A year of “Virtue”

I have been trying to decide what part of scripture to study next, and I have decided on Proverbs 31, focusing on the “Virtuous wife” passage, from verses 10 to 31. I have decided to spend about two weeks per verse, which means this study will last me most of the year. Originally, this was supposed to be just a study between myself and my daughter, but since some of my friends expressed interest in participating, and timing and distance were issues that I was not able to work out, the idea was suggested to me that I use my blog, which seemed to work perfectly. You won’t need any special books or materials. If you can get here to the blog, you will have everything you need. If you are someone who found this blog surfing the internet, jump in and join us, this is a public study, open to all who wish to participate!

I have been thinking on this for a few weeks, how I wanted to start, what I wanted to accomplish, and what I wanted to focus on. I want to spend some time thinking about what a virtuous wife was from a biblical viewpoint, but mostly I want to look at how these verses apply today, and some practical applications of them.

I started by looking up the word “virtuous” using an online concordance, the results of which can be found here.  Feel free to click any links I use, they will open in a new window, and will not navigate you from this page.

The first thing that I found interesting was that using the King James Version (which I will use mostly), the word virtuous is only found three times in the whole Bible. The second interesting point is, each time this word is used, it is used in describing women. We will look more in depth at the word virtuous itself in the next couple of days.

I read through the entire passage, to try to get a mental image of what a virtuous wife looked like. I have to be honest, I am a bit intimidated by this woman! When I look at what she accomplishes, and compare myself, I find myself lacking. Some have even suggested that this does not represent one woman, but instead, represents different stages of a woman’s life. I am not sure that I agree with that idea, but I could be wrong.

Today’s assignment is to read through the entire passage, Proverbs 31:10-31.  For your convenience, here is a link to an online Bible. The link will take you to the King James Version, but you can change the version using the drop down menu at the top. What kind of woman do you envision when you read this passage? Do you imagine a business woman, perfectly groomed? Or do you get the image of a homemaker, with an immaculate house? What does a virtuous woman look like to you? Do you know people personally who fit your “idea” of a virtuous woman? What is it about them that sets them apart from other women? Do you consider yourself to be a virtuous woman?

Please share your thoughts and ideas, but please always remember that this is a public blog, so use discernment when posting personal information!