Esther's Dilemma

Her Wise Strategy in Response to Slavery, Racial Hatred & Genocide
by Stephen Noll

At a pivotal moment in the build-up to the American Revolution, Patrick -Henry famously declared, holding his wrists together in imaginary manacles: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" Then dramatically bursting his "bonds," he cried: "Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

But what if Henry had been an African slave in Virginia, consigned by Almighty God to perpetual bondage? What if his choice then had been slavery or death? There is biblical precedent for this dilemma.

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Stephen Noll is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and former Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University. He wrote the commentary on the Book of Esther in the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Baker, 1989).

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