Bible Character Spotlight: Esther
It is well known that most of the Bible’s more prominent characters are men, but that does not mean that women did not play important roles in the Bible nor that they did not attain statuses of great power and influence. Esther is an example of one such Biblical woman. Along with Ruth, she is distinguished as being a woman and having a book of the Bible named after her. Esther lived during a time where the Persian Empire was still in control of much of the region in which the Bible’s stories take place. Just as during Nehemiah’s time, the Jews found themselves under the control of the Persians. However, at the time, the Jews did not have a person like Nehemiah who was close to the king and able to advocate for the Jews. At the beginning of Esther’s story, King Xerxes was in control of the Persian Empire (yes, this is the same Xerxes from the movie 300) and was betrayed by his queen, Vashti. What is the great wrong that Queen Vashti committed? On the seventh day, when King Xerxes w...