cannot acquire a sweet temper; that
she cannot always have on her lips the law of kindness. She may be naturally
irritable, and, worse still, her natural irritability may never have been
checked by the restraining power of early education; but there is a deeper and
fuller restraining influence than even that—namely, the principle of love to
God; and the cultivation of this love in the heart will lead to a prayer for
holiness of heart and lip, which never goes up to Heaven unanswered, and to a
constant and earnest striving with a besetting sin, which God’s Holy Spirit will
aid and bless.


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  CHAPTER 18: 18. PRO_31:27 - SHE LOOKETH WELL TO THE WAYS OF HER HOUSEHOLD, AND EATETH NOT THE BREAD OF IDLENESS.
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SHE LOOKETH WELL TO THE WAYS OF HER HOUSEHOLD, AND EATETH NOT THE BREAD OF
IDLENESS.

Proverbs 31:27

When we consider the great influence which family training has on the world at
large, we cannot wonder that He who divided mankind into families, should so
commend the woman who looked well to the ways of those who compose the circle
which she superintends. The constant recognition of family duties, the emphatic
injunctions that women should be keepers at home, and love their husbands and
love their children, all lead us to the remembrance that God is not only the God
of each individual, but that he is indeed the God of all families. It was the
praise given of the patriarch, by Jehovah, “I know Abraham, that he will command
his household after him.” Moses reminded the ancient Hebrew, that the statutes
of God were not for himself only, but that “they were for his son’s son, all the
days of his life;” and added to his command, the assurance “that it may be well
with thee, and with thy children after thee.” The Great Founder of human
families knew that it could be well only with the people in general, in
proportion as household duty and religion were taught and practised. From the
house—the quiet hearth—the peaceful vine-arbour—were to go forth those who
should form the future nation. And still the senator and the philosopher, the
philanthropist and the missionary, go from the house of youth full of the
sentiments which they have learned there, and with their habits formed on the
model of home.

There is something so endearing in the ties which weave around the early home,
that every human heart feels their power. The gentle words of a mother’s love,
the counsels of a father’s wisdom, how do they return with freshness and
vividness upon the spirit, long after the lips which uttered them have mingled
with the dust; and are awakened with all their power, by some little incident,
some casual word—the sight of a handwriting—the scent of a flower. The Rev.
James Hamilton records the narrative of one who unexpectedly joined with a
family in the solemn service of family prayer; one who had wandered from God and
truth, yet was recalled to religion and duty by this circumstance. And was it
the word of God, as uttered in that prayer, which subdued the proud spirit of
infidelity? No! he heard it not: his heart was filled with the remembrances of
home. He thought of the peaceful hearth on which his own father once knelt, and
commended to God his surrounding family. All the guilt which he had incurred by
his forgetfulness of the prayers and lessons of home rushed upon his spirit, and
from that hour he sought the God of his fathers. And who has never felt a deep
emotion, at the thought of the home of his youth? The child at school yearns for
his home; the sailor on the deep is full of thoughts of that one happy spot of
earth; and when the angry waves threaten his bark, his heart swells with the
remembrance of home. The prodigal who wilfully left that home is often led back
to the paths of virtue and religion, as some of its teachings are brought to his
mind. And the exile, and the weary wanderer—is not home to them so dear, as that
they cannot name it but with a trembling breath? and as the moon smiles out on
the scene of their exile, does not the recollection that she smiles too on their
home, bow down even the strong man, and bring tears into the eyes of those who
are little used to weep? And the wanderer on this world’s wilderness, who has
found that earth has no home for him, can any sweeter description be given to
him, or one which speaks more touchingly to his heart of a future world, than
this, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9)—a
home never to change—a mansion that passeth not away? When God gives to a
mother’s care a helpless child, what a solemn charge does the mother receive! A
being born for eternity, a creature destined to everlasting happiness or misery,
is committed to her, and its future character and destiny in great measure
dependent on her instruction and example—its eternal condition often determined
by the hours spent in the home of its parents. And God has given great
encouragement to the mother who looks well to the ways of her household; for
when he says, “Train up a child in the way he should go,” he adds the promise,
“and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). This promise
has often been fulfilled in the holy and useful lives of those whose home has
proved a nursery for God. And though the child of a pious mother may stray in
youth from the ways of wisdom, yet often he returns to the path of truth before
he is old. And when we see the child of religious parents wandering on in error
and vice, and at last dying impenitent, shall we conclude that the promise of
God has failed? Alas! it is not every pious mother who looks well to the ways of
her household. The love of the creature sometimes overpowers for a time the love
of the Creator; and, as in the case of the sons of Eli, the child is too often
left to his uncontrolled passions, and the mother, in helpless sorrow, looks on
the growth of vices which it was her duty to check, and drinks at last, with
bitter anguish, the cup which her own mismanagement and indulgence had filled.
She can value and keep God’s word herself, but has not courage to command her
children, or to make them obey. Nor is it only while the child forms one of his
parents’ household, that there is a danger of failing in the duty of training
him rightly. Many a pious parent fulfils to the children under his roof the
command given to God’s ancient people when Moses said: “These words, which I
command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine
house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:7), But ambition, and the love of the world, which
seemed to have been stifled in the parent’s heart for himself, are sometimes
awakened for his child. He may have seemed to learn the lesson of being content
with lowly things, but is tempted to seek great things for his children. How
often do we see this when a child is sent forth from his own home! Some school,
eminent for the learning and accomplishments of its instructor, is preferred to
that in which piety forms the basis of education. Some eligible appointment
presents itself. Some means of increasing riches—some opportunity of forming
connexions, which may be of use in advancing his progress in the world, is
offered, and the child, trained in his parents’ household to the duties of
religion and virtue, is sent into the world at an age when his character is
unformed, into scenes of great danger. And then come the bitter consequences.
The youth forgets the counsels of wisdom; he stifles the voice of conscience;
and the pleasures of the world allure him. Perhaps he loses his morality, or
even if his outward conduct remains the same, yet spiritual religion gradually
loses its influence; and the very mother, who in early life looked diligently to
his ways, has perhaps joined her efforts in sending him thus unshielded into the
world. The looking well to the ways of her household, includes also the care of
domestic servants: and the maidens to whom the Jewish matron gave their portion
of food and work were doubtless guarded from evil by her watchful prudence. Some
mistresses appear to think that little responsibility attaches to them with
regard to servants, and that so long as they provide them with home, and food,
and wages, they perform all the duty required. But the ways of every member of a
household should be looked to, by her whom Providence has placed at the head of
a family. The habits of life, the moral and religious character of each, should
be regarded by the mistress; and if an ignorant servant becomes a member of a
household, she should be instructed. It is plainly the duty of all to lead a
useful life, and it is in the immediate circle that we are to commence our
labours. The mistress of a family, while remembering that her own advantages of
training may have been superior to those placed under her care, should strive
that every servant who enters her dwelling should be benefited during her
residence there. Especially she should employ the means of restraint with which
she is endowed by her authority, to prevent any irregularity of conduct, and the
practice of any wrong habits. She should see to the ways of her household, by
taking care that every one composing it should attend the means of religion.
Time and opportunity should be given for serving God. Her authority should keep
them from scenes of vice and dissipation, and from evil company; and in forming
her domestic plans, it is hers to regulate both their comfort and their duty, on
the broad principle of Christian benevolence: “Whatsoever ye would that others
should do unto you, do ye also unto them.”

It is desirable for the comfort of a family, and for its permanent welfare, that
the servants should be rightly directed and kindly treated. Such conduct meets
its immediate reward. Children are necessarily influenced by them, and in that
respect the character of servants is most important to every household. In every
family in which they are kept, their performance of duty is requisite for order
and comfort, and this must be determined by their moral character. Their willing
service, and even their thoughtful tenderness, are required in the hour of
sickness; and their sympathy and help are sometimes wanted in the day of sorrow.
During that awful season of tragic suffering comprised in the French revolution,
many valuable lives were saved by the attachment of confidential servants; and
that period, remarkable for the exhibition of some of the deepest crimes, and
some of the sweetest virtues of human nature, presents a record of devoted men
and maidens, who counted not even their own lives dear unto them, so that they
might rescue from danger some mistress whose former kindness had cheered them,
or some helpless child whom they once had carried in their arms. The history of
the church of God, too, could present details of holy and useful servants, from
the time when Phoebe was a servant at Cenchrea, and Onesimus was dear to the
apostle Paul, to the recent days when the Dairyman’s Daughter performed her
humble duties with exalted faith and fervent piety, till her spirit sought its
heavenly home, and her frame was laid in its lowly grave. A woman so well taught
in wisdom’s ways as the matron of the text, would know well that idleness leads
certainly to vice and sorrow. Idleness and fulness of bread were the vices
mentioned as exciting God’s wrath against the sinful Sodom, and were doubtless
the chief means of fostering all its depravity. It is, indeed, the source of a
thousand ills, and so certain a cause of discomfort, that happier is he who
earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, than he who spends his life in
indolence. Cheerfulness is almost the necessary result of moderate employment,
just as ennui and languor are the consequences of a life without pursuit.
“Idleness,” says old Burton, somewhat quaintly, “is the badge of gentry; the
bane of body and mind; the nurse of naughtiness; the step-mother of discipline;
the chief author of all mischief; one of the seven deadly sins; the cushion on
which the devil chiefly reposes; and a great cause, not only of melancholy, but
of many other diseases: for the mind is naturally active, and if it be not
occupied about some honest business, it rushes into mischief, or sinks into
melancholy.” And what woman would wish so to pass her life that at death she
should not be missed? Of how many might it be said that the world and the home
could well spare them; but who can tell the worth of a life spent in useful
occupation? It is not till the seat is vacant on which the busy matron sat; it
is not till the implements of industry lie by unused, till the animating voice
is silent, and the busy hand is still, that we fully perceive how much was done
hourly, and quietly, and surely in the well-regulated home. From many such a
hearth, when the mother has been taken, the comfort of home is gone too; and
ill-managed children, once so tenderly cared for, show their orphan condition to
every passer by. There is a solemn responsibility attaching to life—a
responsibility only to be met by active exertion; and a woe is denounced against
the idle. A woman who looked well to the ways of her household, would not only
herself avoid eating the bread of idleness, but she would see that each one had
a suitable engagement; and every one who is the mother of a family not compelled
to work, should strive to interest her children in some one employment which
they should cultivate with pleasure, and which should call forth their latent
energies. Much may be done for the young, by consulting their tastes, and
encouraging them in some pursuit; and the skill to select this does not require
in the mother so much talent, as the exertion of that tact which is so common to
women, and which, like many other faculties, is rendered stronger by a woman’s
affection.

One of the first aims of education should be to promote activity of mind; and
the acquisition of a taste for simple and unexpensive pleasures is, in itself,
so valuable a source of enjoyment, that it is to be regretted, that this is also
not made a more usual part of education. On this account, may be recommended the
study of the various departments of natural history and science. It may seem to
matter little indeed, that a woman should be a botanist, or an entomologist;
though all would allow that these pursuits might afford much pleasure: but the
activity of mind, and the power of application and observation, which such a
study will awaken, is of incalculable worth. Plutarch said that a woman who
studied geometry would not be fond of dancing; and we may add, that a woman who
feels interested in studies of this nature, will neither be frivolous nor idle.
But it is only to the few that the choice of the pursuits of life is left. The
many are called to work in this anxious, toiling world, and thousands are
sighing for that leisure which others waste so carelessly. But has active and
regular employment no advantages? Does not the heart fill with pleasure when the
eye marks the fruit of exertion? and does not the hour of occasional recreation
bring with it far more of enjoyment, and is it not fuller of life, than is the
day of indolence to the unemployed? Above all, is not the busy man or woman
living the life which God has ordained? His own word has said, “If any will not
work, neither shall he eat.” The ancient Hebrews had all their occupations. The
rich and the poor were alike taught in the knowledge of some business, by which
they might labour with hand or head; nor did rank or station exempt any from
useful toil. And the result of this industry was a thoughtful and provident
people; a nation standing out from oriental nations generally, as marked by an
energy and force of character, much of which has descended to the modern Jew,
under all the varied circumstances of place and time. In the consideration of
the Christian graces, one cannot help remarking that they are all active. Piety
is not to consist in quiet contemplation, but in active duty. If we read in the
Scripture of love, then there is the labour of love; and every kind heart knows
the truth of the proverb, that love can make labour light. If we read of faith,
it is of an active faith—a work of faith—a faith which overcometh the world. If
of hope, then is it a hope powerful enough to expel sin, since he who hath this
hope purifieth himself, even as God is pure. Holy principle must lead to holy
practice; and the woman who, while professing to serve God, neglects the duty of
caring for her household, dishonours her Christian profession, and brings
disgrace upon God’s cause. Even the Great Creator of the universe himself is
represented as active. Our Saviour remarked, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I
work.” Our blessed Lord lived a life of unwearied labour in the cause of man.
The angels, too, are represented as employed, not only in tuning their harps of
gold and singing the songs of the celestial city, but as winging their way to
this world on ministries of love; and who shall say how much they who shall be
heirs of salvation are indebted to their guardian care?


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  CHAPTER 19: 19. PRO_31:28 - HER CHILDREN ARISE UP, AND CALL HER BLESSED: HER HUSBAND ALSO, AND HE PRAISETH HER.
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HER CHILDREN ARISE UP, AND CALL HER BLESSED: HER HUSBAND ALSO, AND HE PRAISETH
HER.

Proverbs 31:28

The expression of rising up to bless the parent may have some allusion to the
eastern practice of rising and bowing to the ground before the head of the
family, as this mode of reverence is very general. Its full meaning, however,
appears to be that in which it would be taken in our land; that the children
rise from infancy to childhood, and on to youth and manhood, with hearts full of
affection, and grateful recollections of the worth of an excellent mother.

It has been said that home praise is the truest praise; and it is certain we can
be known by none so well as by those who surround the family hearth. A far
higher virtue and more consistent excellence belongs to her of whom all her
household can speak well, than to those who can shine only in company, and who
require but the charms of politeness and the graces of conversation to gain
approval. And how pleasant is it to hear the blessings bestowed by the child on
the name of the good mother! Who shall tell the hours of anxiety, the words of
care and tenderness, which such a mother has bestowed on his infancy; the
sleepless nights, and careful days, and all the maternal solicitudes, which
shielded from harm his childhood and early youth; and which, as he grew older,
changed their mode of expression, but never lost sight of their object? Truly
did Gray say, “We can never have but one mother.” No love, not even the
tenderest, can equal hers; for she will love on, though sickness should wither
the flower and turn all its beauty into decay; and fix her firmest and deepest
affection on that one of her children who has the least of outward grace and
loveliness. Her love, unlike all others, can withstand neglect, and ingratitude,
and forgetfulness. The prodigal son may stray from his home, and the world may
frown on him—and frown justly; and all the love of neighbours, or of friends, or
even of brother or sister, may have been worn out by his folly and wickedness;
yet is there a stream of love in the mother’s heart, ever fresh and ever living;
he is still her own loved son; and one word of penitence, one look of sorrow,
will win forgiveness for a life of unkindness. The love of a mother is like the
bounty of God, who “causeth his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

It is indeed a sure proof of their excellent education, when all the children of
a family can arise and call their mother blessed. And when all are gathered in
the circle of love, such a home presents the loveliest scene on earth.

“Domestic Happiness, thou only bliss Of Paradise that has survived the fall!
Though few now taste thee unimpaired and pure; Or tasting, long enjoy thee; too
infirm Or too incautious to preserve thy sweets Unmixed with drops of bitter,
which neglect Or temper sheds into thy crystal cup. Thou art the nurse of
Virtue—in thine arms She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is, Heaven-born, and
destined to the skies again.” When the law was given from Mount Sinai to ancient
Israel, we find included in it not only the reverence of the father, but “Thou
shalt honour thy father and thy mother,” was its direct injunction. It would be
from the lip of his mother that the Jewish child would learn his most sacred
lessons. It must be remembered that the young Israelite had no school but his
home. He was not sent away from the paternal roof to gather learning; but under
its happy shadow he learned, from his parents’ lips, his knowledge of business,
of life and duty, and became early familiar with the law of God. He had not,
perhaps, even his smaller Bible to refer to, but this law was taught in the
house when the family met together; it was written up upon the gates of the
city, and read aloud by the priests and Levites to assembled multitudes. It does
not seem that, previous to the Babylonish captivity, the ancient Israelites had
schools, save those for the “sons of the prophets”—the pious youths who were
destined to be teachers in Israel—but many a mother’s tongue could tell of
Israel’s Hope, the glorious Messiah, the Prince of the people, for whom every
devout Israelite was hoping and looking; and for whose advent the Hebrew matron
was so anxious, that she grieved if she was childless, because she hoped that
from her house might spring forth the “Prophet like unto Moses.” Guided by his
mother’s hand, the Jewish child went to the temple which God had chosen. From
her lip he learned the meaning of those yearly festivals, when every male among
the Jews appeared in Jerusalem, the holy city; and when, in after times, they
sang, as they went up, that beautiful psalm—“I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O
Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: whither the
tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks unto the name of the Lord” (Psalms 122:1-4). And thus the pious Hebrew
mother would weave with her child’s earliest impressions, a store of
associations to bless his after years. Oh that every mother in our own land
would make her home a nursery for God; and teach such Christian principle, and
enjoin such Christian practice, as would fully insure her children’s love; then
of every British mother might it be said, “Her children arise up, and call her
blessed.” The husband of the excellent woman is represented as adding his praise
to that of the younger members of the family. He could indeed point to her
example for their imitation. He could praise her, not alone for the comfort
which her useful energy cast throughout his home, but for the sweetness which
her gentleness and goodness brought into it, and which rendered it so
attractive. He could tell of enjoyment provided by her industry; of anxieties
prevented by her caution; of sorrows lightened by her sympathy; and could
perhaps look around on children walking in the fear of the Lord, who learned
that fear from the teaching of their mother.

“Oh, say to mothers what a holy charge Is theirs!—with what a kingly power their
love Might rule the fountain of the new-born mind! Warn them to wake at early
dawn, and sow Good seed before the world hath sown her tares; Nor in their toil
decline—that angel bands May put their sickle in, and reap for God, And gather
to his garner.”


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  CHAPTER 20: 20. PRO_31:29 - MANY DAUGHTERS HAVE DONE VIRTUOUSLY, BUT THOU EXCELLEST THEM ALL.
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MANY DAUGHTERS HAVE DONE VIRTUOUSLY, BUT THOU EXCELLEST THEM ALL.

Proverbs 31:29

It does not seem probable that this high commendation is intended to be taken by
the inspired writer as the praise given by God to the Jewish matron.
Commentators generally refer, it to the warm expression of affection and esteem
uttered either by her husband or children, on a review of her consistent and
valuable life. Nor was this expression of an overflowing affection without
justice or truth for one who acted so well would far exceed in virtue the
generality of wives and mothers, and would probably be superior in worth to any
woman known by those who praised her. The Septuagint, Syriac; and other versions
render this passage, “Many daughters have gathered riches;” and as industry
seems to have been a ruling feature in the character of Hebrew women generally,
at this early period, this rendering would not be unsuitable. In such case, the
praise would extend not only to the number of garments which she had wrought for
merchandise, but to her skill in acquiring property, and her care in preventing
an unnecessary expenditure of wealth. But although so finished a degree of
excellence as that recorded in this beautiful poem must, at any period of this
world’s history, have been a rare attainment, yet a great degree of loveliness
and virtue marked many of the women of early days. To all the mental vigour, and
industry, and noble sentiments which belong to the matron of ancient Rome, the
Jewish female seems to have added a warm, enthusiastic, and gentle tenderness,
which renders her lovelier than the sterner Roman lady; and which, while it
commands our respect, wins a deeper and warmer love. Nor was the Hebrew woman
wanting in that clear intellect, or versatility of talent, which fitted her for
rivalling the Grecian dame in the lighter and more graceful accomplishments of
life. The commands of Moses, the writings of the prophets—nay, the very history
of the creation of the world, on which the eye of the ancient Israelite
pondered, all taught that woman was not intended for the slave of man.
Recognising the woman as an immortal being, providing for her protection and
comfort, giving to her, as to her husband, the assurances of God’s favour and
the hopes of a future life, presenting her to the Hebrew as the mother of the
coming Messiah, the Jewish woman was raised above that degradation to which the
oriental female was subjected; and still, even in Asia, enjoys a freedom and an
importance unknown among other Asiatics. “The singular beauty of the Hebrew
women,” says an interesting writer, “and the natural warmth of their affections,
having conspired to throw gems of domestic loveliness over the pages of the
Bible. In no history can there be found a greater number of charming female
portraits. From Hagar, down to Mary and Martha, the Bible presents pictures of
womanly beauty that are unsurpassed and rarely paralleled. But we should very
imperfectly represent, in these general remarks, the formative influence of the
female character as seen in the Bible, did we not refer these amiable traits of
character to the original conceptions of which we have spoken, and to the pure
and lofty religious ideas which the Biblical books in general present. If woman,
then, appears as the companion and friend of man, if she rises to that noble
position which is held by the mother of a family, she owes her elevation in the
main to the religion of Moses and to that of Jesus. The first system, as a
preparatory one, did not, and could not, complete the emancipation of woman.”
Let British females remember what Christianity has done for them, and that their
responsibility is consequently greatly increased.


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  CHAPTER 21: 21. PRO_31:30 - FAVOUR IS DECEITFUL, AND BEAUTY IS VAIN: BUT A WOMAN THAT FEARETH THE LORD, SHE S...
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FAVOUR IS DECEITFUL, AND BEAUTY IS VAIN: BUT A WOMAN THAT FEARETH THE LORD, SHE
SHALL BE PRAISED.

Proverbs 31:30

That worldly favour is vain indeed, we scarcely need the Scriptures to tell us:
experience of the world attests it; and the philosopher, and, still more
frequently, the poet, have again and again lamented the worthlessness of the
favour of this world. For a little while, the man who rises in general favour is
loved and honoured, his presence welcomed, his opinion valued; but soon some new
favourite takes his place, and general adulation is directed to the rising sun.
How many have sickened, as they told how in hours of prosperity the smile of the
rich and the praise of the young and gay were given for a season; and then, as
some new mood came over the public mind, they were left to die in poverty: while
they who once sought their society, looked at them now with cold indifference,
and passed by them as strangers. But the instability of worldly favour is not
confined to public praise; for, in the more private circles of fashionable life
it is equally deceitful. Favour is given to a woman because she is rich, or
beautiful, or elegant. She is praised and admired, and learns to take such
admiration as her right; and she finds it a true proverb, that “Men will praise
thee when thou doest well to thyself” (Psalms 49:18). But poverty comes
suddenly, even as an armed man; sickness overtakes her, and all her beauty fades
like that of the flower of the field; and the graces, which gave life and spirit
to the gay assembly, are gone for ever. Then she can add hers to the sad
testimony of the poet:

“The friends who in our sunshine live, When winter comes are flown; And she who
hath but tears to give, Must weep those tears alone.”

How frequently does the young and trusting heart swell with emotion on the
discovery of the deceitful nature of worldly favour! “The greetings where no
kindness is,” are taken by the truthful as truth itself; and when they change to
coldness or contempt, the ardent spirit shrinks beneath them, as the lily
withers when the sunshine of heaven changes to the chill north wind. And the
young, having no hope of God’s favour, or of happiness in the world to come,
exchange for a misanthropic and ungentle spirit the trusting affection of an
ingenuous mind, and become like the cold and worldly beings whose deceitful
favour once misled them.

Perhaps there is scarcely a woman who has not listened to the voice of flattery;
and though the coarse praise of a flattering tongue would disgust the pious, and
displease too the cultivated and refined, yet most have been sometimes beguiled
by its more delicate and skilful application. There is a self-love in every
human heart to which such praise can appeal; and even the woman who knows the
commendation to be undeserved, will sometimes be pleased, as she believes that
such at least is the opinion of those who utter it. But time comes, and truth
comes with him, and with rude hand tears away the veil from falsehood, and the
deceived spirit learns at length the lesson that favour is deceitful. And is
Christian intercourse altogether free from this deceitfulness? Are there not
prevalent, in Christian society, words and practices which express far more than
the heart can respond to? To the courtesies of life no Christian should be
indifferent. If the worldly woman learns, from the politeness of the world, to
prefer the comfort of others to her own—if she must make sacrifices of feeling,
that in society she may appear kind and polite, how much more should Christian
women practise a gentle courtesy of manner, from the consideration that even
Christ pleased not himself! “Be ye kind, be ye courteous” (Ephesians 4:32) is
the injunction of a holy apostle; and all rudeness and incivility should be
shunned by every woman professing to have been taught of God. On the other hand,
is not the favour of that woman deceitful, who stretches out the hand of
kindness to her acquaintance, who welcomes her to her house, and listens with
apparent sympathy to the expression of her feelings; and who will, on her
absence, recount her faults or ridicule her follies? Oh that all Christian Women
were wholly free from this portion of worldly false-heartedness, this conformity
to worldly favour; and were ever sincere and candid in their expressions of
friendship! On them, at least, let the trusting heart lean, in full assurance
that the love which is uttered is the love which is felt. But while we must
admit that, even in Christian intercourse, much imperfection exists, and the
spirit of the world sometimes darkens the brighter lustre of the Christian
character, yet it has ever been the lot of the sorrowful and desolate to find
compassion and sincerity no where so fully developed as in the circle of those
who are the real followers of Christ. The woman who sincerely fears the Lord,
who lives nearest to him, will be, too, the truest and best of earthly friends;
and when David said, “I am a companion of all them that fear thee” (Psalms
119:63), he could number among those servants of God the faithful friends of his
hours of adversity; and he could think of the pleasant Jonathan, and the liberal
Barzillai, and the faithful Nathan—men who never forsook him when sorrow came,
whose favour was never deceitful; but who loved him best when most he needed
their friendship, because their love was strengthened by their fear and love of
God. And are not the favour and love of God unchanging? He has said, “Call upon
me in the day of trouble;” he has bid us, when earthly favour has proved
deceitful, to bring the worn and weary spirit to him for refuge. And no one ever
sought him in vain, or had reason to regret that he had cast all his care on the
loving-kindness of an unchanging God.

We have not need to look far to see the passing nature—the vanity of personal
beauty;

“For not a year but pilfers as it goes Some youthful grace that age would gladly
keep:” and time brings assuredly his wrinkles to furrow the fairest countenance.
Sudden or prolonged sickness changes the rose on the cheek to paleness, and dims
the eye whose brightness told a tale of health and gladness; for when God with
rebukes doth chasten for iniquity, he maketh beauty to pass away like a moth; so
that all, even in their best states, are altogether vanity. But the frailty of
beauty is most apparent when we look on death, on that change which all must
encounter. “It is,” says Jeremy Taylor, “a mighty change that is made by the
death of every person, and it is visible to us who are alive. Reckon but from
the sprightfulness of youth, and the fair cheeks and the full eyes of childhood;
from the vigorousness and strong flexure of the joints of five-and-twenty; to
the hollowness and dead paleness, to the loathsomeness and horror of a three
days’ burial; and he shall perceive the distance to be very great and very
strange.”

“Oh, what is beauty’s power? It perishes and dies. Shall the cold earth its
silence break, To tell how soft and smooth a cheek Beneath its surface lies?
Mute, mute is all O’er beauty’s fall; Her praise resounds no more when mantled
in her pall.”

“But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” Such a woman would
have praise of God. The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is of great price,
and to the true believer in Christ God will say at the great day, “Well done,
good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:21).
And oh! what praise can equal this? Men may praise those whom God disapproves.
They may hold that to be good which God abhors; and even when they have the
right standard of holiness, yet they may so little know the hearts of others as
to mistake in their estimate of good and evil. On whom is the praise of men
bestowed? On those who conquer kingdoms, who perform great exploits in discovery
and science, who make high attainments in knowledge, or who clothe in lofty
verse thoughts of beauty and genius. And who will deny his meed of praise to the
philosopher or the poet? We owe them so much, that we could not pluck a leaf
from the laurel or the bay without ingratitude. Yet, in all their thoughts of
sublimity or tenderness, there may be no fear of God; he may not be pleased. “To
that man will I look,” saith Jehovah, “who is of an humble and contrite heart,
and who trembleth at my word.” The humble and lowly Christian, performing the
simplest and commonest duties of domestic life in his fear; seeking his counsel,
and earnestly striving to keep his commands; praying for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, and confidently trusting for the pardon of her sin in Him who died
on the cross to redeem her—this is the woman on whom shall be bestowed that
best, that only praise which is truly valuable; for of her the Lord himself
shall say, She “hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from
her” (Luke 10:42).


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  CHAPTER 22: 22. PRO_31:31 - GIVE HER OF THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS; AND LET HER OWN WORKS PRAISE HER IN THE GATES.
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GIVE HER OF THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS; AND LET HER OWN WORKS PRAISE HER IN THE
GATES.

Proverbs 31:31

This passage is thought by some writers to be the continuation of the praise
bestowed on this excellent matron by her husband; others regard it as a prayer
offered up on her behalf. We have spoken of the gate as the place of assembly
and of commerce, where the fruits of her industry would be known and
appreciated, and where men would speak of her virtues; where she would be
mentioned as a great example of female excellence, and her deeds of mercy and
her unblamable life would characterize her as a mother in Israel, and a devout
and humble servant of the great Jehovah.

Although a life of consistent virtue generally brings its own reward in the
esteem of those whose good opinion is truly valuable, and though the hand of the
diligent usually, in some degree, maketh rich, yet it is not always in this
world that the good receive of the fruit of their hands. But there is a world on
which the holy women of old have long since entered—a world to which we are all
hastening, when every one shall receive according to the deeds done in the body,
whether they be good, or whether they be evil. We cannot be saved by an
exemplary and virtuous life; for never yet was there a human being who lived,
and sinned not; and the holiest action ever performed by sinful man had yet
mingled with it so much infirmity of motive, that it needed the atoning blood of
Christ to render it acceptable in the eyes of an infinitely holy God. But
Christian principle, though it will not enable us, while in this world, to offer
a perfect obedience, will certainly be accompanied by the practice of holiness,
an earnest endeavour after godliness, and a hatred and avoidance of sin. For the
Scripture has said, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without
works is dead also” (James 2:26). While we cannot answer God for one of a
thousand of our transgressions, yet he will reward the humblest deed of good
which proceeds from love to Christ. And when the beloved apostle spoke of the
blessedness of those who die in the Lord, he adds, “they rest from their
labours, and their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13). The pious deeds
which they had wrought on earth were not forgotten in heaven; but they followed
as evidences of love to Christ, as the result of holy principles, and are thus
accepted and approved by a gracious God. Blessed indeed are they who steadily
endure, amid all temptation; for when they are tried, they shall receive the
crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him: and thus the
fruits of their hands and hearts shall be given to them through all eternity.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/pratt-anne-the-excellent-woman-of-proverbs-31/
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