A Tale of Two Queens: Esther

A Tale of Two Queens: Esther

Episode 14 - Part Two

Hello, and welcome to this special edition of In the Lighthouse: your safe harbor from the storm. This is Daphne Collins, your Lighthouse Keeper welcoming you back as I present another episode of, “Heroes Of the Old Testament,” and today we’re going to continue with this final installment of our two-part series entitled, “A Tale of Two Queens,” and the second featured queen in our story is Esther. So, before I begin our story of this Persian “queen” I want to provide you with some historical biblical context that will set the scene for Esther. Although extra-biblical sources do not provide evidence of the woman to whom the book is entitled, it is important for you to know what was going on in the world during her time and why this queenly character left a lasting impact on our biblical history.

Our story begins in the womb and a battle for supremacy between twins born under a covenant made between God and their great-grandfather Abraham. These twin sons grew to be strong men with great generations to follow. One would supplant the right of inheritance away from his brother through trickery, but his twin would also surrender it foolishly. These twins were named Esau and Jacob and when the time came, both men departed with their wives and families to lands beyond one another because “their possessions were too great for them to dwell together . . . So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir” that is Edom. Esau’s son, Eliphaz had a concubine who bore to him, a son, named Amalek who, in turn, became the father of the Amalekites, the people to whom the Israelites fought at Rephidim. In the Exodus account of the bible, the Amalekites were known for attacking the Israelites (unprovoked) from behind after they’d finished crossing the Red Sea and running from Pharoah’s chariots.  In the 17th chapter of Exodus, the text explains:

“Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim . . . Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:8, 14-16). 

According to bible scholars, the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt occurred around 1612 BC and as the Lord predicted, war with Amalek did indeed extend from generation to generation for his chosen people. Esau’s descendants, however, proved to be a constant foe for Israel, its distant cousin. During the anointing of the Benjamite warrior Saul as the first king of Israel, the Lord sent his prophet Samuel to deliver a message concerning Amalek and its destruction.

And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey’ . . . And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction (1 Samuel 15:1-3, 7-9). 

When we selectively listen to a direct command and modify our obedience to it, the consequence of our decision should not come as a surprise in our reckoning. Exceptions are not made for kings whose agendas are exposed under the scrutiny of a holy God irrespective of what side of the covenant they fall under. Such was the verdict delivered to Saul from God through his prophet Samuel following his war with Agag, king of the Amalekites. 

“And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction” (1 Samuel 15:18-20).  

The more we try to justify our actions, partial obedience is still disobedience. Saul was sent to “utterly destroy” Amalek on the battlefield as well as all the men, women, children, and animals encamped with them. But Saul spared Agag, and others were left alive, as well as unblemished animals he wanted to retain as spoils of war. This was not, however, God’s instruction to Saul. The consequence of his disobedience was the loss of his kingship. Instead, God sent Samuel to slay Agag; however, not all Amalekites were killed that day. This generational foe of Israel once again slipped through the cracks because of one king’s disobedience. Yet, God’s promise of the destruction of this branch of Esau’s tree would stand.

          God’s promise and provision of his chosen people, Israel, proved faithful to the generations as long as his people obeyed the Law given to them by his servant Moses and stewarded by the anointed kings left in the charge of God’s nation. Unfortunately, many of the kings responsible for leading the people in obedience to the Law led them to idolatry instead.  Despite the warnings from the prophets, these kings followed the ways of the nations surrounding the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The consequence of their disobedience was captivity from a stronger foe: first the Assyrians over Israel, and then the Babylonians over Judah. It is to the lands of the east where our story begins; to the kingdom of Babylon where the Jews were taken into captivity. Following their captivity, and to encourage them, the prophet Jeremiah relayed a message to the people. 

 “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease . . . For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:5-6, 10-14).           

 The Jews did as the prophet encouraged them, and they settled and flourished in Babylon. Some of them distinguished themselves as exceptional leaders and advisers to the king. One such advisor was the prophet Daniel who, under God’s guidance, interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s complicated dream of a great image whose head was made of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

This dream was the foretelling of the fall of the Babylonian kingdom to the Medes, and then the subsequent defeat of the Medes in 539 BCE by Cyrus the Great the founder of the Achaemenid Medo-Persian Empire whose boundaries expanded well beyond that of Babylon or Assyria. It is through this empire, beginning with King Cyrus, that God’s prophesied purpose for his people’s return from captivity begins, and the elimination of an ancient enemy is ended for all time.

Okay, let’s get started!

Show Notes

Opening Theme: Heroes of the Old Testament

Introductory Theme: A Queen’s Tale by Luke PN

Transition Theme: Mysterious Sunset by iCENTURY

Conclusion Theme: Persian Sunset

Transcript of “A Tale of Two Queens: Esther” by Daphne Collins

Transcript of “Knowing This or That” by Laine Wilder