Much of a young person’s character or lack thereof is demonstrated in his behaviour toward adults and especially the elderly. In Isaiah chapter 3, the Bible speaks of a time when the judgment of God will be upon His people, and one of the characteristics of the day will be that “the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient.” The prophet Elisha dealt with such children when they came out of the city mocking him saying, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head” (2 Kings 2:23). Apparently, Job endured a similar problem as he said, “young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me” (Job 19:18). Children can be cruel, and in doing so they reveal an evil heart displeasing to the Lord. It is never a good idea to encourage children to be insolent and impolite toward adults.
Godly ladies are known for the love they express toward others. Isaiah 49:15 might be used to argue otherwise, but the Lord references a mother’s love to depict the peak of earthly love. This passage simply points out that the mother’s love only fails to reach the pinnacle when compared to God’s own love toward His creation. God made a woman’s heart tender, but sin can harden this tender heart. For this reason, the older women within the New Testament church are instructed to nurture this particular trait within the younger women by teaching them how to love their husbands and their children (Titus 2:4). When things are spiritually right, the godly woman makes it her priority to care for those whom God has given her, and she does so in love. Examples of this love permeate the pages of scripture.
A good wife and mother will exemplify a type of selflessness like no one else upon the earth. Proverbs offers a wonderful examination into her life and ways. Her life is one of sacrifice, often putting the needs and wants of her household ahead of her own. She labours to take care of her family (Proverbs 31:16-19). She looks well to the ways of her household while enjoying little to no idle time (Proverbs 31:27). Yet at day’s end, she rises up to give meat to her household (Proverbs 31:15). All the while, she can open her mouth with wisdom with the law of kindness in her tongue (Proverbs 31:26). The Bible points to her only reward as the praise of her husband and children (Proverbs 31:28). This reward may seem insignificant to the world, but to her the love of her family is both sufficient and worth the effort.
At first glance, this passage appears to be less expressive than many others which cover a wider range of study. After all, a single reading of our passage proves that nakedness is the opposite of being clothed or covered. This truth is confirmed by other similar passages as well (Leviticus 18:6; Job 24:7; Isaiah 58:7). However, this subject is much more complicated than merely whether someone is covered or not. It is important to understand the full context. For example, is nakedness the failure to cover every part of the body or are there parts of the body considered secret or private (Isaiah 3:17)? Though there are certainly other secret or private parts, the Lord plainly declared that uncovering the legs and thighs was nakedness (Isaiah 47:1-3). For this reason, the priests were told to wear breeches to cover these parts under their priestly attire (Exodus 28:42).
