Who
knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?" Esther 4:14c
"The Book of Esther begins with
the Queen of King Xerxes, king of Persia - Vashti - snubbing the king's request to meet
with her. Naturally, being a rather unstable fellow, Xerxes
fires / divorces her. Now he needs to pick a new queen and
eventually manages to select Esther—a comely, young (secretly Jewish)
woman who is a part of his harem.
"As for her backstory, Esther's an orphan who was raised by her righteous cousin, Mordecai. When the king came looking for young virgins to possibly fill the role of his new queen, Esther made sure to jump into line. She wins favor with the people in the harem and eventually with the king himself, becoming queen. Moreover, Mordecai helps uncover a plot to kill the king, allowing Esther to warn him in time. This earns him some Brownie points as well.
"But all is not well in the king's courts—treachery is afoot. When Mordecai refuses to bow down to the evil counselor Haman in the street, the evil counselor decides to engineer a plot to murder all the Jews in the Persian Empire. The plot basically involves Haman going to the king and saying, "I think we should kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire." And the king says (to paraphrase him), "Alright."
"Haman walks away, glad that the king has cottoned to his genocidal plans. The king doesn't know that his own queen is Jewish, because Esther's been keeping it secret. But the threat of the Jews' imminent demise kicks Esther and Mordecai into action. Mordecai goes and wails outside the palace gates while wearing sackcloth, and Esther fasts for three days before visiting the king."
(This summary came from shmoop.com)
To know the rest of the story, read the book of Esther. ;-)
It is at the point when Mordecai asks Esther to go see the king that he says to her:
"Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?"
And, indeed, Esther's elevation to queen was crucial for the Jews.
The carry away here is this:
None of us should count ourselves as worthless.
For each of us, like Esther, have been put here for a purpose or purposes.
Some may be great & glittering.
But for most of us, they probably aren't.
But at the same time, there are things for which we were created that we are to fulfill to add to the overarching plan of God for humankind.
Is it a bit of a stretch to extend the universality of Esther to that extent?
I don't think so.
All of us are here for a purpose or purposes.
All we can do is say "whatever" to God & the be & do whatever it is He deems for each of us to be & do.
"As for her backstory, Esther's an orphan who was raised by her righteous cousin, Mordecai. When the king came looking for young virgins to possibly fill the role of his new queen, Esther made sure to jump into line. She wins favor with the people in the harem and eventually with the king himself, becoming queen. Moreover, Mordecai helps uncover a plot to kill the king, allowing Esther to warn him in time. This earns him some Brownie points as well.
"But all is not well in the king's courts—treachery is afoot. When Mordecai refuses to bow down to the evil counselor Haman in the street, the evil counselor decides to engineer a plot to murder all the Jews in the Persian Empire. The plot basically involves Haman going to the king and saying, "I think we should kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire." And the king says (to paraphrase him), "Alright."
"Haman walks away, glad that the king has cottoned to his genocidal plans. The king doesn't know that his own queen is Jewish, because Esther's been keeping it secret. But the threat of the Jews' imminent demise kicks Esther and Mordecai into action. Mordecai goes and wails outside the palace gates while wearing sackcloth, and Esther fasts for three days before visiting the king."
(This summary came from shmoop.com)
To know the rest of the story, read the book of Esther. ;-)
It is at the point when Mordecai asks Esther to go see the king that he says to her:
"Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?"
And, indeed, Esther's elevation to queen was crucial for the Jews.
The carry away here is this:
None of us should count ourselves as worthless.
For each of us, like Esther, have been put here for a purpose or purposes.
Some may be great & glittering.
But for most of us, they probably aren't.
But at the same time, there are things for which we were created that we are to fulfill to add to the overarching plan of God for humankind.
Is it a bit of a stretch to extend the universality of Esther to that extent?
I don't think so.
All of us are here for a purpose or purposes.
All we can do is say "whatever" to God & the be & do whatever it is He deems for each of us to be & do.
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