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Queen Esther
Virtue - Courage and Faith
Illustrated by Brittany Call
Music by Mike Cole
From the Book of Esther, adaption by Julie Ann Anderson
For my beautiful queens: Hailey, Lauren, Kate and Rachel
One day the King of Persia sent his wife, Queen Vashti, away. The king was very powerful, and Queen Vashti had disobeyed him. The king now wanted a new queen. The king called all the beautiful young women of the kingdom to the palace. Esther was one of these young women. The king picked Esther from all the young women as his new queen. At this time, the king did not know Esther was a Jew. She was obedient and helped the king. For example, her cousin Mordecai had overheard a plot to kill the King. Mordecai had told Esther and she had warned the King and saved the King’s life.
The king had a powerful servant, named Haman. Haman was a wicked and evil man, but the King did not know this. Haman was full of pride and enjoyed making the people of the kingdom bow down to him to show their respect. Mordecai would not bow down to Haman for Mordecai loved God more than any man. This upset Haman, so he devised a plan to punish Mordecai and all the Jewish people, for he knew Mordecai was a Jew.
Haman told the king that there were certain people in his kingdom that were not obeying the laws of the kingdom. This upset the king and he agreed to let Haman oversee the destruction of all the Jews in Persia. On a certain day, all the Jews; men, women, and children; were to be killed. The king and Hamon did not know that Esther was a Jew.
Esther did not know about this horrible decree. But Mordecai got word to her and let her know that Haman had tricked the king into allowing this and told her that she needed to talk to the king. The king could save the Jews. But Esther was afraid to talk to the king. Anyone who went to see the king and wasn’t invited could be killed. She was afraid that if she went to tell the king she would be killed. Mordecai told her, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” He asked her to think about all the Jews who would be killed.
Esther knew that she might be killed but she decided to risk her life for her people. She asked all the Jews and her maid servants to fast and pray with her for three days before she planned to go before king. Fasting and praying showed their devotion to God and was their way of asking for His help.
When the time came she was brave and went to the king, he was not angry with her, but invited her to talk to him. She invited the king and Haman to a banquet that she would give. For she had a carefully thought-out plan to save her people and the banquet was part of this plan.
This made Haman very happy because Esther had not invited anyone else but him with the king. He was prideful and boasted of his importance. But he was also still angry with Mordecai, for Mordecai still would not bow to Haman. He decided to build a gallows to hang Mordecai and put him to death.
In the meantime, the king realized that he had never thanked Mordecai for saving his life a while back. He brought Haman in to ask how they might honor someone who had served the king so well. Being so prideful, Haman thought the king was talking about himself. Hamon suggested to show honor this person should be wear the king’s royal apparel, ride the king’s horse, and wear the king’s crown. Of course, he thought this person would be himself. But Haman soon found out that it was Mordecai who was to be honored.
And the The king and Hamon came to the banquet with Esther the queen. The king asked Esther what she wanted of him and that he would grant it. She told the king how she and her people were to be killed. The king asked who would do this horrible thing. She told him it was Haman. She told the king that she was a Jew. He loved Esther and was angry that he had been tricked by Haman.
The Haman ended up being hanged on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king made a law protecting the Jewish people, allowing them to defend themselves if anyone tried to harm them. After this, everyone in the land looked up to the Jewish people.
Esther showed great faith and courage to talk to the king to save her people. Without her courage, her people would have been killed. We also see that those that do evil and only seek for power and the praise of man instead of God will end up with nothing. And those who worship God and serve Him are honored and protected.