This is for women and the men who love and honour them.
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. 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? When we read ancient records contained in scripture, 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 but that lineage could not be continued without women. Would it not then make sense that mothers of those children were equally valued as were the wives of those sons? The more I study the scriptures the more convinced I become that women of old were valued for their womanhood because without them there would not be a human race.
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 so distraught? Because men who married outside of their faith followed the religious convictions of their wives and Ezra knew this would lead his people back to idolatry. 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). 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). But in Esther's case, the roles were reversed. She was a God fearing woman and the man in her situation was of 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.
Esther saved her entire nation from annihilation (Esther 8). And now here is the greatest lesson for us women....Esther did not 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 the inherent spiritual nature of women and turned to God for assistance in her influence over the king. It's a rather lengthy story but a highly entertaining one.
Because of our emotional nature, we women are more susceptible to the workings of the Spirit. For this reason, Jehovah, the God of creation, placed within a woman’s heart the power to subdue and compliment the heart of the man. 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.
The crowning glory of godhood is posterity that goes on forever. Cherished in the bosom of the Father are His noble daughters who are at the heart of this eternal increase. We, the mothers of today and eternity, are harnessed with the Saviour to bring about the ‘immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). We are the morning stars who sang ‘together when all the sons of God shouted for joy’ (Job 38:7) accepting His sacrifice and covenanting with Him to come to this earth to support, love and influence our husbands, our sons and our brothers to be the sons of God now and forever.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Annie Henrie Nader)
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