One Night With The King

I am starting a 4 week series on the book of Esther this Sunday. So, I was excited to hear that there was a new movie called "One Night With the King" in theaters based on the biblical story. IIt has a terrific cast of Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, and John Ryhs-Davies. Yet, despite being based on a great story, it is not much of a movie. If you want to see a clean movie with no sex, language or violence, then it is a good choice. Yet, that is the problem with the movie. The real story of Esther contains sex and violence. Frankly, the true story of Esther has far more drama. Furthermore, the movie script strips out all of the humor of the original story. I don't understand why the screen writer felt he had to "improve" on the original story.

In the movie version, Esther, Mordecai and even King Xerxes are so sanitized that they hardly resemble the biblical characters at all. All three are presented as paragons of virtue. The truth is, Xerxes was a heathen king bent on power and violence and manipulated by his staff. Esther and Mordecai--at least for the first half of the story--are morally murky characters at best. Unlike Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refuse to compromise their faith or violate the Old Testament purity laws, Esther hides her Jewish idenity. She not only eats non-Kosher food but actually spends the night with the pagan king in order to win the throne. Despite how the movie portrays it, I don't think Esther and Xerxes had a chaste evening of swapping stories.

What makes Esther such a powerful story for us today is not seeing her great courage, but in seeing the providence of God in the messiness of life. Esther is a refreshingly realistic look at life in a complicated world. In Esther, there are no prophets to tell her what to do. There are no miracles. She is no saint. The author doesn’t even give any moral commentary on the questionable behavior of the characters. Even more surprising, God is never mentioned. It is the only book in the Bible without a single direct reference to God. It is just real life as it really happens—just like it is for us today.

Yet, Esther gives us a marvelous picture of how we can live as the people of God in a world that does not even believe in Him. While Esther’s name is in the title and God’s name is never mentioned, He is the star of the book. His hand is unmistakable. The book of Esther is a remarkable story, one that can inspire you to live a life of faith even in the messiness of life. But, to get that, you have to read the book, not watch the movie.