Women's rights may have begun with Esther.
Bible Study 129
Esther Chapter 1
Esther and Women’s Rights
Esther is one of two books in the Bible named after a woman. The other book is Ruth,
which we studied earlier.
The story takes place after the people of Israel are permitted to leave Babylon and
return to Jerusalem. Some of the people decided to remain in Babylon. Remember,
they had been there for seventy years. Many had been born in captivity and they had
little if any remembrance of Jerusalem.
The people of Israel who remained now served the King of Persia, Xerxes. Esther’s
family was among those who decided to stay in Persia.
Xerxes chose Esther to be his queen. Actually, Esther was not his first choice. Xerxes
had a queen (Queen Vashti) but she disobeyed one of the king’s demands and was
ousted as queen. Esther took her place.
Every Day with God
You might say that women’s rights began with the Book of Esther. When Queen Vashti
refused to come to the palace to entertain the male guests of Xerxes, his advisors
became worried that all women would act like Queen Vashti. They persuaded the King
to take away her crown and he did. They could not risk that all women would not have
supper on the table when the men came home from work. Women had always been
subservient to men and under no circumstances would it be any other way. Twenty-five
hundred years later we are thankful that things are different.
Prayer
Thank you for the Book of Esther.