Esther 4

The second person in our sitcom is Esther. We find an incompetent king and a beautiful young women whose name is Esther. Again the name is significant, as opposed to an incompetent king we have Esther whose names means either star—which of course carries with it the idea of brightness, a shining light or it could be that Esther is a Hebrew transliteration of Ishtar, the name of the Babylonian goddess of love and war. If Esther does reflect the goddess of love and war in our sitcom, she does it well. Look at chapter 2.17Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality. Couldn’t skip the royal thing…. But catch the thing about Esther, in just one night she pleases the king more than any other, she causes him to fall in love with her, she is the goddess of love. But she is also the goddess of war. Check out chapter 9.11The number of those slain in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. The king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted." "If it pleases the king," Esther answered, "give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day's edict tomorrow also, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows." Esther wants the attack to continue, she wants a second day of destruction and she wants a second day to deal with Haman’s ten sons. She is the goddess of war.

But in all of this, what we see is a sharp contrast between an incompetent king and a bright, alluring, capable young woman who gets her way to protect her people. And it carries a kind of smile to the lips thing, even though at times it is a dark humor.