Proverbs 31:29

Many daughters have done virtuously,.... This, according to Aben Ezra and Gersom, is what was said by her husband and children, and which seems to be right; especially they may be thought to be the words of her husband.

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The praises of a virtuous woman; forming a Hebrew acrostic. The 22 years begin with the several 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet consecutively; M.

Daughters; daughters of men, i.e. women, so called also . Thou excellest them all: he esteems it but just that his praises should bear proportion to her real and manifold perfections.

Proverbs 31:29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.Ver. 29. Many daughters have done virtuously.] By the benefit of a better nature, or civil education, or for praise of men, or for a quiet life, sure it is that all unsanctified women, though never so well qualified, have failed, both quoad fontem, et quoad finem, for want of faith for the principle, and God’ s glory the aim of their virtuous actions. And therefore, though they be suo genere, praise worthy, yet they are far short of this gracious matron. The civil life without faith is but a beautiful abomination, a smoother way to hell. Melius est pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum, Better is pale gold than glittering copper. Say the world what it will, a drachm of holiness is worth a pound of good nature. Prefer that before this (in the choice of a wife especially), as ye would do a piece of gold for weight rather than for workmanship, for value than for elegance, like that French coin in the historian, in qua plus formae quam ponderis, wherein there was more neatness than weightiness. Of carnal women, though never so witty, well-spoken, and well-deeded too, we may say, as the civil law doth of those mixed beasts, elephants and camels, operam praestant, natura fera est, they do the work of tame creatures, but they have the nature of wild ones. But thou excellest them all.] As the only paragon of the world, the female glory, the wonder of womenkind. Bernard.

(29) Many daughters—i.e., women (Genesis 30:13; Son 6:9); a term of affection.

Verse 29. Many daughters have done virtuously] This is undoubtedly the speech of the husband, giving testimony to the excellence of his wife: "Her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying, 'many daughters,' women, 'have done virtuously,' with due propriety as wives, mistresses, and mothers; 'but THOU,' my incomparable wife, 'excellent them all;' ואת עלית על כלנה veath alith al cullanah, but THOU hast ascended above the whole of them-thou hast carried every duty, every virtue, and every qualification and excellency, to a higher perfection, than any of whom we have ever read or heard." And let the reader seriously consider the above particulars, as specified under the different heads and subdivisions; and he will be probably of the same mind. But high as the character of this Jewish matron stands in the preceding description, I can say that I have met at least her equal, in a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Annesly, the wife of Samuel Wesley, sen., rector of Epworth in Lincolnshire, and mother of the late extraordinary brothers, John and Charles Wesley. I am constrained to add this testimony, after having traced her from her birth to her death, through all the relations that a woman can bear upon earth. Her Christianity gave to her virtues and excellences a heightening, which the Jewish matron could not possess. Besides, she was a woman of great learning and information, and of a depth of mind, and reach of thought, seldom to be found among the daughters of Eve, and not often among the sons of Adam.

VIII. The Virtuous Woman. Chap. Proverbs 31:10-31 This short Appendix differs from the other Sections of the Book of Proverbs in having one subject throughout, and in being in form acrostic or alphabetical. Each verse begins with a letter, taken in order, of the Hebrew alphabet. There is nothing in the contents of the Section to throw light upon either its age or authorship. The alphabetical arrangement cannot safely be regarded as a proof of a late date of composition. A similar arrangement occurs in several Psalms and in the opening chapters of the Book of Lamentations; and some at least of these must be assigned to a comparatively early date. It is more probable that the arrangement in question, belonging as it does for the most part to didactic poems, was a device adopted to assist the memory. (See The Book of Psalms, Vol. i. Introd. p. xlviii. in this Series; and Bp Perowne on Psalms 25:1.) The LXX reverse the order of two letters of the Hebrew alphabet here. The same two letters are transposed in the Hebrew in three (chaps, 2, 3, 4) out of the four alphabetical poems in the Book of Lamentations. See Comm. on that Book in this Series. Introd. pp. 354, 5. The picture here drawn of woman in her proper sphere of home, as a wife and a mother and the mistress of a household, stands out in bright relief against the dark sketches of woman degraded by impurity, or marred by imperfections, which are to be found in earlier chapters of this Book (Proverbs 2:16-20; Proverbs 5:1-23; Proverbs 7; Proverbs 22:14; Proverbs 23:27-28, and Proverbs 11:22; Proverbs 19:13; Proverbs 21:19). Corruptio optimi pessima. We have here woman occupying and adorning her rightful place, elevated by anticipation to the high estate to which the Gospel of Christ has restored her. It is an expansion of the earlier proverb: “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22).

The words of praise which the husband Proverbs 31:28 is supposed to have addressed to the ideal wife. Virtuously - The Hebrew word has primarily (like “virtus”) the idea of “strength,” but is used with various shades of meaning.

29. Many daughters — That is, according to a well-known Hebrew idiom — many women. This is generally regarded as the eulogium of the husband. Have done virtuously — Have done bravely, or worthily.