A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/
The "Proverbs 31 Woman" has long been held up as a model of virtue and character for Christian women, often appearing in Mother's Day sermons and women's retreat talks. But at times she has also been wielded with a heavy hand to keep women "in their place," and can feel unrelatable to 21st Century Christians. So what are we to do with this passage of Scripture? Is she a real woman that only wives are meant to emulate, or did the author of Proverbs have some other purpose in mind for all of us, men and women alike? This lecture explores this beautiful, yet complicated, biblical character in the context of Wisdom literature and the full biblical narrative, with an aim of unlocking her true purpose as a model of wisdom and faithfulness for all God's people.