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Esther Overview

Esther is the 17th book of the English Old Testament; It is the last of the 12 books we call the historical books.

The first five books are the Torah, which lays the foundation for all that Israel was called to become AFTER it entered the Promised Land.

Creation/ Fall/ Flood/ Tower of Babel

Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/ 12 Tribes; Judah and Joseph.

Exodus from Egypt/ Passover ceremony.

Mosaic Law/ Covenant/ Ten Commands.        TRUTH TO LIVE BY!

Tabernacle/ Priesthood/ Sacrifices to put a sinner right with God.

Wilderness wanderings/ Moses call to be God’s holy people!

Then there are 12 historical books. Starting in Joshua, we read of Israel entering the land and then how they got into a cycle of sin and redemption.

They would serve God for a while, then grow complacent, commit sins of idolatry and immorality, and then experience God’s judgment.

God judged them both passively and actively (letting sin have it’s built-in consequences and allowing other peoples to get the better of Israel).

In the midst of their oppression, Israel would realize they had sinned and were under God’s wrath, repent of their sin and cry out to God, and he would raise up a deliverer, and then they would serve God again for a while.

In the historical books we see:

The conquest of the land.

The times of the Judges/ Deliverers; Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

The concept of the kinsman redeemer lived out in the book of Ruth.

The transition from having regional judges to having a King.

Jerusalem becoming the capitol of the nation.

The Davidic Covenant.

Solomon building the Temple as a “permanent” home for the Tabernacle.

The Divided Kingdom:       Israel (Ephraim/Samaria) and Judah

Captivity and exile due to incessant sinfulness: Assyria and Babylon/ Persia

Return to Jerusalem after captivity to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem’s walls. 

Through it all we learn key aspects of the character of God:

His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence

His sovereignty

His holiness

His love

His heart to forgive the repentant

His commitment to keep His unconditional promises to Abraham and David despite their own and their descendants sins.  

Today’s book, Esther, is a snapshot of God at work in Persia during the time of the exile, sovereignly protecting His people from extermination. 

After this last historical book, there are 5 poetic books, mostly from the times of David and Solomon.

After the poetic books the rest of the English Old Testament are the prophetic books, eleven of which relate to the time of the kings before the exile, four of which relate to the time of the exile, and three of which are after the exile.

Thus we speak of pre-exilic books and post-exilic books!

The key verse in Esther is:

“If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.”   -Esther 4:14

1:1 tells us these events took place during the reign of Persia’s King Ahasuerus, or Xerxes. Ahasuerus is the Hebrew form of his name, Xerxes is the Greek name. He reigned from 486 to 465 B.C.

Last time we saw that the events of Nehemiah covered the period from about 445 B.C. to about 433 B.C. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes I, who reigned after Esther’s king from 464 B.C. to 424 B.C.

Do you get the connection?

Without God’s hand of protection during the days of Esther and Mordecai, there would be no Jews to return and rebuild in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra.

PRAISE THE LORD!

During this time King Ahasuerus reigned from India to Cush.

Where is Cush?

Around where modern Sudan meets Ethiopia! 

That’s a huge kingdom!

Well, you know the story!

The King got drunk and wanted to have his friends ogle his wife, Queen Vashti.

She said, “Oh, heck no!”

The king was embarrassed and asked his advisors what to do.

They said, “King, if you let this stand, other women won’t obey their husbands either.”

So queen Vashti was banished and another bride was sought.

And notice was sent throughout the kingdom that every man should be master in his own house!

Oh the problems created by alcohol abuse!

In chapter two a search was made for a beautiful virgin to become the new queen.

In chapter two we learn that Esther’s Hebrew name was Hadassah, and she was being raised by her cousin Mordecai. Hadassah means “myrtle,” whereas Esther means “star.”

Esther was taken to the palace as part of this search, and Mordecai wisely told her not to reveal her Jewishness; she obeyed Mordecai, as she always had growing up.

And she won the contest and became queen!

WOW! A child of the exile is now queen of Persia! The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Before chapter two is over, we see Mordecai discover a plot to assassinate the king, tell Esther who tells the king, and thus save the king’s life!

Then in chapter three we see Haman enter the scene.       BOOOOO…

Haman becomes second in command in Persia. And the king commanded that people bow down to him.

Mordecai refused to bow or pay homage to anyone but God; So Haman hated him and all God-fearing Jews with him.

Probably Esther got out of the bowing because she was queen, so Haman would have bowed to her.

Read 3:5-6

 Haman gets the King to pass an anti-tolerance law!

Read 3:7-11

I wonder if alcohol played a role in this hasty decision as well.

Any amount of research would have indicated that this law would affect a man who had just showed his value to the king by saving his life.

Look at verse 13-15

Oh the ugliness of anti-Semitism.

You have to wonder if Adolph Hitler ever read the book of Esther!

You have to love Mordecai’s public protest in chapter 4!

Esther is embarrassed by it and tries to get him to stop.

Mordecai lets Esther know that she needs to use any leverage she has with the king to stop this injustice from happening, something she is reluctant to do.

Oh how many times are we like Esther, hushing up when there is an injustice around us we may be able to do something about?

Young Esther is forced to be a responsible woman here instead of a girl. It’s big girl time, and Mordecai talks to her with urgency.

Read 4:13-14

To her credit, Esther knows she must act!

Read 4:15-17

And there are times God calls us to act as well, and we must!

Mordecai makes clear that one way or another God’s deliverance will come, but Esther has a chance to be God’s instrument for the deliverance to come. Saying yes when she felt like saying no would mean an eternal blessing for her and mean that thousands of lives would be spared.

Now in our day the great task is taking the gospel to the nations. And God calls each of us to consider our part in global evangelism. God still promises that there will be someone from every people group on earth in Heaven. But if we say no to our part in making it happen, it’s possible thousands of people won’t be in Heaven who could have been if we had obeyed.

We are here for such a time as this!

As Keith Green said, “This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls around the world.”

Well, you know how the story goes.

Esther courageously approaches the king, and a plan emerges.

Haman’s diabolical plot is thwarted, and he hangs on the gallows he had erected for someone else.   

As a pastor I’ve seen that happen: when a person is filled with meanness and bitterness, I’ve seen what they wanted to happen to someone else happen to them!

We learn in chapter 8 that Mordecai is actually given Haman’s estate after this!

We learn in 9:4 that Mordecai became a very powerful figure in Persia, just as Nehemiah would after him!

Read 6:1

I love how the text lets us know that the king couldn’t sleep that night!

Don’t miss the connection between the king’s sleeplessness and the prayerful fasting that the Jews had done.

Let me speak for myself here:

I would like to see in my own life as much prayer and fasting for our country’s problems and its leaders as I hear criticism from my lips.

And then I would like to see the same thing in our church.

Paul said it was the first thing that ought to characterize the church!

Read I Timothy 2:1-4

One more thing:

The Book of Esther makes a case for Pre-emptive strikes against those who are actively seeking to harm other people groups. 

Esther asks the king to revoke the law calling for the day of extermination of the Jews. That unfortunately was not how Persian law worked.

What could be done, however, was a new law that gave the Jews the right to attack those plotting against them first.

Read 8:10-12

The day they could attack their enemies was the day their enemies planned to attack them.

How ironic is it that ancient Persia is modern day Iran, and the Jewish people may have to make a pre-emptive strike on them again soon as the current leader of Iran is a modern day Haman!

Today Jewish people still celebrate the Feast of Purim and read the book of Esther to remember God’s sovereign deliverance from the Haman’s of the world. It occurs on the day after the Jews pre-emptive strike on their enemies.

Read Esther 9:26