Who Is the Eshet Chayil?
Published June 26, 2014
“Poem” is probably an inaccurate term to use to describe these compositions, but it is preferred over other terms (like “song,” that imply that the composition was musically performed) to describe the specifically written composition.
JPS (Jewish Publication Society TaNaKh) and NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) translate “A capable wife”; KJV (King James Version) “A virtuous wife”; NIV (New International Version) “A woman of noble character”; Septuagint has a “courageous woman,” (γυναῖκα ἀνδρείαν). The Aramaic Targum of Proverbs has a “skilled woman” (אִתְּתָא כְשֶׁרְתָּא), showing a departure from the militaristic nuance of chayil, and focusing on the abilities of the woman. The translation is identical to the same Hebrew phrase in Proverbs 12:4, but a different than that of the phrase in Ruth 3:11, Boaz’s declaration to Ruth that she is an eshet hayil, a translation that just takes the Hebrew terminology and more or less makes it conform to Aramaic grammar.
For this reason, I once joked that the poem might actually be a drinking song for those learned men composing and collecting the literary texts of Proverbs. Something for scribes to tell each other after a long day at the office, longing for their wives to have the know-how of “Lady Wisdom.” At least those guys would be literate enough to get that it was an alphabetic acrostic.
James W. Watts, “‘This Song’: Conspicuous Poetry in Hebrew Prose,” in Verse in Ancient Near Eastern Prose, ed. Johannes C. de Moor and Wilfred G. E. Watson (Kevelaer: Verlag Butzon and Bercker, 1993), 345-358; Steven Weitzman, Song and Story in Biblical Narrative: The History of a Literary Convention in Ancient Israel (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997).
The Septuagint has a different order of the collections in Mishlei: in the Septuagint, Eshet Chayil is preceded by Prov 25:1-29:27, and not the instruction of King Lemuel’s mother to her son.
Prov 1:8; 4:3; 6:20.
Lest any reader balk at the intimation that an ancient Israelite man would “shop for” i.e., look to purchase a wife, note the very first line of the poem:
משלי לא:י אֵשֶׁת חַיִל מִי יִמְצָא וְרָחֹק מִפְּנִינִים מִכְרָהּ.
Prov 31:10 A woman of valor, who can obtain? Her purchase-price (mikhrah) is [valued] beyond precious stones.
The bride-price, paid by the groom’s family, was a common feature of ancient Near Eastern marriage transactions. In functional terms, it was a way to compensate the father for the loss of the daughter as a productive member of the household.
Rashi comments on Prov 31:10:
אשת חיל – היא התורה.
“A woman of valor” – this refers to the Torah.
Marc Brettler observes that the grammar of the next-to-last verse strongly supports this interpretation. Unless this text is emended, the words אִשָּׁה יִרְאַת יְ־הוָה הִיא תִתְהַלָּל must be translated as “a woman, namely fear of the LORD, she shall be praised.” As noted by Michael Fox in his commentary, Proverbs 10-31 (Anchor Bible; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009) 898-899, the typical understanding “a woman who fears the LORD” is not grammatical, unless the text is emended.
