As a prelude to this week’s column let it be clear I am not attempting to be a Biblical scholar. Great admiration goes to those who have diligently studied the Bible and can use it on a regular basis to mold their relationships to each other and to our Almighty.
There are so many passages in the Bible that are inspiring, mysterious and enlightening as to how we treat our fellow man. One of the most fascinating is the story of Esther. It is a story of intrigue at the royal palace in Susa. There is a plot and counterplots. There is suspense and danger with unexpected twists of fate and the final undoing of the villain is delightfully ironic.
First the characters: Xerxes – the King who has a weakness for beautiful women.
Queen Vashti – one of the original pilgrims for women’s liberation. Mordecai – a very independent Jew whose stepdaughter was the vivacious Jewish virgin, Esther. And finally the villain, Haman. This last character was the top lieutenant for the King who hated Mordecai, the Jew.
The story starts when King Xerxes throws a grand party to celebrate his rule over 127 provinces. The party lasted a full 180 days culminating with a banquet in the king’s palace which itself lasted seven days. On the seventh day when the King was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him to bring forth Queen Vashti so he could display her beauty and countenance to all the banquet guests, but Queen Vashti had other ideas. She refused the King’s order. Maybe she was having a bad hair day or felt it was about time to show the King who really wore the pants in the family. Naturally the King was furious. After consulting his legal advisors and his prophets, the conclusion was Queen Vashti could not be allowed to exhibit this insubordination. These honorable advisors to the King were very concerned that Queen Vashti’s actions would spark a revolution and they (the men) would no longer be in charge of their households.
A royal decree provided Queen Vashti was never to darken the door of the royal palace and a search for a new queen was to begin. Naturally any candidate must be a beautiful virgin.
Word of the job opening spread throughout the kingdom with all the candidates going to charm school for a year before they had a chance to be interviewed by the king. Many candidates applied but in the end a striking Jewish beauty named Esther was interviewed and selected by the king to be the next queen.
Esther’s stepfather and constant guardian was Mordecai who followed Esther through the interview process and did his best to keep secret her Jewish origin. Mordecai hung around the palace gates and became a real irritant to the king’s top lieutenant, Haman.
Meanwhile, Haman had been honored by the king who gave him a seat of honor higher than all the other nobles. Haman was not one to make light of his power and he demanded that all royal officials and the public in general kneel down and pay honor to him. Mordecai refused such humiliating protocol which naturally infuriated Haman.
Instead of attacking Mordecai directly Haman fashioned a plan to exterminate all the Jews and convinced the king to use a good deal of the kingdom’s treasury for such purpose.
Naturally such brutal plans did not set well with Mordecai and the new Queen Esther, also a Jew, so Esther developed a plan of her own. She discussed her secret plan with two of her close confidants and they reminded her that all the King’s officials and the people of the provinces knew that to approach the king in the inner court without being summoned was fatal. There was but one law- he or she be put to death unless the King intervened. Esther’s response to this, “If I perish, I perish.”
Her plan was to invite Haman to a private banquet with just the King, Queen Esther and Haman. Haman was all excited and bragged to his friends and all who would listen of his own importance. In a related development Haman’s friends had convinced him the way to get rid of Mordecai was to have a 75 foot gallows built. Then using Haman’s influence with the King proceeded to use the King’s orders to hang Mordecai and let him swing.
The private banquet prepared by Esther begins with her only two guests, the King and Haman. After a few goblets of wine and knowing there was a special reason for the banquet, the King asked Esther, “What is your request? Whatever it is it will be granted up to one-half the kingdom”. When Queen Esther explained a plan had been devised to annihilate her and all the Jews, she petitioned her life and her countrymen’s lives be spared. The King was furious and wanted to know who was behind such a dastardly plan. Esther replied, “The adversary and the enemy is this vile Haman”. Not to let the 75 foot gallows go to waste, the King ordered Haman to be the royal guest of the newly constructed edifice.
On the night before the private banquet King Xerxes did a little research of his own. He ordered the Book of Chronicles and found that Mordecai had exposed two of the King’s guards who had plotted to kill King Xerxes. Is it any wonder the King had a soft spot for Mordecai?
There are so many lessons that could be devised from this intriguing tale of pride, power and revenge. Maybe the most obvious is to be very careful of the power given to you in both the government and private world. A related lesson might be to make certain you have vital information pertaining to the friends and family of anyone you set out to destroy.
It is also amazing to learn that man has changed very little from those days as reported in the Old Testament. Power over other people is still the dominant theme. It might be done with terrorist activities or military force. It may also be attempted in more subtle ways such as taxation, or creating fear from climate change propaganda, or jealously and revenge of someone who has more property than you. The most meaningful message of all is to protect freedom at all costs.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
Heber Springs, Ark. —
