"Women of the Old Testament"
by Rev. Christine 5/18/03

We continue today in the theme of the Divine Feminine – the feminine principle. Today my focus is the developing feminine principle in Old Testament. Women of the Bible represents the soul’s unfoldment of the inner powers to become in union with the spirit; mind and heart become one as in marriage, and give birth to the new child – the Christ.

It is also the subjective mind that embodies and gives birth into form; the mover from idea to form. We create our reality, our earth and body, all out of the consciousness we embody; our inner self of feelings, our inner senses of powers, and our physical senses.

Women of the Bible represent the unfoldment of love, brought to its higher nature of compassion as with Mary. She is the intuition, receptivity and creative energy which brought forth a new son – Jesus the Christ. We are reminded that of the Tree of Life, the giver of eternal life that resides in the Garden of Eden.

With Eve brought the expulsion of the soul from the Garden of Eden, and the rest of the Bible is in finding its way to the Tree of Life. It is the journey of unfolding the powers within. It is the uniting of the spirit in mind and heart for the resurrection of body. And then ascension of the soul going up the Tree of Life, or back to the Garden of Eden living as one with God. This journey is represented in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The coming back home all the wiser, the soul is richer for the experiences, and is celebrated by the Father upon its return.

Today I shall briefly touch upon some of the great women of the Old Testament beginning with Sarai the wife of Abram. Sarai means the un-regenerate soul, as the unrealized love, affection and emotion in its higher level of consciousness. Sarai is contending for her rightful place in consciousness; the individual is just recognizing the fact that their affections and emotions are in a essence divine in nature.

Abram means the beginning of Faith. Abram was given direction by spirit to leave their land to bring forth a higher consciousness or faith in God – faith in the unseen.

Abram being obedient to his guidance in faith left the land of Ur, and traveled to a new country, which means to a new consciousness. They also took along Abram’s brother Lot which means the negative side of faith. They moved to the land of Canaan. At first they flourished, but his faith was not deeply rooted, and when the famine came he lost his faith in the invisible and moved his family to Egypt.

Egypt represents the material state of mind or of the senses. The believing in the physical senses as to all there is. Sarai is the giving of the power to the outer world of effect. Sarai represents Abram’s inner fears and doubts. His feelings betrayed him.

Sarai was passed off as Abram’s sister to the Pharaoh. A house divided cannot stand, and brought all kinds of problems to the Pharaoh’s house. Abram had given up his soul, so to speak, for the promise of material wealth and safety.

Abram claimed his wife back realizing that what he had done was the cause of all the problems, and moved back to Canaan where their wealth multiplied. Abram’s feelings were now lifted into a higher state of consciousness, and was given the new name of Abraham. Sarai finding her rightful place in Abraham’s heart was given the name Sarah.

The Hebrew letter "H" was added to each of their names which indicates illumination attained through the awakened powers of heart and head. Which gave birth to a son, Isaac, which means joy or laughter. The birth of a son signifies the acquisition of some specific attribute of spirit.

The next story is of Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac meaning laughter, signifies the joy of the new birth and the new life in Christ. Abraham insisted that Isaac not marry a Canaanite, but found a wife for him from another land; or another level of consciousness. Rebekah, means soul’s natural delight in beauty. She is the light of the soul.

Rebekah has two children, twins, Jacob and Esau. Jacob represents the mental nature, and Esau the material nature. The struggle is in the womb, and Rebekah is told by spirit that the elder shall submit its birthright to the younger. And, when they were born, Esau came out first and then Jacob.

The material nature of sense and desire nature are first born of the soul, and then the higher mental nature or the beginning of the I AM identity. But, here the mental nature being used to out wit his brother and to deceive his father to receive the blessing that the first born would normally get. He stole the blessing from his older brother Esau. This led to Jacob leaving, and looking for a wife.

On his way Jacob went to Haran, which means high place, and received illumination. He is told to go to the house of Bethuel, which means unity with God. And, to take a wife from the daughters of Laban, which means white, pure, shining. This points the way to a unification with the love principle in its higher aspects.

Here we have the two wives of Jacob, Leah and Rachel. Jacob was tricked into marry Leah after being promised he could marry Rachel after working for seven years. But, when the time came the Laban, insisted that Jacob first marry the eldest daughter, and then to work seven more years for Rachel.

Leah means weary, exhausted, or the human soul. Rachel means the feminine receptive state of the soul. One must care for the human soul, and then prepare the soul to be receptive to God’s word, or spiritual nature.

Leah had many children, and Rachel was barren for a long time; which represents the soul that longs for its higher nature. Both Leah and Rachel gave their handmaidens to Jacob to father children. There was great jealousy between the two sisters; human soul over spiritual nature. Then after much praying Rachel gave birth to two sons; Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph represents imagination, and Benjamin faith.

In this higher state of consciousness Jacob was renamed to Israel; the unifying of the feminine and masculine or mind and heart to create a new state of consciousness in God. In all he had 12 sons. Esoterically these represent the twelve signs of the Zodiac as Jacob or Israel as the Sun. These also represent the unfolding of the 12 spiritual powers of mankind.

Jacob’s four wives represent the four phases of the moon. Leah as the Full Moon was fertile bearing 6 sons and a daughter. Zilpha, Leah’s handmaid, the Waning Moon gave birth to two sons. Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, the Growing Moon gave birth to two sons. Rachel the New Moon, was barren for a long time for the spiritual power of the New Moon was not active until a later stage of unfoldment had been reached, and then giving birth to two sons of imagination and faith established.

We again see this in a new level of consciousness in the New Testament with Joseph and Mary, the Jesus the son, as the 12 disciples, and Christ as the son as they come forth into their full realization.

I just want to quickly mention of the Book of Ruth; a beautiful love story. Ruth represents human love raised to divine love. Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, represents the souls wandering from the Father’s house in satisfaction of the outer things. Naomi loses all except for Ruth, and brings Ruth back home. Ruth’s love was a higher love of God; knowing the God of Love. Ruth became ancestor to King David and Jesus the Christ.

Last I shall touch upon the Book of Esther. Queen Esther and her Uncle Mordecai saved the lives of Jewish people in Persia. Esther represents unselfish service – Divine Love. The King had been tricked in to ordering the killing of all the Jews in Persia. Esther requested all her relatives including herself to fast for three days. After fasting and praying she went to talk to the King. The King saw her love and purity of mind and so responded with wisdom, and reversed the order.

We can see in these stories that when man allowed his fears to set in he would wander into material sense using poor judgement. But, when one turns to Spirit, God, for guidance and obeys then blessings outpour. It is embracing the feminine aspect of our spirit that we are guided, and give birth to much more than we could ever imagine on our own mental devises, and rise to exalted states in consciousness.