Continuing our study in Proverbs 31, we look at the next verse.

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She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:12

This verse stumped me a little bit. How could I apply something so obviously for a married woman to a single woman? Then I remembered that an earthly marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. In the last post I talked about how Jesus Christ has entrusted to us His reputation and work. If we look at this verse remembering that Jesus Christ is in the role of our husband, we as single ladies will do Him good and not evil all the days of our lives. Ok. What is good and what is evil? To the dictionary!

When I looked up the word good, I found 40 definitions for good being used as an adjective. So I am only presenting a few here.

GOOD, a.

3. Complete or sufficiently perfect in its kind; having the physical qualities best adapted to its design and use; opposed to bad, imperfect, corrupted, impaired. We say, good timber, good cloth, a good soil, a good color.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Gen.1.

4. Having moral qualities best adapted to its design and use, or the qualities which God’s law requires; virtuous; pious; religious; applied to persons, and opposed to bad, vitious, wicked, evil.

Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. Rom.5.

5. Conformable to the moral law; virtuous; applied to actions.

In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works.Tit.2.

18. Well qualified; able; skillful; or performing duties with skill and fidelity; as a good prince; a good commander; a good officer; a good physician.

22. Promotive of happiness; pleasant; agreeable; cheering; gratifying.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Ps.133.

E”VIL, a. e”vl. [Heb. to be unjust or injurious, to defraud.]

1. Having bad qualities of a natural kind; mischievous; having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief.

Some evil beast hath devoured him. Gen.37.

2. Having bad qualities of a moral kind; wicked; corrupt; perverse; wrong; as evil thoughts; evil deeds; evil speaking; an evil generation.

3. Unfortunate; unhappy; producing sorrow, distress, injury or calamity; as evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.

This verse puts two qualities in contrast, the action done will be either good or evil. If it is good, it conforms to the moral law and is virtuous. (See first blog post on Virtuous Woman) If the action is evil, the intent is to injure and it breaks the moral law. So this verse states that the actions the virtuous woman takes toward her husband, conform to the moral law and will not injure him or cause him mischief.

Just as a side note, here is the definition for mischief (as long as we are looking at the dictionary.)

MIS”CHIEF, n.

1. Harm; hurt; injury; damage; evil, whether intended or not. A new law is made to remedy the mischief.

2. Intentional injury; harm or damage done by design.

Thy tongue deviseth mischief. Ps.52.

3. Ill consequence; evil; vexatious affair.

The mischief was, these allies would never allow that the common enemy was subdued.

MIS”CHIEF, v.t. To hurt; to harm; to injure.

So what about us single people?!? We, in our relationship with Christ, will do good actions and will not do anything that will bring injury to Jesus.

So let us look at our actions. Do they line up with the moral law? Do they prevent injury being done to the name and person of Jesus Christ? Am I doing good and not evil?

*Definitions from Webster’s 1828 Dictionary Online