Esther Risks All to Save Her People, the Jews

“Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house  will perish.  And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” –Esther 4:13-14.

                                         

The book of Esther presents Queen Esther, wife of Ahasuerus, King of Persia and Medea, also known by his Greek name of Xerxes I, as the leading character.  The account is set in the midst of world history of that day.  The time of Ahasuerus’ rule over the Persian Empire was from 486 to 465 B. C.  When the Persians captured the Babylonian Empire, they also had dominion over the dispersed Jews that had been exiled to the various provinces ruled by Babylon.  And now the Persians were at the helm and the Jews fell under King Ahasuerus’ dominion.

It is interesting that God’s name is not mentioned at all in the Book of Esther.  Yet in the action and the unfolding of the dramatic story, the theme of the book of Esther is very evident.  God’s providence was at work in protecting and preserving His people, the Jews.  The key verses of the whole book are 4:13-14.  We are familiar with Mordecai’s admonition to his young cousin, Esther, who by this time had been chosen from among the king’s concubines to replace his rebellious and deposed wife, Vashti (Amestris). In Esther’s story, not only do we see the providence of God working to save the dispersed Jews from death, but we see how he works in the lives of Mordecai and Esther to implement His plan.  Briefly, told, the scenario unfolds in this way.  The King, feasting and reveling, bade his wife, the Queen Vashti, to present herself before the guests.  She refused to do so, something that would certainly bring severe punishment in that day.  Vashti was deposed and the king began looking for another wife.  The king was advised to have his eunuchs who ordered the harem to find beautiful women and from among them one would be chosen to become his Queen.  For a year the women were groomed and trained.  Among them was beautiful, comely Esther, a Jewish maiden.  After the death of both her parents, she had been reared by her uncle’s son, Mordecai, her cousin, older than she.  He advised Esther on the important role she could have in helping to free her people.  The king was impressed with Esther’s beauty, and he made her his queen.  Mordecai, who often stayed near the King’s gate, overheard a plot against the life of the King planned by Bigthan and Teresh (2:21).  This plot was relayed to the king and his life saved.  The incident was recorded in the king’s chronicles, but Mordecai had never been rewarded for it.  In the meantime, Haman, the King’s chief advisor or prime minister, was very ambitious.  He wanted everyone to bow and applaud him.  The Jews refused to do so. He hated the Jews and wanted to find a way to eliminate them from the kingdom.  The king, on Haman’s urging, sent out a decree that all who would not bow down to Haman would be killed. It was at this point that Mordecai asvised his kinswoman, Queen Esther, that she must appeal to the king on their behalf.  To go into the king without his scepter being extended to her (his invitation) could mean her death, even if she was the queen.  She asked the Jews to fast, and she approached the King.  At a great banquet Esther arranged, she told of Haman’s plot to destroy her people.  Until this point, the King did not know that Esther was a Jewess.  The king, in anger, went out to consider the situation.  The man Haman whom he had empowered had set a trap that would include killing Queen Esther and the Jew, Mordecai, who had saved his life. In an ironic twist, Haman was ordered to be executed on the very gallows he had prepared for the hanging of Mordecai.  Brave action on the part of Esther had exposed the intrigue. 

A result was rejoicing of the Jews throughout the empire.  The festival of Purim which celebrates the Jews’ deliverance from death through the efforts of Queen Esther ensued, and has been a part of Jewish festivals through the years.  Esther fulfilled her mission.  She had come to the kingdom for such a time as that in which she lived. Paul’s statement is a good summary: “the God of hope fill you with all peace in believing, that you may abound in hope and peace in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).