My teenage daughter and I have been looking at the book of Esther. We've read the story in the Bible, we've discussed where we could see God's hand in this book, and we've watched the Fox Faith film "One Night With the King." We watched a wee bit of the movie prior to digging into the Bible and I was at first turned off by the Hollywoodness of the first banquet scene. In particular my attention was caught by the banners and fabrics that were so enourmous and dramatic. I actually hadn't recalled these fabrics in the book of Esther but, because a large part of what Carrot Top Studio does is make worshp banners, my interest was picqued. So I found that the Bible says, "The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars." (Esther 1:6) Of course the fabrics in Esther represent the kings great wealth. This is different from the curtains and used when building the temple as described in the book of Exodus.The curtains in the temple were to designate a worship space and help show the reverance for and the scacredness of the place to worship God. How do you use fabric in your worship space? Are you using fabric to focus on our worship of the Almighty and designate the worship space as sacred? The contrast between the details in Exodus and Esther give us something to think about.
Back to the movie...my daughter and I did finish the movie and even though it's an interpretation of the Biblical story I was pleased with how the storyline remained relatively true. The background music is a bit dramatic and the visuals as stated before seem to have the heavy touch of the movie set director. Seeing the film version did emphasize how similar the times of Esther are to the conflicts we still deal with today and will inspire the viewer to stand up for what is right and just. As for my daughter: I send her off to high school this fall and I hope and pray that she will be like Esther...may she be a woman of character, may she see that God has a purpose for her, and may she be willing to act with courage when she needs to!
A selection of Carrot Top Studio's small banners are being auctioned on eBay this week. See them here!
