Category: <span>Esther</span>

In the drama of the book of Esther, the Jews were raised from a common nation in subjection to the rule of the of Persian Empire to the preferred people of the land. God is not mentioned—but He is not absent. The final obstacle of the book recalls the reader to the contemporary world of the exiles. Although Haman had been hanged, the problems of the Hebrews had not yet been solved. For help, Esther and Mordecai looked to God’s sovereignty and the kindness of the king—whose benevolence did not disappoint.

Since Haman’s actions had become a personal offense to the king—especially when he witnessed Haman falling on the couch where the queen was seated (Esth 7:8)—“that same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews” (Esth 8:1). But Ahasuerus went further still: “The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman’s estate” (Esth 8:2). While Esther and Mordecai were safe for the moment, the edict Haman had arranged was yet valid. The Jews were in danger of being exterminated (Esth 3:9). Esther beseeched the king for legislation that would “revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews who reside in all the king’s provinces” (Esth 8:5). As the king’s previous act could not be repealed, he allowed Mordecai to craft a complimentary piece of legislation which “gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war” (Esth 8:11).

Thus, when the Jews were attacked on the thirteenth of Adar, they could reply in kind. The result was jubilation amongst the people of Susa and the Jews throughout Persia. In fact, “many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews had overcome them” (Esth 8:17). Just as Haman hoped to overpower Mordecai when he came to the second of the queen’s banquets, so too the enemies of the Jews had hoped to destroy them on the thirteenth of Adar but they were appointed to the same fate as Haman. As a result, “the Jews overpowered those who hated them” (Esth 9:1). Even the common Jew had help: “All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the royal civil administrators aided the Jews because they were afraid of Mordecai. For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful” (Esth 9:3-4). In all, the Jews killed more than 75,000 of their enemies, but took no plunder (Esth 9:10, 15-16).

Their victory was a cause for celebration, and the annual Feast of Purim began (Esth 9:23-28), celebrated on the fourteenth of Adar in the rural areas and on the fifteenth in Susa (Esth 9:17-19). This was the month “when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday” (Esth 9:22). In the end, “Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, famous among the Jews, and highly popular with many of his relatives. He continued to seek good for his people and to speak for the welfare of his kindred” (Esth 10:3).

The book of Esther dramatically reinforced the Jews’ faith in their God. Even in exile, God was faithful to those who remained devoted to Him. The book thus has a certain illustrative forcefulness for the argument of the storyline of Scripture. Although followers of Christ face multifaceted opposition in the present—and their ultimate hope lies in heavenly security and reward—it is nevertheless the case that God often displays His faithfulness to His people as they risk safety and comfort to identify with Him in the midst of opposition. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul argued that the resurrection of Christ, a display of the faithfulness of God no less than the preservation of Esther and the Jews, not only assured the resurrection of all believers, but also gives them assurance of God’s faithfulness in their labors for Him. He concluded his defense of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 with an exhortation regarding God’s faithfulness to the ministry of His people in the here and now, saying, “Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).

God was sovereignly working out His plan to preserve—even embolden—His people as they endured subjection to Persia. The narrative of Esther 4-7 moves naturally from problem to solution. When the queen heard the news of the king’s decision to exterminate the Jews, “she was overcome with fear” (Esth 4:4). Mordecai emboldened her saying, “Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esth 4:14). Esther submitted herself into God’s hands and asked Mordecai to arrange a fast amongst God’s people so that she might have a favorable hearing with the king. Her devotion was clear, “If I perish, I perish” (Esth 4:16).

And Queen Esther won a hearing with the king. What was her request? Perhaps in order to further solidify the king’s benevolence toward her, she requested only that he—and Haman—attend a banquet she had prepared (Esth 5:3-5). At the height of the event, the king again asked of Esther’s concern, only to be invited to another feast on the following day (Esth 5:6-8). Then she would present her need to the king. Haman left the banquet elated; of all the king’s subjects, Esther had chosen only him to dine with the king!

But that night, King Ahasuerus could not sleep, “so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king” (Esth 6:1). Upon discovering the valor of Mordecai on his behalf, the king wished to honor the man who helped attend his gate—and who better than Haman to counsel the king in such a matter? When Haman heard of the king’s request, he was sure the king wanted to honor him. Thinking he was planning his own party, Haman informed the king that honor befitting such a subject should include being donned in royal apparel and paraded through the streets on a royal horse—in short being recognized in the glory of the king himself (Esth 6:7-9). In what must have seemed the conundrum of his life, Haman was commanded to carry out this plan, but for Mordecai (Esth 6:10-11). Haman returned home and even his family understood that in the eyes of Ahasuerus, Mordecai was of greater prestige than Haman. And then the king’s officials came to summon Haman to Esther’s banquet (Esth 6:14).

There the queen informed Ahasuerus that Haman had tricked the king into leveling an edict against the Jews. Esther told him that she and her people had been “sold out to destruction, death and extermination” (Esth 7:4a) by Haman. In anger “the king arose from where they were drinking wine and went to the palace garden” (Esth 7:7). When he returned, he found Haman falling on the couch where the queen was seated. While Haman was actually falling down before the queen to beg for his life, when the king saw it, he thought Haman was making advances upon Esther. In one of the most ironic turns in the Bible, Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai (Esth 7:9).

Because Esther and Mordecai knew of God’s faithfulness, they stepped out in faith and risked their lives for their kinsmen, the elect descendants of Abraham. In the storyline of Scripture, Israel had enjoyed God’s special providence throughout history—yet the majority of Israel failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. This was no small burden for Paul, who said that he was willing to be cut off from Christ for the sake of his countrymen if that would prompt them to enjoy fulfillment of God’s promises to them (Rom 9:1-5). Because many Jews rejected Christ, God hardened them for a time—that they might eventually become jealous of His blessing on the Gentiles and seek Him. That is in part the thesis of Romans 11, where Paul wrote, “I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. Now if their stumbling brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentile, how much more will their full number bring!” (Rom 11:11-12).

Esther is a controversial book. There is no reference to God, a Jewish woman married a pagan king, and the Jews initiated the Feast of Purim—the only biblical festival not commanded by God. The events of Esther took place during the period contemporary with Ezra and Nehemiah.

The initial scenes of the book set the stage for the drama of the whole. King Ahasuerus was an opulent ruler (Esth 1:1-12). In the third year of his rule, he held a feast that lasted five months. In the presence of his officials, the king displayed his great wealth. This period concluded with a seven-day feast, at which wine was flowing freely, and no one was in want. At the end of the weeklong banquet, Ahasuerus sent seven of his attendants to bring his wife, Queen Vashti “to show off her beauty to the people and the officials, because she was very beautiful” (Esth 1:11). But against all customs of the day, Vashti refused and “the king became furious and his anger burned within him” (Esth 1:12).

Ahasuerus consulted with the wise men of Persia to determine the legal censure appropriate for the Queen’s rebellion (Esth 1:13-22). Memucan proposed that Vashti’s rebellion could have consequences throughout the kingdom; if the Queen could rebel against the great King Ahasuerus, then would not the common women of the kingdom do the same? The only suitable punishment, the counselors concluded, was to banish and replace Vashti—“so all women will honor their husbands, from the least to the greatest” (Esth 1:20). The king agreed.

Ahasuerus set forth a process to find a new queen (Esth 2:1-21). As the king’s commissioners searched for beauty, they happened upon Esther. Esther was in legal custody of her uncle, Mordecai, a Benjamite who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately the king was struck by Esther’s appearance; he “accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received” (Esth 2:9). Since being the adopted child of an exiled Jew may have hindered Esther’s chance to become queen, Esther and Mordecai kept their proud lineage to themselves (Esth 2:10-11). Even though Esther refused any extra ornamentation to attract the king’s attention, she “won approval in the sight of everyone who saw her” (Esth 2:15)—including the king, who made her his bride (Esth 2:16-18). Yet, under the advice of her uncle, even when Esther was made queen, she did not tell the king that she was the adopted daughter of an exiled Jew.

In time, Mordecai rose to prominence by saving the king’s life (Esth 2:21-23). When Mordecai learned of an assassination plot by two of the king’s eunuchs, he informed Queen Esther, and she told the King of the eunuchs’ plan. The actions of the Queen’s uncle were so noteworthy that “this event was recorded in the court records of daily events in the king’s presence” (Esth 2:23). Mordecai was steadfast in devotion to God, a stance that would jeopardize all Jews. In time, the king honored one of his servants, Haman, promoting him to a position of prominence and even requiring all at the King’s gate to bow and pay him homage. Mordecai refused; he informed others at the gate that he was a devout Jew (Esth 3:3-4). Haman was furious at being spurned by one so lowly as Mordecai. But he went further: “He set out to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’ kingdom” (Esth 3:6). He informed the king that it was “not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them” (Esth 3:8) since they operated by different laws than the Persians and refused to honor the king’s decrees. If the actions of Vashti could lead to upheaval, those of Mordecai no less. The king agreed and took every legal recourse for the destruction of the Jews throughout Persia, to commence on the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month (Esth 3:12-15).

From the moment when God called Abraham in Genesis 12 to Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land in Joshua 3, God demonstrated His faithfulness to His chosen people. Israel’s privileged status was the fulcrum of the drama in Esther 1-3. Though Israel had enjoyed God’s special providence at so many points in their history, many in Israel failed to recognize Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promises. Ironically, the Jewish leadership understood Jesus’ life and ministry to be a threat to their national standing in the Roman Empire. Israel’s privileged status can thus also be understood as the fulcrum of the storyline of Scripture. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, many Jews, John wrote, began to follow Jesus. Jesus’ popularity threatened the Jewish leadership’s grip on national identity maintenance in the Roman Empire. They gathered the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do since this man does many signs? If we let Him continue in this way, everybody will believe in Him! Then the Romans will come and remove both our place and our nation” (John 11:47-48).