She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. – Esther 2:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 4, 2014): Esther 2

Life is filled with interruptions and as hard as we might try to work through our interruptions, they still deflect us from what is important. In many parts of the world, a major interruption in plans happened in the 1930’s. The interruption actually started with financial concerns over a Stock Market that was showing signs of stress by early September 1929 and finally crashed on October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday). The Stock Market Crash was one of the reasons (but definitely not the only reason) for the Depression that engulfed most of the world through most of the 1930’s and, in some parts of the world, even the first part of the 1940’s. And as if that was not enough of an interruption, on the heels of the Depression came the Second World War. It must have seemed like life stopped in August 1929 and that it would not resume again until late 1945 or even 1946.    

This passage once again tries to establish the story of Esther into a very distinct time line. The seventh year of Xerxes reign would correspond to somewhere around 479 B.C.E. But really the timeline would seem to be the endpoint of an interruption in Xerxes life and plans. It is thought that the interruption started with marital stress between Xerxes and his wife Vashti, possibly soon after Xerxes rise to power (and even Xerxes rise to power was contested.) The marital stress became moved into the realm of divorce probably in 483 B.C.E. And immediately after the divorce, Xerxes went to war with the Greeks. Xerxes father had actually died while in the planning stages of an invasion of the Greek mainland. And so the war was left to his sons. And as soon as Xerxes consolidated his power and settled things at home with Vashti, Xerxes mind turned to the invasion that his father had wanted when he was alive. The war was probably a welcome diversion from the stress and drama that the king was experiencing in his own house. But all wars eventually come to an end – and eventually Xerxes had to return home.

So as we get into the story of Esther, we are really seeing an attempt on the part of Xerxes to return to a normal life – at least as normal as is possible when you rule an empire. In Xerxes life, this was finally the time to be at peace and to find a beautiful girl and to fall in love – because, at its most basic level, all the story of Esther is – is a love story. It is the story of a king in love with his beautiful queen, the story of the queen’s love for her uncle and the father figure in her life, and the story of her uncle’s love for his people. And this story is the intersection of all of these loves.

And all of these loves would only come into focus when the interruptions cease and life once again is able to return to normal. In fact, the story seems to be waiting for just this point in time.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Esther 3

Personal Note: To my southern neighbors, Happy Independence Day. May your celebrations go well!