Proverbs 30:23 Commentary and Bible Study

‘For an odious woman when she is married.’ Here is a similar picture, but in this case an additional factor is involved. The woman has won herself a prize: the husband that she wanted. But why did she want him? Not out of love, nor with any intention of being a helpmeet to him. She has her own self-centred reasons for pursuing him. Scripture is not slow to call her an odious woman. That unpleasant trait may take different forms. It may be that she marries for money and desires a life of plenty. The husband is a stepping stones to that end. But it may simply be that she is odious and in his love for her, the man has not discerned her true character. He has reinterpreted her faults as pleasant traits and not looked hard enough into her heart. As time goes on he will see things differently. However, the point of the proverb is that she congratulates herself on her gains, and tells herself that she deserves what she has won. Her marriage seems, again, to confirm to her that she is worthy of such a prize, but it is another piece of self-deception. This is what the earth cannot bear: it cannot bear the weight of such a travesty, of such a piece of self-delusion. So too, the world is full of those who congratulate themselves on being great ones, for they measure themselves by what they gain in this world, by their success in achieving what they want. Yet God gives the unworthy many good things which they do not deserve in his common grace. We will never see what we truly are unless we learn to measure ourselves by the word of God and not by our outward circumstances.‘And an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.’ Although Solomon elsewhere uses the elevation of a servant to the status of an heir as a picture of grace – the servant behaves and is eventually treated as a son and so inherits all, even in preference to a true, although unworthy, son (Proverbs 17:2; 29:21) – the image here is negative. The maid in this picture must be assumed to be manipulative, grasping, unworthy. Perhaps by a long-held ambition, she has found her way into the favour of her mistress and she presses her advantage to the maximum. The mistress must see her as a suitable heir and must be persuaded to cause the will to be changed in her maid’s favour. The result is that someone totally unsuitable inherits the family estate. We can assume that this is not because there are no actual children, but because the maid has carried out a piece of skilful deception. In the same way the ungodly obtain positions of honour and power for themselves in this world while pushing aside those who live according to truth. The godly are often cheated and side-lined by the influential in this world. They know that their choice to serve God brings with it disadvantages in terms of earthly prosperity. In his longsuffering, God allows this state of affairs to persist for a time, but in the end all things will be corrected and the meek shall inherit the earth.