by Erik Jones

Expositor’s Bible Commentary summarizes this proverb as “Simplicity with peace is better than prosperity with strife.”

Ancient Israelite dwellings had flat roofs that could be used for extra space or for construction of a small room (see 1 Kings 17:19; 2 Kings 4:10). To avoid strife, the husband in this verse prefers such basic accommodations to sharing the comfort of the house with his wife.

This verse tells us that great strife comes to a marriage when a spouse’s approach is characterized by contention. The word translated “contentious” in the New King James Version essentially means a person who is constantly quarreling, brawling, hurling verbal insults and starting disputes.

Contentious should not describe anyone—male or female (1 Timothy 3:3). This proverb specifically focuses on the effect of this negative character trait when displayed by a wife, but it applies equally to husbands.

For a description of the characteristics that God wants women to display, see Titus 2:3-5:

“The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

To learn more about God’s expectations for women, read our article “The Role of Women.”