Wait, isn’t a Proverbs 31 woman supposed to be what all Christian women should strive to be? Christian women are told to be modest, so why is Proverbs 31 saying a noble woman should wear expensive clothes? And why am I calling it Christian royalty?
She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Proverbs 31:22 NIV
Purple Was The Color Of Royalty
Purple dye came from mussels that were found in only one area of the then-known world. Combine the rarity of the creature making the dye with the cost of transporting it anywhere in ancient times, and purple dye was very expensive. History calls purple the color of royalty in that time, but it was probably more common than that. Mark 15:17 says the soldiers put a purple robe on Jesus. Unless they got the robe from the palace somehow, soldiers had access to a purple robe they didn’t mind putting on a bleeding man and spitting on it.
A Proverbs 31 Woman Wears Expensive Cloth
Even if the solders didn’t mind probably destroying the presumably old purple robe, the color purple was expensive. The verse also says she was dressed in fine linen, which is also expensive. But a Christian woman should be modest, right?
By the twenty-second verse of Proverbs 31, it’s been established that the woman makes her own cloth and has the money and knowledge to wisely buy a field and plant a vineyard. It’s also been established that she gets up early and takes care of her employees (verse 15), eagerly does her work (verse 17), and makes her own cloth (verse 19).
All that work on top of being loved by her family (in the upcoming verse 28). Even if this chapter is more a “scrapbook than a daily planner” as Naomi Schmidt says in her book (Proverbs 31 Living in Godly Wisdom), the woman was still very busy. Her focus was on her family and work. Even with her happily giving to the needy (verse 20), her time management and good stewardship of the money and gifts that God gave her allow her family to live in luxury.
We Are All Christian Royalty
Why do I use the term Christian Royalty? Because we are all children of the King of Kings. We are all royalty. Because Jesus is the King of everything and the purple robe is connected with his crucifixion, purple has become a popular color to see him wearing in imagery. Proverbs 31 is the advice a queen gave to her son, so it is slanted towards a rich wife. But God doesn’t expect modern Christians to always be poor. There are many stories of rich people in the Bible. Solomon wasn’t told to give up all his wealth. Even Zaccheus wasn’t told to give up all his wealth. Both of them gladly gave their money to God, but they didn’t have to go broke. Jesus to the rich man to give up his wealth because Jesus knew he wouldn’t.
Wealth itself is not bad. It’s a tool, a gift some get. The problem is that most of the time wealth gets more important than God. If we see money as just another gift God has given us to be good stewards of, it won’t get between us and God, minimizing our faith.
Whether we’ve been entrusted with wealth or not, all believers are still children of the King of kings, which makes us all royalty that are also Christians.