How Do You Like Your Mother-in-Law?

Monday night's discussion as the Women's Bible Study group began studying Ruth was very enlightening. Our faithful leader asked us, "How do you and your Mother-in-Law get along? and How do you get along with your daughter-in-laws?" It was alot of fun to hear each others' stories. Some of us were taken under our mother-in-law's wing right away. Some of us had to earn a place in the family. Some of us are still working on it! As for daughter-in-laws--that was a mixed bag as well. We even compared how different it can be to be a step-mother-in-law! Now that really could get a bad rap!

I was reminded again of what a blessing it is to study and share ideas with a group of women from many generations. From women who got married at 14 and started their family right away and now have "oodles" of grandchildren to brag on--to career women who waited awhile who are just getting started--to adopted, combined families of later marriages that take on a different dynamic as well--to women who are in the throes of raising a family. No matter what our current state, we all bring such richness to the discussions and make our Bible current and alive!

Naomi and Ruth have already become more real to me through our discussion of their relationship--the emotions of leaving home countries, returning to home countries, being left widowed and alone, clinging to other women for support. These are all very common experiences and ones that God blesses us through. I can't wait to talk about Chapter 2 this Monday! Come join us!

Poetic License?

Who else noticed that the movie "A Night with the King" took some poetic license? Now some of it, I understand. A movie is not good without some added drama--the running through the rain scene built suspense and could have happened that way. The dancing in the garden built character for Esther. And even the reading to Xerxes added depth to help us understand why Xerxes may have chosen her other than her beauty and performance when called upon. These aspects did not take away from my bible reading, but added some visuals that made my second reading more enjoyable.

But some of the changes actually changed some of the story. What about the timeline? I felt that leaving out one of the dinners really changed the mood and personality of Haman. In the movie, he seemed to be above and more in control than Esther. He knew more than the Bible version allowed. He seemed to have information to "hold over" Esther. The movie also did not portray Haman begging Esther for his life, but instead taunting her. That is a whole different feeling and mood, as well. Leaving out the first dinner, also changed the reason why the king couldn't sleep. I always thought that he was curious about Esther's request.

The biggest difference that I felt really changed the story was when Haman was so clear about the people being Jewish. In the Bible, this was always kept hidden so the king did not seem to understand the vastness of his decree. In the movie, parading through the streets, Mordecai was declared a Jew. It did make me wonder, how public this discrimination was in those times. It would make sense that Haman would have announced this because it was the reasoning behind Mordecai's "disrespect" and law-breaking behavior. But I thought it took away from Haman's justification against Mordecai because it gave him a very good reason to disobey the law and promoted the Jewish faith by honoring his actions and the reason for those actions.

I guess knowing the story from the Bible made the movie a little more confusing. I wonder how the movie appeared to those who had not studied this book before their viewing. All in all--it is still a good story and I enjoyed the movie's portrayal.
I guess the ultimate point of the Esther story is still that classic line--"Who knows whether you have not come...for such a time as this?"