With all the difficult challenges that a woman faces within the home, it should not be surprising that the Lord repeatedly gave warnings against a woman with a contentious spirit. How does the downward spiral begin? She may spend her life serving others with little to no thanks. She may honour and submit to a husband who deserves little honour or authority. If she does not continually walk with the Lord, she can become disillusioned with the Lord and with her duties as a mother and wife. She might begin to be contentious (Proverbs 21:9; Proverbs 25:24; Proverbs 27:15) causing greater problems in the home, perhaps to the point of causing those she loves to become bitter against her (Colossians 3:19).
Prudence is commonly connected to the word providence. With this in mind, one can understand that prudence involves the ability to foresee the possibility of future events. Of course, this does not refer to the work of modern day “prophets” who claim to have supernatural visions from God, but is related to wisdom that originates with God. These truths are borne out in our passage where we read, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself.” The importance of this truth bears repeating in Proverbs 27:12. Wisdom and prudence work together (Proverbs 8:12) to help us to consider possible future results when making decisions. In our passage, the prudent foresees the evil and makes a decision to hide himself, while the simple fail to steer clear of the evil and are punished for it.
