Proverbs 11:22 "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."
When God made mankind, He gave him the ability and pleasure to SEE. Furthermore, when God made mankind, He made him to see beauty in each other. By Divine design, we are naturally attracted to the physical appearance of one another. There are variations of beauty in our race but we all appreciate beautiful faces and beautiful bodies. We each possess preferences of feature and detail but we all appreciate beautiful people. While God gave us the ability to see and appreciate beauty, the curse gave us an insatiable appetite for beauty. Once in his book of Proverbs and once in his book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon declared the human eye perpetually unsatisfied. John spoke of this curse by describing it as the “lust of the eyes.” As a result, we now overemphasize our physical appearance.
Due to this universal overemphasis on the outward appearance, human society has worshipped beautiful women. As a result, girls and women easily equate their level of beauty to their societal value. Girls and women naturally then pursue beauty through makeup, hair-style, diet, exercise, dress and even jewelry. Beauty easily becomes the priority for many girls and women. Beauty easily becomes the security for many girls and women. Beauty easily becomes the ultimate goal for many girls and women. If a woman feels beautiful, it is easy and even natural for her to focus on maintaining that beauty, which is why older women will pay handsome amounts of money to reduce the effects of aging or to change the shape of her face or body altogether. Simply put, the curse made the blessing of sight the focus of life for many women.
Our modern Western culture demonstrates how obsessed we are with appearance. Commercial after commercial features beautiful women. Female news anchors, meteorologists and talk show hosts tend to be primarily beautiful women. Movies and male sporting events highlight beautiful women. Magazines are full of advertisements promoting beauty products for women. Social media posts are overwhelmingly dominated by selfies where the poster is looking for confirmation of her beauty. In our world and in our culture, to be a “fair woman” is to be the best woman. To the eyes of men and deep within the souls of women, a beautiful woman is the best woman.
This universal overemphasis on the outward appearance downgrades and demotes the value of virtue, especially as it pertains to women. Men will typically overlook character and even personality for the sake of beauty. Studios and firms will overlook skill and even ability for the sake of beauty. The outward appearance, especially for women, is typically more valuable to society than the inward condition. For most men, a woman’s face is more important than a woman’s heart. For most men, a woman’s body is more important than a woman’s soul. For this reason and combined with the curse of insecurity, a woman will herself view her face and body as more important than her heart and soul. We know this because there are no magazines in the grocery stores advertising virtue for the soul. We know this because there are no commercials on television promoting character and virtue. We know this because the virtuous woman is not the glorified woman in our society.
In this proverb, Solomon offers his ancient and present readers a perspective outside of the accepted societal perspective. This proverb offers us the perspective of God as it pertains to beauty. As the Creator of mankind, God loves beauty. He is the One responsible for making the human face distinctly attractive and beautiful. He is the One responsible for making the human body what it is. He is the One Who gave us an attraction for particular features of the human body. As much as He appreciates the beauty of human beings, it doesn’t compare to the appreciation He has for the virtue within human beings. He sees outward beauty as a tiny piece of jewelry on a large body. Outward beauty is a small ornament on the overall body of the character of man. God sees the inward man as the primary man and He sees the outward man as the mere ornament of man.
For mankind, beauty is primary while virtue is secondary. For mankind, beauty is the priority while character is supplementary. For God, it’s the opposite. In God’s eyes, our inward condition defines us while our outward appearance accompanies us. In God’s eyes, our shape and color are drawn by our character, not by our beauty. In God’s eyes, a beautiful woman without discretion is not beautiful at all. In His eyes, a beautiful woman without discretion is an ugly woman dressed up with jewelry. In man’s eyes, our character adorns our physical appearance but in God’s eyes, our appearance only adorns our character.
As we consider this proverb, we must see it through the eyes of a Jewish man to appreciate how important the inward man is to God and consequently, how important it needs to be us. To the Old Testament Hebrew, swine were not only ugly, they were unclean. Eating swine was forbidden in the Jewish Law. Furthermore, even touching a pig’s carcass was forbidden in the Jewish Law. To this Holy-Spirit inspired author, a beautiful woman without discretion was to be seen as someone you should stay away from. Without discretion, a woman would become morally and potentially, sexually unclean. Without discretion, a woman would easily become corrupted by men and by other women. Without discretion, a woman would get involved with the wrong people, the wrong activities and the wrong beliefs.
Men looking for wives should not put a woman’s outward appearance and her inward condition on the same plane. Men looking for wives should not consider a woman’s looks and her character anywhere near equal in importance. While physical attraction does matter, it should not matter nearly as much as a woman’s spiritual condition. Compared to a jewel of gold in this proverb, physical attraction and beauty have clear value. If we see as God’s sees however, physical attraction and beauty should carry extremely low value if a woman’s soul is destitute of virtue. This proverb warns men to engage in relationships with beautiful women who are void of virtue because they will eventually see that beauty as a tiny ornament on a wildly unattractive woman. This proverb warns women to pursue beauty at the expense of virtue because beautiful women without discretion eventually get treated like unwanted unclean unattractive animals.
Scripture gives us the advantage in a cursed world to see the big picture from a better perspective. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t fool yourselves – good looks just don’t compare to good souls.
Due to this universal overemphasis on the outward appearance, human society has worshipped beautiful women. As a result, girls and women easily equate their level of beauty to their societal value. Girls and women naturally then pursue beauty through makeup, hair-style, diet, exercise, dress and even jewelry. Beauty easily becomes the priority for many girls and women. Beauty easily becomes the security for many girls and women. Beauty easily becomes the ultimate goal for many girls and women. If a woman feels beautiful, it is easy and even natural for her to focus on maintaining that beauty, which is why older women will pay handsome amounts of money to reduce the effects of aging or to change the shape of her face or body altogether. Simply put, the curse made the blessing of sight the focus of life for many women.
Our modern Western culture demonstrates how obsessed we are with appearance. Commercial after commercial features beautiful women. Female news anchors, meteorologists and talk show hosts tend to be primarily beautiful women. Movies and male sporting events highlight beautiful women. Magazines are full of advertisements promoting beauty products for women. Social media posts are overwhelmingly dominated by selfies where the poster is looking for confirmation of her beauty. In our world and in our culture, to be a “fair woman” is to be the best woman. To the eyes of men and deep within the souls of women, a beautiful woman is the best woman.
This universal overemphasis on the outward appearance downgrades and demotes the value of virtue, especially as it pertains to women. Men will typically overlook character and even personality for the sake of beauty. Studios and firms will overlook skill and even ability for the sake of beauty. The outward appearance, especially for women, is typically more valuable to society than the inward condition. For most men, a woman’s face is more important than a woman’s heart. For most men, a woman’s body is more important than a woman’s soul. For this reason and combined with the curse of insecurity, a woman will herself view her face and body as more important than her heart and soul. We know this because there are no magazines in the grocery stores advertising virtue for the soul. We know this because there are no commercials on television promoting character and virtue. We know this because the virtuous woman is not the glorified woman in our society.
In this proverb, Solomon offers his ancient and present readers a perspective outside of the accepted societal perspective. This proverb offers us the perspective of God as it pertains to beauty. As the Creator of mankind, God loves beauty. He is the One responsible for making the human face distinctly attractive and beautiful. He is the One responsible for making the human body what it is. He is the One Who gave us an attraction for particular features of the human body. As much as He appreciates the beauty of human beings, it doesn’t compare to the appreciation He has for the virtue within human beings. He sees outward beauty as a tiny piece of jewelry on a large body. Outward beauty is a small ornament on the overall body of the character of man. God sees the inward man as the primary man and He sees the outward man as the mere ornament of man.
For mankind, beauty is primary while virtue is secondary. For mankind, beauty is the priority while character is supplementary. For God, it’s the opposite. In God’s eyes, our inward condition defines us while our outward appearance accompanies us. In God’s eyes, our shape and color are drawn by our character, not by our beauty. In God’s eyes, a beautiful woman without discretion is not beautiful at all. In His eyes, a beautiful woman without discretion is an ugly woman dressed up with jewelry. In man’s eyes, our character adorns our physical appearance but in God’s eyes, our appearance only adorns our character.
As we consider this proverb, we must see it through the eyes of a Jewish man to appreciate how important the inward man is to God and consequently, how important it needs to be us. To the Old Testament Hebrew, swine were not only ugly, they were unclean. Eating swine was forbidden in the Jewish Law. Furthermore, even touching a pig’s carcass was forbidden in the Jewish Law. To this Holy-Spirit inspired author, a beautiful woman without discretion was to be seen as someone you should stay away from. Without discretion, a woman would become morally and potentially, sexually unclean. Without discretion, a woman would easily become corrupted by men and by other women. Without discretion, a woman would get involved with the wrong people, the wrong activities and the wrong beliefs.
Men looking for wives should not put a woman’s outward appearance and her inward condition on the same plane. Men looking for wives should not consider a woman’s looks and her character anywhere near equal in importance. While physical attraction does matter, it should not matter nearly as much as a woman’s spiritual condition. Compared to a jewel of gold in this proverb, physical attraction and beauty have clear value. If we see as God’s sees however, physical attraction and beauty should carry extremely low value if a woman’s soul is destitute of virtue. This proverb warns men to engage in relationships with beautiful women who are void of virtue because they will eventually see that beauty as a tiny ornament on a wildly unattractive woman. This proverb warns women to pursue beauty at the expense of virtue because beautiful women without discretion eventually get treated like unwanted unclean unattractive animals.
Scripture gives us the advantage in a cursed world to see the big picture from a better perspective. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t fool yourselves – good looks just don’t compare to good souls.
Posted in Proverbs Commentary
Tagged with Solomon, Beauty, Men, Women, Girls, relationships, Dating, Physical Appearance, Makeup, Dress, jewelry, Society, News Anchors, movies, Magazines, Social Media, Selfies, James, eyes, Vision, Creator, virtue, discretion, Character
Tagged with Solomon, Beauty, Men, Women, Girls, relationships, Dating, Physical Appearance, Makeup, Dress, jewelry, Society, News Anchors, movies, Magazines, Social Media, Selfies, James, eyes, Vision, Creator, virtue, discretion, Character
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