The Unseen Woman
Esther’s patent leather shoes clicked on the wet sidewalk as she window shopped. Her reflection bounced off the glass as she hurried by. The ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was abuzz with its normal street traffic.
Esther was lost in thought when a gust of wind pushed against her cheek, disrupting her tidy wig. She caught it and tucked the strand behind her ear. The love and hard work she poured out for her family was evident in the load of groceries and packages she carried.
A bead of sweat threatened as Esther headed up the first flight of stairs to her family’s apartment. Thoughts of dinner preparation consumed her mind as she went through her mental checklist. Reaching the door, her hand stretched instinctively out toward the mezuzah, drawing her fingers to her lips.
Her goods swiftly unloaded, Esther poured herself some tea, savoring the quiet before the children were home from school. The frum[1] community newspaper lying open on the table grabbed her attention. It highlighted a plea for a young family who tragically lost their mother to cancer. Tzedakah[2] could be made for the surviving husband and six children.
The heartbreaking story pulled at Esther’s emotions, but the sting of the family photo surprised her. The children pictured stood like stairs, each about a year apart in age. The mother who passed away had been photoshopped out from the background. An empty white space remained where she sat.
Esther slumped into her chair and covered her face.
The social norm within the Ultra-Orthodox community is to not picture women in their publications due to tznius.[3] In a sense, it is a way of protecting the woman from being objectified.
Unfortunately, what the laws try to protect women from is the very tool in which they are objectified.
This mother’s face was erased, and we are left wondering . . . who is this unseen woman? Did she have laugh lines? What bright eyes and gentle manner would her children ache for?
Her resemblance is removed and seems forgotten.
From the first moments of our lives, our first cries are heard and our faces are marveled over. What joy fills a home when there is a newborn baby to gush over!
Those early days of delight pass and our familiar face fades into the background of family life. Some middle children especially can relate to this feeling of being forgotten or not seen. It doesn’t take much to make someone feel disregarded. A deep wound can form in their soul.
We read in Scripture[4] of Hagar, who at the suggestion of her barren mistress Sarai, becomes pregnant with Abram’s child. When Sarai turns against her, Hagar’s circumstances are decided for her. Humiliated, exiled, and exhausted, she is found by a spring of water in the wilderness.
For the first time in Scripture, we see “Angel of the LORD (YHWH)” is used.[5] “The Angel of the LORD” is a special messenger from God who speaks for and is closely identified with Him. “Many scholars believe this Angel may be a theophany, that is, a physical manifestation of God. The Angel of the LORD, based on context, may be the pre-incarnate Messiah, the Son of God.”[6]
It astonishes me that in the first recorded mention, this messenger is sent to an unseen enslaved woman. He speaks kindly to her troubled soul, telling her to go home and prophesying over her unborn child. Hagar then names this messenger “El roi” – “He sees, He is aware, He is the great Omnipresent God.” She believes she has just seen the LORD.
Verse 13 reads: “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are God Who Sees;’ for she said, ‘Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?’” (Amplified Bible).
The God who sees me.
He is the Living God who looks on us with understanding and compassion. This UNSEEN God makes Himself known to us through His Messenger. Jesus the Messiah’s recorded history in the gospels reveals to us that he had to SEE people. Jesus HAD to go through Samaria to meet the woman at the well (John 4). The Son of David, had mercy on a blind man in Jericho by restoring his sight (Luke 18:35-43). It wasn’t the healthy that needed a doctor, but the sick . . . and He was the Great Physician.
The trouble is when we believe we are forgotten and that God is aloof, we fall into despair and sin. Hope is restored when we encounter Him and we SEE Him.
Looking for God at work has become a joy for me. Sometimes I see Him working quietly on the outskirts of our lives. My heart leaps when I make the connection.
We in turn become more like the One we are beholding and we end up SEEING others.
To the Orthodox woman hidden in your society . . . I SEE you.
To the tired student, trying their best this semester . . . I SEE you.
To the exhausted husband working to make ends meet . . . I SEE you.
To the one loaded with the crushing weight of their circumstances . . . I SEE you.
I SEE you because He SEES you.
He has not forgotten you.
Isaiah 40:27-31:
“Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”
Written by Kori, LIFE Staff
Footnotes:
[1] Pious; in accordance with rabbinic rules.
[2] Charity.
[3] Modesty laws.
[4] Genesis 16.
[5] Genesis 16:7.
[6] Amplified Study Bible notes.