Speaking in the Silence

I started reading Esther today for my daily reading and something stood out to me that I had never noticed before.  The story begins not as a story about the oppression of the Jews, but about the silencing of women.   The tension in the story begins because a woman told a man "no," and that man happened to be the king. Queen Vashti refused to come when King Xerxes called her, in front of a whole banquet of guests.  How humiliating!  The king's pride was wounded, and he called his advisors to know what to do.  His advisors also felt threatened by the queen's actions, saying, "For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands...There will be no end of disrespect and discord."  So the king banished Queen Vashti and sent edicts throughout his empire, from India to the upper Nile, in every language, saying, " every man should be ruler of his own household."  How tragic, that a woman's "no" triggered such insecurity and fear in the ruling men that they reacted with the oppression of every woman in India, the Middle East, to Egypt.  And so begins the story of the restoration of the voice of a woman, which results in the redemption of her people.

The story of Esther, in very short terms, is that Mordecai her cousin recognizes that God has placed Esther in a place of opportunity and power for the salvation of their people.  We see Esther struggle with the internal voices telling her she is not qualified to speak up and the external pressures commanding her to be silent.  The men have been decreed "rulers" over women, and Esther is being asked to challenge the highest ruler in the land. A ruler who has already been wounded by a woman who exerted her authority and voice.  That's a precarious situation... but she does it.

By the end of the story we see that Esther's voice is restored and holds great authority both over her people and all of Xerxes' kingdom.  Xerxes listens to Esther and tells her, "Now write another decree in the king's name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you - and seal it with the king's signet ring - for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked."  What healing!!! Xerxes not only came to the place where he could allow Esther's voice to influence him, but he trusted her voice enough that he allowed her to write a decree as seemed best to her.  He relinquished control of her voice, and the result was the salvation of the nation of Israel.  At the end of the story we see Queen Esther also writing decrees for the nation of Israel: "So Queen Esther... along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim... Esther's decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records."  What do you think that did for the voice of women from India to the Nile?  What a beautiful picture of the mutual lifting up and cooperation between men and women.  The power struggle was null, and mutuality reigned.

God chose to use a woman specifically to redeem his people.  He could have just as easily put a man in a position of influence with the King, but he chose a woman.  I believe it is because he was doing some double duty here.  He was not only saving the people of Israel; He was restoring the voice and authority of women "for such a time as this."