Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman?
Sermon
THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM
Sermons For Pentecost (Middle Third)
School girls we were, dressed in the school colors, green and white, jumpers, blazers, pullover. Our oxfords were tied sturdily all through the winter - replaced by saddle shoes in the spring and the fall. School girls we were in the biology lab and on the hockey field, in the library and in the art studio. School girls reciting Latin declensions, U.S. presidents, the poetry of Emily Dickinson. School girls we were, tutoring younger children.
As we grew older, we became school girls adolescent, with an eye for the macabre, the hypocritical, the absurd. Impossible to manage, we especially maligned the conventional, and that I promise you included the Ellis School's weekly task of memorizing Bible verses. I do not remember exactly how old we were when we were assigned the scripture that we read, "Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies?" But we were old enough that it set our sense of satire loose, our sense of the absurd ... defiance.
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" We recited it when we were sneak-smoking behind the gymnasium. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" We chanted it as we went over the details of the Saturday dance, how we danced with so and so, and held hands or kissed. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" We whispered it when we were passing notes to one another in study hall, when we were doing homework together that was meant to be done alone. "Who can find a virtuous woman, who can find a virtuous woman?" It was our refrain, so it is not surprising that as seniors, when we had the "privilege" of designing the class play (meant to reflect our years at the Ellis School), this passage found its way into prominent position. Between each portion, each skit, there was a chorus of school girls, sidling across the stage. "Who can find a virtuous woman, who can find a virtuous woman?"
And in fact this text does strike almost any reader, as an anachronism, a leftover from an ancient culture, valuable perhaps for its historical description of domestic life in Israel of the day, but not valuable for much beyond that. We have come a long, long way in understanding who we are as women since this passage was written. We are equal in God's intention. And we have come too long a way and we know it is we ourselves who decides our virtue - we do - not to let some Hebrew sage tell us.
And there are other problems with this passage. It is choppy. It appears to have no order of thought, no direction. It goes from wool to ships, from night to food, back to clothing, on to wisdom, from bread to fear of the Lord. Why, if any of the Ellis schoolgirls handed in such a poem to our English teacher, she would have written across the top in bold red marks, "not acceptable, no outline, no direction of thought."
How are we to approach such a text? Should we just dismiss it, leave it to the historians? What sense are we to make of it in this worship service? When I have trouble with a biblical text, when I come up against this one, I try to discover as much about the text as is needful, and yes, I was a history major.
This text is the conclusion of the Book of Proverbs which was a sourcebook of materials for the sages, the teachers, of Israel. It is a sourcebook of the development of characters and virtue. It is a how-to book intended for youths even maybe especially youths as incorrigible as we were. It is meant to help young Hebrews, to guide them along the path of wisdom. Has anyone ever given you a book like that? Maybe as a graduation present Marion Wright Edelman's Letter to My Children which we gave the seniors.
Proverbs fall into three sections. The first nine chapters introduce us to the context of wisdom, and yes, she is feminine in the Hebrew. Sophia.
The next 19 chapters is a collection of short sayings that we think of as proverbs,
pride goes before the fall
a soft answer turns away wrath
a friend loves at all times.
The last section is four appendix and the last of the four is our text on the virtuous woman.
This poem was probably in circulation in ancient Israel, as an individual piece, given to young women. Then as I send along cards with thoughts, or as you put up posters with our favorite sayings. The poem is an acrostic which may explain why it is so disjointed. Does anyone ever do the acrostics in the Sunday paper - next to the crossword? These take time and smarts and patience, because you need to figure out the formal structure.
The formal structure of this acrostic is the Hebrew's alphabet, the initial letters of the 22 couplets follow the normal order of the Hebrew alphabet.
So then, this poem was chosen by those who put together the Book Of Proverbs, chosen and placed carefully at the end of the Book Of Proverbs, so that the poem might take on greater purpose, a balance for Sophia - wisdom - God. The virtuous woman personifies Sophia and her virtues are valuable for both genders, in both women and men. She is energetic and practical, industrious and shrewd in business. She creates loveliness in all that she touches. She is kind and efficient. She is strong and generous and she fears the Lord.
Who can find a virtuous woman?
Who can find a virtuous person?
Who can find a virtuous man?
The passage begins with a rhetorical question to ready us for the description of virtue in Proverbs, so that we might understand what the sages of Israel held as good, true, worthy of report. For some of us, we might agree with the characteristics in this passage. We might respond quite readily, "Yes, yes." Those are characteristics that I cherish." Others might respond, "Mmmm, interesting, but more a curiosity than anything I think about."
At the very least this passage from Proverbs provides for us an occasion to consider what virtues we do value in ourselves and in others ... what virtues do we value in those we hold dear. I want you to take a moment now to think about what you value in yourself; if virtue seems too old fashioned a word - what characteristic do you value?
Think for a moment, while I tell you about a neighbor who lives alone, and everything he touches turns to loveliness, a vase of black-eyed Susans on the kitchen counter, a strainer full of blueberries in the kitchen sink, a gathering of beach stones on a side table, even his collection of baseball cards is presented in a fashion that is attractive. Our children are mesmerized and he makes time for them. He comes down the hill on his way home from work with a smile and a wave, the kids come running after him tossing a whoosh or a ball. He is patient and generous, he is wise and has a giggle that is infectious, he is a home maker and has a welcoming manner to those in need. These are virtues I value.
The other day we had no water. I called to ask if we could use his bathroom until the plumbers came, and the next thing I knew he was at the kitchen door with a jug of spring water, "I thought you might need this." Who can find a virtuous person, who can find a virtuous woman, who can find a virtuous man. What virtues do you value, in yourself and in those around you?
Another example is a doctor at the Harlem Hospital working with children who have AIDS. She works to prolong the lives and improve the lives of children like Jesus, age nine, whose mother brought him to the doctor after Jesus had been running a fever of 106 for several days. Jesus is limp and withdrawn. The doctor sits down, she will take her time to ask how Jesus is, and how he feels, what he imagines, what he fears. And when Jesus gets to play the doctor for a moment and shine the examining light in her eyes, he even smiles, he even smiles.
"We're smarter now, we're more able to see problems coming and take early action to prevent them," she says. She is a skilled physician, she is modest, an informed researcher and when she is asked why she does what she does she shrugs her shoulders and responds "There is no why. This is my life. I always knew I wanted to work in the inner city. I was always interested in preventative issues." Who can find a virtuous woman ... for her price is far above rubies? At the end of the day she returns home to her two toddlers, to her husband. Who can find a virtuous woman? What virtues do you value in yourselves and others?
This passage from the end of the Book Of Proverbs provides for us the occasion to consider what virtues we do value in ourselves and those around us. Amen.
As we grew older, we became school girls adolescent, with an eye for the macabre, the hypocritical, the absurd. Impossible to manage, we especially maligned the conventional, and that I promise you included the Ellis School's weekly task of memorizing Bible verses. I do not remember exactly how old we were when we were assigned the scripture that we read, "Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies?" But we were old enough that it set our sense of satire loose, our sense of the absurd ... defiance.
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" We recited it when we were sneak-smoking behind the gymnasium. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" We chanted it as we went over the details of the Saturday dance, how we danced with so and so, and held hands or kissed. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" We whispered it when we were passing notes to one another in study hall, when we were doing homework together that was meant to be done alone. "Who can find a virtuous woman, who can find a virtuous woman?" It was our refrain, so it is not surprising that as seniors, when we had the "privilege" of designing the class play (meant to reflect our years at the Ellis School), this passage found its way into prominent position. Between each portion, each skit, there was a chorus of school girls, sidling across the stage. "Who can find a virtuous woman, who can find a virtuous woman?"
And in fact this text does strike almost any reader, as an anachronism, a leftover from an ancient culture, valuable perhaps for its historical description of domestic life in Israel of the day, but not valuable for much beyond that. We have come a long, long way in understanding who we are as women since this passage was written. We are equal in God's intention. And we have come too long a way and we know it is we ourselves who decides our virtue - we do - not to let some Hebrew sage tell us.
And there are other problems with this passage. It is choppy. It appears to have no order of thought, no direction. It goes from wool to ships, from night to food, back to clothing, on to wisdom, from bread to fear of the Lord. Why, if any of the Ellis schoolgirls handed in such a poem to our English teacher, she would have written across the top in bold red marks, "not acceptable, no outline, no direction of thought."
How are we to approach such a text? Should we just dismiss it, leave it to the historians? What sense are we to make of it in this worship service? When I have trouble with a biblical text, when I come up against this one, I try to discover as much about the text as is needful, and yes, I was a history major.
This text is the conclusion of the Book of Proverbs which was a sourcebook of materials for the sages, the teachers, of Israel. It is a sourcebook of the development of characters and virtue. It is a how-to book intended for youths even maybe especially youths as incorrigible as we were. It is meant to help young Hebrews, to guide them along the path of wisdom. Has anyone ever given you a book like that? Maybe as a graduation present Marion Wright Edelman's Letter to My Children which we gave the seniors.
Proverbs fall into three sections. The first nine chapters introduce us to the context of wisdom, and yes, she is feminine in the Hebrew. Sophia.
The next 19 chapters is a collection of short sayings that we think of as proverbs,
pride goes before the fall
a soft answer turns away wrath
a friend loves at all times.
The last section is four appendix and the last of the four is our text on the virtuous woman.
This poem was probably in circulation in ancient Israel, as an individual piece, given to young women. Then as I send along cards with thoughts, or as you put up posters with our favorite sayings. The poem is an acrostic which may explain why it is so disjointed. Does anyone ever do the acrostics in the Sunday paper - next to the crossword? These take time and smarts and patience, because you need to figure out the formal structure.
The formal structure of this acrostic is the Hebrew's alphabet, the initial letters of the 22 couplets follow the normal order of the Hebrew alphabet.
So then, this poem was chosen by those who put together the Book Of Proverbs, chosen and placed carefully at the end of the Book Of Proverbs, so that the poem might take on greater purpose, a balance for Sophia - wisdom - God. The virtuous woman personifies Sophia and her virtues are valuable for both genders, in both women and men. She is energetic and practical, industrious and shrewd in business. She creates loveliness in all that she touches. She is kind and efficient. She is strong and generous and she fears the Lord.
Who can find a virtuous woman?
Who can find a virtuous person?
Who can find a virtuous man?
The passage begins with a rhetorical question to ready us for the description of virtue in Proverbs, so that we might understand what the sages of Israel held as good, true, worthy of report. For some of us, we might agree with the characteristics in this passage. We might respond quite readily, "Yes, yes." Those are characteristics that I cherish." Others might respond, "Mmmm, interesting, but more a curiosity than anything I think about."
At the very least this passage from Proverbs provides for us an occasion to consider what virtues we do value in ourselves and in others ... what virtues do we value in those we hold dear. I want you to take a moment now to think about what you value in yourself; if virtue seems too old fashioned a word - what characteristic do you value?
Think for a moment, while I tell you about a neighbor who lives alone, and everything he touches turns to loveliness, a vase of black-eyed Susans on the kitchen counter, a strainer full of blueberries in the kitchen sink, a gathering of beach stones on a side table, even his collection of baseball cards is presented in a fashion that is attractive. Our children are mesmerized and he makes time for them. He comes down the hill on his way home from work with a smile and a wave, the kids come running after him tossing a whoosh or a ball. He is patient and generous, he is wise and has a giggle that is infectious, he is a home maker and has a welcoming manner to those in need. These are virtues I value.
The other day we had no water. I called to ask if we could use his bathroom until the plumbers came, and the next thing I knew he was at the kitchen door with a jug of spring water, "I thought you might need this." Who can find a virtuous person, who can find a virtuous woman, who can find a virtuous man. What virtues do you value, in yourself and in those around you?
Another example is a doctor at the Harlem Hospital working with children who have AIDS. She works to prolong the lives and improve the lives of children like Jesus, age nine, whose mother brought him to the doctor after Jesus had been running a fever of 106 for several days. Jesus is limp and withdrawn. The doctor sits down, she will take her time to ask how Jesus is, and how he feels, what he imagines, what he fears. And when Jesus gets to play the doctor for a moment and shine the examining light in her eyes, he even smiles, he even smiles.
"We're smarter now, we're more able to see problems coming and take early action to prevent them," she says. She is a skilled physician, she is modest, an informed researcher and when she is asked why she does what she does she shrugs her shoulders and responds "There is no why. This is my life. I always knew I wanted to work in the inner city. I was always interested in preventative issues." Who can find a virtuous woman ... for her price is far above rubies? At the end of the day she returns home to her two toddlers, to her husband. Who can find a virtuous woman? What virtues do you value in yourselves and others?
This passage from the end of the Book Of Proverbs provides for us the occasion to consider what virtues we do value in ourselves and those around us. Amen.
