Watering And Being Watered: Gender Roles
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| God waters my wife through me... God waters me through my wife... |
Why is “wisdom” spoken of with a feminine gender in the Bible?
One May 'Know' Much But Lack Wisdom
One place wisdom is mentioned:
Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.
- Proverbs 3: 13-18Answering the question, I think:
When a man is blessed with a Proverbs 31 woman, that man learns what is written in Ephesians 5 regarding the role and unity between husbands and wives.
A bit from Proverbs 31:
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life...
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
- Proverbs 31: 10-12, 28-30Mystery Revealed In The Oneness Of Man And Woman
Although patience is not literally mentioned with a feminine gender, I dare say that patience is realized regarding all the work that a noble wife accomplishes inside and outside the home (reading all of Proverbs 31 and understanding its message).
The humble husband learns about wisdom and patience from his wife.
The married / unified dynamic between a man and woman speaks to Christ and the church and is fulfilled in the faithful husband and wife.
Many times a woman's role is diminished when compared to that of a man.
I think it is a mistake to compare the two.
Since a woman is not like a man in some respects, why would comparisons be made when, instead, the differences should be highlighted and granted their fair praise regarding their uniqueness?
Why consider that a woman can do some thing better than a man, and in contrast a man than a woman?
Doesn't each fulfill their unique role in all of life for the sake of the other?
Does not the land feed on the water in order for life to thrive?
Can the land survive without water?
What would be water's purpose without the land through which it brings life?
We see that one was created for the other.
All things are held in balance by the two; one is not to (nor should) be 'rated' as 'better' than the other.
Both be respected how they exist in unison regarding their unique attributes.
Purpose Not Power
So also we see a man and woman's purpose for one another and all of life continuing because of this purpose.
What the married man was previously unable to understand when single, God may grant him insight being unified to his body (his wife)...as with the woman.
Depending on the man and God's allotment of grace to him, the married man may realize how he can learn from his wife's 'patience' when she deals with his shortcomings.
He may possibly 'hear' God's wisdom when he discusses matters of his heart with his wife, and when he patiently listens to her heart speak to his.
Since the two become one, God speaks through both of them to one another...and the hearers in the world experience, see and hear this mystery.
When both submit to one another out of reverence for God, Christ is manifested in His body (those two that became one) in ways difficult to explain in human terms.
We do have the message found in the testimony from Above: the Gospel and letters and church.
How then is patience and wisdom made complete in a man, and by unity also in a woman?
Let us read:
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of His body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
- Ephesians 5: 21-33
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