What does the Bible have to say about being "pretty"? Nothing, really. The word pretty is not found in the English Standard Version. I just did a word search on biblegateway.com to find this information out. When I looked up the word beautiful, though, I found that word 74 times in the Bible. This article will focus on the beauty of women.
There are several women of the Bible that were noted beauties. Besides the bride in the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs), whose beauty is frequently praised by her new husband with strange metaphors and similes ("Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead."), there are other women such as Sarai/Sarah, the wife of Abram/Abraham and Abigail, one of the wives of King David. Many of these noted women were not just pretty faces, though.
Let's talk about the heroine of the Book of Esther. King Ahasuerus sent out his men to find him a new queen. He wanted a young, beautiful virgin. Actually, he wanted a harem of young women, but he also wanted a queen. of In chapter 2, verse 7, we learn
He[Mordecai] was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
Through a series of events, Esther becomes queen, but also saves her people, the Hebrews, from total destruction. Esther's appearance had won over the King Ahasuerus, who chose her to be his queen over all of the other beautiful women. Haman, an advisor to the king, plotted against the Jews. He tricked the king into making a decree that on a certain date, everyone in the kingdom would be allowed to kill all of the Jews. Mordecai and Esther devised a plan to get the king to change his decree and save her people from being annihilated. At first, Esther was afraid to help. She risked it all by going against the rules of the king's court. She found favor in her king, though. She proved to everyone that she was not just a "pretty face", but also courageous.
God is not against women being beauties. He does not want women to only be pretty, though. Proverbs 31:30 says: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. When we solely focus on our looks, we lose focus on what really matters. God wants us entirely. He wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Our outer appearance will change as we get older, but our hearts and souls should always be His.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37
