Part III
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies…. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.
Proverbs 31:10,15
I have heard many sermons preached about the Proverbs 31 Wife, or Wife of Noble Character over the years. There are numerous blogs and even entire ministries built around this particular passage of scripture. These messages generally focus on the woman’s character and duties as a wife and mother; I don’t want to diminish that focus in any way. It is both valid and important.
However, there is a major aspect of the Proverbs 31 Woman that is widely glossed over, and even totally ignored. This relates to the way she manages her finances, or the Proverbs 31 Business Woman. Here are the facts. Of the twenty-two verses in the passage, seven are comments for the reader’s benefit or general praise from her husband and children (E.g. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her – vs28). While these are interesting, they don’t actively describe her character. The remaining fifteen verses focus explicitly on her character and actions.
Of the fifteen verses that actively describe her character and actions, only two actually focus on how she acts toward her husband. Another three focus on how she cares for her children and household….
And no less than six verses focus on how she conducts her financial life. How can we, in good conscience, read this passage about the ‘Ideal Godly Woman’ and simply disregard 40% of what the Bible tells us about her!
The Proverbs 31 Business Woman Manages Her Staff
So, with that in mind, let’s look at verse 15
She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.
Proverbs 31:15
Technically, this verse focuses on how the Woman of Noble Character acts towards her family. This includes her children and her wider household like the servants in her charge. I erred on the side of caution and did not count this verse as one of the six verses that focus on how she conducts her financial life.
That said, it is still worth looking at this verse as it offers a quiet nod to her employee management skills on the tail-end of the verse.
So, let’s start with the fact that she gets up while it is still night. In other words, she rises before dawn. She does this to prepare for the day so that she will be ready to care for her family’s needs and those of her wider household. Her duties might include stoking the oven to bake bread for the household. As the verse says, she does this to provide food for her family.
The natural assumption is that she does the same for her servants. As the verse says, she provides portions for her female servants. Several of the commentaries on this verse agree that the word for ‘portions’ has a double meaning. It could mean portions of food and this would certainly be in keeping with what the passage already tells us about this woman’s character. However, several of the commentators point out that this word can equally mean ‘work’. They point out that this makes more sense in the context of the verse. In fact, many of the commentaries don’t even bother to explain their reasoning and simply assert that this tail-end of the verse means that she apportions responsibilities and daily tasks to her female servants.
Once again, this verse demonstrates her diligence and work ethic. She is the first person on the job, rising long before her husband or children — and even before her servants. Thus she ensures that everything is ready for her family when the day begins and, as her servants arrive for work, she has tasks ready for each of them in turn.
In this way, she manages her team of employees and leads by example. Not one of her employees could accuse her of enjoying a lie-in while they are hard at work. However, it is equally important to note that she does not try to accomplish everything on her own. She has a team of people ready to assist. They are being paid to do a job and the Proverbs 31 Business Woman understands that part of her role is to ensure that her staff members know what they have to do — and do it.
The Proverbs 31 Business Woman wakes up early to ensure that every one of her employees is assigned a task and that the work is fairly and evenly distributed when they show up for work. She is a hard worker, yes, but she is not someone who buys a dog and then barks herself, so to speak.
I know I have focused on this aspect of the verse, possibly to the detriment of the first half that focuses on her family. As I have said elsewhere in this series, it is not my intention to diminish the value of those themes and messages. However, I believe that many other pastors and teachers have addressed those aspects of this passage quite well. As such, I have chosen to focus on the aspects of this passage that have been largely ignored in other forums.
This verse shows how the Woman of Noble Character is not only the exemplary Proverbs 31 Wife but also the exemplary Proverbs 31 Business Woman. While the verse offers little information on exactly how she manages her employees what it reveals is her diligence and care as she prepares to manage those employees. She proves the old adage that says success is 90% preparation and 10% perspiration. Or, as Louis Pasteur once asserted; chance favors the prepared mind.
Interesting that God saw fit to include a verse like this in his word. On the face of it, this verse has lots of practical value but little eternal value. However, on reflection, it occurs to me; these character traits that serve her so well in her business activities are the same character traits that will lead her in the paths of righteousness and forge her relationship with the Lord on a daily basis.