Pigs and gold rings

“Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.” Proverbs 11:22
In this proverb, two unlikely things are contrasted: a pig, and a beautiful woman. This is not saying that a beautiful woman who shows no discretion is like a pig – let’s read the proverb again. It says that she is like a gold ring in the pig’s snout.
Gold is still highly valued today as a precious metal. But would you take a gold ring from a pig’s snout and use it as a piece of jewellery for yourself? You would always be reminded of where it had come from, where it had been. To a Jew, that gold ring would be particularly unclean and unfit for any other use. In other words, the pig makes the gold unclean, even though ordinarily the gold would have been of high value.
So too with a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. Ordinarily, she would be of high value. But because she has sold herself out to wallowing in the mud, her beauty is tainted and worthless.
All women should show discretion, not just the beautiful ones. Indeed, true beauty is on the inside: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Pet. 3:3-4). Let’s not take that beauty and use it for something that is unclean.