Pro 21:9 | KingComments | STEP | This is another “better ... than” proverb about living with a contentious woman ( ; cf. ). Anyone can imagine the situation Solomon presents here and agree with what is better. Just imagine being married to a contentious woman. If you are married, you are obligated to live together. You can have everything arranged to perfection. The house is spacious and fully equipped. You move in, only to experience nothing but contention in that spacious and fully equipped house. The atmosphere in the house is spoiled. Would Solomon be speaking from experience here? After all, he had a thousand wives. It is conceivable that among those many wives there were some who were constantly quarreling. Solomon was surrounded with all the splendor a man could wish for, but he realizes that simplicity and solitude with peace are better than all that luxury immersed in an atmosphere of contention. Then it is better not to be married and live in simplicity and solitude in a small room somewhere on a corner of a roof (cf. ). You live small, but you have peace. It may be tight and lonely, you may even be exposed to wind and weather on the corner of that roof, but there is peace, you do not have to deal with constant conflicts that spoil your life. Those who are not married (yet) will find in this verse a counter to the idea that being married gives the highest pleasure. Being married to the woman God has given is indeed a great gift and a constant source of joy. But if you marry the wrong woman, the woman you have set your sights on, the marriage you dreamed of can turn into a nightmare. The verse again shows the importance of marrying only the woman God gives.

‏ Proverbs 21:9

Better Alone Than Together With Fight

This is another “better ... than” proverb about living with a contentious woman (Pro 21:19; cf. Pro 19:13). Anyone can imagine the situation Solomon presents here and agree with what is better. Just imagine being married to a contentious woman. If you are married, you are obligated to live together. You can have everything arranged to perfection. The house is spacious and fully equipped. You move in, only to experience nothing but contention in that spacious and fully equipped house. The atmosphere in the house is spoiled.

Would Solomon be speaking from experience here? After all, he had a thousand wives. It is conceivable that among those many wives there were some who were constantly quarreling. Solomon was surrounded with all the splendor a man could wish for, but he realizes that simplicity and solitude with peace are better than all that luxury immersed in an atmosphere of contention.

Then it is better not to be married and live in simplicity and solitude in a small room somewhere on a corner of a roof (cf. 2Kgs 4:10). You live small, but you have peace. It may be tight and lonely, you may even be exposed to wind and weather on the corner of that roof, but there is peace, you do not have to deal with constant conflicts that spoil your life.

Those who are not married (yet) will find in this verse a counter to the idea that being married gives the highest pleasure. Being married to the woman God has given is indeed a great gift and a constant source of joy. But if you marry the wrong woman, the woman you have set your sights on, the marriage you dreamed of can turn into a nightmare. The verse again shows the importance of marrying only the woman God gives.