Kof (or Qoph) is our next letter. It is the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The pictograph of this letter is a circle with a line through it. It is said to represent a thread being pulled through a needle. The letter literally means 'nape' and this symbolizes that which is behind. Kof also has a meaning of holiness (kadosh begins with the letter kof) and with a cycle of some sort: of the week from the first day to the Sabbath, or a season, or of a life.
Our word is kamu and in the lexicon it is transliterated to the more ancient root word "quwm" meaning 'to arise'. The expanded meaning of the word here is that her children stand up and confirm, establish, or decree. I do not know that this is vocalized as much as it is confirmed by how they act in their adulthood. ...her husband, also...
When I first began working with this passage it was another of those which required some deep digging and deep thinking. I struggled with it but focused on the pictograph of a threaded needle. I saw the Proverbial Woman's life as a tapestry, a larger tapestry than any she crafted with her hands. That vision of her was confirmed later when I began to find other sites to help explain what the letter kof stood for. In a larger sense, her sphere of influence was far greater than just her home. So I asked myself, 'Who were her children?' The word used for children is 'ben' which translates immediately as 'son of' but has an expanded meaning of community and nation. I realized that this woman's sphere of influence was large. The people whom she touched with her daily life were her
community. In the greater sense they were also her children.
I also realized that as a finished tapestry this woman's life is likely over at this point, based upon the deeper meaning of the letter, of completed life/time cycles. In this sense the verse becomes poignant and certainly the husband represented here, based upon a further meaning of the Hebrew word used which means 'lord', she is standing before God...
Oddly, even though I know we are nearing the end of this Proverb, I was a little distressed to think of this Proverbial woman having passed away. I've become quite attached to her! And yet I see that over all, she is truly a 'living' woman in her legacy to us all.
Oddly, even though I know we are nearing the end of this Proverb, I was a little distressed to think of this Proverbial woman having passed away. I've become quite attached to her! And yet I see that over all, she is truly a 'living' woman in her legacy to us all.
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