Mind: Blown; World: Rocked
The Proverbs 31 woman is a well known lady in Christian circles. She is described in the last 22 verses of Proverbs. It is an acrostic poem, taking each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and extolling the virtues of a wife of noble character, or a valorous woman. For the sake of space, I won’t record the verses in this blog, but you can click here to read it.
Women are encouraged to be like the woman described here. There are books on how to become the Proverbs 31 woman. There are Bible studies on how to become the Proverbs 31 woman. There is pressure! I do not know how this ideal woman sleeps or where she gets the energy to do all of the things described. In truth, the ideal is overwhelming.
Last month I read A Year of Biblical Womanhood, by Rachel Held Evans. She dedicated a year to discovering what it means to live biblically as a woman. Each month she focused on a different aspect of biblical womanhood. January found her trying to be like the Proverbs 31 woman. She took the poem literally and made a rather long checklist of things to do. I was overwhelmed by reading her list. It’s no wonder she got overwhelmed trying to do it all.
During the course of her experiment, she began corresponding with an Orthodox Jew, Ahava, who is married to a rabbi and living in Israel. What Ahava wrote rocked my view of Proverbs 31:
Here’s the thing, Christians seem to think that because the Bible is inspired, all of it should be taken literally. Jews don’t do this. Even though we take the Torah literally (all 613 commandments!), the rest is seen differently, as a way of understanding our Creator, rather than direct commands. Take Proverbs 31, for example. I get called an eshet chayil (a valorous woman) all the time. Make your own challah instead of buying? Eshet chayil! Work to earn some extra money for the family? Eshet chayil! Make balloon animals for the kids at Shul? Eshet chayil! Every week at the Shabbat table, my husband sings the Proverbs 31 poem to me. It’s special because I know that no matter what I do or don’t do, he praises me for blessing the family with my energy and creativity. All women can do that in their own way. I bet you do as well. -page 87 on Kindle.
Ahava gets called eshet chayil by her husband. Eshet chayil is translated as a valorous woman. To have valor is to have great courage in the face of danger. The structure and wording of the poem are similar to heroic tales of warriors, so this translation of valor makes sense. To say eshet chayil in praise is essentially saying, You go, girl!
The blessing
“Eshet chayil is at it’s core a blessing–one that was never meant to be earned, but to be given, unconditionally” (page 88 on Kindle).
Amen! Proverbs 31 is not a standard for women to achieve. It is meant as praise from a husband to his wife. And it is not something strictly limited to married couples. I am spending the year with 34 single ladies. This is a way in which we can lift each other up and praise each other for doing things with valor. I am going to make it a point this month to look for ways my teammates are being valorous women. When I see it, I’m going to praise them. I’m also going to recognize valor in the women of the community and in the women I know back in the States. So don’t be surprised if I message you, Woman of valor!
How this affects the Race
Our transition from Cambodia to Malaysia came with a transition in teams. The men are all together on one team this month, doing MANistry. It’s going to be an awesome month for them to grow deeper together and have so much guy time. (I hear it’s hard being one of two guys on a team of women for so long.) To accommodate the change, the women of our three coed teams have merged into two teams. For the first time on the Race, I am on an all women team.
A little backstory: I have developed the habit of sharing what I read with others on my team and on the squad. Whoever was sitting near me last month when I read this chapter heard about it immediately. One of my new teammates, Kim, read A Year of Biblical Womanhood last month, as well. She was also captured by the spirit of eshet chayil. In discussing what our new team name should be, eshet chayil came up. As the seven of us delve deeper with one another and deeper with God, we want to be women of valor. We want to lift each other up through encouragement and praise.
Without further ado, meet Team Valor!
I am excited for this month and getting to know these ladies better. We already wov each other very much!
(Get it? Women of Valor –> WoV –> love)
Quotes taken from:
Evans, Rachel Held. A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012.
