PROVERBS CHAPTER 31.
THE ABCs OF THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN. — V. 28. Her children arise up, wherever they present themselves, and call her blessed, praising the mother to whom they owe so much; her husband also, and he praiseth her, in the words now quoted, v. 29. Many daughters have done virtuously, many women have shown virtue, Ruth 4, 11, but thou excellest them all. The author now gives a summary of his remarks.
V. 30. Favor, that is, grace acquired and shown by a woman, is deceitful, it has no real, lasting value, and beauty is vain, it is a breath, a vanity, it is no measure of a woman’s real worth; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised, that is the highest praise which can be bestowed upon a woman at any time.
V. 31. Give her of the fruit of her hands, namely, the praise which she so richly deserves; and let her own works praise her in the gates, that is, in the place where the elders, the representatives of the people, assemble, the foremost men of the nation acknowledging such a woman’s excellency.
This hymn, called the ABC of a virtuous woman, on account of the fact that it is an acrostic in the original Hebrew, each succeeding verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is well worthy to be memorized by every Christian woman, and especially every Christian wife, as containing the ideal of the Lord Himself.