a maid

February 19, 2016

Slaves, fools, and unloved wives (Prov 30:21-30:23)

“Under three things the earth trembles.

Under four it cannot bear up.

They are

When a slave becomes king,

When a fool is glutted with food,

When an unloved woman gets a husband,

When a maid succeeds her mistress.”

Once again we are back at the numerical proverb of 3 and 4. The earth trembles. There are 4 things that this author cannot bear: 1) a slave who becomes a king, 2) a fool filled with food, 3) an unloved woman with a husband, and 4) a maid that succeeds her mistress. These seem like annoying circumstances for an elite person who does not like people moving out of their social class status. However, there is a sensibility to the unloved wife and the scorned mistress.

February 22, 2015

Digging the grave for Tobias (Tob 8:9-8:14)

“However, Raguel arose. He called his servants to him. They went and dug a grave. He said.

‘It is possible that he will die.

We will become an object of ridicule and derision.’

When they had finished digging the grave, Raguel went into his house. He called his wife Edna.

‘Send one of the maids to have her go in to see if he is alive.

But if he is dead,

Let us bury him without anyone knowing about it.’

So they sent the maid, lit a lamp, and opened the door. She went in, and found them sound asleep together. Then the maid came out. She informed them that he was alive and that nothing was wrong.”

Raguel decided that he was going to dig a grave that night. He got some of his servants and they dug the grave. He was going to the hide the body so that no one would know that Tobias had died. He did not want to be ridiculed. When the grave was done, he went into see his wife. He wanted her to get a maid to look and see if Tobias had died like the other 7 husbands. If he had died, they were going to bury him immediately. The maid went into the bedroom and found them both alive, but sleeping. She then informed Raguel and his wife that there was nothing wrong. This was a busy night for everyone.