Theological Commentary: Click Here
In Esther 1,
it is really difficult to not get embroiled in conversations about which the passage
is not really about. Some people want to
make Esther 1 about the man’s ability to rule over the household. Other people want to make this chapter about
the oppression of women. Some people
want to make this chapter about the relative barbarism of ancient
cultures. Personally, I think all of
these miss the point.
From my
perspective, this chapter is about two things.
First, it is about making a way for Esther to influence the king and
bring the plight of her people to the king.
Fundamentally, this chapter is God making room for His servant to do His
work. This chapter is about setting up
God’s provision.
Secondly,
this chapter is about disobedience and consequence. This is a chapter where a wife refuses a request
of her husband. It is a chapter where a
citizen refuses the request of their king.
The request is honestly not an illegitimate one, either! The king simply wants to show off his wife to
the leaders of the kingdom. This was, and
is, a pretty typical practice among people in relationship. How many spouses want to show off the person
to whom they are married? How many
dating couples want to show off their significant other? This is a natural human instinct; it is a
political move. This has nothing to do
with chauvinism.
In fact, we
know historically speaking that the Persian king Khshayarsha (Xerxes’ Persian
name) had but one wife: Amestris. We
know that Amestris was a thorn in his side, have a reputation for being cruel
to her servants and being incredibly self-centered. She didn’t play nice with others. She didn’t care about what other people
needed. She was neither a good role
model nor a good political figure. It’s
honestly no wonder that the nobility would rather get rid of her!
In fact, in
this light the comments of the nobility make sense. They are afraid that this self-centeredness
will rub off on others. They are afraid
that her inability to play nice with others will lead to a more general breakdown
of community in their nation.
For me, the
big takeaway for this chapter is that there are consequences for our
actions. We can choose to think of
ourselves first. We can choose to not
care about others. When we do this,
though, we can expect the people around us to react accordingly.
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