Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 18 – May 1989
The Liberated Woman
Sermon: by Rev. M. C. De Graaf on Proverbs 31
(For Mothers Day)
Reading: Ruth 3:1-18, Proverbs 31
Singing: 317, 13, 332, 399.
Brothers and Sisters,
At first glance this passage here in Proverbs 31, dealing as it does with motherhood and the noble wife, seems right out of step with our age, doesn’t it? Rather dated.
Today, everywhere we turn, we see people attacking what we have always considered to be the TRADITIONAL role of women in society! They are reacting very powerfully against what they see as centuries of neglect and repression of women’s true rights, gifts and attributes. MOST STRONGLY they are saying: We have a right to be recognized for who we are and to be taken seriously as FULL human beings, not just cogs in a male machine! The Christians among them remind us that women too are made in the IMAGE OF GOD with all the implications of humanness which is attached to that title!
IN THIS WHOLE MOVEMENT many things which have for years been taken for granted are now being questioned. Things like the traditional role of the mother, or the wife, or the secretary. AND as happens whenever traditions are questioned this questioning has brought with it much misunderstanding, confusion, ignorance and even fear; especially among men but also among women who feel that what they do as mothers and wives is no longer being respected!
The very foundations on which their lives were built are being questioned!
Christians of course have not been shielded from this whole discussion. Women in the church, quite aside from the women-in-office issue, have needed to really re-examine who they are and to ask if the traditional roles of male and female within the body really measure up to what God’s Word tells us about Womanhood.
As has happened so often in the history of Church – the World is not dictating to us BUT it IS challenging us, making sure we are SURE in the light of God’s Word WHAT we believe! Making sure we don’t believe in traditions (because that’s the way mum and dad did it) BUT in what God has revealed – because that is the only sure foundation!
So what of Proverbs 31? As I’ve already said, at first glance it seems rather dated! But that’s only the first glance. A closer look reveals to us the high regard in which God’s Word obviously holds women! And the first thing we see is that we are talking about a NOBLE woman. In some ways this is a bit unusual because MOST OF THE OTHER WOMEN WE MEET IN PROVERBS are prostitutes, or naggers, or gossips, or schemers. Many are unfaithful in some way or other. BUT before the men start chuckling away and thinking, “Ah, this is the way we like to think about women. It makes us feel so important…!” we should remember that many of the MEN in Proverbs are also of little value. That’s the kind of book it is – dealing as it does with the WAY OF GOD and those who have left it! AND IN ANY CASE here we have a redress for all that might have been said before about womankind, “The wife of Noble character”; an example of godly womanhood, like Deborah, the general of God’s people or Ruth the great-grandmother of David or the wise woman of Tekoa in 2 Sam.14 or Dorcas, or Anna an example of what Scripture tells us about women – brave, wise, devoted to whatever role God has given her!
1. Strikingly perhaps, we see that this woman is a working woman – a responsible one. She isn’t just some sort of machine on a production-line or just a servant of her husband. She has a position of dignity and respect at home and in the community! We are not told exactly what her husband does. He sits in the city gates. Now, in Middle Eastern society that doesn’t mean he’s a loafer. RATHER he seems to be a city elder of some sort, perhaps involved in the city court. But in any case it is obvious that while the husband is away the woman is the business manager, she runs the family holdings. The husband is still the head, but this doesn’t mean that he is some sort of dictator or slave master.
Vs.11 says that her husband has full confidence in her – they have a relationship based on TRUST. He values her and is confident of her abilities! AND HER ABILITIES ARE GREAT! She manages the money, works diligently, is involved in the world of commerce, and real estate, she invests wisely. The husband doesn’t do all this himself. We’re obviously talking about a TEAM! And for the husband that’s obviously a great relief! NOT SO that he can put his feet up and bludge off his wife’s earnings – but so that he can do what God has called him to do.
Because of this, you notice the freedom with which they can both move! The wife has the freedom which comes from TRUST and God-given ability and the HUSBAND has the freedom which flows from having a responsible partner on whom he can depend – a true help-mate as promised in Genesis 2; one who, verse 17 tells us, is strong and vigorous!! She is most obviously not chained to the kitchen sink or the bed; nor is she up to her elbows in dirty nappies all day.
2. ON THE OTHER HAND, this does not mean that she just abandons her family to fend for themselves. As we’ve seen, she is supportive of her husband. By the way, later we see he is grateful for this. Our passage says the children call her blessed and her husband praises her. They’re obviously not just taking her for granted. They honour her as verse 29 says and it seems to be quoting the husband: “Many women do NOBLE things, but you surpass them all”. A reminder to you husbands: when was the last time you said something like that to your wife? Vs 31 says give to her the reward she deserves”.
OUR TEXT TELLS US she cares for her children. Clothing them warmly. She buys the best materials and makes bed coverings and the like with them. She is involved in the education of her children. She also is charitable. She doesn’t become rich by being stingy and uncaring as the world would tell us to do! No, she is blessed through her generosity! Furthermore she speaks wisely. In the language of Proverbs this tells us that she studies the Word of God. And what she has studied and learned from that Word she passes on to others. “Faithful instruction is on her tongue.” In modern terms she’s the type who would go along to a Bible study or fellowship HUNGRY TO LEARN THE WAY OF GOD and then goes and spreads it to all who are around!
3. In the final analysis our passage makes it clear that THIS IS THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF THE Noble woman’s life. All the things that are listed: the work, the support of husband, the children, the investment, etc. etc., are not the goals of her life. They are not what her life is supposed to revolve around. No, the noble woman fears the Lord! He is the point of her existence and the other aspects flow from that. They flow from that primary love for God – not for self or any other created object or person. God’s love is the basis for our love, and HIS love is of course epitomised in the Love of Jesus Christ who gave up all for us totally self-sacrificing! Now of course that goes for men just as much as for women. I think especially of those old jokes about not minding a liberated wife as long as she has my dinner ready on time. And I think about so many husbands who refuse to take their wives seriously simply because they have too much to lose by doing that!
Much of what Proverbs says about women is two sided – prostitutes are exploited, and let us not forget who the customers are, a woman needs to nag or to be quarrelsome because a husband can’t be bothered to listen and take her seriously. He takes the easy way out and lives on the corner of the roof or at the pub with his mates (Prov.25:24). And let us not forget, adultery needs two people. Jesus reminds us that he who is innocent may cast the first stone!! Jesus came for the poor, the needy, the exploited and he came with the good news that there is another way! And isn’t it great that we as the Church now have that liberation in our possession – a gift! At last we can be as God created us to be; Image-bearers, light shiners!
It’s quite an incredible passage isn’t it? I found it quite exciting to work on. Of course, we have to remember there are real cultural differences between society then and now. Today few of us sit by city gates. I wonder how many women know how to work a spindle or a distaff… who knows what they are?? And is this passage talking about “woman’s work” over against the real world? That’s hard to say. I doubt if this passage is telling us that all women should go into real estate or investments. It isn’t putting down the working woman or the full time mother! BUT, on the other hand, this passage DOES speak strongly against putting a God-created human being in a straitjacket. The woman’s work is rich and varied. She has freedom and is respected; she is strong, dignified, unafraid of the future and wise. We don’t live in her times, and yet the principles of God’s Living Word, remain true for all time. This woman deserves to be imitated today in 1989. An image-bearer of God in all its creative, intellectual, and worshipping fullness. And a fearer of God – the only true foundation of any life worthwhile.
AMEN