As we delve into the lives of some Ordinary Women for the
next few weeks, we’ll consider some Bible women and some saints, like Frances
Perkins last week. This week, our focus is on one of the two Bible women who
has a book in the Bible that bears her name.
Esther is an unusual book to be in the Bible because nowhere
is God’s name specifically mentioned. Some commentators doubt that Esther was a
real person. The same, of course, is said of other men and women in the Bible.
There are some who categorize the Book of Esther as a comedy. Not a comedy that
makes you laugh. Esther is a comedy of improbabilities, based on the
characteristics of the Hebrew culture.
How could a young Jewish girl, who’s uncle is known to be
Jewish have hidden her ethnicity? How did she gain the favor of the king to the
extent that he raised her above all others in the harem? Why did the King
‘happen’ to look up and extend the royal scepter to give her entry to his
presence? Why was Haman so obsessed with Mordecai that he hated all Jews?
Let’s think about all this for just a minute. If Esther
wasn’t a real person, then perhaps this story is an elaborate parable or
allegory about God and us? Maybe it’s about being " as shrewd as snakes
and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)
Esther certainly was wise beyond her years. Rather than
condemning Haman right from the start, she invites both the King and Haman to a
banquet. Then she has a second party. Only then, after Haman is sufficiently
prideful, does she throw herself on the King’s mercy.
“So the king and Haman
went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking
wine, the king again said to Esther, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It
shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom,
it shall be fulfilled.’ Then Queen Esther answered, ‘If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my
life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my
request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed,
and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I
would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the
king.’ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is
he, who has presumed to do this?’ Esther said, ‘A foe and enemy, this wicked
Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. The king rose
from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to
beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had determined to
destroy him. When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall,
Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining; and the king
said, ‘Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?’ As the
words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face.” (Esther
7:1-8)
Esther carefully choses her words. She states that if the
Jews were only to be enslaved, she would not have spoken. It is only because
their death was decreed by Haman’s racism that she asks for the King to
intervene.
According to Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, “The
idea of the serpent as symbolizing wisdom, seems to have entered into the early
parables of most Eastern nations. We find it in Egyptian temples, in the twined
serpents of the rod of Hermes…Here we learn that even the serpent's sinuous
craft presents something which we may well learn to reproduce.” The priests of
Pharaoh battled with Moses before the Exodus using snakes. Moses’ rod became a
snake, devouring the Egyptian serpents.(Exodus 7:11-13) I would note that the
serpent is also important in Meso-American cultures. Quetzalcoatl, the
feathered serpent is prevalent as an embodiment of the sky and a helper
presenting Maya kings with visions. Many other cultures as well have snake
symbolism in their history.
In the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary we read, “Alone,
the wisdom of the serpent is mere cunning, and the harmlessness of the dove
little better than weakness: but in
combination, the wisdom of the serpent would save them from unnecessary
exposure to danger; the harmlessness of the dove, from sinful expedients to
escape it. In the apostolic age of Christianity…there was a manly (sic) combination
of unflinching zeal and calm discretion, before which nothing was able to stand.”
St. Paul, notes that he was shrewd, yet guileless, to win
converts to Christ. “To those without the
Law I became like one without the Law (though I am not outside the law of God
but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the Law. To the weak I
became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that by all
possible means I might save some of them. I do all this for the sake of the
gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” (I Corinthians 9:22)
In learning to be ‘shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves’,
we might do well to consider our battles before we act. Our actions are always to point toward God, yet sometimes we need to be
circumspect about how we do that. Sometimes we need to ‘become weak, to win
the weak’. Esther was not weak. Indeed, she showed great courage in being a
whistle-blower about the great evil Haman planned. Esther had to confront her
fears, and face the possibility of death at the worst, or just disbelief. She
prepared for her test by prayer and fasting for three days, in concert with all
the Jews in the city. (Esther 4:16)
Esther, the Jewish exile in a foreign court, pretended to
offer a simple invitation to a feast. However, she was using wisdom from God to save her people. We may think we
have to act immediately to confront an injustice. Perhaps, like Esther, we
would be well served to pause and pray first. Then we can act wisely, yet with
sincerity.
In the early church, the Philippians are urged to “become blameless and pure, ‘children of God
without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among
them like stars in the sky.” (Philippians 2:15)
As we seek wisdom to deal with situations, we must look to
God first. The first part of the Matthew 10:16 verse says, “I am sending you
out [as sheep among wolves].” It is God who sets the course. It may seem to be dangerous, but we can trust that God is with us in
and through it all, just as God worked through Esther’s courage to save the
Jews in Persia.
Is there a current situation where you need to be both wise
and circumspect?
How can you be a child “of
God without fault in a warped and crooked generation”?
