Women of the Bible – Esther

Esther lived around 475 B.C. and was the Queen of King Ahasuerus, AKA Xerxes, the God-king of the Persian Empire. Esther’s Jewish name was Hadassah. Mordecai was Esther’s uncle and surrogate father. Her name means “star” and she is known for her physical beauty as well as her sweet personality.
The book of Esther does not mention Yahweh (God), which has brought objections to even including it in the cannon. Literarily speaking, not mentioning Yahweh only heightens the intrigue of the fact that Yahweh is in control of the seemingly insignificant events that take place. In fact, a major theme of Esther (as well as the Hebrew Bible) is that Yahweh is delivering his people, the Jews. It would seem that the absence of Yahweh from the book is a literary device designed to highlight His involvement.
Esther lived in a culture that subjugated women. At the beginning of the book of Esther Xerxes’ queen is Vashti (meaning “beautiful woman”), but she refuses to dance before Xerxes’ drunken guests (1.12) which angers the king. After consulting his advisers, Xerxes banishes Vashti from his presence and replaces her as queen. He also passes a law that “all the women will respect their husbands.” According to his advisors, this decree will keep women from following Vashti’s example of disobedience to their husbands.
Xerxes process of selecting a new queen went like this.

1. All the young, beautiful women would be placed in his harem and undergo a year of beauty treatments before being presented to him.
2. When selected from the harem, the queen-candidate would spend the night with Xerxes then return to a separate part of the harem.
3. If he remembered a women’s name and was pleased with her, he could call her back out of this section of the harem to visit him.

Esther 2.15b says, “Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.” Xerxes finally selects Esther to be Queen. She stays in contact with Mordecai and at his advice hides her Jewish heritage.
Haman, one of Xerxes top advisers, comes to hate Mordecai because Mordecai refuses to kneel down and pay honor to him. Eventually, Haman persuades Xerxes to let him handle all the Jews by wiping them out, one of many attempted holocausts to be endured by the Jewish people. Mordecai finds out about it and tell Esther that she must intervene. She replies that she is not allowed to approach Xerxes. Anyone doing so unbidden is condemned to death unless Xerxes pardons him or her. Mordecai responds:

Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? (4.12-14)

Mordecai’s statement implies that he believes that Yahweh will fulfill His promise to Abraham and therefore the Jews will not perish at this time. Therefore, Esther tells Mordecai to have the Jews fast for three days, and that she and her maidens will do the same. After the fast, she approaches the King, he welcomes and pardons her and, after several feasts, she delivers her message. Xerxes then has Haman hanged and gives his estate to Mordecai. Haman’s proposed attacks on the Jews are carried out, but now the Jews are prepared and given permission from Xerxes to defend themselves. In the end, the Jews killed 75,000 people that were hostile to them on the 13th and 14th days of the month of Adar. These days became celebrated as the Feast of Purim, as commanded by Queen Esther (9.29-32).

The book of Esther is primarily about Yahweh saving his people and He does this by raising up Esther as their ruler. She was not only ruler over the Jewish people but all others in the Persian Empire as the Queen of Xerxes. She orders men to send messages to Mordecai. She orders her uncle Mordecai (an older male) to gather all the Jews in Susa for a fast (a spiritual activity). Haman falls at her feet and begs for his life. She is in a position of authority and exerts this authority over males. Finally, Esther commands the Jews to celebrate Yahweh’s deliverance of His people in an annual feast commemorating this occasion. Her leadership and authority included both politics and religion.

Some have dismissed Esther as a nonreligious leader. Consider this statement by Tim O’Hearn (Riverside Church of Christ, Albuquerque, NM):

Esther became a queen and was instrumental in saving her people from destruction, but had no religious involvement that we know about from scripture. Women exercised considerable influence in the home (Gen 21:10; Prov 31:10-31). They were just not part of the temple worship. On the other hand, women were instrumental in leading men away from God; think of Eve, Solomon's wives/concubines, and Isabella (Jezebel).

Fasting is undoubtedly a religious activity, which in this case included prayer. What else is Esther waiting for but the prayers of her and her people to be heard by Yahweh? Queen Esther tells the Jews in Susa to fast and, by implication, pray and they do so. Furthermore, Tim categorizes all women as Jezebels. While this gives us great insight to Tim’s perspective, it is irresponsible at best. Consider categorizing all men as untrustworthy spouses because of King David’s infidelity. There are many more men in the Bible that lead people away from God then there are women. Following Tim’s logic, men also should not be allowed to be leaders.

Esther was a gifted leader of Yahweh’s people. He saved his people from genocide through her leadership. She was beautiful (and used that gift to serve Yahweh), but she was also courageous, bold, daring and persuasive. I cannot help but think of the song we teach our children where the little boys say, “I want to be like Daniel” and the little girls say, “I want to be like Ruth.” Perhaps some of our little girls should want to be like Queen Esther as well.