Castle Rock

"So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal place in the tenth month, in the seventh year of his reign.  The King loved Esther more than all women, . . so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen. . "  Esther 2:16-17

The Biblical account of Esther, the young Jewish girl who is made queen of a large Persian empire, may sound somewhat like a romantic fairytale, but is actually a story of a young girl's triumph over fearsome circumstances and her victory in courageously fulfilling a call to destiny.

Esther was taken to the king's place without her consent, but she willingly submitted to the program of instruction.  Though she could have asked for anything from the harem before going to the king, she took only what her caretaker, Hegai, advised.  Even though it could have cost Esther her life to go before the king uninvited, she did go despite the cost, so that the Jewish people would be saved from destruction.

The Castle Rock ring is made to look strikingly like an ancient castle.  It has four cornerstones, surrounded by a relief that appears like hand-hewn rocks with a large cross on top and a cross on each side.  The rocks and the cornerstones represent Esther's foundational faith in God, which sustained and empowered her to act courageously.  The castle itself represents the royal position to which God placed Esther so that the Jewish people might be saved.  The crosses represent the salvation of all people of all nations, which later came through the Jewish people, that God preserved through a young girl named Esther.