Her Hands were Dirty and Calloused...Sometimes

March 29, 2011


Proverbs 31:19 she puts her hands to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle.

These tools were used to turn wool to thread in order to make clothes. I find it interesting that even though this lady was wealthy, she still worked hard for her family. Never having actually used a spindle to make thread I’m just guessing, but I would assume that, this was hard work and not something glamorous or fun. I like knowing that she wasn’t afraid to do the hard stuff. She got her hands dirty in the fields, and her hands were calloused from her work at the spindle. Yet, she still had the finesse necessary to deal with the merchants when selling land and buying fine clothing. She wasn’t a woman defined by only one thing. She was a woman willing to do anything. I doubt that she was too concerned that working with a spindle was considered “woman’s work”, instead, I’d say she just looked at it as necessary work. I think many Christian women would prefer to pretend the Proverbs 31 woman didn’t exist because she portrays a hard ideal to live up to. Yet, I look at her as someone with great wisdom to add to our lives. We can learn great things from her, and I would imagine she would be glad we were learning from her.