Esther - Not Your Average Girl

Welcome! Over the next several days you will be hearing from my daughter, Sarah. She has been reading the book of Esther and asked if she could write something for my blog. Of course I said yes! She has been excited about it and I know you will enjoy her thoughts on Esther - not your average girl!

Background Chapter 1
King Xerxus had a time of feasting for his 127 provinces prosperity. The people wanted to see the queen. Queen Vashti was holding her own feast but in protest. King Xerxus got mad and didn’t know what to do. The people kept yelling for the queen. She wouldn’t come. The king asked his royal advisors what to do. One of them said if the queen gets away with this then all the wives in the kingdom will rebel and say “but Queen Vashti didn’t come when the king asked.” Meanwhile the people were still cheering for the queen. King Xerxus yelled over all of them saying “there is no more queen.”

After Thoughts
Even though Esther wasn’t directly in that chapter, God was working in a strange way. You probably thinking why couldn’t Queen Vashti do God’s job. Well, there’s multiple answers to that question. One could be the queen wasn’t a Jew. She might have not liked them. Oops, did I spoil the story? My bad. Here’s a reason that doesn’t give the story away. She probably didn’t worship the One True God.

Background Chapter 2
Remember that King Xerxus was mad at the queen which was Queen Vashti. After the king’s anger reduced, he remembered what Queen Vashti did. The king’s personal attendants proposed an idea. The idea was bring all the pretty women from all the kingdom. The women would go through twelve months of beauty treatments. The king would then pick a new queen. Meanwhile there was in a Citadel of Susa a Jew named Mordecai. His ancestor Kish was a captive of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, also called Esther. Mordecai took in Hadassah as his own when her parents died. Hadassah was taken for the royal queen search. Mordecai told her to use Esther, not Hadassah and not to tell anyone she was a Jew. Now Esther followed all the instructions that her cousin said. Esther earned the trust and respect of Hegai the king’s eunuch. In the tenth month Esther went to see the king. The king liked Esther over all the other women. He put a crown on her head and made her queen.

After Thoughts
This was an important chapter because we meet Esther. How does an ordinary girl become queen and so soon? There probably were hundreds of other girls he could have picked. Only God could do such a thing and for a very special reason.

I can’t wait to find out. Come back tomorrow and let’s continue this wonderful bible story.

Submitted by Sarah Swiney, age 14.