(“An Introduction”)

Esther 1:1-5, 10-13a, 15a, 19;

Esther 2:3-4, 8, 15-17;

Esther 3:1-2, 5-6;

Esther 4:1, 5, 7-8, 10-11, 13-16 (NASU)

(A) THE UNSEEN SOVEREIGN

(1) Do you believe God is at work in YOUR life?¹ And if so, do you think He ever alters events so He can use YOU to impact the lives of others? If you believe those things, then my next question is: how does He do it?

I suspect a good number of Christians believe God is working in them and through them – at least they believe He’s doing so to some extent. I would also guess that most of the time they don’t see what God is doing until after the fact – that for the most part His sovereign hand remains hidden while events are unfolding – and that it’s only after they look back, that they see how He guided their steps (and ordered events over which they had no control) to bring about His purpose for them, and/or His purposes through them.

(2) Commentators will tell you (and rightly so) that God is never mentioned by name in the Book of Esther – nor are there any overt miracles or supernatural events.² For example, no one is healed of leprosy (c.f. Mark 1:40-42), or raised from the dead (c.f. Luke 7:14-15) – there are no Red Seas being parted (c.f. Exodus 14), or fiery furnace survival stories (c.f. Daniel 3). No one gets bit by a poisonous snake and survives (c.f. Acts 28:3-6) – no one walks on water (c.f. Matthew 14:25-32) – no one gets swallowed by a great fish and lives to tell about it (c.f. Jonah 1:17-2:10).

(3) Nothing out of the ordinary happens in the Book of Esther. To be sure, several of the main characters do some stupid, sinful things – but there’s nothing unusual about that. On the whole, it’s pretty common stuff so far as life in a fallen world is concerned – there’s a drunken party, a battle of the sexes, a beauty pageant, several government promotions, various displays of arrogance and pride and anger – there’s treachery and deceit, murderous intentions, irony and retribution – just the kind of stuff that goes on in the world today.

AND YET, as one reads the Book of Esther, and reflects on how the events described therein unfold, it becomes apparent to anyone with “eyes to see” (c.f. Matthew 13:16) that God’s providential hand is everywhere,³ working all things after the counsel of His own will (c.f. Ephesians 1:11) – including a royal marriage that goes wrong (c.f. Esther 1) – a beauty contest filled with dozens of pretty girls all aspiring to become the next Queen of Persia (c.f. Esther 2) – a thwarted assassination plot (c.f. Esther 2:21-23) – and a king’s insomnia (c.f. Esther 6).⁴ God weaves all these things (and more) together to save His people from ethnic annihilation, even though He is never referred to directly – not even once. Nor does He ever show His hand in a way that would make us think the world of natural laws and ordinary events has been superceded!

(4) Isn’t that how God works in our lives most of the time? – i.e. through very ordinary looking events? And even when He chooses to alter circumstances so He can put us where He wants us, doesn’t He usually do it without suspending the laws that govern the natural course of our existence?

I’m not saying God no longer works in miraculous or supernatural ways – I’m just saying that more often than not, our experience is similar to that of Esther and Mordecai – that the God who can part the Red Sea and raise people from the dead, doesn’t usually choose to exercise that same power, in our experience, in those ways – that normally, the way He works in our lives is the same way He worked in the Book of Esther – i.e. behind the scenes – in ways that can only be observed after the fact.⁵

(B) PURIM AND PROVIDENCE

(1) The Book of Esther takes its name from its principal female character⁶ – and is one of only two books in the Bible named after a woman – the other being the Book of Ruth.⁷ The other principal characters, in order of their appearance, include “King Ahasuerus” (c.f. Esther 1:1-2) – “Queen Vashti” (c.f. Esther 1:10-12), whom Esther eventually replaced – Esther’s relative, “Mordecai” (c.f. Esther 2:5-7) – and “Haman”, who turns out to be the villain of the story (c.f. Esther 3:1).

(2) No one knows who the author of the Book of Esther is. Some have suggested that Ezra, or Nehemiah, or even Mordecai may have written the book – but there is no hard evidence to support any of these candidates. Most commentators do agree, however, that the author was very familiar with the customs and culture of the Persian Empire – and may have actually been an eyewitness to the events he describes.⁸

(3) We know nothing about Esther outside the book that bears her name. From the book, however, we learn that she was a Jewish exile living in or near the Persian city of “Susa” (c.f. Esther 2:5-6) – that her father’s name was “Abihail” (c.f. Esther 2:15), a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin (c.f. Esther 2:5-7) – but that her father and mother were both dead (c.f. Esther 2:7). So she was raised by one of her father’s relatives named Mordecai (c.f. Esther 2:7, 15).

We also know that her Hebrew name was “Hadassah” – and that she was “beautiful of form and face” (c.f. Esther 2:7) – that she “found favor” in the sight of all who knew her (c.f. Esther 2:9, 15, 17) (much like the Lord enabled Joseph to find favor in the sight of those who had authority over him in Egypt – c.f. Genesis 39) – that she was a woman of great courage (c.f. Esther 4:15-17) – but perhaps more importantly, a woman who was willing to listen to the advice and counsel other people gave her (c.f. Esther 2:10, 15, 20).

(4) The Book of Esther has an unusual history. For one thing, some have questioned its place in the Old Testament Scriptures. Reasons for this have included the fact that there are no obvious references to God – that it’s never quoted by any New Testament authors – and that it just doesn’t appear to be a very spiritual book, in part, because (in some people’s opinion) neither Esther nor Mordecai seem to have had much spiritual awareness, beyond their assurance that God would protect His people¹⁰ – and also because of the way the Jews “rid themselves of (75,000 of) their enemies” in chapter nine,⁹ by doing “what(ever) they pleased to those who hated them” (c.f. Esther 9:5, 16) (kind of a holocaust in reverse, if you will).

These and other reasons – including no references to the Law of God, no mention of sacrifices or offerings, no mention of any of the great Jewish patriarchs like Abraham or Moses or David,² and no mention or examples of prayer¹⁰ – (these reasons) may be why a Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint contains over one hundred verses not found in our Bible translations today. These uninspired additions include a dream of Mordecai about the coming destruction of the Jews, and prayers by both Mordecai and Esther for deliverance.⁹

Another oddity surrounding the Book of Esther is the fact that not a single commentary was written on this book until seven hundred years after the birth of Christ. In fact, a serious commentary of lasting value wasn’t produced until the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth-century. And even then, prolific writers and spiritual giants like Martin Luther and John Calvin left no commentaries on the Book of Esther.¹¹

I don’t bring these things up to put doubts in your mind about the reliability of the Book of Esther, but to let you know about some of the issues that surround its place in the Bible. As far as I am concerned, the fact that the unseen Sovereign has guided events so that the Book of Esther has found a permanent place in the Scriptures should be enough for us to approach it with confidence, that it really has been “inspired by God” – and that it really is, therefore, “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, (and/or) for training in righteousness” (c.f. II Timothy 3:16). (In other words, for whatever it’s worth, I personally have no problems with the Book of Esther – to me it’s just as inspired and as inerrant as the Gospel of John, or the Book of Romans, or the Psalms in the Psalter!)

(5) Actually, the Book of Esther fills an important gap in the biblical record – in part because it gives us a glimpse into what happened to that vast number of Abraham’s exiled descendants, who chose not to return to the land of Israel when given the opportunity to do so.¹¹

When God made a covenant with His chosen people in the wilderness of Sinai, He promised to bless them in every way possible IF they obeyed Him. If they did NOT obey Him, however, He swore to send them into exile (c.f. Leviticus 26:1-33). They didn’t – and He did! The northern tribes of Israel went into Assyrian captivity in 722 B.C. However, it wasn’t until 605 B.C. that the first of three waves of exiles from the southern tribes of Judah went into Babylonian captivity.¹²

Eventually, Babylon was defeated by the Medes and Persians (c.f. Daniel 5:30-31). Some time after that, King Cyrus – in keeping with a prophecy given by Isaiah (c.f. Isaiah 44:28) – issued a proclamation allowing exiled Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple (c.f. Ezra 1:1-4). Less than 50,000 Jews actually returned to Judah. Many more remained in places like Babylon, and Persia, and wherever else they had settled.¹²

Books like Ezra and Nehemiah and Haggai tell us what happened to the people who returned to Judah – only the Book of Esther, however, give us a glimpse of what happened to some of the people who stayed behind.¹¹

As an aside, I was surprised to learn that some commentators are actually critical of the Jews who chose to remain in places like “Susa” (c.f. Esther 1:2; 2:5) – saying that they “were not following God’s will” – and that “they were shunning their responsibility to return to Palestine and become involved in (rebuilding the) temple.”¹⁰ One writer put it like this: “most of the really enthusiastic ‘as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’ people (c.f. Joshua 24:15) among the exiles had left and returned to Jerusalem at the time of Cyrus’ decree in 538 B.C”¹³ – thereby suggesting that those who stayed behind did so because they were less enthusiastic about serving the Lord.

Now I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again – but I have to admit this seems a bit presumptuous to me – especially since the Book of Ezra indicates God “stirred” up the spirits of certain people to return, without “stirring up” the spirits others (c.f. Ezra 1:5) – and that those who were not so “stirred” “encouraged” those who were with contributions of “silver, (and) gold, (and) goods, (and) cattle” (c.f. Ezra 1:6) (much like we support the efforts of those on the mission field, even though God hasn’t stirred up our spirits to go to the mission field ourselves).

My point is, I don’t see any good reason to think people like Esther and Mordecai sinned by staying in Persia – or that Haman’s attempt to exterminate the Jews was some sort of divine retribution for their not having returned to the land of Judah when the opportunity presented itself.

(6) While we’re on the subject of historical contexts, how do we explain Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to Haman, or give him the honor his office deserved? And, how do we explain Haman’s intense anger for Mordecai and the Jewish people as a whole? (c.f. Esther 3:1-6)

Were told in chapter three that Haman was “the son of Hammedatha the Agagite” (c.f. Esther 3:1) – and that Mordecai’s reason for not bowing down to him was that “he (Mordecai) was a Jew” (c.f. Esther 3:4). The New Geneva Study Bible says that “Mordecai’s refusal to honor Haman cannot be explained on the basis of Old Testament law, because Jews did not regard bowing before kings and other honored persons as a violation of the first or second commandment (c.f. Exodus 20:3-6; II Samuel 18:28).”¹⁴ (In other words, it wasn’t the same thing Christians in the early centuries of the church faced when the Roman Empire commanded them to say, “Caesar is Lord”.)

John MacArthur explains it like this. When the Jews came out of Egypt, they were attacked by the Amalekites (c.f. Exodus 17:8-16), whose lineage began with Esau’s son Amalek (c.f. Genesis 36:12). Because of this attack, God pronounced a curse on the Amalekites, saying their memory would be blotted out from under heaven (c.f. Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Later, King Saul (in keeping with that prophetic curse) received divine orders to “utterly destroy” the Amalekites, whose king at the time was named was Agag (c.f. I Samuel 15:2-3). Saul disobeyed (c.f. I Samuel 15:7-9) and incurred God’s anger (c.f. I Samuel 15:11). It was the prophet Samuel who finally ended up killing Agag by hacking him to pieces (c.f. I Samuel 15:32-33).¹⁵

Because he was a descendant of Agag, Haman carried a deep centuries-old hostility toward all Jews – and Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to him simply fanned the flames of that hostility into a burning “rage” (c.f. Esther 3:5). Mordecai, for his part, was not about to bow down to a God-cursed descendant of Amalek and Agag – hence, his stated “reason” for not honoring Haman was because “he (Mordecai) was a Jew” (c.f. Esther 3:4). So, the best way to properly understand the relationship between Haman and Mordecai is against this historical backdrop.

One can’t help but wonder in passing, whether the death of Haman along with his tens sons (c.f. Esther 9:12-13, 25) might have been the final fulfillment of God’s curse on the Amalekites.

(7) The Book of Esther not only speaks to the issue of God’s unseen hand at work in the lives of His people, it also explains how the feast of Purim began.¹⁶

“Purim” is one of two religious festivals not instituted by Moses that is still celebrated by Jews (c.f. Esther 9:26-32) – Hanukkah being the other.¹⁷ It comes from the word “pur” (c.f. Esther 9:26), which means “to cast a lot”¹⁸ – and refers to Haman’s casting of the lot to determine the best day to carry out his plan to destroy all the Jews living in the Persian Empire (c.f. Esther 3:7; 9:24).

But, it also refers to the fact that, in God’s providence, the Jews were able to turn the table on their enemies and destroy them instead. We will examine the details of how this happened more closely as we work our way through the Book of Esther. For the moment, then, these verses from chapter nine will have to suffice: 24“… Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them. 25But when it came to the king's attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, 27the Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually. 28So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants” (c.f. Esther 9:24-28).

(8) Christians don’t celebrate Purim – nor is there any reason for us to do so. BUT, we can certainly appreciate a Book like Esther, that reminds us of God’s providence. We can certainly appreciate a book that reminds us – not only by its story, but also by the way that story is told – that our Sovereign often works invisibly, behind the scenes¹⁹ (as it were) to accomplish His purposes in us and through us.

The New Geneva Study Bible puts it like this: “Though God is not explicitly mentioned in this book, the reader nevertheless learns through the narrative that God is always, if invisibly, present with His people. (And that) He continues to guide and protect them today, even as He defended them in ancient Persia.”²⁰

May the Holy Spirit drive that lesson home to us as we study the Book of Esther.