Frodo's world touches ours. That is to say Esther's world of which we are a part. The little Hobit and Queen Esther share some things in common. In the book of Esther, God's name is not mentioned, nor does the author of the book of Esther refer to God. Yet, the story of Purim is one of God's activities behind the scenes. Hadassah, better known by her Persian name of Esther, was a Jewess who became the queen of the mighty Persian Empire back in ancient times. Her identity was a secret until she exposed the scheme of the wicked court chamberlain Haman. Haman's plan called for the extermination of the Jews. He wrangled the Persian king to sanction the scheme. Once, the program became law, even the Persian king could not change or rescind it. Purim's narrative ends with a reversal of fortunes. In what seems to be the course of ordinary events, God's hand by the aegis of Esther moved the king to enact another law that allowed the Jews to defend themselves. Haman was hung and the enemies of the Jews were destroyed.

In Lord of the Rings, the unnamed and unseen Director of Events moved an unlikely character, Frodo Baggins, to forge ahead through all hazards to destroy the evil ring. The toll on Frodo was enormous. He was constantly being drawn toward the dangerous power of the ring, to give in to the temptation to succumb to its power. The ring's dazzling allurement followed him throughout his long journey. Esther too, was in a dangerous situation. Esther had to act with an urgency to beat the deadline of Extermination Day. But any unauthorized approach to the king, even for the queen, meant certain death. Only by the favored holding out and extension of the kingly scepter could one be granted an audience with the king. After three days of fasting, Esther boldly approached the throne. For she told her people previously: "…. though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I am willing to die" (Esther 4:16 NLT). Her temptation, as with Frodo, was to quit the call to sacrifice for the greater good. When that time came the king did hold out the scepter to Esther and deliverance came.

Perhaps, the greatest way the two worlds meet is in the notion of the "Lord over the lord." The Lord of the Rings in our world is none other than Satan himself. The temptation to side with him, his power, and his false light is great. He can display his malevolence on the one hand and a deceptive godlikeness on the other. For some his power is irresistible. Yet, there is a supreme Lord that rules over this lesser lord, that supreme Lord is the "Lord over the lord."

In the 6th century BCE (according to tradition) there was a founder of a religion that attempted to explain the origin of evil. Zoroaster posited what became known as "dualism" that is, that evil always had a separate existence apart from the supreme good, which is God. This meant that God was not sovereign even over evil. This idea may break the dilemma of the problem of evil. That is, how can there be evil when there is a good God? But the ramifications of this notion are disastrous. We have no way of knowing who or what will win out in the end, if evil exists apart from God. The choice is yours, chaos or the Sovereign Lord.

If we could use Frodo's ring as a symbol of all that is evil in the world, and create a pastiche together with the "wall of fire" (ring of fire) found in the book of Zechariah, then we shall have an apt description of the notion of the "Lord over the lord." In Zechariah's day, Jerusalem was an unwalled city, subject to incursions by neighboring enemies. Then the Lord said this: "For I, myself, will be a wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the LORD. And I will be the glory inside the city" (Zechariah 2:5 NLT). This is the good ring and one day when the Messiah Jesus returns; the world will know this Ring of Fire. The evil ring's death notice was served at the cross and in the future day that ring will be cast into the pit of hell forever. Come to the Lord who is Lord over the lord of the rings!