Marian Rios

Reflection: Esther

.TREDTRI

Hadassah, more famously known as Esther (meaning star), is the heroine of the biblical book of Esther. The book told the story about how God spared the Jews lives through this young lady and how the feast, Purim all started. She was an orphaned young Jewish girl who was raised in Persia by her cousin, Mordecai. The story in the movie all started when the King of Persia (Ahasuerus) was displeased of his Queen Vashti. And as she was banished from the kingdom, the Kings servants looked in all their land for a beautiful young maiden to be the next Queen of Persia. Mordecai heard the news and quickly tried to hide Hadassah from them. This was when her nickname, Esther, appeared. Mordecai failed to keep safe her cousin to be brought to the royal harem. And as the guards took her, Mordecai gave her the name Esther to conceal who she really was. She was sent to the royal harem to be trained. Days passed, beautiful as she was, Esther won the favor of the King. The king lived a lavish life. He threw feasts and seemed spoiled. The kingdom was lived by Persians and the people of Israel as well. It seemed that in the movie, the people were dividedthe Persians being the higher beings, and the Jews were slightly marginalized. As per told by the movie, although King Ahasuerus was the wealthiest and the most powerful, it seemed like he always needed advice. It looked to me as if he was a coward in making choices and decisions, always looking to others for help. Esther on the other hand was very decisive and courageous. Coming from hard times, I guess one could infer that she learned to be strong- she had to be strong. And when she became queen, she had to put up a strong demeanor especially when her people needed her most. When the Jews were ordered to be killed, that was when she experienced God. This was when she had to keep her faith strong with God. I think in a way, she became an instrument of God through her faith and devotion to him. Esther was guided by God when they went on a fasting, and when she went up to her King without being summoned. Through God, she was able to stop the destruction and annihilation of the Jews. In the movie, often times the word favor was mentioned- when Esther and Mordecai found favor with the King etc. I think that the story is about a test of faith. When we live a life of faith and when we obey him, we will find favor with Him- because that what happened to Esther, she lived a life of faith to God and eventually God also gave favor to the Jews. Through my research, one criticism I encountered was the historical accounts. According to the Jewish encyclopedia, it was impossible for the war to have killed that much people, and also that the King could have approved the decree for the Jews to massacre their enemies. I think the book of Esther shows allegories because there were a lot of symbolisms and generalization of human existence. An example would be God, although he was never really mentioned and seen in the story, his influence was implied and was very strong. I think overall, the story talks about how the Jews found God, their Savior in Esther. It also shows that even though the Jews were in a foreign land, God will still protect his people from destruction and that God will never fail to deliver his people into safety. WORD COUNT: 616