The Wife

Most of my early church years were in churches where Mothers Days were spent in services dedicated to the matriarchs present in the congregation. Most of the sermons were based on Proverbs 31 and the attributes of a good mother: the Proverbs 31 woman. But the focus was always on the verses that painted an image of a mother much like Mrs. Cleaver from the sitcom ‘Leave it to Beaver’. The stereotypical 1950s housewife.

With the constant stream of Instagram and all of the online and social trends, I have seen a lot of references to Proverbs 31. Sometimes, it’s from the “tradwife” creators and sometimes from the “progressive” creators. The tradwife usually embraces the works all day at home verse and the progressives always put Proverbs 31 down and look to the book of Judges and the story of Jael driving the tent spike into the temple of an enemy king.

Studying on Proverbs 31, I have concluded one thing: we often teach this section incompletely. Both the submissive house wife and the strong warrior character traits exist within these passages. Not only is the wife a caretaker of the house, she is a caretaker of the “estate”. She provides for both the family and the community, and she is well loved, treasured, and trusted by the husband, the family, and the community. While things look a little different today, culturally speaking, we do have friends, family, neighbors, and churches that we work together with in roles of authority or servitude. Essentially the Proverbs 31 woman fills the roles of a businesswoman, a realtor, and a manager. She is a working woman who praises the Lord.

Reference (Proverbs 31:10-31)