Esther as Queen.
The Bible does not record whether Esther was taken by force
or went willingly. It only states that in the harem, under Hegai’s supervision,
she received beauty treatments with hundreds of other “hopefuls” (Esther 2:12)
whose beauty would prevent them from living full lives and being any better off
in the end.[1]
She was being prepared for a sensual night with a pagan king to whom she would
probably not be married.[2] Mordecai’s command to keep
her true identity a secret meant that she did not observe the Torah laws. She
was put in a very compromising position in the harem because she violated the
dietary and moral laws of the Torah.
Furthermore, her obedience to her God was challenged because
after her night with the king, she was raised to the high position of Queen;
where she would be pressured to submit to the will of her husband regardless of
her ethnic beliefs and values. Indeed, she became Queen not because of her
obedience to the law of God, but because of her beauty and her ability to
please her pagan husband (Esther 2:17).[3] While Esther is not
intended to be a moral example to be followed, her story does communicate the
morally ambiguous situation in which she found herself, which is how real life
often is.
After
gaining the favor of the king, Esther again entered a different world. Now she
was honored with a banquet and moved into the Queen’s apartments (Esther
2:17-18). She continued to be attended by several maids who participated with
her when she fasted before going to see the king to reveal Haman’s plot to
destroy the Jews (Esther 4:16). The text does not disclose whether Esther
struggled with her new life because of her Jewish heritage or not. She seemed
quite comfortable in the palace and with her role as queen to Xerxes and
appears to have assimilated to that lifestyle quite easily. But using Walters
and Auton-Cuff’s study, this assimilation was most likely done involuntarily
using a false self. Therefore, it is likely that, at least at first, Esther did
struggle with this final transition.
Prior
to Haman’s decree to destroy the Jews, Esther’s life was one of inaction,
adaptation, and survival. Only after she was petitioned by Mordecai did she
become active within the Persian government (Esther 5). Levenson states that,
“Mordecai seeks to call his cousin back to her Jewish roots. She must not allow
her queenship to go to her head.”[4]
Mordecai was calling Esther to remember her true self. Therefore, Esther’s
response showed appropriate maturity. She was quite aware of what she risks
going before the king without being called due to her knowledge of Vashti’s
fate.[5]
“The Persian court was not a safe place because Xerxes held great power and he
wielded it unpredictably, making decisions from dubious motives with impaired
judgments.”[6]
Esther’s
worldview up until chapter four reflects one that many TCKs share: “This is
just the way things are.” In their struggle to adapt to new cultures and social
situations, a TCK’s morals and value system are usually challenged. [7]
As mentioned above, she appeared to show no concern over the fact that she was
wed to a man who was easily manipulated. However, when she realized that she
too would be killed as a Jew if Haman’s plot succeeded, she used her knowledge
of the court and king to her advantage (Esther 5:1). While her worldview at
first seems somewhat narrow with her easy acceptance of the Persian way of
life, it was expanded when she realized the role she had to play in God’s plan
for His people in the kingdom.[8]
God often puts us in compromising situations to test our
obedience and true love for Him above all else. If we don’t love God more than
everything and everyone else in our lives, we will fail, as Esther almost did.
It is vitally important, therefore, to build a community of fellow believers
around us so that we can be supported in our faith, and can support others as
well. Our spiritual survival is dependent on having a strong, faithful
community around us.
[1]
Linda Day, Esther, Abingdon Old
Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005), 59.
[3]
Jobes, 113.
[4]
Jon D. Levenson, Esther: A Commentary, The
Old Testament Library (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 81.
[5]
Levenson, 2-3.
[6]
Jobes, 69.
[7]
David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken, Third
Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing,
2009), 20.
[8]
Levenson, 82.
God works in mysterious ways to accomplish His purposes. His ways are higher than ours - I often resort to this truth when I can't figure things out with my puny brain.
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