Genesis 2:18, 21-23; Proverbs 31:10, 12—Proverbs 19:14; Proverbs 18:22
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him…And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies…She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
A prudent wife is from the LORD…Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Marriage, with all its troubles and embarrassments, is a blessing from God; and there are few cases where a wife of any sort is not better than none, because celibacy is an evil; for God himself hath said, “It is not good for man to be alone.”
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): It is neither for his profit, nor his comfort.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Solitude is not good, excepting only him whom God exempts as by a special privilege.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): A good wife is a great blessing to a man. He that finds a wife, that is, a wife indeed, finds a help meet, that is a wife in the original acceptation of the word―a bad wife does not deserve to be called by a name of so much honour.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Every married woman is not a wife; a bad woman is but the shadow of a wife―“the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping,” Proverbs 27:15; like the dropping of rain, in a rainy day, into a house out of repair, and which is very uncomfortable to, the inhabitants of it. Such are the contentions of a peevish, ill natured, and brawling wife, who is always scolding; and which is a continual vexation to a man, and renders him very uneasy in life.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Probably it is that to which Solomon alludes, when he saith, “It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house,” Proverbs 21:9.
ADAM CLARKE: As to good wives and bad wives, they are relatively so, in general; and most of them that have been bad afterwards, have been good at first; and we well know the best things may deteriorate, and the world generally allows that where there are matrimonial contentions, there are faults on both sides.
CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): This is obviously to be taken with limitation. Manoah found a good thing in his wife, Judges 13:23. But not Job, Job 2:9,10. Some find “a crown to their head;” others, “rottenness to their bones,” Proverbs 12:4. That which alone deserves the name is indeed a good thing. If in a state of innocence “it was not good for a man to be alone,” much more in a world of care and trouble “two are better than one” for mutual support, helpfulness, and sympathy. The good thing implies godliness, and fitness. Godliness is found, when the man marries “only in the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 7:39, and only one who is the Lord’s.
JOHN CALVIN: Now, since God assigns the woman as a help to the man, He not only prescribes to wives the rule of their vocation to instruct them in their duty, but he also pronounces that marriage will really prove to men the best support of life. We may therefore conclude that the order of nature implies that the woman should be the helper of the man. The vulgar proverb, indeed, is, that she is a necessary evil; but the voice of God is rather to be heard, which declares that woman is given as a companion and an associate to the man, to assist him to live well. On this main point hangs another; that women, being instructed in their duty of helping their husbands, should study to keep this divinely appointed order.
ADAM CLARKE: A prudent wife is from the Lord―one who has a good understanding avoids complaining, though she may often have cause for it.
MATTHEW HENRY: A wife that is prudent, in opposition to one that is contentious. For, though a wife that is continually finding fault may think it is her wit and wisdom to be so, it is really her folly; a prudent wife is meek and quiet, and makes the best of every thing.
JOHN TRAPP: Nature makes a woman, election a wife; but to be prudent, wise, and virtuous is of the Lord. A good wife was one of the first real and royal gifts bestowed on Adam. God set all the creatures before him ere He gave him a wife, that, seeing no other fit help, he might prize such a gift; not a gift of industry, but “of destiny,” as one saith; for “marriages are made in heaven,” as the common sort can say, and as very heathens acknowledge.
MATTHEW HENRY: If a man has such a wife, let him not ascribe it to the wisdom of his own choice or his own management for the wisest have been deceived both in and by a woman; but let him ascribe it to the goodness of God, who made him a help meet for him, and perhaps by some hits and turns of providence that seemed casual brought her to him.
CHARLES BRIDGES: But how is this good thing found?
MATTHEW HENRY: Happy marriages, we are sure, are made in heaven.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It is God that gives him a wise and discreet woman to be an help-meet to him…A good one―and no other can be meant, even a good natured one; wise, prudent, careful, and industrious; a proper helpmeet, a virtuous woman―is from the Lord, and it is under His direction and guidance in seeking, that a man finds a good wife.
CHARLES BRIDGES: Isaac found it, where every Christian looks for his blessing, as an answer to prayer, Genesis 24. A man’s choice for his own indulgence will bring a curse upon himself and his family, 2 Chronicles 21:1-6. “Choose thou mine inheritance for me,” is the cry and confidence of the child of God, Psalm 47:4. Then truly will he obtain the gift, not as the result of fortune, or as the proof of his own good discernment; but, as Adam received his wife, “from the Lord.”―“The LORD brought her to the man” by His special Providence, and therefore as His special gift. Thus is the prudent wife honoured as a special blessing of God’s immediate choosing, and therefore to be obtained by our prayers at the hand of the giver.
MATTHEW HENRY: He that sought such a one with care and prayer, and has found what he sought, has found a good thing, a jewel of great value, a rare jewel; he has found that which will not only contribute more than any thing to his comfort in this life, but will forward him in the way to heaven…A discreet and virtuous wife is a choice gift of God’s providence to a man.
CHARLES BRIDGES: Truly “her price is above rubies.” No treasure is comparable to her. It is not too much to say with Aristotle, that prince of heathen philosophy: “If women be good, the half of the commonwealth may be happy where they are.”
