Every Wise Woman Builds Her House

Proverbs 14:1 - Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

Here Solomon contrasts once again between wisdom and folly, as in many other verses in Proverbs.

And often, in all these verses, we find foolish people to be at one end of the spectrum and the wise people to be at the other end.

In this verse, Solomon applies wisdom to the home and particularly to the woman of the house.

But before we go into this, it is necessary to understand how Bible defines the worth of a woman. Different religions, different cultures and different races have often given different meanings and have different understanding of what they think a woman is worth. We need to understand what the scripture teaches us because that transcends everything else. It is this definition that gives us the identity. And this identity will help us understand our purpose in life.

We find the definition in the beginning.

Genesis 1:27,28

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

God created them male and female, equally in the image of God. No one has more of the image of God than the other. It is amazing that the scriptures begin with this equality. And together to them, to both the male and the female, God gave them the responsibility to manage and the authority to rule the earth. They were to do this work together as good stewards of God.

In the New Testament, Paul echoes the same sentiment

Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

We are called to be interdependent as we co-exist in planet earth, as Paul also says in

1 Corinthians 11:11-12 - Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

With this in context, let us come again to this verse:

Proverbs 14:1 - Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

“By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.” Proverbs 24:3

It is important to understand that the term ‘house’ does not refer to physical house; rather, it refers to a home or a family. As a woman, it is an important responsibility that God has given, to build your home.

There are three ways a wise woman can build her home.

1. Building through a strong foundation

The strength of any house or any building lies in its foundation. Stronger the foundation, stronger the building. The house may be magnificent, the location of the house may be splendid, but if the foundation is weak, there is something wrong. The house cannot withstand any storm or any cyclone. The taller you want a building, the deeper the foundation has to be! Only then, it can bear the load of the building and hold it upright.

The same is true to our Christian homes.

Jesus also spoke about the importance of having a strong foundation, in his parable of a man who built the house on rock and the one who built on sand.

We read in Matthew 7:24-27 – What does Jesus say is the strong foundation one can lay?

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The WORD OF GOD is the strong foundation. In vs. 24, it is clear, the knowledge of the Word of God is not the strong foundation. It is the application of the Word of God that is a strong foundation. It is important that the Word of God is put into practice.

Similarly, a wise woman would build her home on this strong foundation of God’s word.