Kate says . . .

Proverbs 25:24 “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.” (NIV)

We all have scriptures that we aspire to be like, ones that we strive for. Then there are those scriptures that we hope and pray we are nothing like. This verse from Proverbs is one of those verses. Solomon is giving his sons words of wisdom throughout the book of Proverbs. He shares this same principle about a quarrelsome wife many times throughout the book of Proverbs. You may wonder why he shares it 5 times, my hubby has said on many occasions that Proverbs repeats itself time and time again because it was written for men, and they need to be reminded many times. Honestly he said that! It made me laugh. Anyway, Solomon had many wives and concubines (another post for another day, delving into that), so I am sure he knew what a contentious or quarrelsome wife was. We have heard these verses, what exactly is a quarrelsome or contentious wife?

The word quarrelsome in the dictionary is defined as:

1. Given to quarreling; contentious
2. Marked by quarreling.
3. synonyms argumentative, belligerent.

The word contentious in the dictionary is defined as:

1. Given to contention; quarrelsome.
2. Involving or likely to cause contention; controversial

Yikes! Those are definitely not words I want used to describe me as a wife. “She was a great person, but she was given to quarreling, being argumentative and on occasion belligerent, where her husband was concerned!” Can you imagine that on your tombstone or spoken at your eulogy? Hmm not exactly the sweet words I hope others will remember about me. Yet I know there have been times in our marriage, where I was airing much more on the side of contentious then uplifting, supporting and loving my hubby. So what characteristics are involved in being a contentions wife?