This is a solid take on the story of Esther. It has always bothered me that we tend to view her as a Disney Princess; a poor girl, with Mordecai as a fairy godmother, who catches the eye of the handsome king.

But Xerxes was pervert with a drinking problem and a temper. https://twitter.com/kylejameshoward/status/1327451401761546241

It’s interesting that in Esther 1:22, after Vashti is thrown out, that the king issues an edict, “that every man should be ruler over his own household.” This is a reference to the curse, in Genesis 3:16, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Human rulership vs. Christlike leadership in marriage is of the curse. When Adam saw Satan, he was supposed to crush the serpent’s head. Instead, Adam defied God and allowed Satan to deceive his wife. Adam was the covenant head. The Fall didn’t happen until Adam ate the fruit.

Because of their disobedience, humanity was cursed. For Eve’s part, she would desire her husband but he would now be sinful, controlling, prideful, etc. He would tend to rule her instead of lead and protect her. (Basically, a continuation of Adam’s already manifested behavior).

And this tendency of many men to want to rule over women (and many women to enable this lust for power) is evident in how we interpret Esther.

Do we minimize the sins of the wicked king, Xerxes? Do we shame Vashti for not obeying him and posing nude at his drunken party?

Do we downplay the danger Esther was in or how humiliating and traumatic her ordeal must have been? Do we overlook the evil of sexual slavery (2:12-14) in order to present a story more palatable to western decorum and our cultural narratives?

My suspicion is that, in our instinctual fallen fervor to promote human rulership as opposed to Christlike leadership, we minimize Xerxes’s evil and subsequently Esther’s suffering. We don’t like talking about abuse because that would call into question our idolatrous rulership.

Another facet is that we tend to dumb down Old Testament accounts into cutesy children’s bedtime stories. We can’t talk about sexual predation, abuse, or anything “yucky.” We want to present a picturesque fairytale; a neutered version of Scripture that feels safe and comfortable.

But the glory of Esther isn’t her beauty or her rise to power (as tenuous as that power actually was).

The glory of Esther is that she sacrificed her dignity, safety, happiness, and really her life, to save God’s people.

Esther is a picture of Jesus Christ.

And she’s a woman.

Vashti refused to strip naked wearing only a crown (and she was right to do so). Jesus was stripped naked and given a crown of thorns.

But Vashti wasn’t one of God’s people, and so she couldn’t represent or save them. So, Vashti is replaced in God’s story with a new heroine.

In Esther 4, Mordecai responds to Esther in a manner that exposes his panic. In fear, he tries to frighten and shame her into obeying him, slipping into that curse of rulership by intimidation and control.

Esther, however, responds without apparent fear, “If I perish, I perish.”

In this way, Esther beautifully prefigures Jesus Christ, when he said, “Not my will but yours be done.” (Matt 26:42)

Esther eats and drinks nothing for 3 days, just as Jesus ate and drank nothing while dead for 3 days.

Meanwhile, Mordecai waits in the courtyard like Peter.

Then Esther asks the king for 3 things 3 times:

1. Come to my banquet.

2. Come to my banquet.

3. Save my people from death.

The king grants all these requests, and has Haman - who plays the Satanic role in this story - impaled on a wooden pole. Now this is interesting!

Adam was supposed to kill Satan the Serpent, but failed.

In Num 21 we read that Moses fashioned a snake on a pole, and anyone who looked at evil vanquished would be healed from a snake’s bite.

Now we have Haman raised on a pole. But he’s not the last person to die on a stick...

Though Jesus was sinless, holy, and fully God, he humbled himself and took our place, bearing the wrath of God while raised on a wooden cross. For our sake (who are more like Haman than Esther), he was raised on a wooden pole to pay for the evil of his people.

In so doing, Jesus crushed the Serpent’s head, defeating Satan where Adam had failed, and protecting and defending his bride (the Church) from Satan’s deception and sin’s death.

In so doing, Jesus accomplished what Esther could only prefigure; the salvation of the people of God.