The book of Esther, also addressed as Megillas Esther, is an important book of the Bible believed in by both Christians and Jews alike. It tells a fantastical story about a young orphaned Jewess that rose up to become the Queen of the Persian Empire and in turn saved her people from being massacred. It is a patriotic and remarkably historically accurate story of how God allows truth and justice reign supreme over evil and once again saves his Chosen people from destruction. And it tells all this without even mentioning the name of God, which consequentially makes it one of the most controversial books of the Bible. .
The book starts out by setting the scene of the story, a prologue almost. King Ahashuerus, also referred to as Xerxes, is having a royal feast for all his people. His wife, Queen Vashti, was also holding a banquet for the women in the palace. In the midst of the celebration, the King became inebriated and ordered his wife to come before the male subjects so he could show off her great beauty, but she refused to come. This made the King extremely irate for she directly disobeyed the King's command. The royal counselors convened in order to discuss what should be done in this matter. The queen sets an example for all women in the kingdom, so if she refuses to obey her husband, other women might respond in the same way to their husbands, and that kind of disrespect could not be tolerated. Therefore the counselors decided that Vashti should be dethroned and the kind should remarry to another woman. .
After the stage is set, the story switches hands to tell about a Jewish girl named Hadassah, also called Esther. Esther was the cousin of Mordecai, from the tribe of Benjamin; he raised her as his own because both her mother and father had died. When the search for a new wife for King Xerxes began, all virgin women in the province were sent to come before the king to be considered, and Esther was one of them.