the book of Esther old testament
Key characters:
Esther
King Xerces
Mordecai - Esther's cousin
Haman - the court official
Story summary:
The story tells of how a beautiful young jewish girl was chosen to be the queen by the king of persia (Xerces).Her cousin Mordecai, who was also serving in the palace, was happy to see Esther being chosen as the queen.Morcecai discovered a plot by the King's enemies to kill the King. He quickly informed Esther and the plot was disovered and the guilty parties was killed. The King was informed by Esther that Mordecai was the person who saved him.
In a separate incided, Haman - a top court official passing through the palace gates and noticed that Mordecai did not bow to him. This is because Jews do not bow to anyone except God.That infuriated Haman and he plotted to kill all Jews by tricking the King to pass a decree.When this was make known, Mordecai was very sad and he cried and mourned. Esther came to know of this decree and wanted to save her people.
She asked Mordecai to instruct them to fast and pray for 3 days while she seeks an audience with the King and thus risking her life by doing so.
Through her faith in God, he managed to exposed the plot of Haman to the King. The king was furious and ordered Haman to be hanged. The King also granted the Jews the rights to defend themselves.
This is a story of the true courage of queen Esther and her great faith in God that we all should follow.
