Esther

Eight years after Lehi left Jerusalem, the city was conquered by the Babylonians, and the Jews were taken captive. The Babylonian empire was huge and powerful, but within 50 years or so, an even greater empire swept in and absorbed Babylon. The Persian Empire stretched from Afghanistan to Lybia, including present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, Turkey, and part of Egypt. The empire contained six of the seven wonders of the world and more than 125 provinces with a multitude of cultures, religions, and languages.

In the middle of all this lived a young Jewish woman named Hadassah. Like other Jews who were living in this kingdom, Hadassah’s name had been changed; her new name was Esther. Esther’s father and mother had died, and her cousin had raised Esther as his daughter.

When the Persian king became unhappy with his wife, he got rid of her and held auditions for a new queen. Esther, a virtuous, beautiful young woman, won the competition and became the new queen of this vast empire.

But even though she was queen, Esther still couldn’t do just anything she wanted. One of the things she especially couldn’t do was see the king, unless he called for her. If she approached the king without being invited, she would be killed—unless the king chose to spare her life. But one day Esther needed to see the king, and he hadn’t called for her in a month.

An evil man in the king’s court had tricked the king into declaring that on a certain day, all Jews in the kingdom would be killed. Such a decree was no small thing; the kingdom, remember, included all of the Middle East; hence it included all of the Jews. If carried out, this would have meant the end of the Bible—somewhere in the Old Testament.

Esther, of course, didn’t want this to happen. She wanted the Bible to go on being written (for several hundred pages more), and she wanted the Jews—including herself—to go on living. She was, understandably, a bit concerned about seeing the king, however. It hadn’t taken much for him to get rid of his last queen, and Esther was about to break one of the laws of the kingdom. Her cousin encouraged her, saying, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

So Esther decided to go see the king—who didn’t know she was a Jew—and discuss this little problem with him. To get extra strength and help from God, she fasted, and she invited all Jews in the city to fast with her.

Esther was successful. The king saved her life and listened to her problem (it helped that she invited him to dinner to discuss it). When he understood the dastardly plan of the evil man, he reversed the decree, saved the Jews, destroyed the bad guy, and ensured that the Bible would go on being written.

Esther’s example is inspiring for many reasons. First, she showed great courage. Second, she exercised strong faith. And third, she recognized that she needed strength beyond her own—she recognized her weakness and pled for God’s help. As her cousin said, she was born to that time, to that challenge, to that purpose. Esther was placed on earth at that time to be virtuous enough, beautiful enough, courageous enough, faithful enough, humble enough, and a good enough cook to save the Jews from being destroyed. (OK, she probably had good cooks as servants, but at least she must have had good culinary taste and good judgment in kitchen help; she had the king over for dinner twice in this little incident.)

Think for a moment of the implications of her action. She not only saved herself and her cousin and the Jews of her city, but she saved all of the Jews and all of the Jews’ descendents. She saved Jews who would live hundreds of years later, Jews like Zacharias and Elizabeth and John the Baptist, Jews like Joseph and Mary and the child Jesus, the heir to King David’s throne.

Esther’s courage not only saved the Jews, it also saved the One who would save the entire human race.

Esther was born to her time, to her task, and she lived up to it. So have we been born to our time, and we have a work to do, a work that may save generations.