The Power Of Women In The Book Of Esther

Throughout history men have been leading the battles, conquering worlds, discovering new lands, but behind every good man is a good woman! So, as I read this week, I learned an enormous amount of information about the diversity of the different roles women play according to where they might live or what era they grew up in. I will address the rights that women had, how they are viewed in society, the comparison between these women and the ones from the New Testament, the evidence to support my claim.

The Persian Empire is arguably one of the greatest and largest empires ever in the history of the world. It was in place from approximately 550 to 334 BCE in Asia Minor and Persia. Throughout the time the empire was in place there were multiple kings that ruled it changing the cultures of the people living in the empire. The Book of Ester is a book from the Hebrew Bible written during the fourth century BCE that tells the story of a Persian king Achashvairosh. In the story information is given on how Persian Kings were able rule their vast empire for such a long period of time. The Persian Kings that ruled the Persian Empire were able to do their job successfully, deal with problems they faced, and keep their empire culturally vast because

The book of Esther tells the faithfulness of one woman and her uncle. It is only one of two books that contain the heroism and bravery of a woman heroine. The story of Esther accomplishes two profound things, the first: “To demonstrate God’s providential care of his people, even those outside the land of Israel, and 2) to commend the observance of the feast of Purim by relating how it originated” (Breneman 289).Unlike the rest of the Bible the story of Esther does not directly state or talk about God, but instead shows God’s plans for all of our lives and how in all frightening moments of life, He remains faithful to those who trust and have faith in Him. “In spite of the omission of any name for deity, there is no other book in all the

Women often are put in positions that often create turmoil within themselves. Women tend to make decisions based more on emotion and values as opposed to what is dictated by governing laws and rulers. By choosing to do what is “right in their heart” women often suffer great consequences such as persecution, abuse, exile and even death.

Esther was an orphan who was raised by her cousin Mordecai (Leath, 2010). There came a time that she would go from orphan to queen. Esther lived in Persia, where King Ahasuerus ruled. A day arrived that Queen Vashti refused to obey King Ahasuerus and was soon replaced by Esther (Leath, 2010). During this time, the King held ultimate power and everyone was subject to the king’s authority. Consequently, Queen Vashti displayed disobedience by not obeying the King and was punished by being removed as queen (Leath, 2010). However, the removal of Queen Vashti paved the way for Esther and she was purposefully placed in position as queen. This seized

Ancient societies and their cultures traditionally provided women with no access to power. It was nearly universal for women to be treated as subservient to men while being expected to behave mildly and submissively. The New Testament makes no exception. The Apostle Paul explains that through Christ, women are absolved of constraints that the social hierarchy imposes on them, but he later goes on to explain that even in Christ a religious hierarchy still exists. By acknowledging that women are inferior to men in both the social and religious circles, Paul presents women as subordinates. This contrasts with Njal’s Saga. Through the saga’s characters Gunnhild, Hallgerd, and Bergthora,

It is obvious to say that men and women experience life differently. In this context of Jewish identity in the pre war period, men and women underwent persecution of varying degrees. Within the Jewish community, the number of opportunities made available for men like Buxbaum are vast in comparison to those offered to a young girl like Esther. From the introduction at the beginning of his memoir, it is known that Buxbaum was able to attend Gymnasium, become a soldier, obtain his degree in medicine, and become a practicing doctor by the time he was 30 years old. From a young age, Esther was denied the chance to study, read, and pursue certain subjects, books, or goals because she was a girl.

The motivation of the Book of Esther is to prove to Jews living in prison that it is possible to gain success in the country of one’s imprisonment without giving up one’s character as a Jew. In this, the Book of Esther is very similar to books in the bible such as Daniel or actually to the historical character Nehemiah. The Book of Esther is unique in two important higher opinions. First, “the protagonist of the book, and the one with who the viewers should identify, is the woman.”(jwa.org). this selection of a women hero serves an important attribute in the story. Women were, in the world of the Persian culture, essentially defenseless members of society. Even if they resided to the governing culture. They could not simply reach out and gain power, as a man could. Whatever power they could get was gained through the manipulation of the community holders of power. In this perception the imprisoned Jew could identify with the woman. He or she was pretty much powerless, and power could be gained only through one’s wits and talents. As the undertaking of Esther demonstrates, this can definitely be done. By using her beauty, charm, and intelligence, and by taking one risk, Esther saves the Jewish people, brings downfall on her enemy, and raises Mordecai to the highest position in the palace. Esther becomes the mold for the Jewish women living in exile.

The restrictions a woman has leave her with no choice but marriage unless she would rather accept rejection from society. That brings on fear for Esther and her future: “Her dejected feelings came from the lack of control she felt she had as a woman. Esther felt she would never actually be able to have choices in life because of society’s pre-constructed ‘housewife’ role” (D’Elia 8). Esther had little control over her life and no amount of fighting would change the way society would negatively view her. Assuming the role as a housewife would be Esther’s surrender to society’s sexist ways, which she stands against. She saw the American housewife as a possession of a male that would be used up and spit out. There was also trouble if Esther decided to “stick it” to society and pursue the single life since disapproval from the ones around her would surely follow: “Accordingly, women were viewed as mates and all kinds of ‘rights’ came to be questioned… The non married lifestyle was as suspect as deviant sexual behaviors and pressure on women to marry – no matter how career oriented, how ambitious, how intelligent – was inescapable” (“America at Midcentury” 1). The image of losing her identity became a threat since Esther believes that her destiny calls for her to use her intelligence for something greater. She does not want society to see her negatively either, causing some restlessness in her life. Esther saw the housewife situation as another form of slavery and even imagines what it would have in store for

Contemporary portion gives us an understanding of how to interpret what takes place as if it happened today. These three worlds allow us to better describe the plot in the book of Esther, and demonstrate why it is important to keep God in our lives. As we ask the question, what does it mean to be the people of god? We learn in this book how God’s presence is always with us, as we live by his word. God’s work was done without his name ever being mentioned.

King Xerxes was throwing a party for all his kingdom and his palace in Susa. He asked his wife to come to show off her beauty. She refused to do this so he divorced her and decided to get a new queen. Since this happened he decided to have a beauty contest to see who would be the next queen.

Esther had 2 parents, both born in Warsaw, Poland. She grew up with 3 sisters and 1 brother. Her family immigrated into Frankfurt, to be able to provide a better education for their children. They soon moved to Munich. They moved around a lot, but finally settled back into Frankfurt. The Ebe (original name) family lived in a small apartment, in Frankfurt.. In regards to religion, the Ebe family went to a Polish synagogue, in Frankfurt. They went to their synagogue almost every day.They always enjoyed celebrating Jewish holidays with each other. Esther and her other siblings went to a very well known Jewish school. She enjoyed school, until Hitler came into power because they started to get blamed for everything that Germany had been through.

Moreover, Esther’s clever attitude towards the obstacles in her life may display that women of ancient Persia can only rise to powers through wittiness and eloquent appearance, which radiates a sense of mystery that men can solve; it keeps men interested and therefore, women would maintain high status in the society. The author represents Esther’s story as hope for all women in ancient Persia that demean themselves inferior to men. Esther’s bravery and strength when she was chosen to save her people, implies the significance and capabilities of a woman destined to change the history of Persia. This main idea does not follow the regular stories of heroism, where men are primarily destined to save the world, instead it provides more prominence

At first read the book of Esther is a story of a Queen who was able to achieve a heroic act that saved her people from being destroyed. However as you examine the story it’s more than a historic story of triumph, but through the actions of the characters in the story it becomes a blueprint for many aspects of leadership. By examining the different dimensions of the leadership traits of King Ahasuerus, Haman, Mordecai and Esther will represent the different facet of developing into a leader.

A woman’s virginity was considered to be precious as pureness was really important for a girl. Women were only allowed to have sex after marriage; whereas men could have sex before marriage. According to Esther, her virginity is a big factor that is weighing her down. The conflict between losing her virginity before marriage or after marriage causes her to become confused about what would