• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
 THE POWER OF FEMININE BEAUTY Based on Esther 2:5-18By Pastor Glenn PeaseIn its 4,000 years of history only one woman became Emperor of China withabsolute power. She was Wu tes-t'ien. She got to the throne of China for the samereason Esther got to the throne of Persia. She was a startling beauty. As a younggirl she was renowned for her beauty, and the Emperor made her his concubine.Ordinarily a concubine like her would be relegated to secluded quarters, after thedeath of the Emperor. She would live her life out in quiet retirement. She was sobeautiful, however, that the son of the Emperor also desired her as a concubine. Shewas not only beautiful, she was clever. She bore him several sons, and thenpromoted them among the leaders as the legitimate heirs to the throne. She gainedmany political allies, and so maneuvered behind the scenes that when the Emperorsuffered a crippling stroke, she was made Empress in 655 A.D. She was brilliant aswell as beautiful, and was excellent in administration. She cut taxes, won a war, andhad a united prosperous country under her long reign.It is rare, but the fact is, there are many cases in history of women doing anexcellent job of leading a whole nation. One thousand years before Esther, in 1520B.C. Hatshepst became the first woman Pharaoh of Egypt, for 21 years she reigned,and glorious monuments exist to praise her success. When Julius Caesar marchedinto Egypt in 48 B.C. there was a vicious dispute going on as to who the next rulershould be. Should it be Pothinius or his sister Cleopatra. Cleopatra wanted toplead her case before Caesar, but she knew if she tried to get to him her brotherwould have his spies kill her. Nobody would dare interfere with a gift for Caesar,however, and so a beautiful oriental carpet was sent from her palace to Caesar.Imagine his surprise when the carpet was unrolled and a 19 year old girl steppedout to announce she was Cleopatra, the rightful Queen of Egypt. Caesar fell in lovewith her beauty, and she did become the Queen.If you want to read of how Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, England, andother nations, were all ruled by greatly honored women, you can find thesefascinating histories in Mildred Boyds book, Rulers In Petticoats. My interest inthese stories for our study of Esther is that they confirm what we see to be a majortheme of this book, and that is, there is power in beauty. Women know it, and thatis why one of the largest industries in the world is the beauty industry. Billions arespent each year by women who know their greatest asset is in looking beautiful.Brains and other qualities are also vital, but it is beauty that opens the door forthese other gifts to get a chance to function.Many modern women admit they use beauty to their advantage in industry.They say they dress in a deliberate attempt to win favor with those who have power,and thereby they are raised to positions of power themselves. If conflict is
 
developing between them and a male boss, they can calm the waters by coming onwith some feminine charm. In beauty contests there is nothing subtle and hidden.They are on open display to win prizes, prestige, and power by means of beauty.Many object to the whole emphasis on beauty as pagan perversion. They feelnothing is more secular than the parading of female bodies before the world.The book of Esther, however, forces us to focus on this type of secular scene, forGod in His providence uses just such a beauty contest to save his people. It wasEsther's beauty that got her into the palace, and into a position of power where shecould be used to save her people. No other quality but beauty could have gotten herthere. King Xerxes was not looking for a female genius, or the best woman runner,or sports figure. He was looking for beauty. His demand for beauty was far beyondwhat is demanded for a Miss America or Miss Universe contest. His contestants hadto spend one solid year doing nothing but beautifying themselves just to spend anight with him. After a year of using oils, spices, and ointments, they would be assoft and smooth as a baby.Esther had to have been one of the most beautiful women to ever live. Out of allthe beautiful girls of the Empire, she won the favor of Hegai, the keeper of thewomen. Verse 15 indicates she was also voted Miss Congeniality by the other girls,for she was favored by all who saw her. Now this really is a Cinderella story in that,aside from her beauty, Esther had all sorts of disadvantages. She was a poororphan in a foreign land, and part of a minority group. Fortunately for her she hada relative who took her in when her parents died. Mordecai was her cousin, but headopted her as his daughter. Here is a rare case of cousins becoming father anddaughter.Her Hebrew name was Hadassah. That is not a name known to us, but thelargest Jewish organization of women in the world is called Hadassah, and theysupport the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Esther was her Persian name and thishas become more popular among Gentiles. Esther means star. Estelle and Stellacome from the same root. Take female beauty out of this book, and the star is gone.This poor adopted orphan would never have been heard of in history had she notbeen blest with beauty. Even with her beauty would she have won the contest withall her competitors had she not spent a year using all of the beauty aids available inher day?The Bible puts you in a real bind if you are dogmatically against beauty aids, forthey were part of the providential plan of God that saved the Jewish race. Dr.William Stidger, one of the great American preachers, and author of over fortybooks, comes on strong in favor or beauty aids. He writes, "As far as I amconcerned.....there is something sacred in the everlasting passion women have formaking themselves more beautiful. I have no sympathy with these reformers whofind nothing more important to do than harangue women for using rouge, powder,clothes, and what have you, to make themselves more beautiful."
 
Certainly we can all agree, there is nothing spiritual or superior about beingunclean, unkempt, and un-presentable for public viewing. All of us enjoy beauty,but like all good things, this too is so easily perverted. Conrad Hilton, themultimillionaire owner of the Hilton hotel's around the world, was once married toZsa Zsa Gabor. He discovered that with her, beauty was a full time affair. Shestarted at ten in the morning before her dressing table. He says it was a ritual withbottles, jars, and pots, both large and small. It could have been the rite of ancientAztex temple. After lunch and shopping it was back to the dressing table for moremake-up, and agonizing decisions on furs and jewelry. Hilton learned first handabout the idolatry of beauty, and of how impossible it is to live with a woman who isobsessed with vain-glory.So what we have in the power of beauty is another paradoxical power. It candrive you to the heights of virtue, or plunge you to the depths of vice. It can lead toone praising God for this gift, or it can lead to pride that competes with God. It hasthe power to produce stories of victory, or stories of vanity. One of the reasonswomen are so effective in taking the Gospel into all the world is there beauty.Beauty attracts, and if the attracter points to God, her beauty is a stepping stoneinto the kingdom of beauty, the kingdom of God. Many have the testimony of thepoet-The might of one fair face sublimes my love,For it hath wean'd my heart from low desires;Nor death I need, nor purgatorial fires.Thy beauty-ante-past of joys aboveInstructs me in the bliss that saints approve,For Lo! How good, how beautiful must beThe God that made so good a thing as thee.Is by the power of beauty that women have had their fair share of the control of history. By beauty the weak can master the strong, and Esther decides the coursethat the absolute monarch will take. The Biblical ideal of female beauty involves themental as well as the physical. Brainless beauty is a joke. Prov. 11:22 says, "Like agold ring in a swine's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion." In otherwords, a beautiful woman has to use the inside of her head as well as the outside tohave any real power in her beauty. Capito wrote, "Beauty alone, may please, notcaptivate; If lacking grace, tis but a hookless bait."Beauty can be superficial, and without depth, and this is what has led to thesaying that beauty is only skin deep. Prov. 31:30 agrees when it says, "Charm isdeceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Sowe come again to the paradoxical nature of beauty. It can be vain, but it can also bea great value. It is the paradoxical nature of reality that leads to so muchoverreaction, and imbalance in our thinking. Because everything that is good canalso be bad, and perverted, so as to become a source of evil, there is the constanttemptation of abandoning what is good to avoid that danger. All through history
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...