Every year our Jewish friends celebrate the festival of Purim which is based on the story of Esther. In this story God uses a beautiful and courageous young woman to rescue the Jewish people. The book of Esther is located in the Old Testament nestled between Nehemiah and Job. Together with Ruth, Esther is the only book of the bible named after a woman. Her amazing story reads like a thriller:
Esther was of Jewish decent and lived in
Esther grew up to be a beautiful young woman and was chosen among hundreds of women to join the King’s harem, where she underwent all kinds of beauty treatments in preparation for the new queen competition. The King found Ester to be the most beautiful woman of all; he married her and made her his new Queen. Ester followed the advice of her cousin Mordecai and kept her Jewish decent a secret. Hamman, the bad guy of the story, was the King’s prime minister and a vicious hater of the Jews. Hamman hated the Jews so much, that he tried to get the King to issue an order that asked for the destruction of all Jews in
In response to the threat Mordecai and Esther made plans to save their people and their own lives. They decided that Esther had to talk to the King who she knew loved her very much and thought very highly of his wife. The problem was that the queen wasn’t allowed to approach the King unless she was summoned by him and she was forbidden to talk to him unless he asked her to. Esther faced a dilemma: talk to the King and risk her own life, or have her people killed. With wisdom, patience, diplomacy and courage, Ester found a way to approach her husband. She revealed her Jewish identity as well as Haman's evil plans to the King. At the end her husband, the King, was outraged at Hamman and killed him and his sons and let the Jewish people live in peace in his land.
Esther’s story is inspiring. She was a remarkable young woman, chosen by God to rescue her people. She allowed God to use her for his plan. God blessed her with incredible beauty, character special talents and she allowed God to guide her life. God put Mordecai in a position of power, in which he understood politically what was going on in the kingdom. His cousin the queen, also in a position of power then carried the message and as a result was able to rescue her people. Esther is so inspiring because she used diplomacy, patience, wisdom, tact, prayer and a huge amount of courage to achieve her goal. She combined courage with careful planning, was open to advice and willing to act. She was more concerned for others than for her own security. She followed and respected the rules, made her plans carefully and did what she had to do despite her fear, trusting that God would make this all work. Her story shows us one way of being successful and getting results: by staying close to God, listening to him but doing the footwork ourselves.
5Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. 6Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. 7Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. 8So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in the citadel of Susa in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9The girl pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with her cosmetic treatments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maids from the king's palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. 10Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. 11Every day Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was and how she fared.
12The turn came for each girl to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their cosmetic treatment, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics for women. 13When the girl went in to the king she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. 14In the evening she went in; then in the morning she came back to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines; she did not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.
15When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was admired by all who saw her. 16When Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, 17the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers — "Esther's banquet." He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.
19When the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 20Now Esther had not revealed her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 21In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus. 22But the matter came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23When the affair was investigated and found to be so, both the men were hanged on the gallows. It was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
3Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. 4The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, 5and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. 6For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?" 7Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, "See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews. 8You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked."
9The king's secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. 10He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king's ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd. 11By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods 12on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 13A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. 14So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king's command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.
15Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. 17In every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
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