I’ve been reading through Proverbs 31 a lot lately. When I first read Proverbs 31 a few years ago, I was so excited to find a chapter that spoke explicitly to women. As I’ve studied it more over the years, it has been so wonderful to see the various applications of this rich text. It may sound cliché, but it is one of my favorites to study through, for multiple reasons. Obviously, it is quite applicable to women, especially married women. I’m still single though, and it is still AMAZINGLY beneficial. In addition to addressing women, this passage is applicable to all believers. Christ refers to the Church as His Bride, His Wife. Consequently, it seems wise to know the qualities of a noble wife, doesn’t it? I want to be constantly seeking to honor Christ as my Husband, living in a way that is honorable, noble, and pleasing to Him.
I particularly love the first nine verses of this chapter, in large part because they are the most often forgotten. Contrary to popular belief, Proverbs 31 does NOT begin by talking about a wife; it begins by warning and shaping a husband.
If you notice, the first verse in Proverbs 31 introduces us to the writer and tells us where the information is coming from. “The words of king Lemuel. An oracle his mother taught him.”
Application #1: Be the kind of mother that has the permission to speak truth in to your son’s life. Earn the right to be heard. Be involved enough to know what they are going through, the lessons they are learning, and the ones they may need to be taught. Be present. The king in this passage is believed to be king Solomon, the wisest man who has lived (apart from Jesus). Yet if we read the first few verses, it seems like his mom, Bathsheba, is warning him, teaching him, and possibly even exhorting him. You have to be pretty respectable to teach, correct, and train one of the wisest men who has ever lived.
As we continue reading, Bathsheba starts by questioning Solomon. “What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows?”
This verse is super heavy for me. If you know anything about Bathsheba’s history, you know that her and King David committed adultery, Bathsheba got pregnant, and David had her husband killed so that he could marry her and attempt to cover the whole thing up (see 2 Samuel 11-12 for more details). She and David lost their first child as a consequence of their sin, but they were later blessed with a son- Solomon. A child conceived in marriage. In verse 2, she gets increasingly more personal with each sentence- my son, son of my womb, son of my vows. She counts him as a blessing from God. She has had the privilege of raising him, giving birth to him, and he was conceived in a loving, committed, covenant relationship. This bond must only have been intensified by David and Bathsheba’s previous experience with their pregnancy- one of shame, confusion, and sin.
Coming from this background, it isn't all that surprising that one of Bathsheba's first warnings to her son is "Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings."
Sounds harsh, right? But, let's read that in context of her history. This is a woman who has been open with her son about her past. It seems reasonable to assume that Solomon knows the context of how his father and mother met.
Application #2: Be open with your children (and others) about your sins. Be a person marked by repentance. Bathsheba seems to have told Solomon about her past with David- one marked by adultery, murder, and scandal. Yet God has redeemed it. Not only is she able to warn Solomon from experience, thus making her advice more weighty, but she is also able to put him on guard against a tendancy that seems to run in thier family- the love of women. Some refer to this as generational sin. Regardless of your stance on the issue, Scripture seems to indicate in numerous places that there are at least sinful tendancies that tend to run in families. It seems wise to be open with our children about sins in our past (or sins we are currently struggling with, using discretion), in order to warn them and protect them from repeating our mistakes.
As Bathsheba goes on, she continues to warn and exhort her son towards wise behavior. She focuses on telling him the type of man he needs to be before telling him the type of woman he should pursue. That is very noteworthy. As singles, we tend to focus on "finding the right one" instead of focusing on imitating The One, becoming more Christ-like, and becoming godly ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment