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Another place in the Bible where contraception may have played a role is in the Book of Esther. This one's about a beautiful woman named Esther who disguises her Jewish identity to become the queen of the Persian King Ahasuerus. When her cousin discovers an inside plot to kill all Jewish people, Esther intervenes through seduction and eventually saves the Jews.In an article in the scholarly journal Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Joseph Prouser points out that the King's potential wives were all required to anoint themselves with myrrh oil and aromatic herbs for one full year - which is a pretty long time for what some read as just a beauty treatment. Myrrh was a known contraceptive at the time, cited in the writings of Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician who was an expert on gynecology and midwifery. He explained that when used in a pessary, myrrh oil would work as an abortifacient, preventing the implantation of fertilized eggs. The aromatic herbs may have also had contraceptive properties.
More: Biblical Birth Control: The Surprisingly Contraception-Friendly Old Testament