Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. -Proverbs 31:10
I believe this question was asked to imply that a virtuous woman is not easily or casually found. Chances are you cannot just take a walk in the park and simply find a virtuous woman by looking around.
Virtue lies within
A big reason why Lemuel (the assumed author of Proverbs 31) asked this question: “who can find her?” is because it is not something that can be easily discovered. It cannot be seen with one’s eyes, as in a moment’s notice.
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He did not say: "Who can find a beautiful woman?"
Had the writer of this proverb asked who could find a beautiful woman, the answer would be overwhelming: I can! You can! Everybody can! A woman with outward beauty is quite easy to find, and this is not what God commends in His scriptures, and quite the opposite, as He says “beauty is vain” Proverbs 31:30. And why? Because beauty is mainly inherited and natural: she didn’t do anything to get it.
Virtue can be fostered and cultivated in anyone
One reason why God commends virtue is that it’s found within, and it’s developed through a strong relationship with God.
Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear– but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. -1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)
A woman with virtue is loved and trusted
If you read the very next verse after the question concerning a virtuous woman, you’ll see the results of this holiness: “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil” (Proverbs 31:11).
This is quite the contrast to the world’s system, which tells men to seek out the most beautiful women, and tells women to seek to be only outwardly beautiful. Yet, this value system invariably ends in mistrust, cheating, and heartbreak. As a famous song has said, “we can’t go on together with suspicious minds, and we can’t build our dreams on suspicious minds…”
In the end, happiness both in this life, and in the life to come, is found through virtue: an inward beauty that is free for all to obtain through Christ, and by His Holy Spirit.
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