What is a Lady of high value?
The answer to that question is given
in the book of Proverbs in chapter 31: 10-31:
“10 Who can find a
virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no
lack of gain.
12 She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships, she
brings her food from afar.
15 She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household,
and a portion for her maidservants.
16 She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she plants a
vineyard.
17 She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is good, and her lamp does not
go out by night.
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the
spindle.
20 She extends her hand to the poor, yes,
she reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household
is clothed with scarlet.
22 She makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and
purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders
of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies sashes for
the merchants.
25 Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to
come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of
kindness.
27 She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the
bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and
he praises her:
29 “Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears
the Lord, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise
her in the gates.”
The virtuous woman described above is
exactly what we all would like to be, isn’t she? This virtuous woman is a
symbol for the bride of our Lamb, Jesus Christ, we commemorate at Passover!
And now, if we jump to the book of
Revelation chapter 19: 7-9 and then in chapter 21: 9-27, we would be introduced
to this famous bride and we should compare her with the description of the
virtuous woman:
" 7 Let us be glad
and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His
wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those
who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These
are the true sayings of Elohim.”...
And now in chapter 21:
" 9 Then one of
the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues
came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the
Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and
high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out
of heaven from Elohim, 11 having the glory of Elohim. Her light was
like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12
Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the
gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of
the children of Israel: 13 three gates on the east, three gates on
the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were
the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who talked
with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16
The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he
measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth,
and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and
forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18
The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like
clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned
with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second
sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth
sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth
amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual
gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like
transparent glass.
The Glory of
the New Jerusalem
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord Elohim Almighty and the
Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no
need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of Elohim
illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those
who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their
glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by
day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the
glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 But there shall by no
means enter it anything ]that defiles, or causes an
abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life.”
If we are victorious over the
present and dying world and over our carnal nature, whether we are women or men,
we will become a living part of the body of this Lamb’s Lady!
Please remember why Yehoah created the woman: Just as Yehoah
Elohim and his collaborator(s) made man in their image, Yehoah
also created a woman so that Adam will not be alone as a human being on earth. Yehoah created the woman to help Adam as you can read in
Genesis 2: 18:
"And the Yehoah
Elohim said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper
comparable to him. "
But I want to draw your attention on
the meaning given by our Lord to the words master and servant by following the
example given by Jesus, our Lord. Indeed Jesus is our Master but look how he is
behaving with
his servants according to John 13:
“13 You call Me Teacher
and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16
Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is
he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these
things, blessed are you if you do them.”
Men or women, we must learn to
follow the example of this virtuous woman so that the Lamb can trust us when we
hopefully shall become his wife. We must always do good deeds to the Messiah by
providing merrily his home with everything
he needs.
We must be, as the Messiah was,
servants of those who are our servants.
Day and night, we must contribute to
an endless increase of the Kingdom.
We must use every part of our body
to make them useful and creative.
In this regard, I would like to draw
your attention to the duty we have to highlight the often hidden gift we have
in us. A gift is a remarkable natural quality that sets us apart from others.
This innate quality, if we know how
to make good use of it, can contribute to the good of human beings and our
environment.
This is what the Jewish people,
despite the often precarious conditions of their life during the diaspora, did during
approximately two thousand years.
I want to repeat, it is a duty
for every human being not only to discover his or her gifts but also to develop
them to the benefit of humanity and to move it forward, if possible, in the
right direction.
Gifts are to be found in all areas
of human activity, like science, arts, agriculture, wisdom or philosophy,
inventiveness or creativity, authority, organization, manual work, speech or
writing and so on.
We must make every effort to
discover ou own gift(s) and develop them for the benefit
his neighborhood even if they do not match our own tastes. Such gift(s) are given
to us by the Lord and we are not allowed to despise them.
The Bible contains
many examples of talented people making good use of their gift.
From the beginning already, Abel
is a good shepherd who knows how to please his Creator by spontaneously
offering him the firstborn of his flock.
Shortly before the flood, Noah
is a shipbuilding genius capable of building a gigantic arch that, in
terms of size, has nothing to envy to today’s giants of the seas.
Abraham's gift of management enabled him to raise an army with his
servants in a very short time and to defeat the all-powerful military coalition
of his time, all this to free his family members. It is interesting to note
that among the servants of Abraham are Egyptians, Chaldeans and Syrians among
others.
Joseph, Jacob's favorite son, also knew how to put his gift as a good
administrator of the property of his masters. After the failed attempt of his
assassination by the majority of his brothers, he is sold as a slave in Egypt.
And there, wherever he goes, he manages in a remarkable manner the property of
his masters, first the one of Potiphar, then the jail where he is prisoner and
finally, he was a brillant aide-de-camp to the
Pharaoh of Egypt ruling all the country.
Women are also at the center of the
story at key events in the history of the children of Israel.
Rahab, for instance, a Jericho
prostitute, has implemented her enlightened courage to save the Israelite spies
at the risk of her life. She had one of the finest rewards, for in marrying
Salmon she became the ancestor of King David and the Messiah.
It is the same with Ruth the Moabite
endowed with a great love for her neighbor, here in this case for her widowed
mother-in-law like her. Ruth agrees to leave her country and her family to
follow her mother-in-law and provide for all her needs. Bravely, not counting
her hours, she will participate in the hard work of the fields to bring her
food. Here too, his reward will be to be the great-grandmother of King David.
Unfortunately, there are also
examples of people misusing their gift for their loss.
Cain is the contrary example of
Abel, he could have used his farmer's gift but instead he worked the land
carelessly and showed no respectful gratitude to his Creator. Instead of taking
into account the warnings given to him, he is going to jealous his brother even
to the point of murder. It also reminds of the attitude of most of Joseph's
brothers, the ancestors of the Children of Israel!
Aaron, Moses' elder brother, is
another example of a person who misused the gift he had. Aaron is indeed an
excellent speaker who has many times spoken the messages and injunctions of
Adonai before the Pharaoh of Egypt. But from the beginning of the desert
crossing, he let his pride guide him and became an abominable actor in the
diversion of the Children of Israel from their Lord by making them worship the
golden calf he had helped to make. .
Now let's talk about the prophet
Daniel and his use of his gifts that make him a truly unique being.
The gifts of the prophet Daniel gave
him a most remarkable attitude to his entourage during his captivity under the
Babylonian and Persian empires.
Wisdom and science are two of
Daniel's gifts. He took advantage of the worst enemy of his people, the king of
Babylon Nebuchadnezzar, destroyer of Jerusalem and its Temple and murderer of a
large part of the Jewish population of the time. But despite this, Daniel has
always acted towards this despot in a faithful and respectful way by revealing
to him the meaning of his dreams and, at the risk of his life, by making him
constructive criticism as to his conduct. Moreover, despite the absolute power
of Nebuchadnezzar who killed his servants for a yes or a no, Daniel never
deviated from the laws and commandments of Adonai although they were often in
direct opposition to the pagan laws of Babylon.
Daniel did not change his conduct as
a faithful servant when power passed into the hands of kings of the Persian empire.
Let's play !
What about each of us? Let's find
out and discover our hidden talents. Once discovered, let's implement them for
the good of those around us. Let's invest our efforts to develop them. Contrary
to the attitude of Cain or Aaron, do not let ourselves be blinded by our pride
or our selfish desires but make every effort to serve all our surroundings with
altruism.
We must never fear and we must
always be confident in the future.
Our future husband will be proud
when he is honored by all creation!
Wisdom will always be in our field
of vision and we will beget children in the image of our Lord and his body that
we are.
And above all, we will have as the
virtuous woman the fear of Jehovah, our Father and the father of the Messiah.