© 2024 Naomi J Spence, 31 – Our World Transformed, available on Amazon
She rises also while it is still night and gives food to her household
and portions to her maidens – Proverbs 31:15
The Proverbs 31 Woman doesn’t wait for the dawn. She gets up before the dawn so she can be prepared.
She Provides Meat for Her Household
To her household she gave food. This food is not a light meal. It is translated elsewhere as meat. The food she provided is substantial and nourishing. She was making sure her household received the meat they needed for the activities of the day.
For the Bride of Christ, Jesus and the Word are our meat. It isn’t a light meal either but requires us to chew on it and digest it so it can permeate our whole body. It provides us with life-giving nourishment that strengthens us for the day (John 6:51).
The word ‘household’ is very broad and can mean the physical dwelling or the members of a family, or all who dwell within the walls of a building, like a palace. That would then include all who serve the family within the dwelling.
This word for household is also used in Proverbs 31:21, where the woman is once again providing for her people what they need to survive the day. It seems that these are people she loves and is committed to providing for. They are a part of her life, and she is a part of theirs. It’s not a loose gathering, these people walk through life together.
Paul exhorted believers in Rome to have this mindset towards each other. He included it as first in a list of what every believer should be doing to live a life in right order with God (Romans 12:9-13).
The members of the early church were a part of each other’s daily lives. They met daily and did life together. They shared their meals and used those occasions to talk about Christ, to encourage each other and to lift each other up (Acts 2:46-47).
It takes more than spending a couple of hours together once a week. It requires acting like one family where we know what’s happening in each other’s lives, we have opportunity to speak into the challenges of life, we can meet each other’s needs because we know what they are, and we have a heart bond with each other.
She Provides Portions for Her Servants
In contrast to her household, the Proverbs 31 Woman gave her maidens portions. They are what is required under the law. This would then imply a different relationship from how she prepared for her household. The household was given food, or meat, as much as they wanted or needed. But the maidens were given portions, which is what was required to be given as part of their contract or agreement with the woman.
We each of us interact with people who are not believers. Most of us work outside the church or run businesses. We also interact with people when we go shopping, when we go to school or university, when we get tradesmen to do work in our homes or on our cars, and so on. We are still in this world and interact with non-believers all the time. This part of the verse shows us how we should treat non-believers who are in our circle, who may even be in our own household, but are not part of our spiritual family with the bond of God’s divine love.
The maidens are part of her household, but there is no love bond. Instead, it is contractual in nature because they give only so they can receive. There is nothing wrong with that. There is a need for this type of contractual relationship as well. But we should not make the mistake of expecting them to love us with the same love we receive from those who are the Bride of Christ.
The love we are commanded to have for each other in the Bride is divine in nature, it comes from God Himself. Those who have not received Him are not able to love with His divine love. We are to treat them well, but not in the same way we would those who are of the faith. Jesus told His disciples to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).
The Proverbs 31 Woman was kind to all, provided for all, but was not ignorant of the different type of people in her household. This also exists in our churches. This verse describes two different types of interactions mature Christians can have with immature Christians. Some immature Christians will receive instruction and will develop a love bond with the mature Christian. They become like father and son.
But some will resist developing such a bond. Instead, they want instruction in what to do and seek reward when they do it. They are not seeking to build a relationship or love bond; they are seeking help to live a more comfortable or successful life as an individual. While they resist true fellowship, or ‘koinonia’, they will act as a servant.
Sons sit at the family table and receive meat from their spiritual fathers. They eat as much as they want, and they can grow to full maturity to take their place in the family business.
Servants, or maids, do not sit at the table with the family. Instead, they are provided for according to the agreement in place. While they remain servants, they can never grow to take a place in the family.
Sons will eventually receive their inheritance. Servants or maids will only ever receive their portion, which remains the same and is provided to them each day.
The Proverbs 31 Woman can tell the difference between sons and servants. She knows who will grow to maturity to eventually take their place as the head of a family, and who will only ever serve so they can receive their daily portion. Wise women provide for both sons and servants but put their heart into sons. They provide meat for those who are sons, and portions for those who are not.
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Naomi Spence is married to apostle Phil Spence and together they lead Enlarj, a relational network spanning eighteen nations. They are based in Brisbane, Australia. Naomi may be contacted via naomi@enlarj.com.
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