Thursday, 1 August 2024
Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in the citadel of Susa in the custody of Hegai, Esther nevardalso was taken into the king’s palace and put in the custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. The girl pleased him and won his favour, and he quickly provided her with her cosmetic treatments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maids from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. Every day Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was and how she fared.
Reflection
What’s in a name?
At first glance, this reading portrays Esther as a greatly favoured young woman, the soon-to-be Queen who wins special treatment.
Yet, her story is predicated upon the oppression of her identity. Esther was born Hadassah, her name was likely changed to fit into the Persian context she ends up in with her cousin, Mordecai. She was an orphan who had been forced to respond to the King’s nationwide search for a new Queen.
Esther’s story has a unique place in the Bible which contains examples of women both being venerated in some cases and oppressed in others; both trends can be seen in the depiction of Esther. She is upheld as the ‘Warrior Queen’ and a Biblical example of a strong woman, yet she has little choice in her fate.
Her story teaches us to look beyond what we see, and it challenges us to understand how identities are made up of many layers, most of which are not readily shown to others. As we leave her story here for today, you might see that she is comparatively in a privileged position to other girls but unless we question how she got there and why she is forced to keep herself a secret – we are missing out on her humanity.
It challenges us to think about how we perceive other people, do we make snap judgements based on what we see? or do we seek to look beyond and understand the layers of experience that make up a person’s identity?
Prayer
Lord,
we pray that we might seek out the fullness of people,
that you will hold us as we seek to unlearn our own bias
and relearn how to love as you have taught us. Amen.