And the king said unto me, the queen also sitting by him, For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And so it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Nehemiah 2:6
What possible difference did it make that the queen was sitting beside Artaxerxes when Nehemiah made his request to go to Jerusalem to repair the walls of the city. Normally speaking, kings such as Artaxerxes did not have their queens sitting with them when they ate their meals. So the presence of the queen would have been unusual on this occasion, which is why Nehemiah mentioned it. The real difference on this occasion would have depended on who this queen was. Some sources, such as John Gill, suggest that this queen was Atossa, the daughter of King Cyrus. If so, she would have a very favourable attitude toward the Jews because of her father’s high regard for Daniel and other Jewish figures. Still other sources suggest that Artaxerxes was actually the same person as King Ahasuerus in the book of Esther. If so, this queen was Esther herself, and there can be no doubt as to her devotion to the Jewish people and to her effective influence over her husband because of his affection for her. In either case, Nehemiah had a powerful ally at the king’s side as he made his request. Our God loves to work in ways that are far beyond coincidence.
Nehemiah had a great work to do, and he needed the king’s authority to carry it out. He also needed the king to be very favourable to his request even when his request came to the point of costing money and depriving the king of one of his most trusted servants for awhile. The influence of a good woman was critical to convincing the king to give Nehemiah’s project his full blessing. We will find much the same today, when we seek to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He leads us. Without the support and help of good women, most of what we would seek to do will never prosper. While men often take the leadership role and direct the work, it is the support, assistance, advice, and encouragement of good women that provides the real impetus to get things done. Consider our conferences, for example. How hopeless such projects would be without the sisters and their organizational skills and practical knowledge! Gospel meetings would also be all but impossible to conduct without the support and help of the sisters. In fact, there is little about Assembly life that would be effective without the participation and support of godly sisters.
Scripture records the presence of the queen on this occasion for a good reason. We don’t read that she said anything or did anything. But without her there, Nehemiah’s request might well have fallen on disinterested ears. Let us never downplay the importance of godly women, or second-guess God’s placement of them in His purposes. -Jim MacIntosh