Esther 4: A Race's Survival

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.

Not all Jewish exiles return to their homeland when given the opportunity. Some have put down roots during the half-century of Babylonian captivity, and when the more tolerant Persian regime takes command, many of these Jews decide to stay. Suddenly, though, these Jews in Persia face a grave crisis. Their success has attracted so much jealousy that a powerful man is leading a conspiracy to kill every Jew in the land. Tragically, the underlying plot of the book of Esther is an old and familiar one to Jews. Throughout history- the Roman campaigns, medieval Jew-hunts, Russian pogroms, Hitler's "final solution"- they have faced a constant threat of extermination.

Ensconced in the luxury of the palace, the beautiful Queen Esther is possibly the only Jew in Persia who has not heard of the extermination plans. She is most likely safe, but her adoptive father, her cousin Mordecai, warns that the king might just as easily turn against her too. Mordecai has a sophisticated view of God's providence that never lapses into fatalism. He believes that God will somehow preserve his people; yet he also knows that God might accomplish that goal through the courageous actions of people like himself and Esther.

In Esther's day a queen does not easily stand up to her husband- especially like Xerxes. By intervening for the sake of her race, Esther places her own life in jeopardy. Chapter 4 spells out Esther's dilemma and describes the decision she fianlly reaches. The rest of the book records a series of plot twists: the Jews are spared, even honored, and the original conspirator is hanged in the place of Mordecai. Esther's story is a thrilling chapter in the narrative of God's love for the Jews.

Life Question: Someone once called coincidences "God's way of working anonymously." Do you tend to give God credit for the "conicidences" in your life?

All to often. It's so easy to embrace the idea..."What a lucky thing to have happen." Yet, my notion of luck is probably God's divine plan of helping steer my life closer to His Son...and the things that happen to me as well as the people whom I interact with each and every day all probably have a specific purpose, a purpose that I'm not always in tune with. The next time "luck" comes my way, I should offer a sincere prayer of thanks instead.