Pop quiz! Earth science!
(Feel free to guess before you read.)
What makes a ruby so beautiful?
Its flaws.
Ruby's color-giving flaw, chromium, can be toxic in certain of its natural forms. But when reined in and subjected to the fire and pressure of the forge, it is repurposed into unique, intrinsic beauty. Within the ruby, it is no longer toxic, but contained and remade.
The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31:10 wasn't compared to a clear, flawless diamond. She was compared to a flawed crimson ruby. It isn't her perfection that makes her characteristically beautiful and strong; it is, by intrinsic definition, her flaws.
Furthermore, the word "virtuous" is no accident: it is the same word applied to great men of war, and can be translated into "valor," "strength," and "force," particularly of an "army." If you think a Godly woman is demure and quiet and wouldn't harm a fly, think again. The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 is a battle-hardened force to be reckoned with. Yet, because of her fear of and love for the Lord, she is not contentious and doesn't make herself a sickness to her husband's bones. She tempers herself and contains that chromium to keep it from being a toxin to her home. He can trust safely in her. She may carry the force of an army in her soul, but she will not burn her house to the ground. She is a ruby; she is a product of the fire, not the fire itself.
Rubies don't belong on pedestals. Pedestals keep fragile things safe. Rubies belong in rings and other jewelry, or even crowns (because a virtuous wife is a crown to her husband, don'tchya know), where they can be worn proudly and kept close. "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm" from Song of Solomon 8:6 literally asks the lover to set his or her beloved as a (signet) ring on his/her hand, or as a badge on a breastplate. That's what you do with rubies. A ruby's flaws and history make it durable, remember? Ruby rates 9 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness, surpassed only by diamond. You can do life with a ruby, you don't have to put it on a shelf and leave it there.
This accidental devotional brought to you by an impromptu foray into a Strong's Concordance reading of Proverbs 31:10 and an insatiable curiosity for the science behind the gem to which God chose to compare the kind of woman He wants His sons to have.
