Verse 2:12 stands out because of how most men of power
without God’s guidance would not wait:
Before going in to the king, each
young woman went through 12 months of beauty treatments, as the harem’s rules
prescribed. For the first 6 months the women were treated with the
palace’s finest myrrh oil, and that was followed by 6 months in
perfume and other women’s cosmetics.
Leading up to this the Queen refused to do as the king
demanded and was to be replaced by a better example of a queen. Understandably,
she did not want to be displayed like a pony for an inebriated group of men. But
the king and his advisors believed this would set the wrong tone for women in
the kingdom, so she had to be replaced as an example to show this kind of
defiance would not be tolerated. One of the women chosen was an Israelite named
Ester.
Imagine this happening today!
Verse 3:5 was the start of the problems for the people of
Israel:
Haman was
furious when he saw that Mordecai refused to bow and pay him the respect he
was due.
Haman made a decree and tricked the king into signing it and
thus starts the drama for the king and Ester. Mordecai was her uncle so he was
able to remain in limited contact with her and was informed of the kings order,
which was not to be carried out for some time.
Verse 4:16 has now Queen Ester in a position to influence
the king:
“In
preparation for my audience with the king, do this: gather together
all the Jews in Susa, and fast and pray for me. Intercede
for me. For three days and nights, abstain from all food and drink. My
maids and I will join you in this time. And after the three days, I
will go in to the king and plead my people’s case, even though
it means breaking the law. And if I die, then I die!”
Prayer and seeing God work in the background is truly
amazing. We see God working in so many ways in life and here is a story about
how a young orphaned girl, becomes the queen and saves Israel. We see this time
and time again in each story in the Bible, where someone unexpected becomes the
instrument of hope for the people of Israel, from Joseph, the sold into slavery
brother, to Jesus, a unexpected person from a remote village in Israel, we see
God work wonder so His glory is shown.
Well the story of
Ester is unfolding and we will see how the second dinner with Haman with
the next reading.
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