When I think about some of the key leaders during the time of the exile in the Old Testament, the word courage comes to mind. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego displayed extraordinary courage and remained faithful to God when their lives were on the line. The prophets who preached against idolatry throughout Israel displayed unwavering courage. Perhaps the person who stands out the most because of her courage is Queen Esther, who risked her life to save the Jewish people.
We read all about Esther's story in the Book of Esther. This was a time when some of the Jews stayed in the land where they had been brought into captivity, although they had been permitted to go back to their homeland of Judah to rebuild the Jerusalem temple. Xerxes was king over Persia. After becoming very angry at his wife, he banished her and looked for a new queen. All of the eligible young women in his empire were ordered to come to him so he could select a new queen. He chose Esther, a young Jewish woman, as his new queen. He did not know that Esther was Jewish. One of his nobles, Haman, did not like the Jewish people. He convinced the king to issue a decree that all of the Jewish people be destroyed. Mordecai, Esther's cousin, learned of this plot and summoned Esther for help. She would have to go to the king on behalf of all of the Jewish people and ask for help.
To go to the king and ask for help may not seem particularly risky to us today, but it certainly was a risk for Esther. You see, no one was allowed to come before the king without his request. If anyone went before the king without his request, they would be killed unless the king extended his golden scepter to them, signifying that he was giving them his permission to be before him. The king had not called on Esther for thirty days (verse 11). If Esther went before the king, she would be risking her life. When Esther relayed the risk of going before the king, Mordecai said to Esther, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). In a courageous response, Esther said, “I will go in and see the king. If I must die, I must die” (Esther 4:16).
Esther showed remarkable courage during a time when many in her circumstance would have chosen to stay quiet. She went to the king. He extended his golden scepter. When the time was right, she presented her plea for help to the king, and ultimately, the Jews were saved and not destroyed.
Esther understood that she played an important role in God's story and allowed Him to use her to save the lives of all the Jewish people. We, too, play an important role in God's story. He has called us to build up the Body of Christ, the church, and tell others about Him. The question is, will we, too, live courageously and follow and obey Him?
Look up the dictionary definition of courage. Ask God to give you the kind of courage that Esther displayed when it comes to following Him and making Him known. As you go throughout your day, look for opportunities to live courageously and boldly for Him.
12 So on April 17 the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated. It was sent to the king’s highest officers, the governors of the respective provinces, and the nobles of each province in their own scripts and languages. The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews—young and old, including women and children—must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them.
14 A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that they would be ready to do their duty on the appointed day. 15 At the king’s command, the decree went out by swift messengers, and it was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa fell into confusion.
4 When Mordecai learned about all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on burlap and ashes, and went out into the city, crying with a loud and bitter wail. 2 He went as far as the gate of the palace, for no one was allowed to enter the palace gate while wearing clothes of mourning. 3 And as news of the king’s decree reached all the provinces, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and wailed, and many people lay in burlap and ashes.
4 When Queen Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was deeply distressed. She sent clothing to him to replace the burlap, but he refused it. 5 Then Esther sent for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been appointed as her attendant. She ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was troubling him and why he was in mourning. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the square in front of the palace gate.
7 Mordecai told him the whole story, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the decree issued in Susa that called for the death of all Jews. He asked Hathach to show it to Esther and explain the situation to her. He also asked Hathach to direct her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people. 9 So Hathach returned to Esther with Mordecai’s message.
10 Then Esther told Hathach to go back and relay this message to Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days.” 12 So Hathach gave Esther’s message to Mordecai.
13 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” 17 So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
