Hadassah: One Night with the King

In continuing with our series on Esther, we're going to look at another fictional retelling of her story: Tommy Tenney's Hadassah.

I first read this book in college, and loved it so much that I kept it. In fact, this is my favorite fictional re-telling of Esther's story. Upon re-reading it, I realized why. 

First of all, it starts off in a place I know well, which is always fun to discover. But more importantly, Tenney's insight into the character of Esther is so profound. His voice is beautiful, and he really takes the time to draw you into her heart and her view of the king. I love how she chose to approach the king, and the parallels Tenney draws between that and how we are to approach God's presence are powerful. 

As one character put it: "When you are in the presence of the King of Kings, destiny—not just your own, but the world's—can change in the twinkling of an eye" (page 78).

In addition, we're given even more insight in this book as to the history between Haman and the Jews, as Haman is an Amalekite. Tenney takes the reader through the line of 500 years and the consequences of Saul's sin of not executing every member of that nation as was commanded by God. 

In fact, this book was so well-received that it became a movie in 2006! Click here to see the movie, or to purchase the book on Amazon, click here!

Esther: Royal Beauty

Okay, we are switching back to Biblical fiction, this time with two different fictional retellings of Esther's story!

First, this week we'll look at Angela Hunt's Esther, the first in her A Dangerous Beauty series.

I'm a fan of Angela Hunt, and Esther is a favorite story of mine, so when I saw that this author and written a re-telling of this story, I had to check it out.

This story is told from 2 characters' viewpoints: Esther's (her Jewish name is Hadassah) and King Xerxes' chamberlain (eunuch), Harbonah. The reader is able to follow Hadassah's journey from a child to queen, while also reading from an "insider's" perspective through Harbonah.

It's a great retelling, and really takes the reader into Hadassah's world. I also loved the depiction of Haman. She wrote him to almost to be like Wormtongue in Tolkien's The Two Towers, in an ostentatious sort of way. You can definitely see this progression in Hunt's portrayal, and because of her deep dive into the characters' flaws and inner struggles, can understand better how it happened—which makes the victory at the end all the more incredible!

If you like the story of Esther, this is a great read. Click here to purchase on Amazon!

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: Read this Book!

That's all for our series on Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg. I hope you enjoyed it!

There's so much truth and wisdom in this book that there was no way I could summarize it. I hope the topics we discussed interested you enough to get this book and do your own study! If you do, please let me know—I'd love to talk with you about it!

To buy it, check it out here on Amazon!

Honi and Chutzpah

In 2011, Mark Batterson published a book called, The Circle Maker. It took me a while to get around to reading it, mostly because it make instantly trendy (like The Prayer of Jabez years ago) and I sometimes find myself suspicious of things like this—how accurate are they? Are they just popular because of prosperity Gospel? What does the Bible really say?

However, after reading Lois Tverberg's chapter on chutzpah on in Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, I couldn't help think of this book. Of which... I don't remember much other than that it's based on the premise of the story of a Jewish who lived a century before Jesus named Honi. Apparently, Honi was a humble man who loved God. Once, during a severe drought, the people asked him to pray for rain.

So, Honi went out and drew a circle in the sand. He got in it and prayed for rain, ending with "I'm not leaving this circle until it rains!" 

And it began to rain, just gentle drops. And Honi said, "That's not what I wanted, but rain to fill cisterns, pits, and caverns". 

And it began to rain violently. "So again, he prayed, 'This is not what I wanted, but rain of goodwill, blessing, and graciousness.' Then it began in just the right way, nourishing crops and restoring the land. (page 124 of Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus). 

I love that this story comes from the inter-Testamental period, the 400 years of silence between Malachi and the birth of Jesus in the Gospels, because it shows how there were those who truly loved God and remained faithful during that time. 

Honi is a great example of chutzpah. But while he definitely benefited from the rain as well, I love that this falls in line with Tverberg's principle of chutzpah often being for the sake of others. He wasn't praying rain for himself, but for the community that was suffering greatly and would continue to without it.

I asked this last week, but I'll ask it again. How can we pray with chutzpah for those around us?

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: Chutzpah

In Chapter 9 of Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Lois Tverberg talks about the Jewish concept of chutzpah.

Chutzpah is, in Tverberg's words, "utter nerve, sheer audacity, bordering on obnoxiousness" (page 118). She tells a story about elderly lady who boarded a bus she was on and sat down without paying. The driver asked where she was going, and the lady replied, but didn't get up to pay. Even though they were on the busiest street in rush hour in Jerusalem, the driver stopped, pulled out a newspaper, and waited for the woman to pay. Traffic came to a standstill and he refused to move. Eventually, the woman left the bus and the woman moved on.

Just summarizing the story above is making my heart race dangerously fast. Being from the South of the US, where you are always polite, don't make waves, etc., I'm stressed out just imagining this, haha. 

That woman had chutzpah—and Tverberg points out that it's part of the culture of the Bible as well. The first story she references with this is the story Jesus told of the Syrophoenician widow pleading with a judge for justice. She eventually wears him down and he decides to give her justice just so she'll go away. 

It's funny, because I used to cringe at that story for that reason. In my culture, it's rude and "wrong" to keep coming back after a "No". Imagine a child who wants ice cream before dinner, and the mom says "No", and the child keeps pleading, "Please, pleeeeeeeeeaaaasssseeeee, pleeeease!" (Even the thought of that makes me nervous!) I was taught, "No means no, don't keep asking." But there are so many stories in the Bible where people continue to plead with Him after a "No". 

Another example Tverberg gives is Abram 'bargaining' with God over not destroying Sodom and Gomorrah: "What if there are 50 righteous people? What if there are 45? But what about..." Even as a kid, I remember thinking, "Why does he keep going back at God like this? God could change His mind and say, '0, then, because you keep pushing it and pushing me.'" But as Tverberg points out, "Jesus liked a little chutzpah" (page 119), and then asks us the question that is the title of the chapter: 

What if we prayed with a little chutzpah? The point faith we're supposed to have is not supposed to be in the outcome, but in God Himself. What do our prayers reveal about what we believe about God?

Before moving on, I do want to say that Tverberg also talks about the danger of prosperity Gospel or "name it and claim it" theology. She says that most often the difference is the Jewish attitude of chutzpah in prayer is not for oneself, but on behalf of others (page 127). That's going to be really important to think about in my next post. But until then...

How can we pray with chutzpah for others? How does this concept widen our perspective on certain stories we've maybe ready a hundred times?