Chapter 31

All good things come to an end, and Proverbs is about to finish.

I am often a little curious at this. Why, in a world that was so male-dominated, did Lemuel (not Solomon any more) choose to finish his work on wisdom by discussing what amounts to the perfect woman?

Probably it’s a matter of finishing with what is important in life. After all, the assumption is that it will be a male reading this (sorry to all my female readers – I know that this is sexist! But times were different back then . . . ); and the most important thing that he can really do on this planet is to marry the right person.

A wife of Noble character.

I can remember a friend of mine having a book called “Help! I’m intimidated by the Proverbs 31 woman!”

Great title, really. But it does demonstrate something.

This woman is so perfect that she can scare people. Hey, she’s threatening to me, and I’m a male.

She’s incredibly smart, has good business acumen, works hard, is beautiful . . .

A woman could be forgiven for asking “How can I compete with that?!”

Well, to all of you I should answer that you don’t have to. She is an ideal, not a reality. The Prov 31 woman has every quality that a real woman should aspire to, but if you haven’t got there yet, don’t despair!

That said, I believe myself to be married to her . . .

What a pity Mere doesn’t usually read my blog entries!