In the second
chapter of Esther King Xerxes wakes from a much bigger party with an even
bigger headache. During a lavish and extended banquet to win the favour of his military
leaders, he has managed to turn a drunken squabble with his wife into a
national crisis by effectively banishing the queen; this PR crisis is a public embarrassment
and amounts to a royal mess of epic proportions. Now in chapter two he's sobered up and realised
that in the aftermath of that terrible decision he’s got a clean-up operation of
his own to carry out, and the same trusted advisors who encouraged him to
alienate his wife come up with the perfect solution…a nationwide search for a
new wife.
It’s into this aftermath that we’re
introduced to Mordecai and Esther, who play their part in the bigger picture of
this book: God leading his people into rest. If we left it there, you might be
tempted to think that they did this by some superhuman feat, or perhaps, as
this is an account we find in the Bible there might be a miracle or two
involved. However, Esther is a story of how God works through ordinary people
like you and me.
We have Mordecai, a Jew living in exile and
caring for his orphaned cousin. He’s trying to be a good Jew living in a
non-Jewish society. Even Esther herself, who appears to be the total package (brains
and beauty) is part of a subjugated people living in a strange land. This takes
us back to our studies
in Ephesians, doesn’t it? God’s people are called to be set apart and live
differently even now, while still engaging in the culture they live in.
Mordecai and Esther are ordinary people,
doing what they need to survive, and in chapter two we see some strange
decisions we perhaps don’t agree with. Mordecai doesn’t put up a fight to stop
Esther being part of what was a pretty grubby state of affairs as a member of
Xerxes’ harem; in fact he tells her to hide her identity. As for Esther, she doesn’t
shy away from the process and plays to win. Yet when Mordecai overhears a plot
to oust the king, he’s in the right place at the right time – and Esther’s
speedy rise to royalty no longer seems like a simple ‘rags to riches’ tale of a
very lucky girl with a pretty face. Esther is in the perfect position to protect
her king and save her people.
This book isn’t a parenting manual, or a
guide for teenage girls on how to live for God. However, what it does show is how God works behind the
scenes, not always with great drama, but in small ways, through ordinary people
and their messy lives – our messy
lives - for his glory and our good.
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