Life of Esther

Theme Verse: For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (NKJV)

Esther, whose Jewish name was Hadassah, was the queen of Ahasuerus, the Persian king. Esther lived in the time between 492 B.C. and 460 B.C. An orphan raised by her uncle Mordecai, Esther, was taken away and was forced to marry the King of Persia (Esther 2:5-18). Haman became super offended by Mordecai after he refused to worship him. So Haman started to plot how to kill all of the Jews (Esther 3). After Mordecai found out, he became sad and mourned with other Jews. Mordecai then told Esther all he had uncovered, Esther then instructed Mordecai and the other Jews to fast and pray that she would have the courage to go to the king, and also that God would help protect the Jews (Esther 4-7).

Esther went to the king's court and invited the King and Haman for two dinners before telling the king Haman's scheme of killing the Jews (Esther 5). The king became so furious that he hung Haman on his gallows that Haman originally made for Mordecai (Esther 7-10). Esther then begged that the king would spare her people. However, the king could not revoke or change a law once it was established, thanks to Persian rule. Knowing that he couldn't undo the law that called for the Jewish people's slaughter, the quick-thinking king passed a new law that allowed Jews to defend themselves and even take revenge on their enemies (Esther 8:8-12). The Jews then made a feast called the feast of Purim. The feast of Purim was a Jewish festival celebrated during the 13-15th days of the month (Esther 9:20-32). During the occasion, the book of Esther was read, and traditionally the people in the synagogue would shout and boo whenever Haman's name was mentioned (Wood, 1996).

There are several lessons one can learn from Esther's life. One lesson people can learn is when one is in trouble, turn to God. Instead of doing other things and trying to save the Jews herself. Esther told Mordecai and the other Jews to fast and pray that God would save His people and give Esther the courage to go into the king's courts (Ceitlin, 2016). Another lesson one can learn from Esther's life is to respect authority even though Esther was well into adulthood and could make her own decisions. She still chose to listen to her uncle Mordecai and was humble enough to take his advice (Tumino, 2018).

Another lesson that people could learn from Esther's life is that God has a plan for our lives. God used Esther to save His people when He chose Esther to be the queen of Persia. God didn't just put Esther as queen just because He felt like it. God placed Esther in a royal position to help save His people. Another cool lesson we can learn from the book of Esther would be Mordecai's faith. Even if Esther chose not to save her people, Mordecai believed that God would use someone else to save His people (Esther 4:14). In conclusion, Esther was a woman who God used to save His people.