Queen Esther: A Tenacious Woman

"Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work". -James 5:7

In the bible, there are many courageous and dedicated women, those who were revolutionary even for our time. One of these revolutionary women was married to the crooked King Ahasuerus. Queen Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, the man who raised the Queen (she was an orphan), came before the king but refused to bow down to King Ahasuerus. The king was deeply offended by this serious violation, even though it wasn’t strictly prohibited in Jewish law, and subsequently ordered for all the Jewish people to be killed within his kingdom.

During this period (around 508 BCE), no one went before the king unless he demanded their presence, even the Queen. However, the Queen, who had favor with the king, risked her life to go before the king and asked if she should be slaughtered with all the Jews, because she was a Jewess. Queen Esther was not afraid to stand up for something she believed in, even though she must have been frightened to break the social norms of her day.

Society may encourage women to be underweight and unhealthy, but Christian women shouldn’t be timid, stand up for what they believe in, like Queen Esther. In the Middle Eastern culture, social rules, whether written or unwritten, can mean life or death. What would you done if you were Queen Esther. Western Society may not be as intense as Queen Esther’s culture, but it can be just as influential. Western society reinforces the notion that a woman being stick thing to be considered attractive. When many women are a healthy weight, they are still criticized as being fat and unhealthy.