today i read about the salvation of the jews from their mortal enemy, haman. this plot involved a woman of peerless beauty, wisdom, and courage - queen esther, her cousin, mordecai, and the benevolent king xerxes, who was leader of the entire persian empire at this point. as the story goes, haman wanted to exterminat all the jews within the kingdom. he was about to see his plan carried out too, until esther told the king about it and all of haman's schemes were foiled.
all this occurred sometime in the 6th century BC and ever since then, jews worldwide have celebrated purim in a festival of remembrance and national unity. i think it sounds pretty cool, and although i am not jewish i might like to also somehow celebrate purim this march as a holiday dedicated to god's provision.
one question: it is widely known that esther is the only book of the bible that does not include the word god. i think this is interesting. i know that an instance of omission never proves anything, but i am curious as to the level of dependency placed on or recognition received by god during this extremely difficult-then-joyous experience. i wonder what kind of relationship esther and mordecai had with god.
later.
