Fasting for Breakthrough: How Esther Saved a Nation (Part 1)

God’s people owe their very existence to a young Hebrew girl named Esther. It’s true. God chose to work out his plan of deliverance for Israel through the courageous actions of an ordinary teenager. Sometimes I think we underestimate the power of a young person who loves God.

Esther’s story didn’t start out pretty. The Jews had been taken from Jerusalem into captivity years earlier by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Esther 2:5-7). Babylon was then defeated by Persia. When we first meet Esther, she’s among the Jews living in the Persian empire. They were a displaced people longing for home.

Esther was raised by an older cousin named Mordecai. Described as “lovely in form and features,” her name had been changed from her original Hebrew name, Hadassah, to the Persian name Esther, or “star.” Scholars believe it was connected to the Babylonia goddess Ishtar.

Even today, when a people group is captured, the conquering nation often strips away every form of national identity. We saw this firsthand during a missions trip to South Sudan prior to its independence in 2011. Throughout 20 years of civil war, the Arab extremist Islamic government in the north had attempted the genocidal extinction of Christians in southern Sudan.

Roughly two million people died and millions more were displaced. One of the North’s many dehumanizing practices was to strip South Sudanese children of their Christian identity by giving them new Arabic names. They were forced to attend schools in which they learned to speak and read only in Arabic. Like the Jews of Esther’s time, this was part of a targeted attempt to erase both their heritage and religion.

Esther was around fourteen when her story began. Life as a Jew in exile was all she’d ever known. That is, until she became the Queen of Persia. This startling turn of events happened after King Xerxes of Persia banished his previous queen, Vashti, for embarrassing him in public. The king’s advisors came up with a plan to bring beautiful young women from every province in the Persian Empire to the king’s palace. During her year of preparation, Esther won the favor and respect of all who knew her. The king was so impressed with Esther’s beauty and grace that he selected her to be his new queen. What the king did not know was that Esther was a Jew.

Esther kept her Jewish identity a secret. We see her character and humility through her obedience and loyalty to Mordecai. In time, a sinister adversary rose up. Haman, the king’s highest-ranking official, despised both Mordecai and the Jewish people. He manipulated the king into signing an edict to slaughter every Jew in the Persian empire, which, at the time, stretched from India to Ethiopia. This move would wipe virtually every Jew from the face of the earth.

When Mordecai learned of Haman’s genocidal plot, he pleaded with Esther to beg for mercy from the king. By this time, Esther had been queen for several years and was around twenty years old. Life as queen was no doubt more comfortable than life as an exile. But she had never lost touch with Mordecai or her people.

To be continued tomorrow…

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For more inspiration on fasting from the story of Esther, check out Woman of Valor, Discovering the Courage & Strength God Gave You by Marilynn Chadwick. Simply click here to order your copy.