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Jerry Rose's Reviews > Esther: A Woman of Strength & Dignity
Esther: A Woman of Strength & Dignity (Great Lives From God's Word, #2)
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Read this for Purim and as an end to National Women's Month (March). It gave a more humble description of a women in power than the other biographies of powerful women I read that month.
In the bible Book dedicated to Esther -name of my beautiful 6yo neice, the sole carrier of my fluttering heart, whose pure joy is palpable- the woman whose intuit belief that God's will will prevail -, there is surprisingly little focus around Esther's personal contrivances. So why did they name a Bible story after her? Her steadfast presence in the face of the Persian Empire's Xerxes, her loving and murderous husband king, is what little we can attest to her greatness.
Esther alone had the gall to protest great Xerxes' decree: "kill all the Jews in Persia". Xerxes came back disgruntled from a long campaign of conquering his neighbors and took Haman's bigotist advice on regaining respect in his nation. Esther would not have it. The last woman who dared disobey Xerxes was beheaded. Esther who took said defector's place, was on slippery footing. How to coax Xerxes to her bidding thoughts without tempering his wrath? By having a party of course; entertaining all of Persia in celebration of "her Man", and there may she curry his favor.
Then the time came. The party was coming to an end. No debauchery was left untouched. Should she curry her Man's thoughts now? No, another party shall be in store. Still drunk and rolling in his bed with flitting emotions of the night, Xerxes lay awake thinking of how he rose to be the man he is today. "Ahh, yes the Jew Mordechai saved my life one day by telling of a plot to quell it. Had it not been for the claw-like hand of the Jew that gripped my neck before my assassins could, I would not be as great and powerful as I am. We should honor this Jew at the party rather than only honoring me. "
The next day Xerxes asked plotter against Jews officer Haman, how to remit honor to a most deserving liaison of his. "Liaison.... ," Haman thought, "The only Liaison deserving of praise can be my fortuitous, level-headed, sexy, Oxford-comma-aplenty self, of course". "Why, good king! Give the man one of the horse you rode to victory. Give a encrusted sword, broken but will be made swift again. Send him to the castle with a train of women, horses, and fans. That will surely validate your trusted liege."
So Xerxes followed suit and gave Mordechai, Esther's foster father, a procession more lovely than his wildest imagination. Haman grew bitter and despondent and hung himself.
Dust to dust. As it was in the beginning and will be in the end. God above all.
In the bible Book dedicated to Esther -name of my beautiful 6yo neice, the sole carrier of my fluttering heart, whose pure joy is palpable- the woman whose intuit belief that God's will will prevail -, there is surprisingly little focus around Esther's personal contrivances. So why did they name a Bible story after her? Her steadfast presence in the face of the Persian Empire's Xerxes, her loving and murderous husband king, is what little we can attest to her greatness.
Esther alone had the gall to protest great Xerxes' decree: "kill all the Jews in Persia". Xerxes came back disgruntled from a long campaign of conquering his neighbors and took Haman's bigotist advice on regaining respect in his nation. Esther would not have it. The last woman who dared disobey Xerxes was beheaded. Esther who took said defector's place, was on slippery footing. How to coax Xerxes to her bidding thoughts without tempering his wrath? By having a party of course; entertaining all of Persia in celebration of "her Man", and there may she curry his favor.
Then the time came. The party was coming to an end. No debauchery was left untouched. Should she curry her Man's thoughts now? No, another party shall be in store. Still drunk and rolling in his bed with flitting emotions of the night, Xerxes lay awake thinking of how he rose to be the man he is today. "Ahh, yes the Jew Mordechai saved my life one day by telling of a plot to quell it. Had it not been for the claw-like hand of the Jew that gripped my neck before my assassins could, I would not be as great and powerful as I am. We should honor this Jew at the party rather than only honoring me. "
The next day Xerxes asked plotter against Jews officer Haman, how to remit honor to a most deserving liaison of his. "Liaison.... ," Haman thought, "The only Liaison deserving of praise can be my fortuitous, level-headed, sexy, Oxford-comma-aplenty self, of course". "Why, good king! Give the man one of the horse you rode to victory. Give a encrusted sword, broken but will be made swift again. Send him to the castle with a train of women, horses, and fans. That will surely validate your trusted liege."
So Xerxes followed suit and gave Mordechai, Esther's foster father, a procession more lovely than his wildest imagination. Haman grew bitter and despondent and hung himself.
Dust to dust. As it was in the beginning and will be in the end. God above all.
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Esther.
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Reading Progress
March 25, 2019
–
Started Reading
March 30, 2019
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Finished Reading
April 12, 2019
– Shelved
