After Esther becomes queen, her cousin Mordecai becomes involved in a power struggle with the grand vizier Haman the Agagite, a descendant of an Amalekite king who was an enemy of Israel during the time of King Saul 1 Sam Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman, and this so infuriates Haman that he resolves not only to put Mordecai to death, but also to slaughter his entire people.
Purim , a popular Jewish festival. On pain of death she cannot approach the king without being summoned, and the king has not summoned her in thirty days, implying that she has fallen out of favor Esth The pliant and obedient Esther has become a woman of action. Esther appears unsummoned before King Ahasuerus, who not only does not kill her but promises to grant her as-yet unarticulated request.
In a superb moment of understatement, Esther asks the king to a dinner party Esth Only at the second dinner party, when the king is sufficiently beguiled by her charms, does she reveal her true purpose: the unmasking of Haman and his plot. She reveals, for the first time, her identity as a Jew and accuses Haman of the plot to destroy her and her people.
The volatile king springs to the defense of the woman to whom he was indifferent three days earlier, Haman is executed, and the Jews receive permission to defend themselves from their enemies, which they do with great success Esther 7—9. The book ends with Mordecai elevated to the office of grand vizier and power now concentrated in the hands of Esther. Like the books of Daniel or Tobit, the Book of Esther raises questions about how to live as a Jew in diaspora. However, the Book of Esther is unique in two important respects.
First, although Mordecai has an important role and finishes the story at a very high rank, it is ultimately Esther, a woman, who saves her people. This choice of a female hero serves an important function in the story. Women were, in the world of the Persian diaspora as in many other cultures, essentially powerless and marginalized members of society. Even if they belonged to the dominant culture, they could not simply reach out and grasp power, as a man could; whatever power they could obtain was earned through the manipulation of the public holders of power, men.
But, as the actions of Esther demonstrate, this can be done. By astutely using her beauty, charm, and political intelligence, and by taking one well-placed risk, Esther saves her people, brings about the downfall of their enemy, and elevates her kinsman to the highest position in the kingdom. Esther becomes the model for the Jew living in diaspora or exile. Second, the Book of Esther differs from other biblical diaspora stories by the marked absence of God or any overt religious elements.
Using eight feasts to systematically build and resolve suspense, the author constructed the story chiastically—using a Hebrew literary device in which events mirror each other inversely. Early listeners to the story would have recognized significant events and followed the rising tension with understanding.
While the primary purpose of the book of Esther was to relate the dramatic origins of the feast of Purim, a greater theme shines through the story. The sovereignty and faithfulness of God permeate each scene. Nothing is truly coincidental, the book of Esther says to us. When events seemed out of control to Esther and Mordecai, when the king dictated ruin for their people, when evil was poised to triumph.
God was at work. God is also the great Promise Keeper. Book Collections. Visual Commentaries. All Podcasts. Bible Reader. Croatian Hrvatski. Dutch Nederlands. Finnish Suomi. German Deutsch. Hungarian Magyar. Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia. Italian Italiano. Norwegian Norsk. Polish Polski. Swahili Kiswahili. Swedish Svenska. Back to Blog. I cannot imagine the pain young Esther had to endure in her upbringing. In that tumultuous time she would have been one of many Jewish children whose parents died.
Rather than becoming rebellious and resentful over her troubled life, the Bible says Esther was obedient to Mordecai as she was brought up by him Esther Imagine, she would lose her virginity in the process and whether or not the King chose her as his wife, she would become his property——never allowed to return to her life with Mordecai Esther With so little control over her past or future, another woman might have reacted by turning into a control freak, but not Esther.
She trusted God. Esther Chapter 2 confirms she was indeed a beautiful woman. Along with all of the other lovely virgins, she was given access to 12 months of pampering and treatments to enhance her beauty. I can only imagine what cattiness would have occurred amidst the harem of virgins awaiting their one night with the king.
When the king summoned a virgin she was allowed to bring in with her whatever she thought would make her most attractive to the king. However when Esther was summoned she took with her nothing except what Hegai advised——resulting in a positive response from the king. These days when all eyes seem to be on politics as our only hope, we can rest in knowing that God appoints leaders and uses them to accomplish His plan——whether they are godly leaders or not.
Imagine how concerned Mordecai would have been for his beloved Esther.
0コメント