"And there will be goats’ milk enough for your food, for the food of your household, and sustenance for your maidens"
household
This is the Hebrew word bayit which means house, household, family. It usually meant those who were family and extended family that lived with you as well as any close servants if you had them.
maidens
This is the Hebrew word nararah which means girl, maiden, young lady, attendant. The idea was either one's daughters or those women who served your household to make it work efficiently. It seemed best to the translators to take it as maidens as to show that Solomon was including the employees into the monetary accounting because the family members would have been included in the word household.
Good financial money management looks at the obligations that one has in the next week, month, quarter, and year and answers the question: “How am I going to pay for that?” If the answer is, "I don't know," then you need to find an answer. How are you going to meet the obligations that you are thinking of incurring? Notice that Solomon says that he will barter the goat’s milk for food for himself, for his household, and his employees.
This is what is called budgeting. It is really the idea of looking at what is coming up and planning where the money is going to come from to pay for it -- even if that money is not already here. God's way of handling money is having a reasonable plan to pay for the obligations that will be coming.
Think through your bills: mortgage, clothes, taxes, food, medical. Where is that money going to come from? It must be clear that you have enough coming in to cover it. Many couples and individuals today are getting into huge trouble because they allow their desires to get ahead of their certain way to pay.
How will you pay for the basics that are coming? How will you pay for the luxuries that scream at you: INDULGE! Solomon is implying that you must say no to yourself if you cannot connect future bills with future earnings. The plan must make sense. Most couples don't have a plan; they just launch ahead with their desires leading the way, saying, "It will be okay." "It will come from somewhere." It will not appear out of nowhere. You must have a plan. You must be prudent, strategic.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz