The Appearance Of A Queen

Esther 2:3, 21

Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful girls into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them.

Before a girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics. 

Genesis 12:11

As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 

Genesis 26:7

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."

My post today is still one of the lessons I learned from the book of Esther in the Bible, a very rare lesson I must say and one that is seldom thought to woman in the church. Well at least not in Nigeria. It is a common practise that once a woman gets married they bother very little about their physical appearance. And what the Bible terms moderation in dressing as been interpreted to be the total removal of good looks in women. But from what I see in the Bible, I am of the mindset that there is a need for the woman of God to look beautiful both inside and out. A balance is required for us woman to remain as beautiful as the Lord God Almighty has created us. 

In the provinces of King Xerxes a beauty course of twelve months was prescribed for the women, and for a girl to be presented to the king for approval consideration, she needed to complete the twelve months course. What I am learning in this is that in our own domain as women, we are queens. Within the territory of your home, you are a queen, and a beautiful queen to a deserving king who is your husband, and you hold it as a responsibility to remain beautiful for him, to ensure that in your appearance before him at all times makes him proud and delighted that he has you as his queen. 

1 Timothy 2:9

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive cloths, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 

1 Peter 3:3

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine cloths. 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.   

Many people have interpreted the words of Paul and Peter in the passages above to be that woman should abstain from wearing gold, pearls and fine or expensive cloths, but what I see here is not that. I see Paul and Peter calling women to a need to balance their efforts in making themselves beautiful. Not overdoing the efforts on the outward appearance while neglecting the inward beauty. 

Sarah and Rebekah where godly women of old. I will like to refer to them as the mothers of the godly women as the Bible refereed to Sarah as an example of the holy woman of old, yet she was beautiful enough to be sort after by worldly kings even in old age (Genesis 20). It is very important that we need to be beautiful in deeds and good works. There is the need to make God our standards at all times. But there is also the need to make our appearance beautiful. Even if it's just on a scale of 2:10 as we take time to pursue after God, we need to give attention to our appearance. We need to make a little effort at our looks.

King Xerxes was proud of the appearance of his queen that he wanted to show her off to the nobles and princes under him. Not that they have never seen Queen Vashti before, but it still delighted the king to show her off. I am positive our husbands feel some sense of pride when they have a beautiful wife by their side as the appear for occasions. No matter how godly a man is, he still feels proud to present his beautiful wife to the world over and over again. 

Once I escorted my husband for his graduation ceremony at the Lagos Business School where he did a short course program. I did take time with my dressing I must confess. I was modest, decent and I looked good. A bit of make-up, small earrings, a small necklace and a wrist-watch. My hair was also very nicely done, like that which I have on my profile now and I was very satisfied with the way I looked. But the highlight for me was the pride with which my husband introduced me to his friends and course-mates that he was graduating alongside with. And they all had a surprise look about them, their comments been "madam, you look good." When we got home my husband told me that some of his friends didn't believe I was his wife, but accused him of hiring a woman to stand as his wife. I could read the delight on his face over that incidents and all he said was Derin I think we should go out some more. 

Please beautiful women of God, do not deprive your husband the joy they feel when people commend them on the looks of their wives. Make effort at been a queen both inside and out. I am not saying you pour all your life at looking good and abandon your true assignment of been the suitable help and the submission and prayer you are required for give as a wife, but on a scale of 2:10, make effort at looking good. 

Once a friend of mine told me that her husband does not like her wearing gold jewellery, and she didn't see anything wrong with wearing such. She wanted my advice and I told her that her major assignment from God towards her husband is submission. So if your husband forbids you wearing gold jewellery then its important you stop wearing them and any other thing your husband does not permit, but still look good anyway. The good looks is not restricted to the jewelleries and pearls. The efforts at looking good is mainly for your husband so there is not point making efforts that is not appreciated. But if your husband permits you to wear these apparels, heaven does not forbid it either as long as it is done in moderation and done modestly and with a lot of decency to go with it. You are a queen fearfully and wonderfully made by God, maintain the beauty of God's creation in you.