Esther- The Queen Who Saved Her People - Bible Story - The Untold Power of Queen Esther in the Bible

Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah, is introduced in the Book of Esther as a Jewish maiden living in the Persian Empire during the reign of King Ahasuerus, who reigned from India even until Ethiopia, over 107 and 20 provinces, and her story unfolds not in the land of Israel, but in the citadel of Shushan, where many of the Jewish people were living in exile following the Babylonian captivity, and where the unseen providence of God works powerfully through courtly intrigue, royal decrees, and the quiet courage of a young woman raised for such a time as this. The narrative begins with a great feast made by King Ahasuerus in the third year of his reign, a lavish display of the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent which he held another feast of seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace, for all the people present in Shushan the palace, both great and small, wear white, green, and blue hangings were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble, and wear vessels of gold, each different from another, were used to serve royal wine in abundance according to the state of the king. During this time, Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal house, but when the king, merry with wine, commanded that Vashti be brought before him wearing the royal crown to show the people and princes her beauty, she refused to come at the king's commandment, and therefore the king was very wroth, and his anger burned in him, leading to counsel among his wise men that Vashti be removed from her royal estate and that her position be given to another that is better than she, lest her refusal set a precedent among the women of Persia and Media, thus a decree went forth throughout the empire that fair young virgins be sought for the king, and they were gathered unto Shushan under the custody of Hege, the keeper of the women, to undergo a year of purification according to the manner of the women, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and other things for the purifier of the women, and among those taken was Esther, the daughter of Abihael, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his own daughter, where her father and mother were dead, for she was fair and beautiful, and had been raised by Mordecai, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the Esther pleased Hege, and obtained kindness of him, so that he speedily gave her things for purification, and appointed her the best place in the house of the women, and she did not show her people nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known, and when her turn came to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hege appointed, and Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her, so that the king loved Esther above all the women, and set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti, making a great feast called Esther's feast, and granting a release to the provinces, and gifts according to the state of the king, meanwhile Mordecai sat in the king's gate, and overheard a plot by two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, who sought to lay hand on King Ahasuerus, and Mordecai told Esther of the conspiracy, and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name, and when the matter was found true, the men were hanged on a tree, and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king, though at that time no immediate reward was given to Mordecai, after these things the king promoted Haman the son of Hamadatha the Agagite, advancing him above all the princes, and all the king's servants bowed, and reverenced Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him, but Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, and when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, he was full of wrath, and disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had showed him the people of Mordecai, and therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, Haman Caspar, that is, the lot, to determine the day to destroy the Jews, and obtained from the king a decree sealed with the king's ring, that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Hordar, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, should be destroyed, slain, and caused to perish in one day, and that their goods should be taken for a prey, and the decree was sent into all provinces, causing great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes, when Mordecai learned of the decree, he rent his clothes, and went out into the midst of the city, crying with a loud and bitter cry, and he sent word unto Esther, urging her to go in unto the king to make supplication, and request before him for her people, though Esther reminded him, that any who went into the inner court, without being called, risked death, unless the king held out the golden scepter, and she had not been called in thirty days, yet Mordecai answered with words, that resound through scripture, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews, for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom, for such a time as this, then Esther sent word for Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Shushan to fast for her, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day, and she and her maidens would fast likewise, and she declared that she would go in unto the king, which was not according to the law, and if she perished, she perished, on the third day Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's house, and when the king saw Esther, the queen standing in the court, she obtained favour in his sight, and he held out to her the golden scepter, and she touched the top of it, and the king asked what was her request, even to the half of the kingdom would be given her, and she invited the king and Haman to a banquet, that she had prepared, and at the banquet she again deferred her petition, inviting them to a second banquet on the following day, in the meantime Haman, filled with pride, recounted to his wife and friends his riches, his multitude of children, and how the king had advanced him, yet confessed that all availed him nothing, so long as he saw Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate, and that the council of Zeresh his wife and his friends, he made a gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordecai upon it, that night, however, the king could not sleep and commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be read before him, and it was found written how Mordecai had saved the king from assassination, and when the king asked what honour had been done to Mordecai, he was told nothing had been done, and that that very moment Haman entered to speak about hanging Mordecai, but before he could make his request, the king asked what should be done for the man whom the king delighteth to honour, and Haman, thinking in his heart that the king meant to honour him, proposed that the man be arrayed in royal apparel, ride upon the king's horse with the royal crown, and be proclaimed before the people, and the king commanded Haman to do so to Mordecai the Jew, leaving nothing undone of all that he had spoken, thus Haman was forced to lead Mordecai through the city proclaiming his honour, and shortly thereafter at the second banquet Esther revealed her identity as a Jew and exposed Haman's plot, declaring that she and her people had been sold to be destroyed, and when the king asked who dared presume in his heart to do so, she answered, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman, and the king, in wrath, ordered that Haman be hanged upon the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, though the original decree could not be reversed according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, Esther and Mordecai obtained a new decree allowing the Jews in every province to gather themselves together and stand for their life, to destroy any that would assault them, and on the appointed day the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and in Shushan alone 500 men were slain, and Haman's 10 sons were hanged, yet the Jews laid not their hands on the prey, after this deliverance Mordecai was promoted to be next unto King Ahasuerus, great among the Jews and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all his seed, and the days of deliverance were established as the feast of Purim, named after the lot that Haman had cast, to be kept yearly as days of feasting in joy, and of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor, thus the book concludes with Esther reigning as queen and Mordecai exalted in the kingdom, and though the name of God is not explicitly mentioned in the text, his providence is evident in every reversal, in every sleepless night, in every delayed request, and in every decree that turns mourning into gladness and sorrow into a good day, revealing that even in exile and under foreign rule, the Lord preserves his covenant people and raises up deliverance at the appointed time through the courage and obedience of those he places in positions of influence.