Esther: A Heroine of the Faith

“Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.”  Esther 2:10

The historical account of Esther is one of the most interesting books in scripture.  The time period was during the reign of Persia over the known world.  Esther was a young Jewish woman whose mother and father were deceased, and she was reared by Mordecai, her cousin (2:7).  She was a captive serving in the palace of King Ahasuerus.  In the third year of his reign, around 483 B.C., he hosted an extended feast for local dignitaries, and afterwards, he hosted another feast for the common folks.  He desired to show off his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, but she did not want to be paraded around in front of all the people as though she was a prized possession.  (Wives in those days were possessions owned by their husbands.)  Vashti told the king that she would not appear, and he became very angry.  How dare she assert herself.  The fear among the men was that she would set a precedent among the women, and all the wives would assert their independence.  My goodness, they couldn’t let that happen.

Thus, Vashti was out, and a new queen must be found.  To make a long story short, Esther was brought before the king, and he was pleased with her, so she became the new queen.  He did not know that she was Jewish.  Her cousin, Mordecai, stayed close by where he could keep an eye on her, and his position gave him an opportunity to overhear a plot by two of the king’s servants to harm the king.  Mordecai told Esther, and Esther told the king.  The two were hung on a tree.  King Ahasuerus owed his life to Mordecai and Esther.

A new character enters the account named Haman.  He was a weasel of a man.  I would compare him to Percy in “The Green Mile”.  He was always looking out for number one and sought fame and recognition.  The king had commanded that everyone bow to Haman when he passed by, but Mordecai, as a servant of the LORD God, would not bow to him.  Haman desired to destroy Mordecai along with all the Jews in Persia.  He went to the king and received permission to destroy every Jew in the land.  Remember that the king did not know that Esther and Mordecai were Jews.  Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth with ashes, the attire which the Jews wore when in deep grief and mourning.  He got word to Esther and told her that she needed to go to the king and request that he spare the lives of the Jews.

However, there was a big problem in going to the king without first being summoned by him; it could result in the death penalty.  There was one exception, though.  If the king held out his golden scepter to the one who came into his presence, then the man or woman would be spared.  Esther relayed this information to Mordecai because it was a very dangerous thing that Mordecai was asking of her.  Mordecai sent word back to her for her not to think that she would escape the slaughter just because she was in the king’s house.  He added that if she refused to do this noble deed, then God would find another person who would, and she and her fellow Jews in the palace would be destroyed.  He then said, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther sent word back to Mordecai to gather all the Jews that were in the city, Shushan, and fast for three days.  She and her maidens would do the same, and then she would go unto the king even though it was against the law.  She then said, “If I perish, I perish”.  It takes a lot of courage to put one’s life on the line in order to obey God, but Esther was a strong woman and desired to save her people.  I can just imagine how frightened she was when she was preparing herself to go before King Ahasuerus.  She had no idea how he was going to react.  Surely, she had heard about Queen Vashti and her refusal to obey the king.  Vashti was not killed, but lost her home, her prestigious position as queen of Persia, and could have become homeless.  I doubt that Esther worried about that since she had been taken from her home as a captive.  She never sought the position of queen and was likely astounded that the king had chosen her over all the other women in the service of the palace.  Her attitude reminds me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, threatened to cast them into a fiery furnace for not bowing to and worshiping his image.  They told the king that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, and that He would save them.  Even if He did not, they would not worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image.  I don’t know if Esther had heard about their experience or not, but she had faith that one way or the other, God would get the glory.

Next time:  The conclusion of the matter–Esther: A Heroine of Faith-Part 2