Esther: God’s promises through a young queen

Esther's story has all the elements of a TV drama: palace politics, a secret identity, a dangerous request and a people on the brink of destruction. But at the centre of it all is a young woman trying to figure out what God is asking her to do. 

In this episode, journalist Kira Bridcutt joins us to unpack the story of Esther—a woman chosen for her beauty, thrust into royalty and faced with a choice that could cost her everything. We talk about what it looks like to act courageously when you're scared and how God works behind the scenes even when He's nowhere to be seen. Kira also reflects on her own journey with faith and what Esther's courage has stirred in her.

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What is Living Covenant?

The characters and stories of the Old Testament form a rich tapestry, revealing both the best and worst of the human condition—and, most importantly, how God relates to us.

Based on the Living Covenant book series, this podcast explores the sometimes messy lives of those who lived under God’s first covenant, asking what these blessedly unsanitised saints can teach us about living out our faith in relationship with a God who promises never to leave us or forsake us.

Welcome to the Living Covenant Podcast, where we journey through the messy human stories of the Old Testament explore what it means to live in covenant with a promise keeping God. I'm your host, Zanita. Let's dive in.

  hello everyone, and welcome to the Living Covenant Podcast. We are here with Kira Bridcutt, who is certainly not new to the writing world. You've written a fair bit for the record. You've worked for the record as well. So thank you for joining us for this series again.

 Yeah, I'm glad to be here.

We, um, are gonna dive into the story of Esther, but we'd love to hear a little bit about yourself first. I know that you've just moved to the other side of Australia, but tell us a little bit about that move and your life and what things look like for you.

Yeah, so at the end of last year I've decided to move west after falling in love.

So- Mm ... yeah, did a l- a year of long distance and decided to make the move and try my hand at living here. I mean, my sister lived here as well for a period of time, so I thought if she can do it, I can do it. Nice.  And yeah, didn't have much lined up for me at the time, but I have to say the move has been quite God-centered in a way.

Mm ... I remember when I first moved, I was applying for work and I wasn't getting anything. It was a very quiet market, and I just remember praying about it, and then the next day I got two job interviews, and I was like- That's good ... "That's crazy." Like, it happened straight away. Yeah. And then went to both of them, didn't hear back for three or four weeks, which usually is the period of time you're like, "Oh, okay, haven't got it then."

And then prayed about it again, and I got a call back. And so now- Mm ... I'm working full-time as a journalist at a rural newspaper, so it's called Farm Weekly. I'm writing all things regional rural news from politics to things affecting farmers, and means that I'm traveling sometimes four hours around the state to different events and going to farms. So it's given me a lot of variety in seeing the landscape. So yeah, no, it's been good.

Sounds like an exciting, exciting job.

Yeah. Yeah, it's certainly not what I saw myself doing- ... but it's exposed me to a whole new world of knowing where food comes from.

I love it. So good. in your article, I feel like this is a good pivot, but in your article you spoke about how when you were little you used to dream of a future in silk gowns and tiaras with no responsibilities and a really handsome prince.

And it sounds like you found your prince, but you talk about- ... how in your, like your perceptions kind of changed about being a princess as you grew older. And instead of it being glitz and glamour like we see in the Disney movies, it's more about, like you mentioned, politics and responsibilities and dramas.

Yeah, yeah

I've actually been reading not reading, sorry, I've been watching the series The Crown lately. Have you ever seen that?

I haven't, but it's certainly one thing that came to mind when I was writing the article. I'm, like, thinking of all the royals in this day and age.

I'm like, "It's really not that exciting by the looks of things." Everyone's commenting on what they're wearing, what they're doing, how they're acting and responding to world events. Mm-hmm. I'm just like, "That would be a lot of pressure."

Yeah. Yeah, as I was reading your article, I was kind of like, "Oh, this sounds like The Crown," because I think it's something that, you know, we look at the Queen and the royal families and we're like, "Wow, what a life. What an honor." But they really just have-

Mm ...

so many responsibilities and there's so many dramas and so many expectations. And you bring that out in Esther's experience as well. But before we get too much into our story, for those who don't know too much about Esther's story, can you kind of, like, set the scene for us? Who was Esther? What was her life like? Was she born into royalty or... Yeah, what's her story?

Ah, to give a summary, so-

Mm-hmm ...

esther wasn't born into royalty. She was of a, I would say, a humble background, raised by her uncle. And- Hmm ... in the time that it was set young girls kind of eligible and of a nice appearance kind of, I guess, selected to go before the king as a potential brides and in the, the harem. And so, yeah, Esther was chosen for her beauty to go before the king as a potential, I guess, partner.

Mm-hmm.

And she was also of a Jewish background, which at the time, being a Jew wasn't looked upon very fondly. And- Yeah ... as well, the king didn't know that. So it kind of sets the scene to be quite a drama-filled story, I suppose, even though it's not a huge- Yeah

it's not a huge book of the Bible, but there's certainly a lot to unpack in it. Hmm.

Yeah, her story has all of the elements of a historical political drama I feel. um, like- Yeah. ... tragedies, like, kisses, romance, and it happens to be true. I think often when I think about the story of Esther, I forget that it's history because it feels like-

Yeah

a drama. Yeah, it feels like it should be a TV show or something.

It could be. I'm sure someone will do that one day, but- You mentioned um, Esther was chosen by the king. Did she have the option of being amongst those women, or did he just go out into the public square and look at all the females?

Well, I guess he, he sent his, you know, staff to go look out for him, but there's no way that you could say no to a king when you're no one of higher standing in a way. Hmm. So, no, she didn't have the option to say no. Um- Right ... especially being a woman at that time, their rights would have been very minuscule.

I think-

Hmm ...

her, of course, her guardian was her uncle, so he was the one that would be making the decisions, especially who she got to marry at that, that point of time.

Yeah, and what do we know about this king? Was he a good king? Was he a bad king? Was he respected?

Well, it's interesting because the start of the story, of course, it's sets the scene of him dispelling the last queen. Mm-hmm.  And so you kind of get this image of whether he's a good king, I guess he's a firm king. He wasn't afraid, but at the same time-  The reason he dispelled her out of her court because she said no to him. She wasn't going to follow what he requested, and so that was kind of unheard of.

Mm-hmm. But I guess it sets the scene that was very much a man of power and would get what he wanted. Yeah. And it would be his way very much- Mm ... of the time.

 So it's like his way or the highway.

Oh, definitely.  And whether he was a good king as well, when I think of the story, he very much listened to the voices in his court, of his advisors, rather than being- Mm

the decision-maker. While he did make the final decision, he listened to a lot of what, especially Haman, what he had to say and just went, "Yep. Okay. We'll go with that."

Yeah, and I understand, so there was a number of women who were chosen as options by the king's- Mm ... counselors. And what I find interesting about the story is that they had... correct me if I'm wrong, but they had a year before they met the king, - Yeah ... where they were basically, like, pampered and smothered in oils and fragrances. Yeah ...

yeah, yeah. They were treated and made all pretty and ready to go before the king, which on one hand I'm like, "Oh, that would be nice," a year of just, you know, beauty and getting- all dolled up. But at the same time I'm like, "Oh, would I really want to be, you know, made all prim and pretty to go before a man that I've never met before-  Mm ...  with the, I guess, potential to be  the partner or queen or whatever role it was going to be?" I think that would be really scary. And I, I feel like it would be a bit unsettling as well.

Mm.

Getting all dolled up- Yeah ... for a man that you don't know. For

sure. If you think about it, like when, when you get married, a girl will spend all morning or half the day getting ready, and that's,

Mm ...

the most beautiful she'll ever be in her life. So I guess- Yeah ... in comparison to an entire year is just wild. What can you even do- ... in that year time I guess to prepare for that? It's someone that you don't know as well. when it's, I suppose, someone that you're about to  marry by choice and that you love, but- Yeah ... someone you don't know. Come with all sorts of  strange emotions, I think. How do we see Esther respond to this situation?

I think from the story she kind of just goes with it, goes with what's required of her, which you see quite a lot throughout the story. But she wasn't  very much a person at the time  trying to make herself stand out amongst the others. She just wanted to blend in, not draw too much attention to herself, and just do what was expected.

 Do we know from the text if this is something that she was hoping for or if she was hoping to get out of it?

 I don't know if it really goes into her feelings too much on it. I couldn't imagine her wanting to go along with it. I feel like it'd be really scary, and I would assume she was quite young at that time as well. And even just the fact you're getting all dolled up with all these other women, it would just- Mm ... be so intimidating, almost like a competition  trying to get the king's attention, but it's hard to know what she was thinking, but if I put myself in her shoes, I feel like I would be really scared and wanting to get out of it.

 For sure.  Um, tell us what happens next. We know that she's obviously with all these women and she's getting, having a year just being pampered. What's kind of the outcome after all of this?

 The outcome is that she actually catches the eye of the king, her amongst- Ooh ... who knows how many women. Yeah, there's the romance element. And I said in the article, I don't know if it was quite love at first sight as it is portrayed in a lot of romance, historical fiction- Mm ... whatever you wanna call it, but yeah, she caught his attention, and he was quite smitten with her seemingly.

 And so I guess he chooses her to be the queen.

Mm.

yes.

But what happens? Is it just like she becomes the queen happily ever after, or  is there another plot twist?

Well, there's is another plot twist because her uncle actually plays quite a significant role in the story.

 and the king's kind of right-hand man, Haman, because Haman didn't like the Jews and-

Mm-hmm ...

he knew that her uncle was a Jew.  And so   Haman was respected in the court and Mordecai didn't show that. So there's a scene there where I believe Haman's on horseback, and everyone's kind of bowing towards him showing some sign of respect. And her uncle Mordecai wouldn't do that. And so he kind of stood out amongst the crowd, and Haman didn't like that. And so he went to the king and said, " You know,  these Jews, they don't respect us. They don't respect you. we need to do something about it." And so a decree was made to kill all the Jews.

Mm.

So that was the, the next plot twist because it went through. Right. The king approved it. Mm.  And so if all the Jews were to be wiped out, what was to happen to Esther, who was a Jew as well?

 Yeah, you wrote in your article, "Esther became caught in the middle of this dangerous plot, torn between the life she lived as  queen and the fate of her people."

Mm.

I'm sure Esther wasn't just thinking, "Oh, no, will I survive?" But was also like, "What do I do for my people? What can I do for my people?" Because she's obviously in a position- Mm

of power.

don't believe She had any other family as well, and so knowing that her family was at risk as well, let alone her entire, yeah, people, I think that would be a lot of responsibility.

 For sure. Yeah. Absolutely. And I imagine she's still quite young at this time as well.

Mm. Mm. And

the king would have chosen quite young, beautiful women.

Yeah.

 Okay, so that's quite intense. How does she respond to this? What does she do?

I know she was quite distraught about it. Her uncle came to her asking her to do something- Mm ... and she didn't really know what to do because she- Mm

couldn't go before the king without being summoned.  She couldn't just present herself. Despite being the queen, she couldn't actually just go up to him and say, "Hmm," you know, "this is what you're doing."  And so I know she was very upset and prayed a lot about it, and set up   banquets with the king and organized them and Haman, and kind of, tried to build a good relationship with Haman despite having maybe-  alternative motives. So yeah, she's had all these nice banquets  and the king wanted to reward her for doing such nice things and said, "What, what is your request?" And at the end, she let her request be known of Haman's plot against her people. And I don't believe she was actually invited to be in his presence. Mm. But the king put his scepter towards her as a sign of ... "That is forgiven, that you have come before me  despite- Mm ... not being requested to come here." Which kind of shows that  despite being, I guess, strangers in a way- there was something more, that he actually respected her.

 So, and yeah, then so she let her request be known that, yeah, Haman's plot was to wipe out her and her people, to which the king's- Mm ... going, "Wait a minute," "I didn't know you were a Jew. How could Haman-" Mm ... you know, have this plot?" And Haman, I don't believe, knew she was a Jew either, so it was a whole, the plot thickens and everything unravels before his eyes.

 Yep. So,

yeah. Yeah. You see the previous queen, when she does something wrong, she's just, like, banished, which makes you, I guess, question-

Mm ...

the level of respect or, adoration, I suppose, for the previous queen. But obviously Esther has, earnt the king's respect and admiration- Mm

um, to, to listen and do something that is contrary to what he kind of stands for, I guess.

Yeah. Yeah.

 and so Esther asks the king to save the people?

Is that what you would say?

Yeah, yeah. She- She really put herself out there,

and he responds, I guess, positively we see.

Yeah, which again, makes me feel that he did have a relationship with her, that he respected her and maybe- Mm-hmm ... I don't know, it might be a stretch to say loved her, but  didn't want anything bad to happen to her. And so yeah, you see that he does then go out of his way to save her and her people.

 And is that where the story ends? The king goes out of his way and saves the people and then that's the closing of Esther? Or does something else unfold from that point on?

Well, from there her Uncle Mordecai was then brought into the court in an advisory role or something like that, and then Haman was then  killed for his acts.

I think there's- Right ... some retribution there. Yeah. So yeah, it's a bit of a interesting way to end the story, but yeah. Mm-hmm. I think it just goes to show that actions do have consequences, of course. For

You were given the choice as to which Old Testament character, you wanted to explore and write about. Was there something about Esther's story that particularly stood out to you, or that intrigued you. Why did you choose to write about her essentially?

 It was definitely a story I knew a lot better than most of the others. Mm. And of course, yeah, ref- on reflection, it was, you know, she was a pretty princess.

One of those stories that as a kid when you hear about it, you don't really absorb, I guess, the full story. Mm. You just know she's a pretty princess, and you wanna be a pretty princess as a young girl. But I guess what really stood out for me was her bravery and the challenges she had to overcome within herself to be able to go before the king and make her request and put herself on the line because by her going and appearing in front of the king without being,  requested to come, she could have been killed for doing that.

And just having that strong sense of  wanting to protect the people that she loves just really stood out for me. Mm. And so that's kind of why I thought, well, I wanna actually look a bit deeper into her story and try and put myself in her shoes of what that would've been like for her.

Mm. Awesome. What have you kind of, what's been the takeaway for you in reading the story of Esther?

I think, I spoke about it a bit in my story. The takeaway is having more confidence in my faith. it was something that I really struggled with having throughout my younger years, being able to freely, and openly talk about it.  And seeing her being able to do that, I just think to myself, well, in my world, I have so much more opportunity to be able to speak freely about my faith than she did.

Yet she put her life- Mm ... on the line to be able to save her people and for her faith. And I think to myself- I would like to be able to do that and be someone that can be that bold.

So good. You, um... There's not a lot of examples in the Bible of females um, doing awesome things like this.

Like, we have obviously a ton of, like, testimonies of men in the Bible doing incredible things- Yeah ... and following God and standing up and performing miracles and all that, but there's not a lot of females. And you wrote... You brought up an Ellen White quote that just made me, like, fist pump for all Christian women- Yeah

In the world. It was awesome. It's from Daughters of God. I might just read it out 'cause I think it's really cool. Yeah. But Ellen White said, "God worked through women who He chose to be His representatives, using them to gain great and decisive victories. God, on more than one occasion, used women in times of emergency, bringing them to the front line and working through them to save the lives of His people." Um- Mm-hmm ... yeah, which is so cool. And I think you mentioned in the story as well that we see Esther and the women fasting and praying before- Mm ... she went to the king.

Mm.

I think this is the only book in the Bible as well where God isn't specifically mentioned. Mm-hmm.

and I'm not sure if you mentioned that in your article as well, but  as you read through the story, did you see God working behind the scenes in any way

as you were reading the text?

yeah. It's, it's an interesting one, and which also drew me to wanting to write and research more about her story.

The fact that a chapter in the Bible has been written out there without explicitly mentioning God, you just wonder- Mm ... what the purpose is, and that's where I think this, you really can see- Yeah ... God working behind the scenes rather than, you know, very prominent, I would say, in the story.

 Because God works in so many different ways, and I feel a lot of examples in the Bible show ways God works very obviously  in people's lives- Mm ... whether through, you know, responding to prayer very, actively, I suppose. Or, you know, Moses and the burning bush, you know. You can't get more- Yeah

 obvious, I suppose- Mm ... than that. And so I think in one way it makes you take a step back to think about the different ways God does work- Mm ... to reaffirm that He's not always explicitly there, but He is still there in a roundabout way. And I think you can see God throughout the story, whether it's explicitly mentioned or not. Because He was the one ultimately working through her to get her to that point, and the one protecting her through all the experiences. Mm. So I think, yeah, it's a good way to reflect upon all the multifaceted ways God works in, through different characters.

Hmm. Yeah, I'm sure when she was in that period where she was being massaged and having fragrance poured all over her and- you know, await to be seen by the king, she was probably like, "What on Earth is God doing?" And then probably even when- Mm ... she got chosen she probably also was like, "Where is He?" Or, "What..." And then we see it again when, when she's like, "I don't know what to do." Like, "Should I go-" go to the king or should I not?

Mm-hmm. She goes to her uncle and she's unclear of what to do, and so that's what leads her to pray and fast. But in that, you know, typically when people are praying and fasting about something, they are still waiting for Mm ... God to answer them or God to do something. And so we can kind of see her wrestling with that.

But I know Mordecai- Mm ... in, um, chapter four, he says, "If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place." So his confidence wasn't in Esther necessarily. His confidence was- Mm ... still in God. Like, whether you do something or not, God is still gonna save and protect His people is, is kind of what he, seemed to believe. So yeah, e- even though he's not in the story, like you said, we can still see Him working,

Mm.

Yeah ... yeah, through other people.

Yeah. I think He uses us as a vessel to-

Mm ...

do His, what needs to be done at the end of the day.

Yeah. Yeah.

Um, obviously this series is called the Living Covenant Series. How does this story- Mm ... of Esther touch on that idea of living in covenant with God?

Yeah. When I first got asked to write a piece for it, I really wrestled with it because I was like, "How... It... The covenant, the living covenant in this story isn't very distinct," but it's coming off the back of God making a covenant with, I think it was with Abraham, that nothing bad was gonna happen to the Jewish people.

Yeah. I just, the covenant isn't, of course, as distinct as the ones that, you know, God's actually made with other Bible characters like Abraham. It's not-

Mm ...

clear, but it's through Abraham's covenant that it's still continuing down the lineage- Mm

to Esther, who's still kind of, I guess, part of that covenant made at that point.

Yeah. So it's still living on through the descendants.

Mm.

Yep. Living on, living covenant. Um, final question: if you could describe Esther in one word, what would it be?

Oh, one word. I guess I'd say courageous would be... Yeah. There's so, there were so many things happening at the time that were going against her, and at the end of the day, had the courage to be able to stand before the king despite the fact that she could have been killed for it, I just think is pretty amazing. So yeah, I would say she's pretty courageous.

Yeah. Awesome. Do you have any practical takeaways that you want people to kind of take from her story?

Hmm. That's a good question. I think the most practical one is just knowing, of course, that God works through people in such different ways and- Mm ... through imperfect people too. 'Cause Esther- Mm ... I think was quite scared. As you say, wrestled with it quite a bit. And when Mordecai was coming to her saying, you know, "Something needs to be done," I think that really challenged her.

And so-

I think God works through imperfect people,  and I think you shouldn't let that cloud over what you can achieve what He can achieve- through you.

Yeah, that's awesome. I think that's really encouraging. Um, well, we have come to the end of the episode, but thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on Esther with us.

Thanks for having me. For anyone who wants to read the article, it is called God's Promises Through Esther, and that's by Kira Broadbent. So thank you again. I love the piece and I've learned a lot about- Thank you ... yeah, Esther, and I've just been encouraged, so thank you. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.