Queen Esther Quotes

“I am older now and have learned many things. I have learned, for instance, that God allows us to hold on to our human defenses for only so long. At times, he himself calls them forth, permitting them to function for a season in order to guard us from harm. But a day will come when, in his eyes, they have served their purpose and must be removed.
The hour your soul grows attached to that defense-- the moment your heart clings to it too much for safety-- is the moment God rises in his mercy to destroy it.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“But alas! My father, 0 my father! My people, 0 my people! My God, 0 my God! Release me from this too great trial and tribulation,, for it is greater than I can bear.”
― Donald Bain, Queen Esther, a Purim play, by Donald Bain. 1917 [Leather Bound]

“She lifted her head and smiled. For one moment, that face stopped Adin in his tracks. In her mid-twenties, she was tall and long-necked, her perfect posture making the most of a figure that could not be improved upon. But it was the sweetness of her expression that caught Adin off guard.
This was not a woman to put on airs. Her face, dewy soft and delightfully formed by the hand of the Almighty, held no self-importance, no testy awareness of her own dignity. Her smile held about it a tinge of sadness, as if she was about to bid farewell to something precious.
That very morning, she had braved death to come into the king's presence uninvited. God had heard the fervent prayers of his people, for the king had simply lifted his scepter to her and bid her to ask for anything she wished.
Esther had asked for nothing, save this banquet.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“Tonight, I risk all." Her laughing eyes turned somber. "Tonight, I reveal all."
"Your kingdom in exchange for your people?"
The shadow of some terrible sorrow silenced him. "A kingdom? What is that to me? I risk my marriage for my people.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“In contrast to the richly ornamented chamber, the queen sat simply robed in a long-sleeved lavender tunic, hair unbound as her handmaiden worked aromatic oils into the long tresses. Unadorned as she was, stripped of cosmetics and jewelry, she seemed the most beautiful creature Roxannah had ever laid eyes on.
Tall and willowy, she turned with swanlike grace to watch them bow.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“It's not good for your health to be the center of too much attention when you work in the palace. At least not until you make a few powerful friends. Sometimes, the best gift you can receive from a royal hand is a bit of anonymity.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“To Roxannah, the very silence became mesmerizing, for she suspected that just beneath that fragile exterior, the queen waged a battle. Walk away and leave her enemy to deal with her own problems, or dip in her oar and try to save a woman who had, according to gossip, made it her mission to take away Esther's crown.
As Hathach had pointed out, this was a simple matter. Few royals, bred to defend their position and territory, would have experienced such inner turmoil over it.
Roxannah found herself drawn to this woman who had withheld her praise on purpose to protect a minor retainer and who turned white at the thought of refusing help to her enemy.
Here was a monarch worth serving.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“All of those different strands, the hard and the sweet, were being used in the unfolding of this extraordinary moment: Amestris offering peace to her rival.
Esther would remain queen a little longer. A simple Jewish woman used by God in ways they could not yet comprehend.
This was another turn in God's faithfulness. The safety only He could offer. Not a perfect protection from every tribulation flung at them by the mighty forces of darkness. But a gathering of the broken pieces to His will. Turning evil into good.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“Rather than a victim, the book of Esther reveals a woman who battles her worst fears and emerges a confident, purposeful, and wily heroine. She is a queen who wields considerable influence in a vast empire and changes the course of her people's destiny.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Queen's Cook

“I kept my own counsel and hid my Jewish heritage as my cousin Mordecai bade me. Like Abraham, I laid the Isaac of my hopes and dreams at God's feet.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“How could I make my cousin understand that I had no influence, though I still wore a crown? Xerxes had removed the shield of his love from me when he had cut himself off from my presence.
But Mordecai was not as convinced as I that the strength of my husband's abandonment could outmatch the power of God's intention.
"Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" my dear cousin asked me. As far as he was concerned, with or without the king's affections, God could open the doors of favor to me.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“She was a rare beauty. She had to be to snag the attention of a king. But beneath the enchanting face, Sazana sensed an avid intelligence.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“Sazana realized that with a few words, Esther had won the workers' loyalty for life. Heart and soul, they were her men after this, because they knew she valued them.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“I feel like a clay pot sitting in the furnace. Come morning, I am not certain whether I will be riddled with cracks and find I have become useless, or if I will be rendered stronger."
Esther smiled. "How well you put it. I believe I have been through that blaze myself, and more than once. We all face the flames of life, whether we wear a crown or not." She opened and closed her golden fan. "I beg your pardon, Shoshanah. I know that my needs as queen have added to your burdens when you already carry much."
Sazana's mouth hung open. Had Esther apologized to her? A queen asking pardon of a potter? No. A friend asking pardon of a friend. She smiled warmly. "I only wish I could be a better help to you. To our people."
"Sometimes you have to tend to your own heart before you can help anyone else.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

"How beautiful. I don't know how to thank you, my lady."
"No need for thanks." Esther smiled. "As a potter, you must be familiar with this verse."
"I have heard it a time or two, lady."
"Yes. But I want you to set your gaze upon the first line. How can you be an orphan when you have a Father in God? As a potter, you might appreciate the allusion and understand the rest of the verse better than most. But as an orphan girl, you have to learn all about the first claim. Seek your Father, that he may heal you.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“You are not to blame for what that murderer has tried to do."
She exhaled. "We each bear our own manner of responsibility."
He opened his mouth to argue, but she forestalled him with a hand. "The point is, they are harming my people. I want it stopped, Jadon."
"Yes, lady."
"We will tend Shoshanah's wounds. Then we will put an end to this hunt. I am done being the prey to some invisible foe.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“With silver ink, the scribe had copied one verse from the prophet Isaiah.

Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

"How beautiful. I don't know how to thank you, my lady."
"No need for thanks." Esther smiled. "As a potter, you must be familiar with this verse."
"I have heard it a time or two, lady."
"Yes. But I want you to set your gaze upon the first line. How can you be an orphan when you have a Father in God? As a potter, you might appreciate the allusion and understand the rest of the verse better than most. But as an orphan girl, you have to learn all about the first claim. Seek your Father, that he may heal you.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan

“I thought Esther was your friend."
"She is, Jadon. But she is also a queen who must protect more than those she loves best. It is what makes her worthy of our obedience.”
― Tessa Afshar, The Royal Artisan