A Bible story we read from the book of Esther, is more than a children’s story “They lived happily ever after” happy ending. Hard to understanding the culture of those days, we wonder why it had to be so. Reasoning the whys, we come to the understanding it was in the spiritual sphere, purposed by God Himself, for a reason or redemption of Israel as “For such a time as this.” Hadassah, Esther’s original name, was a young and beautiful maiden, who was chosen among many others to be Ahasuerus’ wife. This Persian king reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces (Esther 1:1). It all happened in a controversial and hard to understand way, when King Ahasuerus, being drunk, commanded his wife, Queen Vashti to be brought to him to show her off to the peoples there represented. But she refused to do so. For that, the king was enraged, embarrassed, and humiliated at that reaction, which lead him to divorce her. After a while, the king’s servants recommended to be sought beautiful virgins for him. That’s the background in which Hadassah- Esther came in this story of redemption of her people, Israel.
Light from the Word 