Esther is one of two women who have a book of the Bible named after them. She would become a deliver of her people. She was an orphan from the tribe of Benjamin. She was a Jewish girl being raised by her uncle, Mordecai. 

King Ahasuerus was on the throne during the period of Esther. He was married to Queen Vashti. At this point in history, you did what the king asked. King Ahasuerus sent for Queen Vashti, but she reused. She directly defied the king’s request and ended up being banned from ever seeing the king again. 

King Ahasuerus would need to find another queen. A decree was passed for all available women to come to the palace.  Esther would not have had a choice but to go to the palace. Mordecai asked her to keep her lineage a secret.  Esther was introduced to the king and he found favor with Esther and placed his crown upon her head. She received beauty treatments over a year to prepare her for her role. 

Mordecai discovered a plot against the king. He was able to tell Esther about it. She shared the plot with King Ahasuerus and it proved to be true.  The offending parties were hung. 

Haman was an advisor to the king. He became angry when Mordecai would not bow down to him and pay homage. Haman devised a plan to do away with the Jewish people. Haman convinced the king that a certain group of people were disobeying his edicts (Jews). He advised the king to issue an order to have those people killed. The king did as Haman suggested. Mordecai heard about the plan and shared the plan with Esther.  Esther asked Mordecai to gather her people to fast and pray. Mordecai gathered their people and fasted for Esther for three days. 

At the end of three days, Esther did something extremely dangerous–she requested an audience with the king. Esther requests that the King join her for a feast. At that feast, Esther invites the King to another feast. During one of the feasts, Esther exposes Haman’s plot against the Jews. The King believes Esther and has Haman hanged.

We can learn so much from her. Esther is quite a remarkable woman. She acts bravely even at great cost to herself. Esther was a bold woman. The definition of bold is not hesitating in the face of danger and not hesitating to break the rules when necessary. One of the most well-known passages in Esther is Esther 4:14, And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Can you imagine living in a time when you could be killed for requesting a conversation with your husband? 

While God isn’t mentioned in the book, it is clear that Esther was faithful to God. It would have been easy for her to not take the chance and risk her own death. Are we willing to take the same type of risks? Is there some area of your life where God is leading you to step out in faith? Can we trust God enough to step in out in faith like Esther? 

Photo:  John Heseltine / Pam Masco / FreeBibleimages.org.

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