Proverbs 31:14 (NASBStr)
She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.
This proverb may seem, at first glance, to be one of the few in the entire chapter that is less applicable for today. After all, when it comes to securing food for the family, the long trip of a merchant ship is a bit extreme as to the analogy. Today's women can travel a few miles to the store, find everything she needs, and more, and return home with a well prepared meal, already in a box or boxes. She can even order it and have it all delivered to her. She does not even have to travel to the store if she prefers on-line shopping for groceries. If that is too much work there is always drive up and/or take out. However, in listing the virtues of the worthy women perhaps what Solomon was trying to teach us is not the women's ability to secure a good meal but her industry, enterprise, creativity and/or high risk in so doing. The merchant ship in the ancient world was not what we envision today. It would have been very dangerous to take on the high seas. Ships were hand made, not machine manufactured. The industry of travel was so different in her time than in our time. Simply getting water in a pot was a long process. Solomon is here describing a women who is "like" a merchant ship: She explores. She takes chances; she takes risks; she is adventurous. Merchant ships sailed in dangerous waters and dangerous times. To get food (the needs of her family) this is a women who would do what it takes to make sure the family was well feed and cared for. This is not a timid women. She is not a "stay at home mom" icon. This is a women not afraid to take on the world for her family. She is like a merchant ship!!!
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