Years ago in the Presbyterian church, we studied this book and the young, female seminarian teaching the class seemed to be guiding us toward an interpretation of Esther as a feminist (sigh). When I offered during the class that I thought Esther could be described, in a word, as obedient, our seminarian recoiled in mild disgust. Oh well.
Esther is anything but a feminist. She didn't compete with the men around her, she didn't take on masculine ways to achieve her ends and she didn't try to take every man down a peg or two (except for the odious Haman who deserved what he got). She faithfully obeyed her cousin Mordecai and her foreigner husband while simultaneously serving God and her people.
The lack of any mention of God in the Book of Esther never seemed problematic to me, but for comparison, I read the Greek version of Esther which my study Bible includes. That the Greek version reads so smoothly could be taken as an indication that God is without question the force behind all that goes on in the story of Esther. From what mere earthly power could Mordecai and Esther, Jews in a foreign land, have possibly summoned up the courage and resolve to plead for the lives of their people?
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