I have some mixed feelings about the story of Esther. One part of me enjoyed the fact it was one of the better told stories in the old testament, as in it wasn’t dry and more powerful than a sleeping pill. On the other hand though I didn’t like how hypocritical it came off as being.
The first thing I find to be just utterly stupid is the whole idea of the king finding a new queen and wanting her to be a virgin yet the king gets to test out each of these women in the bedroom first. The whole idea of women being objects doesn’t sit well with me, I don’t like when any person is treated as less than a human being.
The other thing is Esther hiding her heritage so the king wouldn’t look unfavorably upon her but then when her people are in trouble she’s all too willing to announce it and come to their rescue. The one redeeming quality there is that this is quite brave because the king could have just as easily decided to put her to death for being a Jew instead of helping her.
The last thing that troubles me with this story is why could the king not have just sent out another decree saying that they are no longer to attack the Jews on that day? Why did he send out messengers to tell the Jews to now fight back and essentially slaughter them all? It just seemed like unnecessary bloodshed and killing, there was really no point or purpose for it.
I was wondering about that second decree as well. The only thing I can think of is that simply voiding his first would set a precedent that future decrees may be revoked as well and that the people would then not follow them immediately. Also, voiding his original decree might be interpreted as admission of a mistake, and call his judgment into question in general, something a King would probably not want to allow. But its still stupid, because it knowingly leads to the deaths of many people. Which is the higher price? The answer depends on whether you are an average person or if you are a King (or president, etc).
ReplyDeleteThe story of Esther was much less boring than I thought it would be. I think because it isn't as long and drawn out as some of the other old testament stories. I also didn't enjoy the way woman were treated in the story but it's an old story and that's how woman were treated then.
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