Esther, Courageous Jewish Beauty with a Mission

“And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b. NIV).

Esther was a Jewish orphan girl who was being reared by her kinsman, Mordecai. A large group of Jews were in Persia sometime around 400 BC. King Ahauserus, (also called Xerxes) had a wife named Vashti who refused to obey him and was banished. Xerxes chose Esther, the Jewish beauty, to be his wife. Even in her new position, she could not have audience with the king unless summoned. Haman, Xerxes’s advisor, demanded that all Jews bow to him as he passed them. Mordecai refused to do so. That so angered Haman that he devised a plot to annihilate Mordecai and all the Jews, and seize their property. With great courage, and without the usual presentation of the scepter to allow Esther to approach King Xerxes, she revealed Haman’s plot to the king. The tables were turned in favor of the Jews. We are told in Esther 7:10: “They hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.”

We admire Esther’s courage and love the story. Indeed, she was a Jewish beauty with a distinctive mission. As the verse cited indicates, she had come to the kingdom for just such a time when she was sorely needed. But in the entire book of Esther, God’s name is not mentioned. Max Lucado asks the question: “Could it be that God is more concerned about getting the job done than getting the credit?” (The Devotional Bible: Experiencing the Heart of Jesus. Thomas Nelson, 1991, p. 566). Even though His name is not mentioned, God raised Esther to a royal position to save her people. She was devoted to her Jewish people and heritage.

What she believed in was worth risking her life for. Mordecai was given a position of leadership in Xerxes’ kingdom. Following the Jewish victory in Persia, the Feast of Purim was established to celebrate their victory. It was a time of great rejoicing, and continued as a celebration of note in the scattered and the restored Jewish nation, held the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the Jewish month of Adar.

God’s timing is always right. When there is a great need, He raises up a leader to fill the position. He will give what is right to His people who diligently seek Him and cry out for His mercy. Let us put the story of Esther in perspective in our own country today. “Who knows but that we ourselves are come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Are we willing to intercede, seek God’s face, act?

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, August 20, 2010