Samurai Woman: The Queen Named Esther

In the Bible, in the book of Esther, we read about a young woman of uncommon beauty called to an uncommon task of saving her people. Unlike Tomoe Gozen, Esther was no warrior (at least not in the conventional sense of the word), and unlike Mary, she was neither lowly nor a servant. Rather, Esther was a Queen, and she used her political, social and positional power to stand alone between the unrighteous decree of an unrighteous man and the wholesale genocidal slaughter of her people.

For Peri, we will seek to help her understand Esther's bravery first of all in her willingness to be used by God in her position of wealth and authority, for at the time that she lived, no other power would have swayed the hand of the Persian king who was her husband. However, in the process of her actions, Esther also exhibited an extreme measure of intelligence, gentleness and cunning in doing so to gain his favor and willingness to operate on the behalf of her people.

We believe that our daughter, like Esther, has been born "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14): to champion the cause of the Lost, the Broken and the Hurting in our world. Sometimes, as followers of Jesus, we must draw a physical line in the sand and charge like Tomoe Gozen into battle. Sometimes, like Mary, we must simply bow before God as His servants. But sometimes, God calls upon us to use every ounce of our wit, our resource and our favor on behalf of those who cannot help themselves. Esther was a Queen, a Stateswoman, and more than "just a pretty face", and because of her humility balanced with courage, God used her to spare the entire nation of Israel.