The Proverbial Woman: Vs. 21

Proverbs 31:21  She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

Lamed 
is the twelvth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  In pictograph it is a shepherd's hook or goad.  It is considered the 'heart' of the alphabet.  The original meaning of lamed is 'to prick, sting, incite, goad'  as a shepherd might goad cattle into movement or action.  The Hebrew name of the letter itself means to teach or to learn and refers to the Torah.    

labash
is our word in this verse.  It means 'to clothe' but the primitive root word means "to wrap around".

On the surface of things this woman uses common sense and knows that there are seasons.  She has prepared her family for the season of snow.  We don't have snow often in Georgia, but I would think in an area where there was deep snow that red would most surely stand out.  It is unlikely that anyone wearing red would be 'lost' in snow.

Interestingly, when the Hebrew meanings of the words are studied in depth we learn that the scarlet dye was obtained by grinding the dried body of an insect.  It is only the female which produces this color.  I thought this spoke volumes about how our Proverbial Woman has sacrificed herself, in a sense, for her family.

As well we cannot forget that it was by blood that the Israelites were saved during that horrible (and wonderful!) night in Egypt when the Israelites were finally able to walk out of the slavery of generations.  And that was a foreshadowing of the blood of the Lamb of God slain for our sins in years to come.



It is not a far stretch to sense that spiritually this verse says quite a lot.  Her family is SAVED.  That they are saved is largely due to her own example of faith and devotion. While we are all responsible for our personal relationship with God and Christ, and we cannot claim salvation for anyone based on our own salvation, it is true that we are to be examples and to teach.  One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Deut. 6: 4-9  It begins with the Shema and it declares that the God of Israel is the One True God.  It then goes on to teach how often the commandments should be repeated throughout their daily life.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Does that verse not seem to 'wrap' the Torah about all aspects of their daily lives?

1 Timothy 4:12 ESV /        
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Titus2:3
3Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

1 comment:

Debby in KS said...

That's interesting that your translation says 'scarlet'. Mine says 'warm clothes.'.