3869 — The Case of Esther
By T. A. Z.
Persians could not marry Jews. What about the case of Esther? Our querist has turned the question around. Persians were not forbidden to marry Jews, but Jews were forbidden to marry Persians. But in this case it was not the choice of Esther, but the choice of the king, and the Jews were captives and slaves in the land of Persia. Esther seems to have been gathered among the beautiful maidens of the kingdom from whom the king was to take his choice; and she was chosen. It was an exceptional case, and God overruled it for the good of His children. There were those exceptional cases all the way through. For instance, Rahab, of the inhabitants of Canaan, of the city of Jericho, who housed the spies, became an ancestress of our Lord, and so also did Ruth the Moabitess. But these were exceptional cases, and did not pervert the holy seed.