Esther is a startling champion rising from obscurity to become a deliverer of the Jews while in Captivity. This time they don’t go back to Judah but rather get to stay alive. Anti-Jewish sentiments are not a modern phenomenon. And God’s deliverance from the anti’s is abiding.
King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) followed Darius as king; he apparently had an eye for beautiful women and had a significant amount of pride. When he orders Queen Vashti to appear at a feast so he could show her off to his guest, she refuses and is no longer queen. The royal court seeks for a ‘better’ woman to take her place and in due time Esther is chosen and becomes Queen.
Meanwhile, another character, Haman, is rising to power in the King’s inner circle. Haman was not a Persian but an Agagite, sworn enemies of the Jews from all the way back in the time of King Saul. Haman devises a scheme to wipe the Jews out of Persia by massacre and through deceit gets the King to make his scheme law. What is not known is that Queen Esther is a Jew!
When Queen Esther’s cousin Mordecai hears of the royal decree to destroy the Jews on a particular day twelve months away, he get word to the Queen and includes a copy of the royal proclamation of massacre. Mordecai through her servant commands Esther to ‘go to the king and beg his favor to save her people’. Remember, her Jewishness is unknown. Esther responds that she hasn’t been invited in to see the king for thirty days and can’t simply go in uninvited. Mordecai replies that,
Esther’s reply becomes an epic moment in the Jewish history:
All of the story is prelude to her resolve, “If I perish, I perish.” There is both a recognition she must act and the outcome is not hers but of God. The rest of the account is of the marvelous providence of God arranging circumstances to save the Jews and give them the right to conquer this enemy.
Resolve is that commitment to do the right thing no matter the outcome. Do we have resolve to live right before God no matter what our culture might think?