Prof. Herman Hanko:  “The Scriptures speak rather of the fact that there are few, if any, callings in all of life that are more noble than the calling that Christian mothers have to be busy in their homes in the bringing forth and nurturing of children. There has got to be, beloved mothers—and I speak to you now from the depths of my heart—there has got to be a special place in heaven for godly and pious and virtuous mothers, who are content to take that place which God has given them in their homes, and are content to bring up their children in the hard day-to-day work of caring for the needs of the family. I cannot do that work. And that God has enabled women to do that is a miracle of no little importance. They have a noble calling from God which will be rewarded greatly when these humble mothers stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. And the benefits of their work for the welfare of the church is beyond evaluation. We cannot begin to understand the tremendous benefits which the church and the schools receive because of the patient work of the God-fearing mothers” (“Phebe: An Example for the Christian Woman“).

Matthew Henry: “The wife shall be as a vine by the sides of the house, not only as a spreading vine which serves for an ornament, but as a fruitful vine which is for profit, and with the fruit whereof both God and man are honoured (Judg. 9 13). The vine is a weak and tender plant, and needs to be supported and cherished, but it is a very valuable plant, and some think (because all the products of it were prohibited to the Nazarites) it was the tree of knowledge itself. The wife’s place is the husband’s house; there her business lies, and that is her castle. Where is Sarah thy wife? Behold, in the tent; where should she be else? Her place is by the sides of the house, not under-foot to be trampled on, nor yet upon the house-top to domineer (if she be so, she is but as the grass upon the house-top, in the next psalm), but on the side of the house, being a rib out of the side of the man. She shall be a loving wife, as the vine, which cleaves to the house-side, an obedient wife, as the vine, which is pliable, and grows as it is directed. She shall be fruitful as the vine, not only in children, but in the fruits of wisdom, and righteousness, and good management, the branches of which run over the wall (Gen 49:22; Ps. 80:11), like a fruitful vine, not cumbering the ground, nor bringing forth sour grapes, or grapes of Sodom, but good fruit” (Comm. on Ps. 128:3).