Hello all,
I was reading in a previous thread about the number of wives, and it set me to think about a passage in Proverbs.
21 Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up:
22 a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;
23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress. (Pro 30:21-23 ESV)
I studied the passage at considerable length, and will only post my 'conclusion' here.
"The earth trembles at the inequity of things that ought not be. The servant may connive, but ultimately kingship cannot really be attained by mere deceit. Likewise, the fool is a fool, as such Proverbs says he should go hungry. The Proverb points to these "big" inequities, then shifts gears to the domestic situation of women. The "hated woman" is Leah or a second wife who is not loved by her husband. In every case God takes her side. The injustice of the "hated woman" being married is the injustice her husband commits. Likewise with the "mistress displaced" it is because the man has not maintained just relations with the women of his house. If he sees what he deems "injustice" in the universe he had best look to his own house. The earth shakes for the petty abuses of ‘little women,’ not just over empire and sapiential order."
In the present, I have one wife, who very much wants another to join us . . . but we both have growing to do before that happens. How do you work to maintain a loving equity within your house? If a disagreement arises between them . . . how do you settle it gently? Jacob's life lays bear the pitfalls of plural marriage . . . and the same principles are active today. Any words of wisdom?
I was reading in a previous thread about the number of wives, and it set me to think about a passage in Proverbs.
21 Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up:
22 a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;
23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress. (Pro 30:21-23 ESV)
I studied the passage at considerable length, and will only post my 'conclusion' here.
"The earth trembles at the inequity of things that ought not be. The servant may connive, but ultimately kingship cannot really be attained by mere deceit. Likewise, the fool is a fool, as such Proverbs says he should go hungry. The Proverb points to these "big" inequities, then shifts gears to the domestic situation of women. The "hated woman" is Leah or a second wife who is not loved by her husband. In every case God takes her side. The injustice of the "hated woman" being married is the injustice her husband commits. Likewise with the "mistress displaced" it is because the man has not maintained just relations with the women of his house. If he sees what he deems "injustice" in the universe he had best look to his own house. The earth shakes for the petty abuses of ‘little women,’ not just over empire and sapiential order."
In the present, I have one wife, who very much wants another to join us . . . but we both have growing to do before that happens. How do you work to maintain a loving equity within your house? If a disagreement arises between them . . . how do you settle it gently? Jacob's life lays bear the pitfalls of plural marriage . . . and the same principles are active today. Any words of wisdom?
