As dawn broke the next morning, she looked on Xerxes with a love she had never felt before, love and gratitude to Adonai. She had not wanted this life. Would not have picked it, given the choice. But she could not deny that God had been with her all along and chosen her to live with this man for this season in history.
As she gazed on her sleeping husband, then toward the sun peeking through the curtains surrounding them, she smiled. Her life was not her own. She belonged to her Creator. The plans He had for her were for good and not for evil. To give her and her people a future and a hope.
Note to the Reader
Esther’s story in Scripture is a familiar tale. Jewish readers will know every part, as it is reread or retold each year at the celebration of Purim. Christian readers know Esther as one of only two women in Scripture with book titles bearing their name. Esther is famous for being the woman who did the right thing at “such a time as this.”
In my version of Esther’s story, you may wonder where I came up with some of the characters and plot points, or why I left out the end of the biblical account. I tried something different with this novel in that I wove secular history into the biblical story. The reason I have not done this in previous novels is because there is little outside history on the more ancient stories in Scripture. But Xerxes is a historical figure, as was his father, Darius I, and his grandfather Cyrus, all of whom are named in the Old Testament.
Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote of Xerxes and his wife Amestris and the five children she gave him. Other sources also mention Amestris along with Xerxes’ mother, Atossa. But these outside sources disagree on the timing of dates, so I chose the ones that fit best with my version of the story.
Secular history does not mention Vashti or Esther, however. Scholars have tried to guess whether either Vashti or Esther was, in fact, Amestris. But the picture the historians paint of Amestris is not the kind of woman I could envision either Vashti or Esther to be. Amestris was said to be cruel. (I left those cruelties out of the story.)
Since Amestris was the mother of Darius II and Artaxerxes in the historical record, and because Artaxerxes is the one who actually became king in his father’s place, I did include these two children and briefly mentioned another son and one daughter in Esther’s tale. I did not wish to bog down the narrative by adding her last son or the details of their lives.
Artabanus is also written of in history. It is said that he conspired against Xerxes, assassinated him, and told Artaxerxes that Darius had killed him so that he could reign as king. Artaxerxes had both Darius and Artabanus killed and took the crown for himself. Palace intrigue is often bloody and messy.
The tale of Xerxes’ adultery with Darius’s wife is also from the annals of history. Whether it is true or not is debatable.
The Bible does mention Artaxerxes, and he was apparently kind to the Jews. So even if he did as the historians say, he ended up ruling nearly twice as long as his father and was apparently a good king.
Amestris probably helped her son at least in the beginning and perhaps ruled as queen for a time. We do not know for sure. The sources outside of Scripture are subject to interpretation, especially Herodotus because he was Greek and likely held a grudge against the Persians, who had tried and failed to conquer Greece under Xerxes’ rule.
So we return to the biblical tale, and as I studied it alongside other recorded history, I decided that Amestris had to be separate from Vashti and Esther. So I wove her story into Esther’s story. I hope you enjoyed the mix of history and Scripture.
Originally, I had written the entire account from Scripture into Esther’s story, but for the sake of poetic license and because the book of Esther is somewhat anticlimactic, I chose to leave out the actual war where the Jews defeat their enemies. I also left out all but a brief mention of the installment of the celebration of Purim, which is still celebrated in Jewish households today. I did not do this to leave out Scripture but to make the fictional account end on a positive and less bloody note.
One last comment: In the story I refer to “like the dawn.” This is in reference to the midrash comparison of Esther to a hind and the dawn, based on Psalm 22:1:
“For the leader; on ayelet ha-shahar [literally, the hind of the dawn],” which the Rabbis apply to Esther. . . . She was compared to the dawn, for just as the dawn breaks at the end of each night, so, too, Esther [i.e., the miraculous delivery of the Jews] came after there had been no miracles [during the period of exile and darkness].*
I realize that this is more explanation than I normally give, but I hope it helps you to understand the difficulty Esther’s story presented and a few of the more interesting commentaries behind it. Mostly, I hope you read the biblical account of Esther and see that though God’s name is not mentioned—as so many people point out—His handiwork is visible on every page. Sometimes our God works in the silence. Let us never think that His silence means He isn’t watching or doesn’t care. He is there. He knows where we are. And He is always willing to guide us as He did Esther when we are faced with the darkness before the light of the dawn. He can make each one of us like the dawn, showing His light each and every new day.
In His Grace,
Jill Eileen Smith
*Tamar Meir, Esther: Midrash and Aggadah, Jewish Women’s Archive, accessed July 22, 2019, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/esther-midrash-and-aggadah.
Acknowledgments
I have been asked many times during my years of writing biblical fiction to write a story about Esther. I always declined for two reasons:
Her story has been done many times.
I did not think I could bring anything new to the retelling of what had already been written.
But time has a way of changing our perspective. With ten novels on the lives of other biblical women under my belt, I thought, Can I do this? A lot of women in Scripture fascinate me, and Esther is one of them. Still, even after I signed the contract, I wondered, What was I thinking?
I must admit, I think this way with every novel. But this story was one of the most challenging of them all. So I want to thank Revell for believing in me again. Thank you, as always, to my editors, Lonnie Hull DuPont and Jessica English. My deepest gratitude to each one of the teams that support my work—in particular, Michele Misiak, Karen Steele, Gayle Raymer, and Erin Bartels—and so many more.
Thank you to Wendy Lawton for believing in me from the start. If not for your faith in Michal, we would not be here today.
Much gratitude to my critique partner, Jill Stengl, who answered my desperate plea to brainstorm when I was pretty sure the story was awful and I would never find enough words. If you read Esther’s biblical account, it looks long, but it’s really not. Everything takes place in a few years, some of it even days. I wanted to give this story depth, not filler. As always, Jill helped me to see a way to do that.
A special thanks to my prayer team—Emily, Ann Marie, Keeley, Ruth, Miriam, and Pam. You were there when I needed prayer most.
To my sons, daughters-in-law, granddaughter, and coming grandchild—you will always be closest in my heart. I am grateful to God for each one of you every day that I live.
To Randy—thanks for reading every book and for listening to me moan over every first draft. I love doing life with you.
Above all, Adonai—You seemed silent in Esther’s story, and You also seem silent in ours now and then. Yet You are there. You proved it then, and You prove it over and over again to us when we open our eyes to see. Thank You for choosing to use Esther at the right time in her day, so that we might believe You can use us as well when we come to our “such a time as this.”
Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Wives of King David, Wives of the Patriarchs, and Daughters of the Promised Land series, as well as The Heart of a King and the nonfiction book When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams. Her research has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times.
Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.
Contact Jill through email (jill@jilleileensmith.com), her website (www.jilleileensmith.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com/jilleileensmith), or Twitter (www.twitter.com/JillEileenSmith).
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Table of Contents
Cover
Endorsements
Half Title Page
Books by Jill Eileen Smith
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Prologue
Part One 1
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Part Two 11
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Part Three 21
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Part Four 31
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Epilogue
Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
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