The Proverbs 31 Wife

“She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:12).

We want to examine one aspect of the Proverbs 31 woman’s portrait: her role as a wife.

“Doing Your Husband Good” wouldn’t play well on the cover of a woman’s magazine these days. In the aftermath of the feminist movement, motherhood has made a comeback, and even domesticity has regained popularity, but the role of a wife as portrayed in the Bible remains repulsive.

As Christian women we can sometimes resemble our culture’s portrait of the worthy woman more than Scripture’s. Motherhood can consume us, the home is an endless cycle of chores, and then we try to carve out some time for ourselves—our own hobbies and interests. There can be little time or energy left to do our husbands good.

But our role as a wife is to be our highest priority, our first concern. Our husband should come before the kids, before the house, and yes, even before our own hobbies and pursuits.

Scripture makes this abundantly clear, as Mom points out in Feminine Appeal. She cites Genesis 2:18 where we read that the woman was created to be her husband’s helper; then 1 Cor 11:9 where Paul writes that man was not created for woman, but woman for man. In Titus 2 we find that “the list of instructions for the younger women begins and ends with their relationship to their husbands.”

What does this look like, especially for those in difficult marriages? Mom weighs in tomorrow.