Esther was very excited. The time had come for the king to look for a wife and he had decided it would be a wonderful idea to invite all the beautiful young ladies of the town to his palace. It was this special invitation that she held in her hands. She looked outside the window, watching the birds fly up high in the bluest sky she had seen in a long time. She smiled happily at the possibility of being the handsome king’s wife. Could this really be her destiny?
Esther’s life turned into a dream when she was chosen, along with a group of other young ladies, to live at the royal palace and prepare herself to meet the king. The king would soon be choosing a queen. She walked across the shiny marble floors and was shown where her bedroom was, with a big bed and silks hanging from the ceiling. During this preparation time they learned how to dress elegantly, walk confidently, understand the laws of the country, and they even got to have bubble baths with scented oils for their skin and hair. All of this was very important for the future queen to learn.
Finally, the grand day came when King Ahasuerus would choose the one who would become his wife. He watched the beautiful ladies walk by, dressed in a rainbow of gorgeous gowns, smiling at him and showing him what they had learned. But he had his eye on just one lady. She had a confident smile, warm, kind eyes, and neat shiny hair. The Bible says that she was very pretty. Her character was strong, wise and caring. With joy in his heart, he chose Esther. Ahasuerus spent time with the beautiful Esther and one day he proclaimed happily, “I love Esther!” After a joyous wedding ceremony, a bejewelled golden crown was placed on Esther’s head and she became Queen.
Queen Esther lived a happy and peaceful life for a long time. She loved God and was blessed richly by Him. She loved her husband and helped him in all the ways that she had learned. But something terrible happened.
A mean man who worked at the palace was causing trouble for everybody. His name was Haman. Haman was a very proud man and he had a lot of authority in the palace. “You are to bow down to me whenever you see me!” he proclaimed one day. “This is a new law!”
Queen Esther’s cousin Mordecai also worked at the palace and, just like Esther, Mordecai loved God very much. There was one big problem with Haman’s new law. Mordecai knew that bowing down to Haman would hurt God. After all, God wants us to show Him our love by bowing down only to Him.
Mordecai felt in his heart that he simply could not bow down to Haman. So he refused, “No Haman, I cannot bow down to you.”
This made Haman furious! His faced flushed deep red with anger and he used his authority to make another new law. He wanted to punish Mordecai and anybody else who dared disrespect him like this. “You are to bow down to me whenever you see me, or you will die!” he proclaimed. “This is the new law!”
Haman was deeply worried by this new rule. He knew that there were many people in the surrounding towns who would not obey the rule because they also loved God. These people would be loyal to God.
Mordecai felt very scared, but he had a lot of faith and still did not give in to the cruel ways of Haman. He thought about what he should do about this matter. How could he save all of those people from dying as a result of this cruel law?
He sat down, thought hard and prayed hard. Finally he decided to speak to his cousin Esther. She was now queen and surely there was something she could do to help!
“Esther! Esther! I need to talk to you!” he pleaded. He explained everything to Esther: all about Haman and his cruel pride and his terrible law. He explained that many of God’s people would die.
He reminded Esther that she also loved God and even she might die because of this law. If only she could manage to talk to King Ahasuerus about this problem!
But Esther was scared too. “You see, Mordecai,” she said. “Ahasuerus has his own rule inside the palace – that if anybody enters the royal courts without his permission, they should die! And Ahasuerus has not summoned me to his royal courts for a long, long time.”
What a muddled situation Esther and Mordecai were in! How could Esther and Mordecai survive this ordeal?
Do you know what they do?
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