These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.
Godly Womanhood – Introduction
I. Proverbs 31
A. Structure
1. Two oracles, or poems
a. v. 2-9: The Wise King
b. v. 10-31: The Excellent Wife
2. Descriptive, rather than prescriptive, passage
B. The “cast” of Proverbs 31
1. Solomon
2. King Lemuel
3. King Lemuel’s mother
4. The excellent wife/woman
C. What can we learn from this passage that God desires of women and values in them?
An excellent woman…
1. …is rare (1)
2. …is precious (1)
3. …is trusted by her husband and is trustworthy in general (3, 11)
4. …loves her husband and treats him well (12)
5. …takes the initiative and works willingly, not resentfully (13,24
6. …works diligently, and isn’t lazy (14,18,19,22, 27)
7. …puts her family’s, and others’, needs ahead of her own (15)
8. …is organized and plans ahead (16,21)
9. …tries to contribute to bettering her family’s situation (16)
10. ..is strong (17,25)
11. ..helps the needy (20)
12. ..is the “woman behind the man,” and is admired by others for her character (23)
13. ..is characterized by dignity (25)
14. ..is characterized by wisdom and kindness, and grows others in these qualities through parenting and mentoring (26)
D. Results of being a woman of excellence
1. Gratitude from husband and children (28-29)
2. The rewards of her hard work and good character (31)
3. God is pleased (30)
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (30)
“The Woman is the Neck” from My Big Fat Greek Wedding
