Esther Overview

Continuing with the writings from after the exile is Esther. While many Jews did return to Jerusalem, over fifty years later and there are still many who have settled across the Persian empire, including its capital city Susa.

The book focuses on the story of Esther and Mordecai, two Jews living in Susa. Much like Daniel, it’s about how these Jews choose to live in a culture and society that is largely against them. We read as both Esther and Mordecai gain influence with the king, and then use that influence to save their people from destruction.

God is never mentioned in this book, which has caused many over the years to question why it’s been included in the Bible. This is because the book is filled with a number of ‘coincidences’ that, brought together, show God’s hand in directing the story, even if he’s not mentioned in it. The point of this is to show, even when God seems absent, he is there moving things for his glory.

We can see this intentionality and guidance in the structure of the book, as events line up with one another.

Esther 1-2 - Feasts to celebrate the king of Persia

Esther 3:1-4 - Haman is elevated

Esther 3:5-15 - Haman’s decree to kill the Jews

Esther 4 - Esther and Mordecai plan

Esther 5 - Esther’s first banquet

Ester 6 - Influence moves from Haman to Mordecai

Esther 7 - Esther’s second banquet

Esther 8:1-10 - Esther and Mordecai plan

Esther 8:11-14 - Mordecai’s decree to save the Jews

Esther 8:15-17 - Mordecai is elevated

Esther 9-10 - Feasts to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews

This tension between loyalty to the Persian king and doing what is right is at the heart of this book. When is civil disobedience okay? As we’ll read, Mordecai refuses to bow down to one of the king’s men, Haman, despite the fact his role demanded it. And Esther risked coming before the king uninvited to save her people.

But there’s also moral ambiguity around these characters. Esther liked engaged in some form of sexual practice in her courting of the king. Plus, the king was a foreigner, unlikely to take on the Jewish customs, and so their marriage goes against the Torah’s instructions not not to intermarry with foreigners.

It’s not explicitly stated, but much of the food available at the king’s court would not have been considered clean for a Jewish woman to eat. There’s no mention, like Daniel and his friends, that Esther sort to avoid this food.

In many ways, this book blurs the lines of a clear cut understanding of right and wrong. It seems like Esther likely engaged in many things that were forbidden by the Torah, but in doing so she gained the ear of the king and was able to save her people. At no point did God ask her to do these things, as he isn’t mentioned.

Esther 1-5

King Ahasuerus puts on an impressive feast for his people that lasts seven days. On the seventh day, he calls for his wife, Queen Vashti, to join the party so he can show off how beautiful she is.

There’s some debate around whether ‘wearing the royal crown’ was a euphemism for her to come out wearing just a crown so she could show off her ‘beauty’. Others argue that due to the context of the feasting and the wine, these men were likely planning on doing more than watching. And others argue that Ahasuerus wants to show off his queen in pomp and regality, and she simply didn’t want to be used as a pawn in his games.

Vashti refuses, and Ahasuerus is furious. He turns to his advisors to ask what he should do, and they recommend that he put Vashti away and hold a beauty pageant to find himself a more beautiful new wife to be his queen. Ahasuerus loves the idea and sets it in motion straight away.

Meanwhile, in Susa is a Jewish man named Mordecai, who had adopted his uncle's daughter, Esther, because both her parents had died. When the king's men came to look for beautiful women to join the king's beauty pageant, they find Esther and recruited her. She quickly impressed all the men that she came into contact with and was rushed to the top to join the seven finalists in the pageant. But Mordecai had warned her to tell no one that she was a Jew.

After twelve months of beauty treatment, these young women each took it in turns to visit the king, most likely in a sexual way, to see who pleased the king most. The king soon fell in love with Esther and made her his queen, throwing another feast in her honour.

As this is happening, Mordecai discovers a plot to kill the king, so he warns Esther, who in turn warns the king. The plot is defeated, and it is written down that Mordecai had saved the king's life.

But then along comes Haman, one of the king's newly appointed advisors. He gets used to all of the king's servants bowing before him as he passed, and so gets angry when he discovers that Mordecai refuses to do so. He sets in motion a plan and convinces the king that the Jews in Persia are trouble makers that are only going to cause problems.

They should make a law where, for one day, it is perfectly legal and encouraged to kill a Jew and take all that is theirs for yourself. The king agrees and sends out letters declaring that on the thirteenth day of the twelth month, it would be okay to kill a Jew.

Mordecai finds out about this and weeps, tearing his clothes. Esther tries to comfort him, but Mordecai challenges her that this is her opportunity to defend her people. She can try to persuade the king to change his mind. Now for Esther to approach the king uninvited was a crime punishable by death, so she would be risking a lot. But Mordecai points out this might be the very reason that she was made queen.

So the next day Esther dresses in her finest and stands on the outer edges of the king's courtroom, in the hope that she would be invited forward. The king sees her, calls her to himself, and asks her what she wants, offering to give her anything her heart desires.

But rather than move straight in and ask the king to change his mind, Esther bides her time. If this is going to work, she needs to do this properly. So she asks the king and Haman to join her for a meal. He agrees and, as the three enjoy a meal together, the king asks Esther what she wants.

Esther decides to bide her time a little longer and asks that the king and Haman join her for another meal the following day. The king and Haman agree and then go on their way. At this point, Haman is happy. His plan to kill Mordecai and the Jews is going ahead, and in his mind, he has won favour with the new queen who had personally invited him to two separate meals.

On his way home, he sees Mordecai and becomes angry again. When he gets home, he has a gallows built, so on the day when it is okay to kill Jews he can personally have Mordecai hanged on the gallows.

Psalm 54

This psalm is attributed to king David, specifically referencing the Ziphites who were a group from the tribe of Judah, the same tribe as David, and betrayed him twice (1 Samuel 23:19; 26:1). The psalm falls into the category of lament psalm.

Psalm 54:1-2 - A request

Psalm 54:3 - The problem

Psalm 54:4-5 - A declaration of trust

Psalm 54:6-7 - The psalmist’s response

The psalm opens with two of the most common requests of God; save me, and hear me. There’s nothing worse than that feeling that God is blind to your struggle or hiding from you. The psalmist wants to know that God hears them and will rescue them.

The psalmist then brings their struggle. Wicked men have risen up against them. They seek the psalmist’s life and do not care about what God wants.

Having shared their problem with God and asked for help, the psalmist now declares their trust in God. The Lord helps and sustains the psalmist. He also repays the wicked with their own wickedness, because he is faithful to his people.

Confident now that God will answer, the psalmist turns to how they will respond to God’s goodness. They will make offerings and sacrifices, and give thanks to God for his goodness. These would have been public demonstrations, so that others can see the goodness God has done to the psalmist.