The Original Nagging Wife

Seeing as how I was not unduly impressed with Psalms (blasphemy!), I was ready to move on. I'd never really thought about Proverbs much. Now I know why. This book seems to be basically a list of advice, except very little of it makes sense today. I'm sure these proverbs were wise words of wisdom that meant a lot to people 2000 or so years ago, but frankly, I didn't get the gist most of the time. That's not to say there weren't some proverbs that I took note of, marked and thought I might go back to later.

Proverbs 14:13 "Even in laughter the heart may ache..."
Proverbs 16:31 "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life."
Proverbs 27:19 "As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man."

Some were just funny...
Proverbs 25:17 "Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house - too much of you, and he will hate you."

But the thing I remember most is how much attention is given to the nagging wife. I thought the idea of the nagging wife was invented by the modern comedian - the type who's bread and butter was "Take my wife...please!" Turns out though, even in the Bible the wife gets a bad rap.

Proverbs 18:13 "A foolish son is his father's ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping."
Proverbs 21:19 "Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife."
Proverbs 25:24 "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife."
Proverbs 27:15 "A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; restraining her is like restraining the wind and grasping oil with the hand."

Really? I have some news for the husbands back in the day. I'm sure sharing a life with a long-bearded, wine-drinking, sheep-smelling guy like you isn't all roses either. But telling you that would most definitely make me a quarrelsome wife.

So long story...really long story...short, reading Proverbs beginning to end was not exactly riveting reading. (Oddly enough, some times it seemed like I was reading Benjamins Franklin's writing on virtues.) But when I go back and look through the book again though, I do find some hidden gems.


I guess when you're so ferociously focused on an end goal (reading the entire Bible in 90 days) you risk missing out on the experience.