Of the times we’re told what a man’s wife looks like in scripture, does it strike you how often the women are really beautiful?

With some exceptions, you could say godly men and gorgeous women go hand in hand, because many of the patriarchs and prominent men in the Bible had very attractive wives.

Let’s start with the LORD, which is always the best place.

 

God’s choice

 

We’re told in Genesis 24:

“Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

God chooses or appoints Rebekah as Isaac’s wife, as evidenced by answering the servant’s prayer and the maiden fulfilling the request he made.

What does Rebekah look like?

“The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden, whom no man had known.”

Genesis 24:16

She’s hot and a virgin. Sweet!

Keep in mind, this was God’s choice, as quoted in the aforementioned verse.

Were there no ugly women for God to choose from? Wouldn’t an uglier woman be more godly, some might think?

Then, as today, it’s likely the most beautiful among them were a smaller percentage of the population. You likely had some ugly people, a big pool of average ones, some better looking ones and then the very attractive ones.

So it’s not like God grabbed someone out of the most abundant pool of available women.

Moreover, God values character and obedience far more than attraction. “Beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD, she is to be praised” we are told.

So why not an average or ugly women for Isaac? Wouldn’t that be better?

Nope.

It’s Rebekah.

Hot and godly.

Let’s continue…

 

Abraham and his arm candy

 

We read in Genesis 12:11:

“It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman”

Abraham brags on his wife’s beauty, and states the obvious before asking her to tell a half truth to Pharaoh, to preserve his life.

And it wasn’t just Abraham who thought Sarah was exceedingly attractive. Pharaoh thought the same. Sarah was stunningly gorgeous, even into middle age, as she lived to be 127.

Alright, we’ve got two prominent men in the bible, with two beautiful wives.

 

The most beautiful women in the world

 

This time, we’ll go way back, as most scholars think Job and his story come well before the other events in the bible.

What about Job?

Well, he had three exceptionally hot daughters.

3 daughters that God Himself singles out for their beauty.

Take a look:

“And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.” - Job 42:15

Think about this.

There is no particular reason why God needed to say this about these women.

He could have said Job had three daughters and they were given an inheritance. There was no need to fit their beauty into the story.

What’s more, God doesn’t comment on any of Job’s sons and offer praise. I’m sure some were smart, or handsome, or talented in some way, just as his daughters likely had traits worthy of praise.

But God singles out their beauty and brags about it!

Interesting.

 

The Supermodels of the Ancient Era

 

In this story, King David is old. He has been a man after God’s own heart. He’s had spectacular successes and excruciating failures. He’s lived and learned and put his faith in the LORD.

In his last years, he is not well and is not able to generate body heat.

“Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. 2Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” 3So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.” - 1 Kings 1:1-4

His advisors searched throughout the entire territory to find a woman.

Do you think they were looking for any old woman, or do you think they wanted a knock-out?

After all, if all they needed was body heat, they could have gotten a rather rotund woman (or two) and put them on either side of the king to keep him warm.

No, they wanted something different. They likely knew what attraction does to a man, and they searched for a smoke show to help the king.

Abishag was chosen after the advisors searched throughout the territory, but she wasn’t the only one like this.

There’s another who, after looking throughout the land, was chosen as a “supermodel” of her day.

 

Replacing one hot wife with another

 

Vashti was a Persian queen, and quite a woman to look at!

We read in the first chapter of Esther, the king commanded:

“to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful.”

She refuses.

And next thing you know, the princes of Persia give counsel to remove Vashti and replace her with another.

We pick up the story in chapter two, with advisors and attendees of the king offering their help:

“Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3“Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them. 4“Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.” And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

5Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face

Again, why don’t the advisors find women who are super smart? Intellectual stimulation is important, you know. Why not women who are funny as can be? A good belly laugh is always welcome. Why not wise and prudent and, well… any number of other worthy qualities and characteristics?

No.

They seek beautiful virgins.

It goes to show you, some things never change.

It’s not that other things aren’t more important. It’s that there is an endearing, biological drive in men that they desire beauty.

We could talk of Jacob’s wife Rachel. We could mention Abigail, one of David’s wives. We could speak of Tamar and others. These are all very beautiful women.

Rich or poor, those with absolute power or little influence, beauty is something men seek.

And as we’ve seen, God Himself chose a beautiful woman for Isaac and bragged on Job’s daughters.

 

This ought to tell us many things.

 

First, attractiveness is something we should look for, cultivate and commend. God does, in the examples with Job and Isaac.

It is something we should aspire to and work on and do our best to keep, and age as gracefully as possible as the years pass.

Second, as important a role as it plays in this earthly realm, it pales in comparison to godliness. We will be judged for every idle word, God tells us. Your character and actions have eternal significance.

These are not mutually exclusive. You can and should work on being the most physically attractive person you can be, while making your walk with God of the utmost importance.

Third, churchianity in particular, and society more generally, tend to frown upon emphasizing the importance of beauty, whether in developing it ourselves or seeking it out in others. This shouldn’t be the case.

If God acknowledges and brags on something, we should do the same. I’d encourage you to politely push back on this, to hold it in a positive light, and to uplift others who do the same.

Fourth, there is a degree of “danger” in having or attaining beauty and attractiveness, but so there is in many things. That’s why your character and overall walk with God is paramount.

Fifth, it’s tied in with money in many regards. I had a history teacher in college who once told us, if we wanted to understand history, follow the money and sex, because so many things were about or had underpinnings dealing with money and love/sex (and by extension, attraction).

As I wrote in another post, even today, couples fight the most over these two things.

Just as money can lead one astray, so too can one get caught up in attractiveness and be led away by what it can do or bring.

And yet God talks more about money and its importance in His Word more than He does some spiritual things. He talks about attractiveness, as well.

He knows the role they play, the importance they have, how history is riddled with examples of their impact, both good and bad, and He wants us to rightly use them.

Don’t let them become an idol, but neither let them be absent from your life.

And, of course, make the main things the main things.

Which is “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself.”

In addition, as you do that and everything that entails, make sure to also:

Be attractive. Don’t be unattractive.

To loving God and looking good,

-RPW

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