“Worth more than rubies” It’s a phrase that is used often for Christian women. My church used the NIV 1984 version of the Bible when I was going up so I heard references to this favorite Bible verse often. Different translations use different jewels or just a comment about huge wealth, but why is a good wife worthy of more than jewels?
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies
Proverbs 31:10 NIV
What’s Worth More Than Rubies?
Noble character, the EHV translates it “strong character”, why is it so worthy? The chapter goes on to talk about how the Proverbs 31 woman is trusted by her husband, an eager worker, has enough money to invest, her family has enough to happily share with the needy, and she doesn’t fear the future. This chapter has become the ideal Christian woman that women are told to strive to be, but she’s perfect. The ideal woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 is always busy, always productive, always wise and loving. Of course she’s worth a lot.
But modern Christians tend to forget that this is only twenty-one verses to show her life. As Naomi Schmidt says in her book on the topic: it’s “a scrapbook not a day planner.” The noble wife didn’t buy a new vineyard every month, no one had that amount of money back then. However, being an eager worker probably provided her with more cloth that her family didn’t need. She sells that in verse 24. Selling her fabric, made with the help of her servant girls, no doubt, and spending wisely allowed her family to have luxuries (verses 14, 21, and 22) while she probably saved for years to be able to afford a vineyard out of her earnings (verse 16).
The ideal Proverbs 31 wife was not as perfect as she seems in those twenty-one verses, but they are something to strive for. Christian women are used to striving for perfection and never reaching it. Christians are taught to strive to be as perfect as Jesus was, even though we’ll fail. No one is perfect, but we are still worth Jesus’ forgiveness and death.
We Are Worthy Of Jesus’ Blood
God wants everyone to be perfect, but we are all sinful. That’s why he sent Jesus to earth to wash us from the stain of sin. Through God’s grace and Jesus’ great love for us, we are all worthy of Jesus’ blood, lovingly sacrificed on the cross for each of us. We strive to be perfect, not in order to be worthy of God’s love, but because he loves us.
Society wants a perfect woman and fearless man, but Jesus didn’t come for the perfect. He lived a perfect life and we strive for perfection to show God our love. Jesus decided we are worthy of his perfect blood, not because we are perfect, but because he loves us. We thank him for his gift by trying to show his perfect love to others. That is why Christian women try to be ideal Christian wives. We want to show our family and community God’s unconditional love by our efficiency, not our overwhelming perfection.
