She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.Proverbs 31:13-25
Next, we see the wife in relation to her duties. The keynote throughout is industry. Look at the work she gets through! Where did she learn all this? One does not suddenly develop this 'in vacuo'. It needs training; and one is obliged to conclude that this kind of training is often at a discount in our modern homes. Here, it may be, is a word to young girls, and it asks, How do you do at home? Do you help with the washing up? the cleaning? the chores? the cooking? Or, when you go to other homes, does it occur to you to offer to help? The Christian witness of many young people, in the more obvious forms of outreach - e.g. seaside missions, coffee-bars - is often negatived by the failure of their practical Christianity at home. It is not because we have too much to do but generally because we are thoughtless, that we are not involved in such things. This woman is extremely busy, with so many irons in the fire as would make us suppose she would hardly have time to think of others, but no, her heart is 'at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathise'. She stretches out her hands to the poor and needy, and fulfils a ministry of compassion towards them. A spirit of detachment and therefore of compassion - an interesting combination indeed!
'Scarlet' in 21 may not be the correct rendering of the Hebrew, which could be made to read 'double', and the meaning would therefore be that her household are clothed with double clothing, or heavily lined clothing. This would be a more practical answer to snowy, stormy weather than being clothed 'in scarlet'!