Esther: A Queen's Dignity (Esther 1-2)

What does dignity look like? Do you know someone that you think of when you think of dignity? I love this section of Esther because it shows that for one woman dignity is revealed by saying, "No!" to the king. For the other woman, dignity was revealed by her walking with a "yes" as she moved obediently through the process! Both of them were dignified in their response. The other thing that blesses me about Esther's story is that even though God is not mentioned you can see His providential hand at work. Crazy factoids I discovered as I studied this book. Greece was holding its 79th Olympics during this time frame! Crazy to think the Olympics have been going on that long. The other thing that blew my mind was the extense of Xerxes territories as the King of Persia. His kingdom spanned through Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon as well as parts of Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Arabia. No wonder his party lasted 180 days as he welcomed all of his territories! I imagine the dignitaries were coming and going as they arrived on the scene! Apparently, Persia loved to party! The first two chapters have three parties and as we watch this true story unfold we will see that Esther holds her own parties. Even the bad guy hangs out with his friends and family in between scenes! This was one communal group! Yet, through it all, we will discover that God can use one person that is willing to be used by Him to help change things for a nation.