As mentioned in the previous two posts in this series, the description of an excellent wife in
Proverbs 31 is frequently dismissed by its modern critics as anachronistic.
They point to words like “distaff” and “maidens” and mockingly inquire whether
all Christian women ought to have a loom in the house and servants to
call on.
It is true that the excellent wife’s described routine is that of a fairly well-to-do Hebrew woman
some three thousand years ago. That said, it should be evident that our habits and routines declare to
the world what sort of person we are. A wife who habitually falls asleep on the
couch at 2 a.m. after a few cocktails and a movie, then struggles out of
bed bleary-eyed around noon to lounge by the pool gossiping with her
girlfriends is not simply operating on a slightly different schedule than the
home-schooling mother of three down the street. Her habits are making a
statement about her values and character.
Good character remains good character whether we see it displayed in the daily activities of
1000 BC or in those of AD 2019.