Prov. xxxi. 10-31
THE closing picture in the Book of Proverbs is famous. It is the portrait of the woman worth while. The old-time portrait is full of most interesting practical things. Age has not dimmed its lustre nor made its teachings pointless. The wisdom of the counsels given has not become outworn in the advance and evolution of life. Girls and young wives of to-day will find its suggestions as helpful as if they had lived three thousand years ago. There are some things that never grow old-fashioned. Character does not. Motherhood does not. Life itself does not. The same old lessons that were taught by Solomon may be learned to-day anew and they will be found applicable and pertinent as ever.
“The Virtuous Woman” was the artist’s name for his picture. By the word “virtuous” he meant strong, noble, capable. It was his thought that such a woman was rare in those days. We can understand this. Womanhood did not reach its best and noblest till Christ came. Solomon too seems to have been particularly unfortunate in his women friends. One even among a thousand who filled out the requirements of the divine ideal he says he had not found. We may doubt a little Solomon’s right to be considered as an authority on this subject when we remember the kind of life he lived. We know there were many noble women among the ancient Hebrews.
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