About Ester.

[Fiannan]

I know that the Book of Ester is one of those books that is not to be regarded as scripture and was only included in the Bible as history -- and even then the men responsible for putting the Bible together debated on including it or not.

However, my wife was toying with the idea of the name of Ester for a daughter (too Utah for my tastes so I vetoed the idea right off) but I thought for a moment about the entire Ester thing.

Let's see, the King of Persia orders his #1 wife, Vashti, to appear before the royal court and parade naked in front of all the nobels at a big wine and feast party. She refuses and the king is so ticked off he decides to hold a big screening for a new wife by getting hundreds of young women to compete for the spot of queen. Ester conceiles being Jewish (since Persians of that day were blond, red headed or light brown haired then that's another bit of evidence for what Jews looked like) and the king picks her as one of the finalists. She gets bathed and treated to the old-style perfume and spoiling thing that took place in the harems of those days. Then she spends the night with the king (uh, do you think they played Risk all night or talked about politics?). She wins the contest, probably does some neat nude appearances for the court (making up for Vashti's refusal) and winds up #1 in the harem of wives.

Of course, she then uses her position to save her people from being ethnically cleansed from the region.

Sorry, anytime I hear the name Ester I think about these aspects of the book -- therefore that name went out the door when we were discussing baby names. I do realize the historic significance of the event and the book (even though God is not mentioned in the book) but shouldn't her artistic representations be more in line with Mata Hari, in context as well as clothing, or lack of?

[Palerider]

We named our 2 oldest daughters Rachel and Leah......we have one son and then we named our youngest daughter...Eve....we liked those names........

[Rosewood]

What do you mean too Utah? Ester's a Hebrew name, and I love it! I've never heard Ester was not suppose to be scripture. I guess I've been hiding in Primary for too many years.

My children are named Adam, Rachael, Gabriel and Gannon. My husband is David and my name is .......also Hebrew. We thought we made up the name Gannon, but we found it in a book of gaelic names meaning fair complected. And boy, he sure is!

[miztrniceguy]

my wife would not agree to name our son Adam Michael, so we agreed on Scott Michael instead

[john doe]

So, I was thinking about naming my next daughter Bathsheba. Then I would know she'd have all the guys in the neighborhood climbing ladders just to see if she was out sunbathing nude. Or maybe she would have guys plotting to kill each other just to be with her. Would she be required to marry a "king" of a guy named David?

Or maybe I could name her Delilah. She could marry some pro football player named Samson who kills himself by collapsing the Coliseum in LA down after a bad loss. She would trick him all the time because he wouldn't be a very bright kid.

Either way, you know my daughter would be guaranteed to be a hottie for life if I named her after one of those two.

I was going to name my boy Judas just because the last famous Judas was always handling money, and eventually ended getting a nice reward for turning someone in to the cops. But then my wife pointed out he later committed suicide, and I decided I didn't want to outlive my kids, so that didn't work.

In the end, we decided to just name our kids names we liked, no matter who in history had that same name. Besides, most kids these days don't study history enough to know that my kids share the names of infamous assassins or killers from years past. My boy hasn't ever been teased about being named Lee Harvey Doe. My older daughter has never even been approached about being called Lizzie Borden Doe, even by adults. My younger daughter doesn't get so much as a second glance when she announces her full name is Joan Wilkes Boothe Doe. Maybe it's just no big deal to most people. Or, maybe it's just because most of my kids' classmates are immigrants, (legal and illegal) and their parents never taught them anything about American History.

[pushka]

Hahahahaha....ROFL!!!

Very good John Doe! :)

[Guest MrsS]

I really do love your sense of humor John - that was a GOOD one.

[john doe]

Thanks..... I just don't get why people get so worked up about someone having the same name as someone else who lived thousands of years ago and may not have led quite as good a life as some think they should have.

[Maureen]

my wife would not agree to name our son Adam Michael, so we agreed on Scott Michael instead

I know someone who was called Michael Scott during his childhood but as he got older, got called Mike (to differentiate between him and his father who is Michael). :)

M.

[miztrniceguy]

my first name is Michael, which is the reason for my sons middle name. i really dislike when people call me Mike instead of Michael, especially right after introductions. I answer phones all night, and introduce myself as Michael, to have people immediatly respond with " Hi Mike, i need......"

[StuggliesWife]

Funny, I was just reading in Esther this morning.

I was following the cross reference links and ended up learning about "submissiveness".... a whole other post.

But what I got from the book, Esther was "submissive" to the King.... she showed him respect and love and in turn his heart was softened to not destroy the Jews (please, anyone correct me if I have misinterpreted the scriptures).

I think Esther is a fine name and one any daughter could be proud to have.

[prisonchaplain]

I've never heard Ester was not suppose to be scripture. I guess I've been hiding in Primary for too many years.

While it's true that there was some debate about the Book of Esther, it ultimately did make both the Jewish and Christian canons of Scripture. It's a beautiful story, worthy of inclusion.

[Fiannan]

It's a beautiful story, worthy of inclusion.

Oh, I don't know, how old were the ten children of her opponent that she had hanged?

[prisonchaplain]

It's a beautiful story, worthy of inclusion.

Oh, I don't know, how old were the ten children of her opponent that she had hanged?

It's a beautiful story of an Old Testament version of an impending Jewish holocaust being averted. That the cultures of the day punished whole families for the sins of a single offender need not detract from the good news of this story--nor should we consider this aspect prosciptive of God's will.

BTW, me thinks there are many "difficult passages" in the Bible. We work through them, and learn what is of God, and what is of humanity, and we gain much blessing. And again--is not Esther is the COJCLDS canon???