10An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
'excellent':
this refers to her character. In other translations excellent is replaced with noble, virtuous, good. a woman of excellent character. The rest of the passage explains the things that make her excellent.
'who can find':
she is out there, but she is rare. A woman of such character is hard to find. And I add, hard to be!
'her worth is far above jewels':
in most translations, 'jewels' is replaced with rubies. Rubies is literal.
I did some research into rubies and the reference to the word ruby or rubies. In almost all instances the word ruby is used to describe the value of knowledge or wisdom. It is compared to something of priceless value. This is the remarkable conclusion that I came to: a wife of excellent character is valued above knowledge, she is valued above riches, she is valued above that which is priceless.
Thought for the day
It is commonly believed that this proverb was spoken to Solomon by his mother, before he was king. It is interesting to note that when God offered to give him anything he wanted, over riches he asked God for wisdom and came to be known for his great and unmatched wisdom. He was also blessed with great and unparalleled riches. I need to check, but I believe that this proverb, spoken to him by his mother was written by Solomon. He placed high value on wisdom, much more valuable to him than riches. And yet of all the wise things spoken to him by his mother, this made it into his writings and eventually the bible. I believe, therefore, that Solomon himself placed very high value on a woman of excellent character.
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