Hi James and Ellen,
Esther is the story of a gal – whose name is Esther, who is a Jew. Esther’s given name is Hadassah. Hadassah was probably still a kid when her dad and ma died. Hadassah’s cousin Mordecai had Hadassah live in his place in the city of Susa in the country Persia after her dad and ma both died. Mordecai raised Hadassah as if she had been his own daughter. Mordecai’s great-great grandpa – whose name was Kish, was born in in the city of Jerusalem. When the city of Jerusalem was overrun and razed in 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army, Kish along with other Israelite or Jew people group guys, gals and kids, had Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army take them as exiles to the city of Babylon in the country of Babylonia. Between when the Medes and Persian army defeated Babylonia’s army in 539 B.C. – resulting in the Medes and Persians becoming the next superpower, and 484 B.C. when Xerxes – who was the country of Persia’s king at this time, threw a six month celebratory bash in his royal citadel that was in the city of Susa in the country of Persia – where he reigned over the 127 provinces that his Persian army had captured, Mordecai and Hadassah ended up living in the city of Susa. The city of Susa was located north of the Persian Sea’s northern tip. The city of Susa would be today located in western Iran. King Xerxes at the end of his six month shindig in his royal citadel had a week long open house so that the general public could come and celebrate with him his amazing successes and witness firsthand his imposing opulence. At the same time that King Xerxes was basking in the adulation of the guys who showed up at his royal citadel, Queen Vashti – who was the wife of King Xerxes, was putting on her own banquet for gals in the city of Susa. At the end of the seven days of festivities, a now very drunk King Xerxes – through his attendants, told Queen Vashti to come to his revelries so that he could show off her beauty to the guys who had showed up. When Queen Vashti refused her husband’s order to . . . King Xerxes got rid of her – which left the queen position open. Because King Xerxes wanted to have a gal sitting next to him as the country of Persia’s queen, King Xerxes commissioned a guy in each of the 127 provinces that he ruled to bring him the most beautiful gal or gals in their province. The gal who King Xerxes chose to be the country of Persia’s next queen was living right under his nose in the city of Susa. The gal’s name was Hadassah.
When Hadassah made King Xerxes’ list of most stunning gals in the country of Persia and in the 127 provinces that he ruled, your grandpaa thinks that Mordecai told Hadassah at this time that when she is asked what her name is, that she is to use the name Esther as the name Hadassah would have given Hadassah away as being a Jew. It took around three years from when King Xerxes told Queen Vashti to take a walk before Hadassah became Queen Esther and King Xerxes’ wife. Hadassah’s fairytale turn in life from being a humble, obscure Jewish gal to becoming the most well-known, powerful gal in all 127 provinces that were under the county of Persia’s dominance became tested a short time later when King Xerxes elevated Haman – who was a self-aggrandizing and pompous guy, to the seat of being his top noble. Because of his arrogant and narcissistic hardwiring, Haman expected everyone to bow to him. When Haman noticed that Mordecai was not showing obeisance to him, he became royally ticked off at Mordecai. When Haman found out that Mordecai’s lineage was Jewish, he decided to purge every Jew guy, gal and kid from planet Earth. What Haman did not know at this time was that about the time that Esther was officially proclaimed to be the country of Persia’s queen, Mordecai overheard a couple of King Xerxes’ doorkeepers plotting to do in their king. Mordecai told Esther to tell her husband what he heard – which Esther did. When Mordecai found out that Haman had gotten King Xerxes’ okay to draft an edict that would be taken to all 127 provinces that would require every Jew guy, gal and kid be exterminated, Mordecai implored Esther to inform her husband of Haman’s diabolical plot – which Esther did in spite of knowing that her husband had the right to kill her. Esther’s selfless, unparalleled bravery saved her Jew people group of guys, gals and kids from complete eradication and it put the gallow’s noose’s rope around Haman’s neck that the spineless, bigheaded Haman had had made to personally hang Mordecai.
Esther Book’s 10 chapters are specific for Jews. Your grandpaa thinks that Hadassah’s story – before someone put it into a written narrative, was orally passed on from one generation of Jews to the next generation of Jews. At the time that Hadassah’s story was scribed – which was around 400 B.C., Jews were being oppressed. The author of Hadassah’s story intentionally did not mention God, worship, prayer and sacrifices in his missive. The reason why your grandpaa thinks that Hadassah’s story’s author purposely did not mention God, worship, prayer and sacrifices is that God, worship, prayer and sacrifices had been internalized by the Jews as a given to be read between the lines of Hadassah’s story. Because God, worship, prayer and sacrifices cannot be found in Esther Book, a Jew did not have to read the Esther Book clandestinely because of a fear of the repercussions of an oppressor finding him or her reading something that was specific to his or to her beliefs. Very little has changed from 2,400 or so years ago when a young Jew gal . . . to today’s Iran – which still continues to want to have every Jew guy, gal and kid annihilated.
Esther