Coming Out of Hiding

We’re digging into the book of Esther! This is a book that has often been reduced to a story that’s only for women about winning a beauty pageant and becoming a queen. But there is so much depth to this book for both women and men. It’s a fantastic hero’s journey, there is one of the best male role models in scripture, it has a great deal to say about racial identity and the pressure to assimilate, and this is a book that’s had tremendous meaning for the Jewish people throughout history. There’s so much to excavate in this powerful book that we’ll be splitting it into 2 episodes. So today we want to start with chapters 1-4 as we uncover Esther’s themes of marginalization and assimilation, the struggle to maintain one’s identity in exile, and the cost of being our whole selves. Passages read in this episode: Esther 2:1-22, 3:1-6, and 4:12-17