The final touches on Proverb 31’s portrait of the noble woman are an indicative and an imperative.   Here’s the indicative:   Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (verse 30).   We live in a visual culture. Everyday, our eyes fall on countless advertisements that were designed to make us lust. I suppose you’ve never thought of advertising that way, but that’s its purpose, isn’t it? To stoke our desire to possess something or someone as the fulfillment of our desires.   If advertising were merely information, commercials … Continue reading In Praise of Women

When my wife and I were first married, we both worked. I worked at the church, but my wife worked two jobs. Her primary job was at a Century City bankruptcy law firm. Her other job was at home. At the end of the workday, I would come home, kick off my shoes, turn on the TV, and veg out on the couch. She would come home from work after a 90-minute commute and cook and clean. Sociological studies indicate that our marriage was pretty typical for two-income homes.   A woman’s work, it turns out, is never done.   … Continue reading A Woman’s Work Is Never Done

  Bill and Hilary Clinton were riding in the presidential limousine when the driver stopped to fill up with gas. Looking out the window, Bill noticed that the man pumping the gas was one of Hilary’s old boyfriends. He said: “Hilary, if I hadn’t married you, you’d be married to that gas station attendant.” To which Hilary replied: “Bill, if I hadn’t married you, that man would be the president of the United States.”   I don’t normally crack political jokes on The Daily Word, but that one always makes me laugh. And it serves a useful point vis-à-vis today’s … Continue reading Behind Every Good Man…

My wife and I recently went to the library to pick out a few books to read. While browsing the shelves, I came across a copy of Flannery O’Connor’s novel, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. I thought about the title of that book when I read Proverbs 31:10:   A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.   Proverbs 31:10-31 is an acrostic poem. Each of its twenty-two verses begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet: aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, he, etc. The proverb writer is outlining the characteristics … Continue reading A Good Woman Is Hard to Find

  All things being equal, I would rather be wealthy than poor. Wealth has real value. The Book of Proverbs notes some of its advantages.   For one thing, wealth brings a measure of security to life.   The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor (10:15).   The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall (18:11).   For another thing, wealth is a catalyst to friendship.   The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends (14:20).   … Continue reading The Real – But Limited – Value of Wealth