The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
September 20, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 36

Everything But...

The conclusion of the Book of Proverbs is anything but proverbial. The Bible is often challenged for being patriarchal and in Chapter 31 it both is and isn’t. “A strong wife who can find?” Throughout the millennia some women have found this passage encouraging, and others have found it downright degrading. I guess that makes it dangerous, yet at the same time it forces all of us to slow down and read a little more slowly.

It is true that there is no corresponding section for a “good husband” - a rare occurrence I hear out of the corner of my ear! The Bible was written largely by men so the description ensuing is definitely angled and biased towards a male perception. One immediately notices how busy the good wife is imagined to be and how often she is fulfilling duties and tasks more associated with men in our patriarchal culture. Her husband is mentioned only when sitting and discussing matters of importance with the elders of the community, reaping the prestige of her good reputation. Working hard, one must assume, or hardly working.

Our dilemma lies in the fact that few of us read the Bible in order to learn our gender roles better. Oh yes, some may do so, and we have all heard the proclamations of other readers who insist that the images of male and female in the Bible are the only ways these roles can be performed. Yet, most scour the scriptures for how to be fundamentally better human beings. We have rightly insisted on inclusive language as a way of describing both God and humanity. The only caution with such language is to avoid transforming men and women and God into “its.”

“Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” Wish we could all be and do that.