There’s a phrase I can’t stop thinking about. It’s the Hebrew phrase “eshet chayil,” a descriptive term used in one of the most well-known passages in Scripture.
“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.”
Proverbs 31:10 ESV
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Here’s what strikes me: in the majority of the Old Testament, chayil is used to describe strength. Armies. Power in motion. When the writer reached for how to describe the Proverbs 31 woman, he chose this phrase which notes the strength of a woman.
Think of Ruth
I discovered that the same phrase is used to describe her. Ruth gleaned in the fields from sunup to sundown. She spent her days bending, lifting, carrying, walking dusty roads in a foreign land with no safety net and no guarantee of tomorrow. As a widow far from home, starting over from nothing.
And when Boaz calls her an “eshet chayil” in Ruth 3:11, he is naming what he sees in her: courage, initiative, endurance, resilience. A woman whose strength literally carried her faithfulness forward. She was strong enough to leave everything familiar. Strong enough to work long, hard hours. And strong enough to be vulnerable, sustain hope, and to build a future out of almost nothing. Ruth was not fragile. She was fierce in a steadfast, most faithful way.
Remember that the Proverbs 31 woman “girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms.” (vs 17) in this time period, girding your loins meant one thing: you were getting ready to work. To move. To fight if you had to. She wasn’t strong to be impressive. She was strong because her life required it.
As can be seen, a woman of chayil shows up day after day, again and again, ready to do what she is called to do. When women, who are made in God’s image, live out His will with their God-given strength, they can impact the world for His glory.
*For those of you who prayer walk, take time to ponder the phrase ‘walk in your strength’. For your copy of this week’s screensaver click here. And to access all of my YouVersion Bible App devotional plans click here.