The women’s Bible study at Crossroads did an excellent study of the book of Proverbs several months ago. Led by Carol Starling, it tackled real-life issues while providing insight and background into the book itself, whose very purpose is for learning, instruction, understanding, shrewdness. There are also 31 chapters, making it a great fit for personal devotions—one chapter per day, each month.
Some passages in Proverbs are more familiar to us, the kind that make it onto calendars and coffee mugs: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (3:5); “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (17:22); and a personal favorite for husbands out there, “Rejoice in the wife of your youth” (5:18, all NIV).
One of the ones that isn’t likely to show up on a Jesus pencil, however, is one loaded with depth and conviction for women, especially, found in Proverbs 11:22: “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”
It’s all well and good to say that physical beauty doesn’t matter—God has no standard for outward appearance (see 1 Samuel 16:7) so we shouldn’t either. But in reality, every culture has its own vastly differing concepts of what makes a person attractive. From a very young age, females in America are particularly targeted to look and dress a certain way in order to be “beautiful.”
The underlying message is that beauty = power and, if we’re honest, we’d have to agree, to a point. Our highly visual society constantly renders judgments about the validity of what a person says based primarily on the package those words come in. If we want to be taken seriously, common sense would dictate that we check the mirror before we go to a job interview, or stand before a planning board.
But beauty, as they say, is only “skin deep.” “Pretty is as pretty does.” The reason those old sayings endured long enough to become old sayings is because they are rooted in the truth of the word of God! Our concept of outward appearance must be joined with the wisdom to handle it appropriately, to use discernment with those around us, to beware of letting our outward appearance control our lives.
The writer of Proverbs paints a vivid picture. In order to put a gold ring in a pig’s snout, a person would have to touch the pig—to touch something God called “unclean.” In the same way, beauty without discretion leads to unclean thoughts, unclean behavior, unclean mannerisms. Inappropriate actions and choices.
By contrasting feminine beauty with a pig, he tells us that beauty, no matter how enchanting or glamorous, is actually out of place on a woman without wisdom, just as a gold ring would be out of place on a pig. Gold has always been regarded as precious—what a waste to use gold to adorn an animal that habitually lays in its own excrement and mud. Beauty is a somewhat rare commodity as well—and it is wasted on the foolish and indiscreet.
In the New Testament, Jesus said not to throw pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6); someone has said that the pig can’t appreciate the gift, is only annoyed by the gesture, and turns on the giver to take it out on him! When a person is gifted with physical beauty and yet fails to couple that with godly wisdom, they have failed to appreciate their Creator, who chose to make them that way for his own purposes and plans.
Peter said it another way in 1 Peter 3:3—“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.”
The Greek translated as adornment is kosmos, from which we get cosmos, meaning the world or universe. In other words, don’t let outward appearance become your entire world, your main focus. Society will continually draw you in that direction with its seducing siren song of unrealistic standards and lust for power, what is valuable in the kingdom of God is the condition of your heart. A heart that is open to God, pliable in his hands, tender toward others—that is a thing of beauty that will last.
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30, NIV)
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