Esther

• Introductory Matters
• • Historicity
  • • Reasons for
    • • General culture is described correctly
      • Frequent dates and names of minor characters are provided
      • Like the books of Kings, Book of Esther uses a formula which implies the information comes from royal chronicles
    • Reasons against
    • • If Mordecai had gone into exile in 597 B.C.E. (Est. 2:6), he would have been about 120 years old during the reign of Xerxes I (Ahasu-erus) and Esther could hardly have been a young, beautiful virgin (Est. 2:7)
      • Xerxes I had no wife named Esther; his queen was Amestris - Esther may have been a concubine but not the chief wife (cf. Est. 2:17) because the queen was required to be of Persian descent
      • Names "Esther" and "Mordecai" are Babylonian and based on the names of the deities Ishtar, goddess of love, and Marduk, patron god of Babylon
      • At time Ahasu-erus was supposed to be giving banquets (Est. 1:3) he was actually engaged in a battle with the Greeks in which he was defeated
  • Date
  • • If the book's historicity is accepted, the date of writing would be near end of Persian period, perhaps as late as 350-325 B.C.E.
    • If the book's historicity is not accepted, date of writing could be during persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes although an earlier date after the Persian period could be possible - persecution of Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes would have provided a fitting inspiration for the ferocity of the story
  • Literary form - is a novella like Book of Ruth
  • Additions in the Septuagint - Septuagint Book of Esther contains several additions which Hebrew text does not have - these additions fill out the story
  • Synagogue usage
  • • Used as festival scroll for feast of Purim - book gives origin of Purim
    • Since Book of Esther records God's miraculous deliverance of His people, the book has been and is very popular - according to some Jewish teaching, the Torah and the Book of Esther will be the only written canonical works to survive into the age of the Messiah
• Message of the Book
• • Major teaching - "God will cause His people to survive"
  • • God protects His chosen people - when extermination threatens, God steps in to rescue His people, even if only a remnant
    • Conflict between Haman and Mordecai represents the continual conflict between those who want to destroy the Jews and the Jews themselves
    • Defense alone
    • • Despite tremendous number of people killed by the Jews in the Book of Esther, the Jews did not plunder their victims (Est. 9:10,15)
      • The Jews are to fight only for their preservation, not for profit
    • Purim today is celebrated not as a military festival but a festival in which gifts are given to the poor to share the joy of Israel's deliverance
  • Secondary teachings
  • • Although God is not specifically mentioned in the story, He is clearly there in the faith of Mordecai and the courage of Esther
    • Both Mordecai and Esther offer models in selfless courage - both are willing to die for their people to have the opportunity to live
    • Haman's death on the gallows he built to hang Mordecai is a beautiful example of reaping what you sow - evil comes upon the one who initiates it (Prov. 26:27)

Artwork by Michelangelo from the Sistine Chapel