Her Feet Abide Not in Her House
“She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house” (Proverbs 7:11)
“She is not a ‘keeper at home,’ as St. Paul (Titus 2:5) would have Christian matrons to be.” (Ellicot’s Commentary)
“She is full of talk, self-willed, disobedient to her husband, rebellious against God, and incorrigible by any admonitions of ministers or friends. Her feet abide not in her house — She minds not her business, which lies in her own house, but gives herself wholly up to idleness and pleasure, which she seeks in gadding abroad, and in changing her place and company.” (Benson Commentary)
“She is the opposite of the careful, modest housewife, who stays at home and manages her family affairs (Titus 2:5). The Vulgate inserts another trait: quietis impatiens, ‘always restless.'” (Pulpit Commentary)
Here we have a woman who is not content at home. She is not content with her husband. She refuses to be his help meet. She refuses to be a keeper at home and make her home a haven for her family. No, she is “always restless” and is seeking pleasure outside of what God has called her to do. Her feet abide not in her home. She is the complete opposite of the Proverbs 31 woman.
She in rebellion to what God calls her to be. He commands her to have a meek and quiet spirit which seeks to love and serve her family well. This is to be her main goal and ministry. A godly woman understands that godliness with contentment is great gain, so she disciplines herself to find joy at home caring for her family. She knows that God’s ways are perfect, so she trusts Him in what He has asked of her. She knows that children are blessings from Him, so she does all she can to bear and raise godly offspring.
She loves her husband and lives in submission to him. She wants the best for him and does what she can to please him. She has zero desire to flirt with or seek out other men’s attention. She is a covenant keeper and will be faithful to the husband of her youth until death do they part.
Home is her favorite place to be. She understands that if she is neglecting her home, she is neglecting God’s command to her. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27). She stores her treasures in heaven by obeying God. She keeps eternity in her vision instead of the momentary, fleeting pleasures of this world.
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10-12
13 thoughts on “Her Feet Abide Not in Her House”
My feet are very happily at home, as are my heart and soul.
According to a 2015 study 69% of divorces are initiated by women. 90% of women who initiate the divorce are college educated. Many of those women have had affairs, claiming they felt lonely,. That’s a lack of commitment . Many cite the reason. For divorce as communication break down, but By the time a woman has asked for the divorce she has already gone though the grieving process and moved on. I assume this means that it’s just easier for some women to divorce than to teach their husbands what and how to meet their needs. Husbands and wives need to learn about each other and it seems women are easily discontented within a marriage and are unwilling to put in the work to make the marriage a success, since it’s their discontentment that leads them down the path of infidelity , and resentment. How sad!
I love being a homebody; I think I will quite enjoy being home all day cleaning and reading (until kiddos).
A godly wife does more than read all day. She cleans, cooks, learns about nutrition, gardens, sews, helps in the community!
Oh of course, I just didn’t feel the need to list everything. You see, I’m a very in-a-nutshell type person. I don’t need to list everything every time ??
Enjoy the books while you can. Your brain is very important, and worth taking care of. You go girl 😉
To be honest the way the world is at the moment I really don’t want to spend any more time away from home than I have to. The Christmas decorations are up, the winter throws are on my chairs and sofa and my cupboard is full of food. Its all nice and cosy and I feel blessed!
Yay Debbie! My fat little bare feet are perfectly content padding around the house every day or curled up under me reading a book! Contentment that we are abiding by God’s word feeds our heart and soul, in my little housewife opinion!
What you should know is that a lot of marriage today were already doom and set up for failure since the beginning. Most women today don’t marry because of love, they want to get married but not to be a wife. They want to have childrens but don’t want to be a mom. The real cause of divorces is premarital sex. Most women get married after their party years which is in their late 20’s and early 30’s this is why they are not able to pair bond with the betas who are ready to pay full price for what many other guys got for free. The only reason why most women file for divorce these days is that they never loved their husband and never had genuine desire for them to begin with. It was all about settling down with a low value male who can provide financial and emotional stability, security and comfort.
I don’t think you understand women, Darly Lambert. Women marry for love. Especially in the west – it’s literally the only reason for them to get married. They don’t need the man’s money, they have their own. They don’t even need a man to have children, these days – sperms donors are available to single women here. Literally the ONLY reason a woman has for getting married, is love. But because modern feminist women don’t *need* a man, they’re less likely to tolerate “bad behaviour” on the part of the man. If he doesn’t treat her the way she expects to be treated, there is no reason for her to stick around.
It’s not “love” that keeps people in difficult marriages together. Not in those truly difficult years when it’s just awful pain. There’s no love, then. Only betrayal, anger, and hurt. It’s the vow we made before God and our faith in Him that gets us through.
Women absolutely marry for love. But women divorce because society has taught us that we don’t “need” a man, and we definitely don’t need to stay in a marriage where the love has gone and where we are unhappy.
Marriages where love doesn’t matter are probably more likely to stay together, because the expectations within the marriage are different. I have Indian friends who had arranged marriages – they had never met their spouse before marriage because they lived in different countries so talked on the Internet etc. They didn’t love each other, but their marriages are flourishing. The love came afterwards, as they lived out their commitment to each other.
Then again, most women might not want to enter a marriage while saddled with college debt – of which won’t be reasonably paid down until she is in her late 20s or early 30s. It’s either college $$$ or some low-wage, low-benefit, low-security job. Smart women plan – it’s a big bad world out there, and it owes you nothing – get into a jam? Too bad!
Why would anyone delay marriage because they have college debt? That makes no sense.