Beauty Queen - Esther 1-10
“If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Once again, we have a fantastically written short story in the book of Esther. If you have the time, try to read (or even scan) the whole book? Whereas Ruth was a beautiful love story, Esther is a terrifying text depicting themes such as dictatorship, slavery, sexism, racism and genocide.
Against the backdrop of ugly exilic times, Esther’s beauty shone. At the surface level, Esther was a teenage supermodel. The King of Babylon had quite an eye for the ladies, controlling the lives of 350 wives and 200 concubines. In those times, such things that we would now view as terrible examples of slavery, were part of how a King displayed his power.
But make no mistake: Esther was no-one’s toy and refused to think of herself as a victim. She chose to be empowered by LOVE. She realised that LOVE had given her unique influence with the King, who was completely hooked on her. And so for Esther, the King did the one thing he wouldn’t do for anyone else – he listened. Risking her life, Esther told him of a hideous plot to destroy the Jews, dreamed up by a vicious underling whose sizeable ego was matched only by his abhorrent racism. Haman died. Esther won. And Israel was saved. Again.
As we pray today, let’s focus on Bournemouth’s teenagers, particularly our young women. Esther knew all too well what it was like to be a piece of meat leered at by men, interested in nothing other than her body. She faced countless insecurities and anxieties. It must have been very tempting for her to think of herself as a powerless victim. But silently, behind the scenes, LOVE’s silent hand was at work: Esther came to believe that in LOVE’s hands she was a deeply beautiful and very powerful person. She received the strength and courage to bear the responsibility of the fate of a whole nation. She had an inner wisdom and hope to see a way forwards through great danger when it looked like all was lost.
Esther prefigures aspects of Jesus’ delivering ministry for us just as powerfully as any male counterpart in the Bible. We can thank God for her example. And we can pray that every teenage girl in the widest Bournemouth area will know what Esther knew to be true of LOVE for their own lives today.
"Esther won the favour of everyone who saw her” (Esther 2:15)
