Esther

[Abby Kalina]

i think it is so cool that God used Esther to make it so that the jewish people wouldn't be wiped out because of one person's want to get to power.

I think it's also cool because it shows that God works through both men and women and leaves noboday out.

[Amber Kalina]

Yeah, I feel that!

[Rob McNair]

Yeah, it's good stuff. My favorite line is 4:14 where Mordecai says to Esther, "Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." And now Esther is caught between a rock and a hard place, between her religious convictions (God's laws) and the king's laws. She decides, "After that I will go to the king though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish" (4:16). So she risks her life for her people. That's pretty amazing given she is now queen and has a nice, cushy life. She is willing to use her position and sacrifice it for the welfare of others. Sounds very Jesus-like to me.

[Abby Kalina]

maybe.
so why was she so afaid of being killed by the king. you'd think that the king would be always happy to see is queen and never want to kill her/.

[Rob McNair]

My understanding is that a few things are at play:

(1) No one, especially women who were powerless, was allowed to approach the king unless he said it was okay, this included even the queen. So it would have been unorthodox to say the least for her to approach the king to ask a favor.

(2) Esther's request is for the king to honor her wishes over Haman's. So basically she'd be saying to the king, "I know Haman is your most respected and trustworthy advisor, but he's an idiot and so are you because you promoted him to that position. Listen to me over that imbecile." Remember too that the first queen Vashti was cast out because the king asked to to come and she didn't. "At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him" (Esther 1:12). So the king has a temper, especially it appears when people go against him.

(3) Haman was the kings right-hand man and the king just approved his proposal to kill all the Jews and it was basically signed into law. An offical decree went to all the provinces in his kingdom saying on this particular date people have the right to kill any Jew that want. So if it is revealed that Esther is a Jew, then she is at risk of being killed herself.

So given all this, it is quite remarkable that Esther is willing to do what she does. No easy decision.

[Abby Kalina]

no kidding. thanks for putting that all into perspective for me j-bob.
i really got this story after watching the veggie tales movie for this. you should make your children watch those shows they are really good at teaching you different things in the bible in a non-violent way. i mean the worse thing that happens to Hamen is that he gets sent to the land of eternal tickeling...or something along those lines.
see fun!

[Amber Kalina]

Um, I just finished Esther and I couldn't help but wonder why Esther would ask for that second day for the Jews to kill their oppresors. Already she got the king to let Mordecai to say it was ok for the Jews to "defend" themselves, but the Bible makes it seem like the Jews didn't use it as defense, but as an opportunity to kill non-Jewish people. The Bible said many people became Jews, or wanted to be Jews because they didn't want to get massacred, and the Jews killed thousands. The second day even more, and they plundered. I'm wondering if that many people were actually going to go after the Jews. I know if that law wasn't declaration wasn't passed that many Jews would've been murdered, but did the Jews really do any different than what the Jew-prosecuters would've done?

[Rob McNair]

Yeah that is interesting. I didn't pick up on that as I guess I assumed the Jews were just defending themselves against attacks. But Esther 9:5 reads, "So the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering them and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them." So this makes it seem like the Jews had free rein to strike down anyone they wanted. But now the decree back in 8:11 said they were allowed to "assemble and defend their lives" against armed forces. And in 9:16 it says again they only defended themselves. It is also interesting that three times it states they "did not touch the plunder" (9:10, 9:15, and 9:16), so they did not take any of the possessions of those they killed. I cannot imagine King Ahasuerus granted the Jews permission to wipe out anyone they wanted, but maybe he did. This kind of reminds me of the 10th plague where God kills the first born of the Egyptians because the pharoah originally wanted the midwives to kill the Israelite babies. What comes around, goes around kind of thing. God turns back on their enemies what their enemies planned to do to the Jews.

[Amber Kalina]

Fully, but still. I don't know... It's not defense if you're out to destroy your enemies.

[Abby Kalina]

payback is a dish best served cold?
maybe by attack they ment that they turned from just being defensive to actual attacking? like instead of them not being able to fight back, they are now able to fight back defensively yet still attack?

[Amber Kalina]

I really don't know... It's just when I hear "defense" I don't imagine people going out and ambushing others, but I see an enemy coming and the defender having to kill the enemy to survive.

[Abby Kalina]

bigger scale of defense?