{"id":2657,"date":"2017-08-20T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/2017\/08\/20\/origins-and-interpretations-of-proverbs-31"},"modified":"2018-06-12T10:10:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T07:10:17","slug":"origins-and-interpretations-of-proverbs-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/2017\/08\/20\/origins-and-interpretations-of-proverbs-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Origins and Interpretations of Proverbs 31"},"content":{"rendered":"

This brief\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0from Wikipedia offers an introduction to Proverbs 31, the Biblical source for Eishet Chayil. It provides both literal and classic interpretations of the text, and gives different theories as to the authorship of the poem. To see a list of sources referenced, see the footnotes<\/em>\u00a0at the end of the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Proverbs 31<\/h2>\n

Chapter\u00a031\u00a0of the\u00a0Book of\u00a0Proverbs<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Hebrew Bible\u00a0is presented as advice which\u00a0Lemuel<\/a>‘s mother gave to him, about how a virtuous king should reign, and also detailing the attributes of a virtuous wife or ideal woman. The second section of text of this chapter directs women to be industrious and fear the Lord.<\/p>\n

The 8th and 9th verses are in defense against inequality and injustice<\/sup>: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”<\/p>\n

The 10th to 31st verses of the chapter are called “Eshet \u1e24ayil”\u00a0(\u05d0\u05e9\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc,\u00a0woman of valor). It is a praise of the good wife, a definition of a perfect\u00a0wife\u00a0or “ideal woman” in\u00a0Judaism. This “Woman of Valor” has been described as the personification of wisdom, or in some sense as a description of a particular class of Women in Israel, Persia, or in Hellenistic society.\u00a0It is one of the thirteen alphabetical acrostic poems in the Bible. Traditionally, the Eishet \u1e24ayil was viewed as written by\u00a0King Solomon\u00a0and many prominent theologians continue to hold this belief. However there is a more recent branch of\u00a0critical scholarship\u00a0which suggests it was added to Proverbs later.<\/p>\n

This chapter is recited on Friday night, before\u00a0Shabbat\u00a0dinner in some Jewish homes. Some see this as a praise directed from the husband to his wife. It has also been suggested that the son in Proverbs 31 is King Solomon, receiving advice from\u00a0Bathsheba, herself the wife of\u00a0King David.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The word \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc (\u1e24ayil<\/i>) appears in verses 10 and 29 of the passage, thought as the summary of the good woman’s character. Traditionally it has been translated “virtuous” or “noble.” Some scholars have suggested that it rather means “forceful,” “mighty,” or “valiant” because the use of the word in the\u00a0Tanakh\u00a0is almost exclusively used regarding\u00a0warfare.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The chapter has been emphasised within the\u00a0biblical womanhood\u00a0movement, and a number of books have been published on the “Proverbs 31 woman”. This emphasis has been subject to criticism in Christian articles.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This brief\u00a0article\u00a0from Wikipedia offers an introduction to Proverbs 31, the Biblical source for Eishet Chayil. It provides both literal and classic interpretations of the text, and gives different theories as to the authorship of the poem. To see a list of sources referenced, see the footnotes\u00a0at the end of the original article. Proverbs 31 Chapter\u00a031\u00a0of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[527],"tags":[549,529,462,530,531,293,537,538,536],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=2657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2658\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=2657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=2657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=2657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}