https://biblehub.com/nkjv/esther/1.htm

Meet Esther. One of the biggest things that impress me about the story of Esther is that you never know when God will use you to fulfill His Will.

This story is not long forgotten; on the contrary, the Jewish people still celebrate it today when they celebrate the holiday of Purim. But over the next few days, we’ll read the story and I’ll discuss my impressions on it.

Despite what scripture says about a man ruling over his wife, I believe that any reference to that has been trumped by the scripture that says a man shall marry a wife and they shall become one. In a family, the man and the woman have different roles, but each are vital to the success of the family, and they should work together to see that that happens.

And keep in mind, the setting for this story is Persia, not Israel. And as we’ve read about past kings of Israel and Judah, there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t happen in Israel anyway.

I’ve said all of this because as we start, we see where the Queen of Persia is expected to obey all commands of her husband, the king. We start of where the king is having a big feast, and he summons his wife to come so his guests can meet her.

The queen refuses.

So the king basically divorces her and dethrones her, then begins his search for a new queen.

If a man divorced his wife today because she refused to obey him, then began searching for a wife who would, we wouldn’t think too much of him. And I doubt God did either. But as you will see, this was all a part of God’s plan to save His Chosen people.

This is one of the most impactful stories in the Bible. Movies have been made on the subject and the Sight and Sound Theater has a play on Esther that I’ve watched before.

I always caution people…read your Bible! Don’t expect to watch a movie about a Biblical event and take it as gospel, because Hollywood often embellishes or changes a story to make it more “entertaining”. I highly support watching these movies for entertainment purposes only, but if you’re a visual person like I am, they can help put some images in my head when I do study the Bible.

God bless!