As far as I can remember I have assumed that the last chapter of Proverbs was for women only.  I was familiar with the many accolades bestowed upon its author most memorably by Jesus our Lord who credited him as the wisest man (excluding Himself) that has graced the planet in all of history.  But, Proverbs 31 was none of my business, so I thought; until one day I heard my pastor preach an exegetical sermon from this very chapter entitled “A Wise Woman’s Talk with Her Son”.  I concluded if this was speaking to men I was not exempt and it was therefore in my best interest to glean every drop of wisdom I could extract, Solomon now had my attention.

A penetrating question directed to men is presented in Proverbs 31:10.  Who can find a virtuous woman?  For years I would simply interpret that verse to say a good woman is hard to find, but upon deeper reflection I find this to be a loaded question.  Mrs. Ruth Wakefield intending to make chocolate cookies substituted it with broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate and accidentally stumbled upon one of the greatest discoveries known to man – the chocolate chip cookie.  However, contrary to Mrs. Wakefield’s unplanned invention, the discovery of a virtuous woman is never accidental but intentional.  A foolish man has neither interest nor use for a virtuous woman, and therefore makes no effort to pursue what is costly.  Furthermore, since he has no concept of value, he pathetically prioritizes the cheap thrill of immediate gratification ignoring the treasure of a lifetime.

In the Bible, Boaz perceives the value of Ruth and takes her as his wife while Nabal, whose name means fool, was married to Abigail a virtuous woman and dies incapable of recognizing the priceless treasure right under his nose.  For any man to qualify as the “Who” to which Solomon was referring must make it his life’s ambition to commit to at least two things concerning the discovery of a virtuous woman: Commit to pursue her and commit to appreciate her.