“If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, NLT).
The biblical story of Esther takes place from 483-473 BCE, during the period of the Persian Empire’s reign. (This empire lasted from 550 to 330 BCE.) The story begins with the Persian king giving a banquet which lasted for seven days. The king pulled out all the stops to entertain his guests. On the last day of the banquet, he sent one of the eunuchs in his court to fetch his Queen, Vashti, to come to the banquet so that he could “show off her beauty.”
Not wanting to be a “trophy,” she refused to come, which made the king furious. As a result, the king passed a law banishing Vashti from being queen forever. He then set about finding a new queen to replace her. After a beauty pageant of sorts, Esther, a Jewish girl, was selected to be queen.
The book of Esther records the political intrigue surrounding a plot to assassinate the king and another plot to kill all the Jews living in Persia, the second devised by a man named Haman. Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, heard of the plot and sent word to Esther to intervene with the king. Esther was reticent to go before the king uninvited, as doing so was a capital offense.
Mordecai sent back to Esther, saying, “Don’t think for a moment that the king won’t kill you once he finds out you are a Jewess.” Wondering out loud, Mordecai said, “Who knows? You may be queen for a reason. This may be the purpose of your birth.” (Esther 4:14).
Esther ultimately takes the risk and goes uninvited to the king to tell him about the plot to kill Jews. The king listened to Esther and issued a decree favorable to the Jews. All this happened because Esther took her responsibility and opportunity seriously. Her resolve was fortified and prepared by Mordecai’s reminder that rescuing her people was a defining moment.
Prayer: O God, without Esther, we would not have this story of her courage and success with the king. Help us to consider our own lives in regard to how decisions we make may have meaningful, indeed purposeful, outcomes. May we live lives prepared to rise to the occasions that present themselves to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.