"A house and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the LORD."
The convergence of this little proverb from last Saturday morning with a recent re-relishing of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and, for an extreme contrast, a production of Guys and Dolls I attended yesterday in Cedar Rapids, has caused some speculation on how Solomon's wisdom on the estate of holy matrimony, were he alive today, might be articulated. I get that the contrast he is going for in the proverb is not between the respective sources of a prudent wife, and say, an imprudent wife, but between what you can bequeath to your children and what you cannot. Your kids can inherit your house and your money when you die, but you can't give them a prudent wife. Only God can give them that. True as ever today, as parents of boys would be quick to affirm. But Solomon never offers a comment on the source of a good husband. Maybe that's his goal in a meta-sense through the whole book, producing wise men. But what are we 21st century, doing-our-best-to-be-prudent-industrious-educated-and-pleasant, maidens to make of this? What might Solomon say to us? How about:
Health, intelligence, beauty or wealth are gifts from God, but prudence outshines them all and will attract a faithful husband.
Yeah, if he's paying attention and hasn't been scared to death by his previous encounters with, uh, less worthy women. Or, is that precisely what we "average unmarried females" are, less worthy? My point is, the plight of unmarried women is not something I see too much in the scriptures. There's Ruth, and I love that story so much I memorized the whole book. I'm quick to recognize that we have it a lot better than single women used to have it, as I'm sure Jane Austen would affirm were she to pop in for a visit. Spinsterhood even suits some of us undoubtedly, and I'm really not as bitter and disgruntled as this post probably sounds, but I have moments of feeling invisible when I read the Bible and wish some inspired pen had breathed out a book of wise proverbs for spinsters.
I keep trying to say something about this, but I'm having a hard time. I think I'm too zoomed in on spinsterhood as a phenomenon to think clearly.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I don't think this sounds disgruntled or bitter. I think you raise a good point. I don't have any wisdom to offer on it, but I feel this way too. Hard when the Bible often feels like it assumes a male reader. Or a female reader who is always wife/mother.
Your coming tome on spinsterhood as a phenomenon in literature may be as close as we get to wisdom literature for spinsters. I look forward to it.
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