Proverbs 31:10-31 - Revision history

Wakefien: /* Recognize the Reward that Such Diligence Warrants(31) */

2021-05-05T19:59:33Z

‎Recognize the Reward that Such Diligence Warrants(31)

Wakefien: /* A person’s charisma and personal appearance are not impressive to God (30a,b) */

2021-05-05T19:56:10Z

‎A person’s charisma and personal appearance are not impressive to God (30a,b)

Wakefien: /* Then: King Lemuel's mother wanted him to know how to identify a praiseworthy woman: */

2021-05-05T19:53:31Z

‎Then: King Lemuel's mother wanted him to know how to identify a praiseworthy woman:

Wakefien: /* Our Actions Should Bring Honor (Verses 11,12, c.f. 23) */

2021-05-05T19:41:21Z

‎Our Actions Should Bring Honor (Verses 11,12, c.f. 23)

Wakefien: /* Setting the Stage (Verse 10) */

2021-05-05T19:34:34Z

‎Setting the Stage (Verse 10)

Wakefien at 19:10, 5 May 2021

2021-05-05T19:10:36Z

Wakefien: /* Recognize the Reward that Such Diligence Warrants(31) */

2021-05-05T18:52:34Z

‎Recognize the Reward that Such Diligence Warrants(31)

Wakefien: /* The godly woman deserves praise. (30c) */

2021-05-05T18:49:12Z

‎The godly woman deserves praise. (30c)

Wakefien: /* The godly woman deserves praise. (30c) */

2021-05-05T18:46:51Z

‎The godly woman deserves praise. (30c)

Wakefien: /* The godly woman deserves praise. (30c) */

2021-05-05T18:46:13Z

‎The godly woman deserves praise. (30c)

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 We see the poet change from an imperative "Give her the fruits..." To a jussive, "let her own works...". This variation is likely purposeful and suggests that the first command is a command to people in general who recognize what the virtuous woman has accomplished while the second command establishes that such diligent work warrants praise.<ref>Waltke, Bruce K. The book of Proverbs, chapters 15-31. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005.</ref>
-Some say that imitation is the best form of flattery. Well what better way to honor our mothers than to imitate what they did to earn their lifetime achievement award.
+Some say that imitation is the best form of flattery. Well what better way to honor our mothers than to imitate what they did to earn their lifetime achievement award?
 The Bible Knowledge Commentary states, "Honoring a woman at the … gate was not normally done in Israel. But an unusual woman called for unusual recognition."<ref>John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 973.</ref>

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:56, 5 May 2021
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	Throughout history, humans have tended to be drawn to charisma and beauty but that is not what we see in God. We have all seen a charismatic leader who can get people to follow them wherever they go. Humans are drawn to these charismatic leaders. We see crowds gather to hear them speak, people open their wallets to support their causes. There are times when it seems like these charismatic leaders can do no wrong. History is filled with accounts of leaders who are able to get men to follow them to their deaths. But throughout history, we see God looking beyond the charisma, looking at the heart.		Throughout history, humans have tended to be drawn to charisma and beauty but that is not what we see in God. We have all seen a charismatic leader who can get people to follow them wherever they go. Humans are drawn to these charismatic leaders. We see crowds gather to hear them speak, people open their wallets to support their causes. There are times when it seems like these charismatic leaders can do no wrong. History is filled with accounts of leaders who are able to get men to follow them to their deaths. But throughout history, we see God looking beyond the charisma, looking at the heart.
−
−	History is filled with stories of beauty. Helen of Troy is known as the face that launched a thousand ships. The story is told of a beautiful wife to a Spartan king who was kidnapped in the night. In response, a devastating war was waged against the city of Troy. While the details and nuances of the war involve far more than just beauty, the fact remains, history tells of a woman’s beauty that led to a massive war. Again, throughout history, we see God looking beyond mere external beauty.
−

	====A person’s willingness to live in reverence to God reveals their heart (30c)====		====A person’s willingness to live in reverence to God reveals their heart (30c)====

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 ===Then: King Lemuel's mother wanted him to know how to identify a praiseworthy woman:===
-We live in a day and age where everyone cares about symptoms and diagnosis. If you do a quick google search for Covid-19 symptoms you will see that a bunch of symptoms, that is reasons you might believe you have the virus. You might have plenty of other things going on in your health, but these are indicator for the virus. I went running today and my knee is sore, but that does not mean I have Covid-19. Granted, my sore knee may need attention, but my sore knee is not an indicator of Covid-19. In proverbs 31:30 we have two non-indicators and one indicator.
 ====The first bad reason to give praise: charm (30a)====

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 * Verses 11-12: As we did into this lifetime achievement award what we see is that a central aspect of this individuals life was her trustworthiness. This woman's husband was able to trust in her. The word that we translate as "gain" in the NKJV is a word for spoils of war. Perhaps the idea is that the work the woman did was equivalent to a battle? I suggest that the audience might have realized that the man had to be away, maybe at war, but his ability to trust his wife's ability to maintain and manage the household in his absence gave him the ability to go and do what needed done.
 *Verse 23: Verses 11-12 certainly build an interesting point but verse 23 caps it off. The woman's work in the man's absence brought great honor to the man.
-*It is certainly the case that many of our mothers have done something similar in our own life. Maybe dad had to work late, travel, or something else. Regardless, mom kept tings going in dad's absence.
+*It is certainly the case that many of our mothers have done something similar in our own life. Maybe dad had to work late, travel, or something else. Regardless, mom kept things going in dad's absence.
 *So what is the lesson that we can learn from our mom? We learn the value of trustworthiness. It is interesting that Christ is physically gone, he is in Heaven. But we here have been entrusted with his work on Earth. Do our actions bring honor to Christ? We all know women who have faithfully served their house in the absence of their husband, we need to learn from them what it means to faithfully serve as we await the return of Christ.
 *Does this mean we stop everything and all become monks? No! that is not what Proverbs 31 describes. Rather we live life in a way that brings honor to Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
 ===There Are Times to Selflessly Toil  (Verses 13-15, c.f. 19,20)===

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 ==Setting the Stage (Verse 10)==
-In Proverbs 31:10 we see an interesting question. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" This question is not intended to suggest that no such woman exists but rather that such a woman deserves honor <ref>John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 972.</ref>. Traditionally, most of the verbs in Proverbs 31 are translated in a present tense. However, in the Hebrew, these verbs are often past. For example, in verse 16, the NKJV writes "She considers a field and buys it;" In reality, the verb for trust is a past tense verb and we should probably say something like "She considered a field and then bought it." Did you catch the subtle change. Proverbs 31 is not calling on the woman to consider every field all the time and be responsible for all the decisions about which properties the family should purchase. No, Proverbs 31 is saying something like, "do you remember that time when dad was away at war and the neighbor's field became available. Mom, in her wisdom thought long and hard and finally decided to purchase the field. That was such a great investment." Okay, I have clearly embellished a bunch but you get the idea.
+In Proverbs 31:10 we see an interesting question. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" This question is not intended to suggest that no such woman exists but rather that such a woman deserves honor <ref>John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 972.</ref>. Traditionally, most of the verbs in Proverbs 31 are translated in a present tense. However, in the Hebrew, these verbs are often past. For example, in verse 16, the NKJV writes "She considers a field and buys it;" In reality, the verb is a past tense verb and we should probably say something like "She considered a field and then bought it." Did you catch the subtle change. Proverbs 31 is not calling on the woman to consider every field all the time and be responsible for all the decisions about which properties the family should purchase. No, Proverbs 31 is saying something like, "do you remember that time when dad was away at war and the neighbor's field became available. Mom, in her wisdom thought long and hard and finally decided to purchase the field. That was such a great investment." Okay, I have clearly embellished a bunch but you get the idea.
 Now, I don't want you to worry that I am saying your Bible is wrong. I am absolutely not saying your Bible is wrong. What you hold in your hands is an amazing work of translation. The Bible was not written in English. And whenever you translate there are always things that don't come across properly. In English we tend to write in such a way that verb tense does not change within a paragraph or a sentence. However, in Proverbs 31, the Hebrew has verb tense changes all over the place. Now, I don't know exactly what decisions were made in your translation, but I suspect that writing good English was part of the decision. Hence, some of the verb tenses are lost in our translations. So does this mean we toss out our Bible? No! it means we study, and when we study what we find is that Proverbs 31 is not a checklist for a woman to complete every morning it is not a set of expectations that a man holds for his wife. Instead Proverbs 31 is a poem of honor for a woman who has lived honorably. Something like a lifetime achievement award. "Do you remember that time when she rose up and it was still night? I am sure she wanted to sleep but she knew that we needed her and so she was up." This slight change in perspective allows us to look at the woman described in Proverbs 31 recognize those same virtues in our mothers, wives, and other woman with whom we interact, thank them for their life, and ask what can we learn from our mothers that we can apply to our life today.
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 Ephesians 5:25–27 speaks of the church as the Bride of Christ. As we seek to honor the women in our life today, I want you to think about your position as a member of the Church, the bride of Christ. Does your personal life reflect that of a virtuous bride? Within Proverbs 31 we are going to see several virtues, virtues that we see in the women in our life. Are you modeling those virtues yourself. Remember this is not a daily checklist, this is a willingness to do what is necessary if it is necessary.
 ==Some Things We Can Learn From Women==

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 =Introduction=
-Have you ever struggled to pick the perfect gift for mother's day? I certainly have. I hate to get flowers because they just die. On the other hand, it doesn't really seem right to get something for the kitchen as that is really something for me. It is just hard, what do you get for someone that is meaningful?
+Have you ever struggled to pick the perfect gift for mother's day? I certainly have. I love receiving gift cards, but for some reason it feels wrong for mother's day. I hate to get flowers because they just die. On the other hand, it doesn't really seem right to get something for the kitchen as that is really something for me. I could go with a card, but that is going to find it's way to the trash can pretty fast. It is just hard, what do you get for someone that is meaningful?
 As is usual the Bible has an answer if we are willing to look hard enough. Proverbs 31:31 commands "Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates. (NKJV)"  Did you catch that? Proverbs speaks of giving the fruit of her hands. Now bear with me, I have not even argued yet that Proverbs 31:31 is a reference to your mother, and actually I am not going to truly make that argument. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, for the moment I want you to see that one of the greatest honors that can be given to a mother is for her to receive the fruit of her labor. What might this mean? I argue that one of the greatest honors you can give your mother is to live in a way that reflects some of her greatest moments; to live in a way that reflects a godly lifestyle.
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 ==Some Things We Can Learn From Women==
 ===Our Actions Should Bring Honor (Verses 11,12, c.f. 23)===
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 *It is certainly the case that many of our mothers have done something similar in our own life. Maybe dad had to work late, travel, or something else. Regardless, mom kept tings going in dad's absence.
 *So what is the lesson that we can learn from our mom? We learn the value of trustworthiness. It is interesting that Christ is physically gone, he is in Heaven. But we here have been entrusted with his work on Earth. Do our actions bring honor to Christ? We all know women who have faithfully served their house in the absence of their husband, we need to learn from them what it means to faithfully serve as we await the return of Christ.
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 *I bet there were times in your own life when your mom selflessly served you or others. I want you to think back to that time for just a minute because I want to ask, "what lesson do we learn from mom?" Did you mom sacrifice her mornings to get you to Volleyball? Maybe she gave up every Saturday so you could play on that soccer team. Maybe you are struggling to come up with something. I dare say it is not because your mom did not sacrifice, it is because she sacrificed with a smile and you never realized it was a sacrifice.
 *We need to realize that there are times in the Christian life, in the church where we will be called to selflessly serve, and it might be for more than just a single weekend. Just like the woman in Proverbs 31 we may need to make a sacrifice as we serve. When God calls on you to serve remember your mom. Maybe you can make the sacrifice without even letting others realize it is a sacrifice, now that is a lesson from mom.
+*Romans 12:1 states "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." The idea of selflessly serving is a central component of our faith.
 ===Stewardship Demands Wisdom (Verses 16-18, c.f. 26,27)===
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 *Verse 18: Someone might ask. Where did the woman get the strength and energy to be such a good steward? The answer, in verse 18 is that she knew it was worth the effort.
 *It is not true of everyone here but there are probably a lot of you who at some point in your childhood were poor! No seriously, I have seen statistics that suggest that 60% of Americans will experience poverty. Again, you might not realize it because your mom was so careful to wisely steward.
-*So what is the lesson we can learn from mom? We need to steward what God has given us wisely. This may be your money, but maybe it is something different. Maybe you need to be a wise steward of your time, your talents or something else.
+*So what is the lesson we can learn from mom? We need to steward what God has given us wisely. This may be your money, but maybe it is something different. Maybe you need to be a wise steward of your time, your talents or something else. 1 Peter 4:10 calls on us to be good stewards of the grace God has given us " As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
 So, what is it that you want to work on? You have an opportunity to honor your mother today, what better way to honor her than to determine to bring honor to Christ, to present yourself as selflessly willing to toil, or  to wisely steward all that God has given you.
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 =Conclusion=
-Mothers day is a day that is designated for honor to mothers. Proverbs 31 also calls on us to honor women. We can learn a lot from women. We can learn virtue and as we learn virtue we can live virtuously as the bride of Christ.
+Mothers day is a day that is designated for honor to mothers. Proverbs 31 also calls on us to honor women. We can learn a lot from women. We can learn virtue and as we learn virtue we can live virtuously. And as we imitate ways in which our mothers brought honor, selflessly toiled, and were wise stewards we will not only bring them honor but we will bring honor to Christ.
 =References=

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 ====The godly woman deserves praise. (30c)====
-Proverbs 31:10-31 is known as אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (chai-el Ei-shat) which is translated as The Woman of Valor.  The poem is sometimes recited to honor a Jewish woman at her funeral. The whole point seems to be to honor what woman do. Remember the idea of a life-time achievement award.
+Proverbs 31:10-31 is known as אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (chai-el Ei-shat) which is translated as The Woman of Valor.  The poem is sometimes recited to honor a Jewish woman at her funeral. The whole point seems to be to honor what woman do. Remember the idea of a life-time achievement award. So the outstanding question we need to address is the question of how.
 ====Recognize the Reward that Such Diligence Warrants(31)====