X is for Xanthippe

Xanthippe

You have all known one of these. Yes you have, don’t tell me you haven’t. Xanthippe was the name of Socrates mean, shrewish, and bad tempered wife. Many scholars will say that there is more “legend” than truth handed down about her. My thought is that there must be some “fire” if there is “smoke” present.

Xanthippe is defined as “ill-tempered woman.” We are warned about her in Proverbs:

Proverbs  21:9 -  It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide  house  {a brawling…: Heb. a woman of contentions} {a wide…: Heb. an house of society}

Proverbs 21:19  - It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman {in…: Heb. in the land of the desert}

Proverbs 25:24 It is better to dwell  in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman  and in a wide house.

What was Solomon up against? What was he trying to tell us? He wrote this three (3) times. It seems that he would rather live in a corner rather than in an entire house. He would rather live in a dry, hot, barren, and dangerous desert. He would rather live in these undesireable locations than live in a great big spacious house with a angry, contentious, or argumentative woman.


If any one would know it would be Solomon, right? After all he had 700 wives and 300 shack-up jobs. If ever kiss began with "K:" he must have kept K-Jewelers and FTD busy all the time.