We need to be careful with making the Proverbs 31 woman the Standard for Christian women. Here are some Reasons for your Consideration. (THREAD)

- Prov. 31 wasn’t written to women. King Lemuel’s mother is giving him instruction on the type of wife she wants for him.

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Note: The HCSB in Verse 1 calls it an “oracle” she taught to her son.

- the woman his mother is describing isn’t a real woman. She is figurative. His mother is just giving her son a compilation of descriptions, markings & traits he should look out for in his search.

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- Also, she isn’t just a woman. She’s also a wife and a mother. We know that every woman won’t be a wife and/or mother. She also has servants and great resources. Every woman won’t have that either.

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- Finally, the Proverbs 31 woman is great for us to reflect and learn from, but we shouldn’t make her the standard. Ruth was clearly different from our “Prov. 31 model” b/c she didn’t own servants, wasn’t a wife or a mom, didn’t wear fine clothes & she was poor.

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But yet Boaz called her “Eshet Chayil”- a woman of valor.
Which ironically is the same word choice we see to describe the Proverbs 31 woman.

Be encouraged, you don’t have to measure up to a unrealistic standard.

Just follow Jesus.

He makes all things new and better.

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