The Book of Esther

Main Point:
Ester, Jewish queen of the Persian Empire, saves the Jews from an empire wide holocaust.

Writer:
Unknown. And that’s unfortunate since this is one of the best-written short stories in all of Hebrew literature. Possible writers include Ezra or Nehemiah, since the writing style of the stories in Ezra and Nehemiah is similar to the style in Ester’s story. Mordecai is another possibility since he’s at least a key source of information.

Date:
Easter’s story takes place during the reign of King Xerxes, known Hebrew as Ahasuerus. He reigned for 21 years, from 486-465 BC. Ester became queen in about 479 BC, more than 30 years before Ezra and Nehemiah left Persia for Jerusalem.

Location:
Susa, capital of the Persian Empire and now the Iranian city of Shush.

Summary Thought:
It sounds like the plot of a fairy tale; Jewish orphan girl wins beauty contest, marries King, and saves her people from genocide. But it’s a page out of Jewish history. The Jews fall into grave danger during the reign of the Persian King Xerxes. But his Jewish queen, Ester, becomes an advocate for them. Haman convinces the king to issue and irrevocable decree against “a group of troublemakers”- apparently without even bothering to tell the king who these troublemakers are under the rules of engagement, soldiers and citizens will be free to kill the Jews on March 7, 473 BC, and confiscate their property. Mordecai convinces Ester to tell the king that this plot targets her and her people. Persian law prohibits the king from revoking his previous decree. Nevertheless, he issues a counter decree allowing the Jews to depend themselves and the Persian troops to help them. The Jews survive. Moreover, they add a new holiday to their calendar, celebrating the holocaust missed.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 1:06 am and is filed under Pastor's Bulletin Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.