Wife as wisdom?

[Jim_Baur]

Please be gentle, I have for some time now believed that the wife is wisdom.

In Proverbs 31 the perfect wife is explained–It seems to be it is wisdom or wisdom is our perfect mate.

Human wisdom is good, but it must be directed by grace; human wisdom without grace is incomplete and misses the mark.

Well, I want to hear the ideas of others. I most certainly want people to be accurate, but gentle and thoughtful.

If my general idea is incorrect–please tell me with gentle words.

THANKS!

 

[Dorothy]

Please be gentle, I have for some time now believed that the wife is wisdom.

In Proverbs 31 the perfect wife is explained–It seems to be it is wisdom or wisdom is our perfect mate.

Human wisdom is good, but it must be directed by grace; human wisdom without grace is incomplete and misses the mark.

Well, I want to hear the ideas of others. I most certainly want people to be accurate, but gentle and thoughtful.

If my general idea is incorrect–please tell me with gentle words.

THANKS!

I very much like what you said about human wisdom.

Scripture reminds us to pray for wisdom!

 

[Beryllos]

If I read your OP right, you are saying that, as you understand it, the wife in Prov 31 is a metaphor, that is, that wisdom may serve a man and bring him honor like a capable wife. Is that what you are thinking?

When I read Proverbs 31, I envision a real, though idealized, human wife. The proverb describes many of her attributes. Wisdom is mentioned in verse 26. Elsewhere she is described as trustworthy, hard working, provident, prudent, charitable, kind, confident, happy, and praiseworthy.

Of course, I am interpreting this one chapter on its own, not in the larger context of the Book of Proverbs, or the even larger context of the several wisdom books of the Bible. Is there something apart from this chapter that points to a metaphorical interpretation?

 

[Jim_Baur]

I think this chapter of proverbs might be seen as explaining wisdom–when we listen to our bridegroom, God Incarnate!

To say the same thing in more modern diction: our wisdom is the bride of Jesus Christ.

 

[kkollwitz]

I agree with Beryllos, Proverbs 31 is directly about the value of a good wife.

On the other hand, I think Sirach 6 likens the pursuit of wisdom to pursuing a wife, but it’s directly about the value of wisdom.

26 Come to her with all your soul, and keep her ways with all your might. 27 Search out and seek, and she will become known to you; and when you get hold of her, do not let her go. 28 For at last you will find the rest she gives, and she will be changed into joy for you.

 

[Gabbanelli911]

I recently purchased my first Navarre Bible and I just finished reading an interesting interpretation regarding the “wife.”

Genesis 24:1-9

24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

NAVARRE BIBLE INTERPRETATION:

Abraham’s decision about the wife Isaac should take points to the importance a wife has in sustaining her husband’s faith and that of her family. St. Ambrose comments that “often a woman’s seduction deceives even the strongest of husbands and causes them to give up religion …] For the first thing that should be sought in conjugal life is religion …] Learn, therefore, what to seek in a woman: Abraham sought not gold or silver or property, but the gift of a good heart” (De Abraham, 1,9,84-85) – Navarre Bible: Pentateuch page 124-125.

 

[Jim_Baur]

This is an hypothesis, at the best. If I new a lower level than hypothesis, I would use it–a guess, an idea.

There is a principle from Origen or Augustine or both–an immoral acts said of the Patriarchs needs to be understood as interior things.

I cannot see Solomon having 1000 wives in the physical sense.

I can see that he entertained a thousand different “wisdoms.” (This is merely an idea that I want to test.)

You and I are created in the image and likeness of God; Adam and Eve, too.

If human’s were given natural wisdom.

If human natural wisdom took control of the image and likeness of God in humans.

Then the grace of man was ruled by the natural wisdom instead of the supernatural grace.

This happens to me all of the time.

My gift of wisdom is often a slave of my human wisdom.

My wife, wisdom, rules or enslaves the image and likeness that I have been freely given.

Again, this is an idea that I am praying over.

I do no hold it.

THANKS, if you listened and want to help me.