She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
The excellent wife is not mute.
Week 3 of 4
Her voice
A wise husband is not threatened by a wise wife.
She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:26
Scripture does not picture a silent wife as the glory of a man. Abigail kept David from bloodguilt. Priscilla, with Aquila, explained the way of God more accurately to Apollos. The Proverbs 31 woman opens her mouth with wisdom. A husband who needs her small in order to feel like the head is already insecure, and insecurity is not authority. You are commanded to dwell with her according to knowledge. Knowledge listens.
Scripture
Formal study reading, written for this series
Formal study reading, written for this series
Blessed be the Lord, who sent you this day to meet me. Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt.
David was a king in the making. He still needed her judgment.
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
A married woman helped teach a gifted man, and the church wrote it down.
NASB, the Amplified, and the ESV open on Bible Hub. The Legacy Standard Bible opens on its own reader. Close, Expanded, and Easy on this page are original study readings. WEB is the World English Bible, public domain.
Listening is not abdication
Nothing in these texts makes a husband less responsible. They make him less lonely and less foolish. Wisdom in Proverbs is a woman calling in the street before it is a wife at the table, and then it is also a wife at the table. If God gives her sight you lack, refusing it is not masculine. It is proud.
Abigail did not seize David’s throne. She kept him from sin. That is the counsel a husband should want: not flattery, not a second mother, but a voice that can say “this blood is not yours to shed.” A man who punishes that voice will eventually shed something.
In the house
Ask her what she sees before you lock a plan. Then do not cross-examine her into silence. If you disagree, say so cleanly, without a sneer.
Stop the joke that her words are long and yours are the real decision. The children are taking notes.
Seven days
At the table
- 1What has your wife seen clearly that you dismissed because it came from her?
- 2Do your children think her words count?
- 3Where would listening be obedience rather than weakness?
- 4Is there a bloodguilt — a harsh plan — she is trying to keep you from?
Your note
Stays on this device. No account.
A prayer
Father, you put wisdom in more mouths than mine. Give me ears for the wife you gave me. Do not let pride dress up as leadership. If she is Abigail in this house, make me a man who blesses you for her and puts the sword down. Amen.