365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

261. Rocks and Gems

261. Rocks and Gems: Write about a rock or gemstone meaning.

I recently read a book called Hadassah: One Night With the King by Tommy Tenney, and it has captivated my imagination. This story is based off of that book, but I guess you could also say the following is based off of Xerxes (or Ahasuerus) and his Queen Esther (or Hadassah), who besides being Biblical figures are also figures from history -- and I do adore history!

Sapphire

What could he give her?

King Xerxes, handsome, powerful, impetuous, and at a loss, laid upon his otherwise empty bed and stared at the ceiling draped in gauzy fabric. His eyes traced the lines, but in his mind's eye, he traced the lovely face of his beloved queen. He adored her even more now than ever before, for she had prevented his overthrow by a traitor who Xerxes had instated to a high position. Even thinking about how close he was to losing his life and his crown made him burn with an anger Haman's death had still not abated. The betrayal had been painful, but it was the last in a long list of them that made Xerxes hesitant to trust anyone. However, for months now, relative peace had reigned.

The country was still recovering from their unsuccessful war against the Greeks. Xerxes' desire to conquer Greece sometimes rose to a fever pitch, inflaming his blood, but without the money or support of his country, he could not attack them again. Besides, Persia was weakened from it, and Xerxes's position itself was weakened from the disastrous venture. His fear of losing his crown plagued his every step.

So he focused on building. He poured what funds Persia had left toward the completion of his father's started projects. Esther, he knew, did not object at all, for she loved to have him with her.

Sometimes when he remembered that, he still had to shake his head in wonder. Xerxes was not a man used to being loved. Everyone either wanted something from him or was afraid of him. Most times they fell into both categories. But his queen -- his Esther -- wanted him. She only wanted him. He saw it in her dark eyes and how she lit up in his presence. He gave her joy, and although he could not admit it outside of the privacy of his bedchamber, she gave him joy too. Simply looking at her and the promise of spending a few minutes or a night alone with her was a joy that filled his heart and lifted it beyond these wearisome burdens he carried.

Xerxes found it hard to trust anyone these days, but he knew he trusted Esther. Sometimes, he even trusted her beyond himself.

Sometimes he even valued her beyond himself, and that was a terrible weakness for a king to have. It was why he could not let anyone know just how dear his queen was to his heart.

But what to get her?

Xerxes thought of summoning her, and spending in a blissful night in her company, but he wanted to think this out alone. He did not, in his manly pride, want to be told the perfect gift. He wanted to find it himself.

What to get a woman who could have kingdom of Persia with so much as a request given to Xerxes, who had access to a royal treasury beyond imagination, who had Xerxes' hardened, fickle heart itself?

He did not know what that item might be, but he knew it had to be special. Esther would not delight in abundance, but in meaning. He remembered, with a smile, how she had first approached him, with her simple necklace, and offered it to him. It had been her most prized possession, and she gave it to him, a king who had everything and yet had never been given anything more valuable.

He sat up. Of course. His most prized possession. What was his most prized possession? He ran through his many prized possessions, and it was a long list. The king dwelled in a palace built of pricelessness. His dripped with gold. Precious was reduced to common to him, so much was he surrounded by it. What, in all this excess of wealth, would stand out to him as worthy of being the anniversary gift of Queen Esther?

He summoned a guard, who summoned his head eunuch, Hathach. He was a childhood friend of Esther's, and as loyal as Xerxes could hope for. He surely had much to be grateful for since meeting his wife.

With a few instructions, Xerxes had sent Hathach to the treasury, and even further to the place where few were allowed to go. Hathach returned in due course, as Xerxes sat up worrying over whether this simple token would be worthy of Esther's honor, though it was as important to him as her necklace had been to her. A mere look at the sapphire necklace he so loved was enough to confirm he was right. Esther would love it. She would love anything he gave her, but especially this.

Xerxes still regarded it with amazement, but Esther wanted his heart. Here he would give it to her.

It was especially fitting for the meaning of sapphires. They stood for loyalty, honesty, purity, and trust -- all of the qualities that made Esther stand out and his love for her endure. She was a jewel among woman, and he knew and acknowledged it. Xerxes nodded to Hathach, who respectfully left. Then Xerxes was able to sleep in peace, with his arm curled possessively around the ornate box that held the simple necklace he would lovingly bestow on his wife on the morrow.