Proverbs 18:22 Commentary and Bible Study

The most natural thing in the world is for somebody engaged in fellowship to find a wife, to find a husband. We may not care for the way in which this is rendered in our version – ‘a good thing’. Well, you will be pleased to know thing is not in the original. It is in italics. ‘Findeth a good matter’ would be more tasteful. Perhaps you can think of even better words, but ‘thing’ is only to help us. It is not there. ‘Findeth’ doesn’t actually here imply a search, though that may be necessary. It is a Hebrew term which more means discovers, a lifelong companion and friend.Of course this is written from the point of view of the man. It could equally well be written from the point of view of the woman. Whoso finds a wife finds a treasure to value, a good matter, a mother in Israel, a storehouse of kindness and insight, a fellow labourer to share all your responsibilities, a loyal adviser and corrector, a servant of the Lord to be upheld. Whoso finds a wife finds a helper in joy, a second conscience to go alongside your own. And I have found over the years that wives’ consciences can very often be much more sensitive than those of their husbands. So that is a precious matter. A noble and honourable equal in the sight of God.‘And obtaineth favour of the Lord’, kindness and acceptance of the Lord. You have a reward from God by having a wife or a husband, because to have a wife or a husband is the crowning expression of fellowship which is the subject of this string of verses.