YTread Logo
YTread Logo

Overview: Esther

Jun 04, 2021
The Book of Esther. It is one of the most exciting and curious books in the Bible. The story takes place more than 100 years after the Babylonian captivity of the Israelites from their land. Although some Jews return to Jerusalem, remember Ezra and Nehemiah, many did not. So the book of Esther is about the Jewish community that lived in Susa, the capital of the Old Persian Empire. The main characters of the story are two Jews, Mordecai and his granddaughter Esther. Then there's the king of Persia, who is kind of an easily impressionable drunk in this story. Then there is the Persian official, Haman, the cunning trickster.
overview esther
This is a curious book in the Bible, mainly because God is never mentioned, not even once, which may seem unusual to you. Isn't the Bible about God? But this is a clever technique by the author, who by the way is anonymous. It is an invitation to read this story, to look for the activity of God, and there are signs of this everywhere in the book. The story is full of "coincidences" and ironic changes of place, and it all forces you to see God's purpose in action, but behind the scenes. Let's delve into the story. The book begins with the king of Persia hosting two banquets that lasted a total of 187 days.
overview esther

More Interesting Facts About,

overview esther...

And this happens with the ultimate goal of showing his majesty and glory. On the last day of the party, he is very drunk and demands that his wife, Queen Vashti, appear at the party and show off her beauty. She refuses, so the drunk and angry king leaves Vashti and issues a useless decree that all Persian men must become owners of their own houses. Then, he organizes a beauty pageant to find another queen. This is like a bad soap opera. But right here we are introduced to Esther and Mordecai. Esther hides her Jewish identity from her and participates in this beauty contest, and she wins!
overview esther
And the king becomes obsessed with Esther, to the point of making her the new queen of Persia. After that, even stranger is the fact that Mordecai accidentally overhears two Royal Guards, who are plotting to kill the king. He informs Esther, who then tells the king. And Mordecai gets credit for saving the king's life. So from the beginning until now, God is not mentioned anywhere, but all of this seems to be divinely ordained. What could God be doing? You should keep reading. Next, we are introduced to Haman, who is not actually Persian. He is called agagit. He is a descendant of the ancient Canaanites (remember 1 Samuel, chapter 15).
overview esther
The king elevates Haman to the highest position in the kingdom and demands that everyone kneel before Haman. When Mordecai sees Haman, he refuses to kneel, which angers Haman, and when he learns that Mordecai is a Jew, Haman successfully convinces the king to sign a decree to destroy all the Jews. And to set the date for the extermination of the Jews, Haman rolls the dice. Zari is called "Pur" in Hebrew. Save it for later. After eleven months, on the thirteenth day of Adar, all the Jews will die. Haman and the king host a banquet to celebrate his terrible decision.
Attention now focuses on Mordecai and Esther, who are the only hope for the Jews. They make a plan to have Esther reveal her Jewish identity to the king and ask him to cancel the decree. But approaching the king without a royal request according to Persian law was a crime worthy of death. So, in a key statement, Mordecai is convinced that even if Esther remains silent, deliverance for the Jews will come from somewhere else. Then Mordecai thinks out loud, saying "who knows, maybe you became queen just for this occasion." Esther responds bravely and decides to go to the king with her powerful words "if I die, let me die." Then, as it unfolds, we see this ironic reversal of all of Haman's evil plans.
Esther then invites the king and Haman to his first banquet and says that she will make an exclusive request for both of them at a special banquet the next day. Then Haman leaves the banquet completely drunk and sees Mordecai on the street. He foams with anger. And he orders a high pole to be built, so that Mordecai can climb on it in the morning. It seems things can't get any worse for the Jews and Mordecai. But suddenly the story takes a turn. By chance it happens that the king does not fall asleep. And he demands that real chronicles be read to him, like good bedtime stories.
And by chance he finds out how Mordecai had saved the king's life. He had completely forgotten about it. Then, in the morning, Haman enters to demand Mordecai's execution. And the king at that moment orders Haman to publicly honor Mordecai for saving his life. Haman is forced to escort Mordecai through the city on a royal horse and order everyone to praise him. This moment in history is central to the entire book. It is the fall of Haman and the rise to power of Mordecai. Watch this happen. The day after Esther's second banquet, the King and Haman arrive.
And Esther informs the king that, first of all, she is a Jew and, secondly, that Haman has signed a decree to kill her, kill Mordecai, who saved the king's life, and kill all the Jews. The king has already had too much to drink, so when he hears this news, he becomes even more furious. He orders Haman to be impaled on the stake he himself prepared for Mordecai. It is an ironic and horrible way for Haman to die like this. However, Haman's execution does not solve the problem of the decree to kill all the Jews. Attention now turns to Esther and Mordecai as they plan to revoke the decree.
They discover that the King cannot cancel a decree that he has already signed. So instead of rescinding it, the king orders Mordecai to issue a counterdecree. On the day appointed to kill all the Jews, the 13th day of Adar, the Jews are ordered to defend themselves and destroy those who conspired to kill them and then Mordecai, Esther and the Jews around the world hold banquets and festivals to celebrate. this new decree. . And Mordecai rises to stand at the king's side. The day of judgment arrives and the Jews triumph over their enemies. First, they destroy Haman's family and then all the Persian officials who had joined Haman's plot.
Then, on the second day, they receive permission to destroy all those who conspired against them throughout the kingdom. This results in joy and celebration when the Jews are saved from extermination. The story then tells how Esther and Mordecai decreed this two-day festival of Purim to commemorate their deliverance from destruction. And the name of the holiday comes from Haman's dice, remember "pur-im." The book ends with a brief epilogue, as Mordecai ascends to the position of second in the kingdom. And we are told of his royal majesty and glory, as the Jews flourish in captivity. He takes a step back.
Notice how this whole story is designed. History is full of ironic alienations. But we can see how the entire story is structured as an ironic alienation, right down to the details. Thus, the King's splendor, festivals, and decrees are reflected in the glory, festivals, and decrees of Mordecai at the end. Esther and Mordecai first save the king, but now, in the end, they save all the Jews. Then there is the rise of Haman, the decrees, as well as the banquet, which is alienated in the rise of Mordecai, the decree and banquet of him. Then, in the center, are the preparation scenes of Esther and Mordecai, and then Esther's two banquets, which serve as the setting for the greatest moment of alienation in all of history: the humiliation of Haman and the elevation of Mordecai.
Beautiful. Another surprising feature of this book is the moral ambiguity of the characters. There is much drunkenness, anger, sex, and murder, of which Mordecai and Esther are a part, not to mention their many violations of the Torah commandments, such as marrying non-Jews or eating unclean foods. The story does not present Mordecai and Esther as moral examples, as if it approves of all their behavior. They stand as models of faith and hope when things get really bad. So the book of Esther returns to the question we began with: Why is God not mentioned? The message of this book seems to be this: when God seems to be absent, when his people are in captivity, when they are unfaithful to the Torah, does this mean that God is finished with Israel?
Has God abandoned his promises? And the book of Esther says: No. It invites us to see that God can and does work in the true messiness and ambiguity of human history. And he also uses the loyalty of morally committed people to achieve his purposes. So the book of Esther asks us to be willing to trust in God's foresight even when we can't see it in action, and to hope that, no matter how bad things get, God is committed to redeeming the world. And this is what the book of Esther is about. Contact us: [email protected]

If you have any copyright issue, please Contact