We've been looking at Esther together in Children's Church over the last couple of weeks, and, as we've done so, i've done my best to teach the 5 through 11 year olds in the class how to read Esther as if it were a book of the Bible.
There are a lot of problems with this, not least that no one ever seems to pray and wait on the LORD in Esther, people just do things (unless, of course, that is the Christian way of doing things, but more of that another time perhaps). The biggest issue with Esther i've tried to teach though, is chapter one, specifically, encouraging us to read Esther 1 as Christians, not as feminists.
A popular understanding of Esther 1 goes like this. The King has a party, get's drunk and wants his wife to entertain his friends. Poor Vashti, we think, and we applaud her bold and brave stand against this appalling misogynist.
but what if we were to read the book like Christians? What if we were to read this slightly odd book as if it were part of the Bible? What if we were to look for the same themes in Esther that we see in the rest of the Bible?
Let's move from the least important to the most. First of all, imagine if i held a dinner party for my closest friends, but Rachel is nowhere to be seen. We've obviously eating take out. Wouldn't i be weird if at some point i didn't want my friends to see my wife? To enjoy her company with me? It would be very strange if every time we had people over to our house i hid Rachel away. No! She is, literally, my better half, go get Rachel, and let's enjoy our marriage and our friends. There's no hint of misogyny there is there?
Second, Jeremiah Burroughs, by way of Dave Bish says, 'the lives of those who are married, ought to resemble the blessedness, as far as possible, the condition of a people reconciled to God...Married people should live so that all who behold the sweetness, the happiness of their lives, may be reminded by this of the sweetness and happiness which is in the church's communion with Jesus Christ.'
Which leads us to point number three. Look at the language and images used in Esther 1. Ahasuerus is the King of the known world, and he loves to share his abundance with his people. There is a 180 day feast, followed by a 7 day feast in the garden. What else do we find in the garden? White cotton curtains, violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods. The feast, the great communion with the great king takes place in the citadel, in the inner sanctuary, which looks like a garden-temple.
And what happens on the seventh day in the garden temple? The queen rejects her king! The king wants to walk with his bride in the cool of the day, but she's hiding in the bushes and won't come out. She, like Adam and Eve before her, and you and I after her, rebels against the king, and is exiled from the garden.
If we really believe the Bible is one coherent book, telling one coherent story, then we shouldn't let whispers of that story in any individual book escape our notice. We should look at Esther 1 as a retelling of Genesis 1. We should look at Vashti and see our refusal to delight in the Lord's goodness. We should see the abundance of our King, our Maker, our Redeemer and our Husband, and not let anything stop us placing our delight in Him.
We should read Esther 1 like Christians.
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