Our Favorite Proverbs: Proverbs 31:1-9, The Training of a King

by Marilynn Chadwick

Proverbs 31:1-9 was technically recorded by the unknown King Lemuel, but it is explicitly identified as an oracle, or “inspired message,” taught to him by his mother. Therefore, the content and wisdom within these verses are traditionally believed by many scholars to be Bathsheba teaching her son, Solomon.

We catch a glimpse into the heart of this mother who had prayed for her son and devoted him to the Lord. Let’s look closer at the teachings that were foremost in her mind as she trained the son who would be king:

The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.

2 Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb!

Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!

3 Do not spend your strength on women,

your vigor on those who ruin kings.

4 It is not for kings, Lemuel—

it is not for kings to drink wine,

not for rulers to crave beer,

5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,

and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

6 Let beer be for those who are perishing,

wine for those who are in anguish!

7 Let them drink and forget their poverty

and remember their misery no more.

8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

for the rights of all who are destitute.

9 Speak up and judge fairly;

defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:1-9 NIV).

The Queen Mother’s words are instructions about the kind of king he should be. Like any good mother, she warned him about the dangers of immoral women and over-indulgence in alcohol. But her cautions appear to have had more to do with his calling as king rather than just mere morality. She challenges her son to use his power to help the broken, “speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves,” and “defending the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:3, 5, 8, 9).

If King Lemuel’s mother prayed for this son before he was born and during his lifetime, surely, she also prayed for his wife. So, the description of the Woman of Valor in Proverbs 31:10-31 could easily reflect her heart’s desire for her son’s future wife. And isn’t this the prayer for every mother of sons? I’d like to think these verses also represent a mother’s specific hopes and dreams for the kind of Woman of Valor that her daughters would one day become.