Fighting The God Fight

Story | Esther (Ch. 1-7)

Heyo, human beings from outer space!

Today I come bearing a story about one of the most prominent female figures in the bible. Now keep in mind that women were regarded as less than men at this time and discouraged from playing important roles.

But Ester does something very important and heroic in her time, so that's why this is one of my favorite stories. She spoke out for God, even when the circumstances weren't all on her side.

So our story starts out in King Xerxes' [pronounced zurk seez] palace. It's his third year of ruling the Persian Empire, which happens to currently be the largest the world has seen. This is a very powerful man.

And this very powerful man Xerxes, let's call him Xerx, decides he wants to have a party for all the important guys he knows and their servants. It lasts 180 days in all, and then he decides to have another party for the citizens of the capital city of his kingdom, Shushan, and that one lasts seven days.

So yeah, he's just partying like a madman and showing off all of his glorious riches to everyone. Great job, Xerx. Go ahead and do it all for pride.

Okay, but it doesn't stop there. There is yet another party, but this time, it's for the women in the kingdom and hosted by Queen Vashti. She's Xerx's wife.

Anyways, back to our dude Xerx, on the seventh day of his party, when his "heart was merry with wine" (AKA he was incredibly drunk) he asked for seven servants to go get his precious queeny and tell her to wear her crown so that he could brag to everyone about how pretty she was. And most likely, Xerx wanted her to come dressed immodestly.

But then Vashti did something mostly unthinkable. At the time it was mandatory for wives to submit to their husbands, but she just says nope. She wasn't a follower of God, but she had the sense to say "I am not coming before you and your drunk buddies."

Basically, after that, Xerx gets super angry and kicks her out of the palace.

And then nearly four years pass. Xerx invades Greece but comes pouting home to his palace as a defeated man, all super depressed and everything. In chapter 2, verse 16, it states that it's Xerx's seventh year of reign, so we can tell that this happened.

Now our dude Xerx is depressed and he doesn't have a pretty little queeny, so he sends for all the pretty little single ladies to be brought to him so he could pick one.

Now, enter Esther and her cousin, Mordecai. We'll call him Morti. They're both Jewish, a religion that isn't held so high at this time. But since Esther lives in Shoshan, she's gathered along with other pretty little ladies. She doesn't have a choice of whether or not to go to the palace.

When our dude King Xerx sees Esther, he decides that she's visibly pleasing and he gives her special beauty preparations, or basically special permission to the spa.

Meanwhile, Morti's concerned for his cousin Esther and he paces up and down the palace near her room because he wants to make sure she's okay. Esther is in a potentially dangerous situation thanks to her religion, but Morti already cautioned her not to tell anyone about that.

When the time came, our due Xex calls the women before him one at a time. At this point, they've had a full year of "spa days" to be visibly worthy to come before Xerx. The "spa days" included ritual baths, sorts of beautifying lotions, eyebrow plucking, make-up, sorts of shrubs applied to feet and hands, and, of course, perfume. This lengthy amount of time was also to make sure none of the women were pregnant.

Esther's turn comes and she falls into the king's favor. She's humble and extraordinarily beautiful. Esther is made Xerx's new queeny and she gets to wear her pretty crown on her head. Xerx throws another big party with presents in celebration of his new queeny.