I've been thinking a lot about Proverbs 31 lately.  Last night I sat down to take notes and organize my thoughts and decided to pull out Calvin's commentary (forgetting that Calvin wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible EXCEPT Proverbs and Revelation).  So I grabbed Jay Adams commentary instead.  I love Jay Adams.  He is so practical and honest.  There's no mincing words with Dr. Adams.  I loved his commentary so much I decided to post it.  This comes from his Christian Counselor's New Testament Commentary on Proverbs (the bold emphasis is his).  I'm going to post half today and half tomorrow.

     "The poem begins by asking where one can find a fully-capable woman. Evidently, she is rare. She is a many-sided person who, as the writer describes her, is well-balanced in all ways. The value of such a person to her husband and her family goes far beyond the worth of precious jewels (v. 10).

    According to verse 11, she is trustworthy; her husband's heart trusts in her (something that can be seen in the following verses where, it is obvious, he has given her great latitude in decision-making). To gain this freedom, a wife must prove she can handle it. The ideal wife, pictured here, does so. Indeed she is able to see to it that, rather than draining his resources--as some wives do--she is able to increase them. Continuing to speak of her relationship to her husband, we are told she is an asset, doing him good and not evil, so long as she lives (v. 12). The woman who concentrates on doing good to her husband continually will be praised. In verses 10 through 12, one sees that she is husband and family oriented. The three or four jobs that she will be said to have all help the home. She is not career oriented. Verse 12 is the answer to many counseling problems.

    In those days, there were no supermarkets. Consequently, she often had to go here and there to obtain everything she needed to supply her household with food (v. 14).

    And in order to cook meat (game) and assign duties for the day to her maids she rises early--while it is still dark. "Oh," you say, "she has maids. If I did, I could be like her!" Wait a minute, counselee, you have maids like she'd love to have had--refrigerators, stoves, freezers, microwaves, dishwashers, etc. And while they may need repair from time to time, they don't go after your husband.

    This woman is into real estate transactions: she buys a field. In it she plants a vineyard. All of this from other earnings she has received (the fruit of her hands). She works hard physically and does heavy work (vv. 16, 17).

    Because as she barters and trades she does well, she works long into the night, and what she does is productive (v. 18)."