Eshet Chayil (Woman of Valor)
In proverbs 31 there is a story of a woman, I'm not sure if you would call it a "story of a woman" but if it is, she is Lydia of Phillipi. It is funny how the Bible uses the stories of the past to bring to fruition so many things, but it can be confusing. What seems to be true is that this Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, and also a "woman of valor". She helped the apostle Paul and believed in God so she was readily baptized, the first outside Judaism. Her story is exceptional. She fits the bill perfectly. The Bible, as I wrote the other day, is a full book with twists and turns deeper in meaning than "War and Peace" or any other great epic ever could pretend to. But, as it has been placed in front of my me like a giant impassable stone block, the word has a way of bringing to life the words written hundreds of years before. So we have to wonder, or even assume, that the people who are in it are either meant to be or brought into the mix. To unde...
