Proverbs 21:9 (KJV)
It is better to dwell in
a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
By far, the majority of
personalities found in the Proverbs refer to the man. I am of the opinion that,
in most cases, they should be interpreted generically, regarding both men and
women.
There are, however, some
passages that reference the woman, both positively and negatively.
Positively there is:
· The gracious woman
· The fair woman
· The virtuous woman
· The wise woman and
· The woman that feareth the Lord
Negatively there is:
· The strange woman
· The whorish woman
· The adulterous woman
· The evil woman
And then there are the four
women I want to group together and speak on tonight:
· The brawling woman
· The contentious woman
· The angry woman and
· The odious woman
I can’t imagine that a
case can’t be made that these qualities are negative in a man too, but ladies,
it might be you are more prone to them.
I. THE
BRAWLING WOMAN
Proverbs 21:9 (KJV)
It is better to dwell in
a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Proverbs 25:24 (KJV)
It is better to dwell in
the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.
A. The word brawl means to quarrel, strive or fight, but its root
is where the revelation is found.
The Hebrew word comes
from one that means “to rule” or “to umpire.”
This is the crux of
every problem every person I have ever known has had.
We want to umpire our
own game.
We want to make our own
rules and make everybody else play by them.
· We don’t like authority – most of all
· We don’t like God telling us what to do.
The brawling woman isn’t
one who is fighting the good fight or fighting to defend herself.
She is fighting for
dominance in a realm God has put her in submission.
· Man
· Woman
· Boy
· Girl
It doesn’t matter
whether we are talking about
· A Policeman
· A Principal or
· A President
No one is more angry and
miserable to be around than the person who wants to wants to umpire their own
game and isn’t allowed to.
They will:
· Fight for it
· Cheat for it
· Lie for it
· Steal for it
And sometimes they,
· Will kill for it
B. Look what the Bible says to do
Proverbs 21:9 (KJV)
It is better to dwell in
a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Proverbs 25:24 (KJV)
It is better to dwell in
the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.
The thing to do is to
get away fast!
Right away someone will
say, “Pastor, are you telling me I should leave my wife if she is a brawling
woman?”
This passage does not tell us that man is married to her
1. It could be in a business relationship
I had a pastor friend
who once took a desk job in an office where almost all the other employees were
women.
He said it was one of
the most miserable experiences he had ever been in.
He said those women were
at each other’s throats gossiping, and bickering and competing and talking
behind each other’s backs.
He told me he would
rather be without work than in a room with a bunch of women like that.
2. It could be a relationship in view of
marriage
If a woman is of the
mind that she wants to rule the house, I would want to know that BEFORE I got
married to her.
And if she was that
sort, I would surely not marry her.
3. What happens, you might ask, if you are
married already to a woman like that?
I would not leave her,
but I would not let her rule the house.
I would rather have her
kick me out in the streets than to allow her to usurp an authority God did not
give her.
I would insist she
submit to the plan God gave to marriage. It is the husband’s duty to present
his wife without blemish before the Lord Jesus Christ.
If she refuses him his
duty, he would be better off in a hotel than to stay in a home where the woman
rules the roost.
The brawling woman
Secondly we find,
II. THE
CONTENTIOUS AND ANGRY WOMAN
Proverbs 21:19 (KJV)
It is better to dwell in
the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Proverbs 27:15-16 (KJV)
A continual dropping in
a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
Whosoever hideth her
hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
Because Proverbs 21:19
calls her contentious and angry, I am going to treat her as the same woman called
contentious in Proverbs 27:15.
The Hebrew word for
contentious is the same as for brawling.
The word angry means to vex or to trouble.
She can’t rule and she
is troubled, vexed, in a rage because
of it.
Notice what the Bible
says about her:
She is like the
continual dropping of a very rainy day.
Rain – happens doesn’t
it?
It’s even necessary and
proper.
It’s true that some
places get more rain than other places.
A few years ago Anita and I went to the Hoh Rain Forest for our
anniversary.
We found out that we had
lived in one for almost 14 years.
A place is considered a
rainforest if it gets over 98 inches of rain per year. We got 120 inches the
last year we lived in Astoria.
Seattle is oftentimes believed to be the rainiest city in the United States.
That’s not the case. There are, I think, eleven cities wetter than Seattle –
its just the cloudiest city in the country.
I read one time about a place in Chile that get’s less than
one inch of rain per year.
The description was
presented to make it sound almost perfect.
· The mountains are situated so there is almost never a wind
· The ocean is close enough to regulate the temperature so
that it is almost a constant 75-80 degrees.
· The sun shines every single day
But as wonderful as it
sounds, nothing can live there.
It takes the rain and
the wind and the clouds and the various seasons to produce an environment that
life can survive in.
Rain is not always a bad
thing.
But when it:
· Rains and rains and rains and rains….. and
· Rains and rains and rains and rains… and
· Rains and rains and rains and rains
Who could ever stand
that?
Here’s the thing – man
or woman, husband or wife, whatever the reason, good or bad….
Just get over it!
Nobody wants to be
around you when you are always angry.
· Confess it as the sin that it is
· Repent of it and
· Get happy
The brawling woman
The contentious and
angry woman
Thirdly
III. THE
ODIOUS WOMAN
Proverbs 30:23 (KJV)
For an odious woman when
she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
The word odious means to
be hateful.
Pastor Caleb did an
outstanding job addressing hatefulness last Wednesday night.
To hate someone means to
be an enemy of, to wish a person were dead.
Interestingly, this is
the one out of three that actually says this woman is married.
She is an enemy of her
own husband.
She wishes her husband
was not alive.
I have seen some of those kinds of marriages.
And it’s not always the
wife who wishes her husband were dead. There are plenty of husbands who have
become the enemy of their own wife.
Notice the context of
our passage.
Proverbs 30:21-23 (KJV)
For three things the
earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
For a servant when he
reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
For an odious woman when
she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
· When a husband and wife become enemies.
· When a wife hates her husband
This is one of just four
things the Bible says this earth cannot bear.
Marriage is so sacred.
That a man and a woman,
· Having been raised in separate households
· With differing tastes and backgrounds,
· Having many times different values and ethics and, even
under the best of circumstances,
· Different examples to learn from,
Can find each other,
choose to love each other and become, according to the Bible, one flesh.
This is truly a miracle!
And Satan hates it.
The author of lies too
frequently authors hatred in the hearts of two people God ordained should not
be torn asunder.
We can expect that the
devil will do everything in his power to destroy that good thing which God has
created.
Marriage should never be entered into lightly or without
wise counsel.
And once entered into,
it must be nurtured and cared for with absolute diligence.
No job is worth your marriage
No friend, no favorite activity,
no other family member is worth your
marriage.
Conclusion
· The brawling woman
· The contentious and angry woman
· The odious woman
Ladies, perhaps you are
more prone to these negative characteristics than men. Perhaps the Bible just
uses women rather than men to give variety to the Word of God.
· Man or woman, we should all submit to that place God has
given us
· Man or woman, we all must repent of anger in our soul and
move on and
· Man or woman, every one of us should take care that our
marriage has unity and love rather than enmity and hatred.
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