The story says that King Ahasuerus
was married to Vashati.
He had a week
long banquet for his noble friends and at the end of the week he, drunkenly,
asks the chambermaids to get his wife to come and show off her royal
crown. Queen Vashati refuses to come and
the King is very angry. He asks his
advisers what to do and one tells him to release Vashati as his queen and find
another women to take her place. King
Ahasuerus listened to his guidance and Vashati lost her place as queen. Vashati showed bravery when she went against
the king’s wishes because she could have been killed. She must have been a very proud woman and
dignified and didn’t want to parade herself in front of a bunch of drunk men,
no matter who asked her to.
Queen Vashati’s refusal and exile brings Esther into the
story.
Esther was a beautiful Jewish woman,
“And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and
favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown
upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.” (Esther 2:17) She was informed by, her cousin, Mordecai,
that there was a plot to murder the king by some of his own guards. Esther told the king and the plot was
foiled. Mordecai then had King Ahasuerus’s
trust and the King knew he could trust him and Esther. Later, Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman,
who had been appointed Prime Minister and Haman got very angry and decided to
take vengeance on him and all Jew’s because of his actions. Haman put out a decree that all Jews could be
killed on a certain day, with the King’s approval. When Mordecai learned of this plan, he
mourned and fasted and finally he asked Esther to talk to the King and try to
change his mind. She was scared to go to
the King, but Mordecai said to her, “Think not with thyself that thou shalt
escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at
this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from
another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who
knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” She fasted for three days and nights and
finally summoned the courage to speak to the King. She was truly prepared to go before Him and
in that time, the King’s heart was softened because of the fast, and in the end
Haman was the one who was killed.
Because of her bravery, Esther was responsible for saving all the Jews.
In order for these events to
happen, all 3 of these people had to listen to their hearts and then follow
those promptings. Vashati had to be
brave and do what she felt to be right.
Mordecai was loyal and did what was right. Esther overcame her fear and courageously
stood up for what was right. They showed
bravery, loyalty and faith by praying for help and guidance. I can be brave for standing up for the gospel
and not being afraid to share it with my friends. Our family has been asked to pray for
families to teach and we’ve done it, but have not talked to the families yet
because I’m afraid of rejection. I will
set a date to give my friend, that our family prayed for, a Book of
Mormon. I will show loyalty to my Heavenly
Father and let him know that I will stand by Him and follow Him, by saying my
personal prayers, morning and night, for the next 3 weeks. I will show faith in the gospel by only
watching uplifting and testimony building shows on TV.
I know that these brave people
stood for what they believed to be true and that I can learn from their example
and strive to be more like them.
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