Throughout the history of the world, kings were famous for their harems. A harem is a group of women, consisting of wives, concubines, and servants, who live in the king’s court. Among other things, the purpose of the harem was to satisfy the desires of the king. The Egyptian pharaoh’s had harems. The Sultans of the Ottoman Empire kept large harems. In Mexico, Aztec ruler Montezuma II, kept four thousand concubines. Unfortunately, even in the Bible, King David and King Solomon had harems. I Kings 11:3 tells us that Solomon had a harem of 700 wives and 300 concubines.
Genghis Khan, the Mongolian ruler, apart from being one of history’s biggest conquerors, could well be one of the most prolific lovers of all times. Genghis had six Mongolian wives and married many daughters of foreign kings. Apparently the inmates of his harem numbered anything between two to three thousand. Geneticists from the Russian Academy of Sciences believe the brutal ruler has 16 million male descendants living today which is nearly 8% of the population of Central Asia.
Ismail ibn Sharif, ruler of Morocco from 1672-1727, claimed to be a direct descendent from the prophet Mohammad. He was known in his native country as the “Warrior King,” who defeated the Ottoman Turks and won independence for Morocco. He also holds the distinction of fathering probably the maximum number of children in history—more than 800.
Although harems are still somewhat prominent in middle-eastern cultures today, they have been largely out of style in modern American society, except in the cases of John F. Kennedy, Hugh Hefner, and Kody Brown, the star of the TLC reality show “Sister Wives,” which documents the lives of the Utah polygamist, his four wives, and seventeen children. Sadly, throughout history, many men of high position have used their power, money, and even religion to exploit women for their own pleasures and purposes.
This is why the gospel accounts of Jesus’ treatment of women are so surprising! Jesus, as God in human flesh, is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come (Eph. 1:21). If he so chose, he could have had the largest harem in human history.
But instead, he never abused his power by treating a woman with disrepute. He never suppressed a woman with his supremacy. He never objectified a woman with his authority. He never manipulated a woman with his money. He never even wounded a woman with his words. From the sinful woman who wiped his feet with her tears to the woman caught in adultery, Jesus always treated women with the utmost dignity, respect, and compassion. Jesus never had a harem, but from the early days of his ministry, as he traveled about from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, many women willingly became his followers.
The Women who Followed Jesus (1-3)
At the beginning of the eighth chapter of his gospel, Luke affirms that Jesus had chosen 12 men to be his apostles, but he also highlights the fact that women also had prominent roles in Jesus’ ministry. He mentions 3 of them by name: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.
Each of these three women, along with all of the others had experienced the saving power of Jesus Christ. Mary Magdalene had been possessed by seven demons—fallen angels who preyed upon her spiritual weakness and bent her will to their evil purposes. Many people have speculated about Mary’s past. Since Pope Gregory the Great mentioned it in a sermon in the 6th century, she has often been accused of sexual promiscuity, but this assertion is biblically unfounded. More recently, Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code and others have postulated that she was Jesus’ wife and they had children together. But there is absolutely no credible historical evidence of this. All we know about Mary’s background is that came from the village of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and that Jesus delivered her from demons.
Jesus also delivered Joanna, who was connected to the royal palace through her husband Cuza, who was the manager of King Herod’s household, and a woman named Susanna. The Bible does not tell us anything else about these women, except for the fact that Jesus healed them from their infirmities.
The miracles that Jesus performed were only the beginning of his work in their lives. He also invited them to learn from his teaching ministry. This was astounding and completely counter-cultural. In those days rabbis did not teach women; theology was only for men. But Jesus welcomed them into his group of disciples.
These women, in turn, supported Jesus and his ministry. This was necessary because Jesus and his disciples owned almost nothing. They had nowhere to live, and as they traveled around Israel, they had no way to provide for their daily needs. But in the providence of God, these women supplied what Jesus needed. They may well have had a lot of money, but whether they were wealthy or not, they put what they had at Jesus’ disposal. They wanted everyone to hear the good news of God’s grace. (Ryken 355)
Each of these women served Jesus followed him to the very end. Unlike most of his other disciples, they followed their Savior to the cross and to the grave, before meeting him on the far side of the resurrection.
Like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, Elisabeth Elliot is a wonderful example of a woman who has faithfully served Jesus Christ in modern times. She just passed away about two weeks ago at the age of 88. Elisabeth was born in 1926 in Belgium, where her parents served as missionaries. When she was a few months old, they came to the U.S. and lived in Germantown, PA, not far from Philadelphia, where her father became an editor of the Sunday School Times, a publication which was used by hundreds of churches for their weekly unified Sunday School teaching materials.
Elisabeth went on to attend Wheaton College, where she studied classical Greek. This enabled her to accomplish her goal of working in the area of unwritten languages to develop a form of writing. A year after she graduated, she went to Ecuador. Jim Elliot, whom she had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. In 1953, they were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. The Auca Indians were in that category — a fierce tribe whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. Initially, they had friendly contact with three of the tribe, but eventually they were speared to death. Elisabeth and Jim only had 3 years together. Their daughter Valerie was only 10 months old when Jim was killed.
Instead of being angry with God or bitter toward the Auca’s, Elisabeth continued working with the Quichua Indians when, through the remarkable providence of God, she met two Auca women who wound up living with her for one year. They were the key to her going in to live with the tribe that had killed her husband the other four missionaries. She remained there for two years and saw most of the tribe converted to the Christian faith.
After working with the Aucas for a few of years, she returned to the Quichua’s and remained there until 1963. She eventually returned to the U.S., and embarked upon a ministry of writing and speaking. She wrote 24 books, served as one of the stylistic consultants for the committee of the New International Version of the Bible, and has spoken about God’s grace all over the world.
Elisabeth Elliot is an inspiration to Christians everywhere. She loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength. She used her talents and resources to faithfully serve the Lord to the end of her life.
Like Elisabeth Elliot and the three women mentioned in this Scripture passage, God has given all of us abilities and resources to serve him. It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female, rich or poor, educated or not—he wants us to use what he has given us to share God’s grace with the world. What gifts and resources has God given you? How are you using them in the service of the Lord?
All of these women followed and served Jesus because they were transformed by his grace. They personally experienced Jesus’ forgiveness and healing touch. That is what compelled them to give their lives to him and follow him. Have you experienced Jesus’ forgiveness and healing touch in your life? Have you given your life to him? Are you one of his followers?
Well, obviously Jesus was not like any other king in human history—he never had a harem, he never abused his power, and he never sinned. He lived a perfect life and sacrificed himself for his people. As a matter of fact, he gave his own life on the cross to free all of us from our sins! I plead with you to put your faith in Jesus Christ today!