Island Queen - Elizabeth Ka’ahumanu

CA. 1768–1832

Hawaii would never be the same. Queen Ka’ahumanu challenged long-held limits on what Hawaiian women could do. She literally rewrote the laws of her island nation. She opened the door to trade with Westerners. And late in her life, she became a Christian.

The queen began her ascent to power as one of several wives of King Kamehameha, but she was his favorite. She advised him in his successful quest to unite the various islands of Hawaii in a single kingdom, and she rallied others to his support. When the king died in 1819, she forced his young son to share power with her.

This culture severely restricted the behavior of women. Men and women did not eat together, and women could not eat certain foods. Ka’ahumanu regularly flouted these taboos. She ate whatever and wherever she wanted, and she even took up surfing. Her very presence as the most powerful person in the islands raised the status of Hawaiian women.

Then the missionaries came. Hiram and Sybil Bingham arrived in 1820 and began learning the local language, translating the Bible, and creating a writing system for the Hawaiian tongue. Ka’ahumanu was interested, but it seems her fierce independence might have held her back at first. Then in 1824, she publicly announced her conversion, encouraging others to embrace Christianity as well. The following year she was baptized, taking the name Elizabeth. Soon she was creating new laws for Hawaii based on the Ten Commandments.

Shortly before her death in 1832, Elizabeth Ka’ahumanu was presented with a copy of the newly translated Hawaiian New Testament. Reportedly, her last words would be translated, “Here am I, O Jesus, grant me thy gracious smile.”

Theologians talk about “common grace,” the good things that God gives to all people, even if they’re not Christians. In this case, it seems that, long before her conversion, Ka’ahumanu had a God-given sense of fairness, as well as the courage to seek justice in her society. She was far from perfect, especially before becoming a Christian. But we might consider her a Christian waiting to happen. All her life, it seemed, God was preparing her to meet him.

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11