Studies in the Book of Esther - Introduction
If the Jews had remained quiet … and not poked at the bees nest … nothing would have happened. Actually, it was not the Jews who stirred up a bees nest. It was Satan … who knew what to do to create animosity toward the people of God.
Let’s go back a bit and get the setting.
God called Abraham … to be the father of a nation … a nation chosen by God to be His people. You likely have heard his name as part of a list of three names; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Perhaps you also know that grandson, Jacob, had his name changed by God himself to … Israel. So Israel (Jacob) had 12 sons. I guess we could call them ‘the Children of Israel’. In reality, the children of Israel really refers to generations of descendants.
Fast forward through the formative years, the difficulties, the battles and all the rest and we come to a nation that had formed a propensity toward idolatry. Prophets were commissioned by God to warn the people … repent or God will deal with you severely. The nation … eventually split in two by civil war, did not listen to the prophets. First Israel (the 10 northern tribes) was taken captive into Babylon. Then Judah (the remaining two tribes) followed. After ‘serving their time’ God had them released. In a couple of stages the Jews went back to their land, rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, cleaned up the rubble and rebuilt the city and the temple.
Actually … there are a couple of exceptions to this story. 1) When the Jews were originally taken captive … not ALL of the Jews were taken. A relatively small group remained in their land and struggled to survive. All the cities had been virtually destroyed. Many non-Jewish (gentile) people came in and took up residence there. The remaining Jews, many of them, intermarried. These became known as the Samaritans and were still living there in Jesus’ time. And 2) When the Jews in Babylon were released to come back to their land … not all of them came. Some actually wanted to stay in Babylon. Included in the ones who stayed behind were Esther, her cousin Mordecai and quite a large number of others.
Of the ones who returned to Jerusalem, it would be accurate to say, they had learned their lesson well. Never again did the Jewish nation take up worshipping idols. They had turned back to God during the time of their captivity and longed for the day of their freedom, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and … if possible, the rebuilding of the temple.
Such was not the case with the Jews who decided to stay in Babylon. These represent the segment or percentage of people who never really were ‘on the same page’ as the rest of the group. We have the same thing today in all of our churches. And we probably always will have those who are very serious about their faith …but also those who merely enjoy the fellowship and ministry but kind of ‘tolerate’ those things which are taught as being fundamental to the faith. They are not ‘on the same page’ as the more serious believers. They tend to take some of the bible’s stories and its bold statements with a grain of salt.
So what we have here in the book of Esther is the story of the Jews who were ‘settled’ in Babylon.
There were some bible scholars (Christian) in the early days of the church who really thought the book of Esther was fantastic. I mean in the literal sense. Fantasy. A nice fiction story. And they had their reasons.
For example; if Mordecai had not been in the right place at the right time to overhear some very important information regarding the king, if the king who had overlooked rewarding him for it had not had insomnia a certain night, if those who came to read him back to sleep by reading records of kingdom events had not 'just happened' to read the part about Mordecai's important report to the king, etc. Etc. ... those who have read the story say, this is too preposterous to be true. This has to be fiction.
The Jews on the other hand, hold the book in high regard. So high, in fact, that they have named it “The Roll”. They say, 'The writings of the prophets may all pass away, but never The Roll.' The esteem they place upon the book is right under the Law (Pentateuch).
Here are a few other reasons that certain Christian biblical scholars wanted to reject the book from 'Canon' (authentic Word of God).
There is no mention of the word ‘God’ in the entire book. There is no mention of the Jewish religion, as such. There is no mention even, of prayer.
This is significant. God was not all that important to them. I suppose we might presume to say that in their lifetime they had seen no real evidence of God. Whatever faith they had was very weak. These people would not identify with the old song, “This world in not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through.” They were at home in Babylon.
But the beautiful thing to observe here … is that God cares for His people, no matter where they are. He cares for His people who, for one reason or other, do not care for Him as they ought to. He cares so much that He cannot have them stay in their present situation. Love and acceptance are two different things. God loves them immensely. But God does not accept their situation. He wants to change them. Even as I say this, I realize that to some degree, we all do not care for God as we ought to. Expect a caring God to change you.
Satan, in our study of Esther, is about to seize an opportunity to wipe out all of the Jews left living in Babylon.
Lets look at the story. Read verse 1.
The King, Ahasuerus (Xerxes) is an interesting figure in history. The extent of his kingdom was huge. What kind of a man was he? What kind of a ruler was he? Was he a wise ruler? How was he handling his success a such a renowned leader?
These questions will be looked at to some degree in the scripture as we look at it.
I. The King's Pride. Verses 2-7
He has reigned only for three years at this point and he calls for a feast which lasts 180 days. Basically, half a year. He has invited his leaders from various provinces and during this time shows off the splendors of the palace. We don't really know what the 180 day feast entailed but it does not seem to be for anyone but himself and his leaders. However he 'ends' this celebrating with a 'finale' – a seven day feast which includes everyone in the 'Citadel of Susa'.
II. Ahasuerus and Vashti Verses 8-9
The king hosts his banquet in an enclosed garden that is wonderfully described. Alcohol flows in abundance, causing the king to act in a way that is normal when stupidity takes the place of sanity.
III. The Queen's response to the king's request.
She understood that the king was not 'being himself'. She not only wanted to avoid the embarrassment and disrespect that was sure to come from the king's behaviour, she was sparing the king from doing something he would regret when he was sober.
The result was an embarrassed king. Unable to make a decision on his own, he asks counsel of his 'wise advisers'. Memucan, one of the king's seven princes, offers advice. “Make her an example, or else we will all the women doing stuff like this.” Verses 10-22
This prince manipulated the king. Notice the phrases in verses 19 and 20 that are designed to inflate his ego. He mentions that the king should make a royal decree. This is intended to call attention to the king's authority. He mentions the vastness of the kingdom, calling attention to King's acquisition of property and conquest of people. He had the king's attention.
Not only did the King divorce her, he spread the news across the entire country.
IV. Queen Vashti's replacement.
As the king's anger subsides, in its place was a 'hole' that Vashti left when he threw her out. The poor boy wants a queen at his side.
The king's servant's recommend holding some kind of a beauty contest as a way of selecting a replacement for Queen Vashti.
Ch 2:1-4
V. Mordecai and Esther
Mordecai was of the 'princely tribe' of Benjamin. Perhaps for this reason is living near and working in the palace. Some have said he may have been made into one of the king's Eunuchs but this in not necessarily so. But one this seems certain ... his place in the palace was some kind of official position.
2:5-8
Esther is taken along with many other young women, as candidates to replace Queen Vashti.
1Sa 2:8 He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He has set the world upon them.
Who would have thought that a Jewess, a captive, and orphan, was born to be a queen, an empress! God's own Cinderella story ... but this one is not fiction.
If the Jews had remained quiet … and not poked at the bees nest … nothing would have happened. Actually, it was not the Jews who stirred up a bees nest. It was Satan … who knew what to do to create animosity toward the people of God.
Let’s go back a bit and get the setting.
God called Abraham … to be the father of a nation … a nation chosen by God to be His people. You likely have heard his name as part of a list of three names; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Perhaps you also know that grandson, Jacob, had his name changed by God himself to … Israel. So Israel (Jacob) had 12 sons. I guess we could call them ‘the Children of Israel’. In reality, the children of Israel really refers to generations of descendants.
Fast forward through the formative years, the difficulties, the battles and all the rest and we come to a nation that had formed a propensity toward idolatry. Prophets were commissioned by God to warn the people … repent or God will deal with you severely. The nation … eventually split in two by civil war, did not listen to the prophets. First Israel (the 10 northern tribes) was taken captive into Babylon. Then Judah (the remaining two tribes) followed. After ‘serving their time’ God had them released. In a couple of stages the Jews went back to their land, rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, cleaned up the rubble and rebuilt the city and the temple.
Actually … there are a couple of exceptions to this story. 1) When the Jews were originally taken captive … not ALL of the Jews were taken. A relatively small group remained in their land and struggled to survive. All the cities had been virtually destroyed. Many non-Jewish (gentile) people came in and took up residence there. The remaining Jews, many of them, intermarried. These became known as the Samaritans and were still living there in Jesus’ time. And 2) When the Jews in Babylon were released to come back to their land … not all of them came. Some actually wanted to stay in Babylon. Included in the ones who stayed behind were Esther, her cousin Mordecai and quite a large number of others.
Of the ones who returned to Jerusalem, it would be accurate to say, they had learned their lesson well. Never again did the Jewish nation take up worshipping idols. They had turned back to God during the time of their captivity and longed for the day of their freedom, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and … if possible, the rebuilding of the temple.
Such was not the case with the Jews who decided to stay in Babylon. These represent the segment or percentage of people who never really were ‘on the same page’ as the rest of the group. We have the same thing today in all of our churches. And we probably always will have those who are very serious about their faith …but also those who merely enjoy the fellowship and ministry but kind of ‘tolerate’ those things which are taught as being fundamental to the faith. They are not ‘on the same page’ as the more serious believers. They tend to take some of the bible’s stories and its bold statements with a grain of salt.
So what we have here in the book of Esther is the story of the Jews who were ‘settled’ in Babylon.
There were some bible scholars (Christian) in the early days of the church who really thought the book of Esther was fantastic. I mean in the literal sense. Fantasy. A nice fiction story. And they had their reasons.
For example; if Mordecai had not been in the right place at the right time to overhear some very important information regarding the king, if the king who had overlooked rewarding him for it had not had insomnia a certain night, if those who came to read him back to sleep by reading records of kingdom events had not 'just happened' to read the part about Mordecai's important report to the king, etc. Etc. ... those who have read the story say, this is too preposterous to be true. This has to be fiction.
The Jews on the other hand, hold the book in high regard. So high, in fact, that they have named it “The Roll”. They say, 'The writings of the prophets may all pass away, but never The Roll.' The esteem they place upon the book is right under the Law (Pentateuch).
Here are a few other reasons that certain Christian biblical scholars wanted to reject the book from 'Canon' (authentic Word of God).
There is no mention of the word ‘God’ in the entire book. There is no mention of the Jewish religion, as such. There is no mention even, of prayer.
This is significant. God was not all that important to them. I suppose we might presume to say that in their lifetime they had seen no real evidence of God. Whatever faith they had was very weak. These people would not identify with the old song, “This world in not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through.” They were at home in Babylon.
But the beautiful thing to observe here … is that God cares for His people, no matter where they are. He cares for His people who, for one reason or other, do not care for Him as they ought to. He cares so much that He cannot have them stay in their present situation. Love and acceptance are two different things. God loves them immensely. But God does not accept their situation. He wants to change them. Even as I say this, I realize that to some degree, we all do not care for God as we ought to. Expect a caring God to change you.
Satan, in our study of Esther, is about to seize an opportunity to wipe out all of the Jews left living in Babylon.
Lets look at the story. Read verse 1.
The King, Ahasuerus (Xerxes) is an interesting figure in history. The extent of his kingdom was huge. What kind of a man was he? What kind of a ruler was he? Was he a wise ruler? How was he handling his success a such a renowned leader?
These questions will be looked at to some degree in the scripture as we look at it.
I. The King's Pride. Verses 2-7
He has reigned only for three years at this point and he calls for a feast which lasts 180 days. Basically, half a year. He has invited his leaders from various provinces and during this time shows off the splendors of the palace. We don't really know what the 180 day feast entailed but it does not seem to be for anyone but himself and his leaders. However he 'ends' this celebrating with a 'finale' – a seven day feast which includes everyone in the 'Citadel of Susa'.
II. Ahasuerus and Vashti Verses 8-9
The king hosts his banquet in an enclosed garden that is wonderfully described. Alcohol flows in abundance, causing the king to act in a way that is normal when stupidity takes the place of sanity.
III. The Queen's response to the king's request.
She understood that the king was not 'being himself'. She not only wanted to avoid the embarrassment and disrespect that was sure to come from the king's behaviour, she was sparing the king from doing something he would regret when he was sober.
The result was an embarrassed king. Unable to make a decision on his own, he asks counsel of his 'wise advisers'. Memucan, one of the king's seven princes, offers advice. “Make her an example, or else we will all the women doing stuff like this.” Verses 10-22
This prince manipulated the king. Notice the phrases in verses 19 and 20 that are designed to inflate his ego. He mentions that the king should make a royal decree. This is intended to call attention to the king's authority. He mentions the vastness of the kingdom, calling attention to King's acquisition of property and conquest of people. He had the king's attention.
Not only did the King divorce her, he spread the news across the entire country.
IV. Queen Vashti's replacement.
As the king's anger subsides, in its place was a 'hole' that Vashti left when he threw her out. The poor boy wants a queen at his side.
The king's servant's recommend holding some kind of a beauty contest as a way of selecting a replacement for Queen Vashti.
Ch 2:1-4
V. Mordecai and Esther
Mordecai was of the 'princely tribe' of Benjamin. Perhaps for this reason is living near and working in the palace. Some have said he may have been made into one of the king's Eunuchs but this in not necessarily so. But one this seems certain ... his place in the palace was some kind of official position.
2:5-8
Esther is taken along with many other young women, as candidates to replace Queen Vashti.
1Sa 2:8 He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He has set the world upon them.
Who would have thought that a Jewess, a captive, and orphan, was born to be a queen, an empress! God's own Cinderella story ... but this one is not fiction.