The wife of noble character: She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. Proverbs 31, verse 18.
This is a good segue on yesterday’s verse which, if you remember, talked about work. A wife of noble character is one who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and get to work. If you remember, too, I said I thought that was an attractive thing. Today, we get a glimpse of why that’s so. The wife who isn’t afraid to work will, more likely than not, see her work result in profit. Her lamp will not go out at night: the bill will be paid to keep the power on, and there will be light in her home.
Nuff said, right? Almost.
The verse seems to insinuate that all hard work will be profitable, or does it? Notice that it says “trading” instead of work. That’s important and we’ll cover it shortly. The second half of the verse seems to imply that hard work pays off. It’s reasonable to assume that keeping one’s lamp lit means you’ve earned enough to pay for that to be so. That or someone has paid your bill for you. Either way, it’s a blessing. These days, we keep lights on at night to ward off burglars and threats. Three thousand years ago, it was no different. A wife might keep her lamp lit to give light to a room so as to let people know someone was at home. Back then, the light was a candle or, more likely, a wick dipped in oil (maybe olive oil, castor oil, or possibly some kind of fish oil). It wouldn’t give off much light, and once it was out it would be difficult to re-light; remember, there were no matches. You would have to re-light it from another fire or from a flint and metal. For the verse to say that the wife’s fire does not go out at night meant she had provided both the oil and wick, as well as tended it to make sure the fire didn’t blow out.
But I want to hone in on that ‘trading’ word because it carries several other meanings with it. I’m not much of one for horse-trading. I don’t have the patience for it, and I think I have too much Yankee stubbornness in me. When I go into a store, I want to get a good deal, but I want for what I see to be what I get. That includes the price.
Years ago, I lived in southern Italy, where haggling and negotiating on price are a cultural norm. Except for food, meals, and items in stores, at a market it’s common to haggle over a price. During my first weekend there, I spent 30 minutes haggling with a rug vendor over the price of a rug my wife liked (I eventually got him down to half-price). It’s theatrical: you make your bid, the vendor huffs and puffs and says ‘no.’ So, you walk away and he waves you back to propose a counter-bid. You might take it or, counter again. That commonly results in more huffing and puffing, sometimes in (what I imagine to be) Italian profanity. Eventually, if you want the item bad enough, he’ll sense that or you’ll sense his bargaining limit and you can reach a mutually agreeable price.
Personally, it wasn’t for me. I understood the process, and I even understand the cultural background for it. It’s an ancient thing, going all the way back to a time even long before the time when this verse was written. A wife of noble character would have known what to bargain for and what to let slide by. That woman is better than me. She would have had an informed sense of what is and isn’t a good deal. Maybe things aren’t so different after all. In my house, the women seem to have a better (again, informed) sense of what is and isn’t a good deal. After all, part of every Friday’s routine is viewing the next week’s Target ad. I enjoy shopping, but not that much. Given the choice between shopping and fingernail torture, I’d have to think about the options. The ladies of my home are better at it than me and God bless ‘em for that. It’s something for which I can be thankful.
What’s more, the woman of noble character would be shrewd enough to know what her goods and services were worth. If she raised a crop for sale, she would inform herself of the going price for her commodity. If she made a product, she would know what the market price for it would be. When the wife of noble character wanted to trade, she would know when she was getting snowed and what her goods should sell for. I’ve often thought women would make better stock traders than men. It’s part intuition, part information, and part how we process both.
Maybe it’s circumstantial, but I doubt it. God seems to be talking about informed intuition in this verse. He gives us talents, yes unique talents that sometimes vary by gender, and the knowledge in how to best use them. When we use them for His glorification (and that means using them in love for our families), we are doing a Godly thing. I’ll do well to remember this today when that Target ad is published.
Practical Proverbs 