Known In The Gates

Someone recently asked:

"Hey Kristi,
I have a spiritual question for you and anybody else that might have ideas. I was reading in my devotions this morning in Proverbs 31 about the virtuous woman. Right in the middle of listing her virtues it mentions that her husband is very well known in the gates, even by the elders. I have read this passage countless times but never noticed this. What is the significance of that statement,and what does that have to do with being a virtuous woman? I would love to hear any ideas you have."

The verse being referred to here is Proverbs 31:23 "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land."

Everytime I have read or thought about this verse I try to picture it in my head as though Bruce is the one sitting at the gates of the city with the elders. The virtuous woman laid out in this chapter was so virtuous that every man in the city envied what her husband had in a wife. Let's see, she was trustworthy and good to him and never did anything spiteful or hateful to him. She gathered wool and made the things they needed from it with her own hands, she made sure there was food in the house and she got up early in the morning to make sure that her family AND her handmaidens had something to eat to start their day. She was a gardener, she was strong and hard working, and she didn't quit a job until it was done and done right, even if it meant working into the night. She sewed clothes for her family and gave to the poor and needy. She always dressed nice in silk and purple (the finest she had). She made linens and sold them. She wore strength and honour and although she were very tired, vs 25 says she would rejoice in time to come. She spoke wisely and kindly and looked well to her household making sure that idleness was not part of her day. How could it be with all that she was doing? Her children respected her and would rise up and call her blessed! Her husband would praise her too because she feared the Lord.

For me to answer this question I have to look at the verses and see what a wonderful and hardworking wife she was. Her husband was known in the gates by the living testimony of his wife. She made him look GOOD!

As Christian women, how do we make our husbands look? Do other men around him at work or other social gatherings laugh at him or behind his back because of the poor and common reputation that we lay out before them or do they admire him and speak well of him because of our testimony that he takes with him every time he walks out the front door. Are they envious of what he has in a wife? Do they see the Lord in our daily walk as a Christian wife and mother?

This is what I get from that verse. As I've thought a little more about it, I also thought that maybe this verse was important to show that she chose wisely when choosing a husband. I am sure that he was a godly man with virtues of his own that complimented her virtues. If you are not a married woman, pray that God will hold back a virtuous man for you and that you will be a virtuous woman like the wife in this chapter.

The question all of us Christian wives should be asking ourselves is, What do we make our husband known for in the gates?