Proverbs 31:6

Of heavy hearts] read, 'the bitter in soul.' The Talmud treats this verse as the foundation of the pious custom of the Jerusalem ladies, who provided medicated wine to dull the pain of those condemned to death (Mark 15:23).

10-31. A complete alphabetical poem, each of its 22 vv. beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It describes the perfect housewife, the virtuous, or, as the word rather means, the 'excellent,' the 'capable' woman. Industrious herself, she sees to it that her servants are the same. She sells the products of their spinning and weaving, and buys lands with the money. She watches over the conduct of the entire household. She is kind to the poor and gentle to all. Husband and children pay her honour as the prime source of all their welfare. She is self-respecting and dignified. Religion lies at the root of her character.

The ideal is a worthy one, well adapted to life in one of the towns of antiquity, where the men were engaged in public business (Proverbs 31:23) and the women were supposed to attend to all domestic and business affairs. No doubt we should need some additional features for the portrait of the highest type of womanhood. This lady is not in the fullest sense the helpmeet for man. She is too much the toiler on his behalf, too little the partner of his thoughts and plans. Tennyson's 'Princess' strikes a note which we cannot afford to miss:

'Let her make herself her own

To give or keep, to live and learn and be
All that not harms distinctive womanhood.
Till at the last she set herself to man,
Like perfect music unto noble words;
And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time,
Sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers,
Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be,
Self-reverent each and reverencing each,
Distinct in individualities,
But like each other ev'n as those who love.'