November 7, 2017: Day 78 – Esther 2

This story is moving pretty quickly.  Esther is an orphan who was raised by her cousin, Mordecai.  She was probably orphaned by the great captivity of the Israelites when they were removed and taken into captivity.  So when Esther is one of the selected to go before the king a few things come to my mind.  The first is that this is a kind of high level stakes The Voice where the winner is chosen and becomes queen for life and the losers just go back to their normal routine.  

The second is that Esther is about to become queen in a regime that killed her mother and father.  Think of that.  What if the current presidency ordered the murder of your mother and father, and then you are asked to serve on the administration.  What would you do?  Mordecai is more of a father figure than a cousin.  We see this play out as the intrigue deepens as Mordecai hears of a plot to kill the king.  He tells the newly crowned Queen Esther, and she tells her new hubby, the king.  The plot is found out to be true and the king’s life is saved.  Mordecai and Esther become heroes and …, wait, no, that doesn’t happen.

All we read is that this story was written in the annals of the king with the king being present at the time of their writing.  This is crucial and it will come up later.   We don’t read that either Esther nor Mordecai are recognized for having brought up this plot and foiled it. But for now the stage is being set in the story.  It is a regime that has been brutal to the Israelites, taken them into captivity, and now they have an insider, the queen, who can sway the decision making of the king himself because she has won his good graces.  Now the plot continues to thicken.