A WOMAN'S WORTH

There is a story in the Old Testament that would no doubt enrage the feminists of our day. It is the story of Esther. This story unfolds in Babylon around 478 B.C. under the rule of Persian King Ahasuerus, known in history as  Xerxes (Greek form of his name). After showing off the wealth of his kingdom to all the princes and nobles of Persia and Media in the third year of his reign, King Xerxes made a seven day feast for everyone that was found in Shushan palace, both great and small (Esther 1:5). After seven days of limitless drinking  (Esther 1:8), the King commanded that Queen Vashti present herself and show her beauty to all present. The Queen did the unthinkable, and for some unknown reason, refused. Perhaps she felt it was beneath her to parade herself in front of a bunch of unruly drunkards or maybe the feminists among us would suggest she did not support objectifying  of women. There could be another side to this story however. This King was obscenely rich, so much so that it took him 180 days to show off the riches of his kingdom (Esther 1:4). It could very well be that he valued his queen above all that he had and saved the best for last. In his mind he was probably paying her a compliment by showing her off and maybe even feeling proud that he could have a wife such as this.

Vashti's stuborness did not do her any favours. What followed next could by today's standards be deemed the worst case of suppression of women. The story goes on to say that seven princes, which sat first in the kingdom, realised that if the queen refused to obey her husband, that all the women in the kingdom would follow suit so they decided to make an example of Vashti and convinced the king to do away with her (Esther 1:15-22). By one act of assertion she became a whole new threat to the patriarchal order of life. Once the Queen was done away with and the King came to his senses he realised he no longer had a queen. His servants however, came up with a solution. They suggested that all the 'fair young virgins' be paraded before him to select another queen. Here is another case of objectifying of women, because they were chosen for their beauty. Could it be however that it was considered that a man's value increased by being married to a beautiful and pure woman? Certainly purity in women, once highly valued, is something greatly missing from our liberated society. When we read the scriptures, it is plain to see that men's worth was calculated by how many children he had, sons in particular who could carry on the paternal lineage. Would it not make sense that mothers of those children were equally valued as were the wives of those sons who could not continue the family line without them?

As we know a Jewish girl by the name of Esther was chosen for her outstanding beauty to marry King Xerxes. I doubt very much that she had any say in whether she wanted to marry this man but I dare say this opportunity would have been considered a stroke of fortune in the ancient world. Which would have been better? Being a Jewish captive in a foreign land or the queen of that land? Now here's the interesting thing....Esther was marrying outside the covenant which was a big no no for Jews. There is a heart wrenching story in Ezra 10 about the exiles who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon and who started inter-marrying with the heathen women of the land. When Ezra got there with the second party of returning exiles and discovered this he was so horrified he pulled the hair out of his head and wept and cast himself before the temple Ezra 9:3, 10:1). Why was he so distraught? Because men that married outside of their faith followed the religious convictions of their wives and Ezra knew this would lead his people back to idolatry and the God of Israel would not be pleased..... So strongly did Ezra fear this that he convinced these men to give up their heathen wives and even the children they had by them (Ezra 10). In my opinion this is one of the saddest stories of the Old Testament. Even King Solomon was not exempt from this weakness and succumbed to his wives' idol worship in his old age (1 Kings 11:1-10).

But in Esther's case, the roles were reversed. She was a God fearing woman and the man in her situation was the heathen. Esther did not seem to be at risk of abandoning her faith. She kept her religion and continued to worship the God of heaven. She did not adopt her husband's religious practices. I am not saying here that men are weak and highly impressionable and that women are stronger than them. What I am saying is this....When God gave a commandment in the beginning that a man should leave his mother and father and 'cleave unto his wife' (Genesis 2:24) I believe that somehow this became a very literal mandate for men, with women being given the advantage and privilege of influence.....as was proven by Esther who saved her entire nation from annihilation (Esther 8). And now here is the greatest lesson for us women....did Esther rely on her beauty and her womanly wiles to convince King Xerxes not to kill her people? She could have done that. The King was clearly smitten by her to the point that he would have granted her every wish and given her even half of his kingdom (Esther 5:3,6; 7:2). Instead of relying on her womanhood, Esther employed God's assistance in her influence over the king. She designated a three day fast for all the Jews in the kingdom and offered two banquets to the King and his right hand man Haman who was intent on Jewish annihilation. The 24 hours in between those two banquets was crucial because during that time the King had a sudden desire to read the records which threw a light on the situation at hand. This desire was obviously inspired from above (Esther 6). The fasting of Esther and her people brought the Lord into the situation. It's a rather lengthy story but a highly entertaining one. The whole event is celebrated even today among the Jews through the Feast of Purim all because of the power of a righteous woman.

We are enjoying freedoms today never before known to women. With this comes a great responsibility.  Our influence knows no bounds. We can tear down or build up. We can inspire or degrade. We can soften men's hearts or lead them to destruction. We can lead them away from truth or bring them to God. Such is the power of women. Mordecai, a relative who raised Esther, suggested to her that she was probably raised up at that time to save her people, that she was foreordained for such 'a time as this' (Esther 4:14). Esther in Persian tongue means 'a star'.   She honoured her name well for she was no doubt there when 'the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy' (Job 38:7). We, noble women of the covenant were there too, foreordained for such a time as this, to lift humanity to higher ground, to prepare for the great day of the Lord when He shall come in His glory to save His people Israel. We were the morning stars sent to support, love and influence our husbands, our sons and our brothers to be the sons of  God now and forever.