We just excerpted some content (the book you're buying will come to you as a PDF file.)
Esther 1:1
This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.
You have got to love the Bible. There is considerable humor in this line, at least to historians. The Bible takes great pains to explain to us that this book is set in the time of a guy named Xerxes and then tries to define him a bit better. You know, the Xerxes who used to rule over a lot of territory? The reason this is funny in an ironic way is that no character in the Bible is better known from non-Biblical sources than Xerxes. In fact, there is much more about Xerxes in non-Biblical texts than what’s contained in the Bible. Lots of ancient historians wrote about Xerxes and he’s studied in most ancient history classes today. He’s one of the main figures of the ancient world. But the author of Esther sets the tone of this book by acting like this is a man who needs an introduction.
Xerxes, who sometimes appears in other translations of the Bible by his Hebrew name Ahasuerus, ruled the Persian-Median Empire. This was a large nation made up of two distinct ethnic groups (the Persians and the Medes). It was the great accomplishment of Xerxes’ father, a guy by the name of Darius (also mentioned in the Bible) to have brought the often-warring Persians and Medes together. Xerxes inherited a vast kingdom—it stretched from India to Africa—that was well known for wealth and power and influence.
Xerxes did not really enjoy his kingdom, because a rival nation stuck in his craw. It was Greece. They weren’t as big as his country or as rich or as powerful, but they were still rivals. Xerxes is most famous in history for having waged a very costly war against the Greeks—and losing.
Now I’m not telling you all of this to spoil the story for you. The average reader of the book of Esther back in the day that it was written would have known about Xerxes and the Greek fiasco. This would have been very common knowledge to the person opening this book and it also sets a tone of irony. The entire book of Esther talks a lot about Xerxes but it never once mentions the war he lost. That’s a little like talking about the Enron Company and never mentioning the financial debacle.
What we have to take away from this opening remark is that things are not always the way they seem. There can be a lot more stuff going on than meets the eye! Xerxes is presented here as if he was an unknown entity, when, in fact, he was and still is one of the most famous figures of the ancient world. He’s also about to be presented as a man who never lost a major war, nearly bankrupted his country, and brought disgrace on a mighty empire.
Continue ... or Go Back ... or
Esther 4:14
“…For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
This is the second part of Mordecai’s short speech and it’s a real one-two punch. In the first part, he exposes what might well be Esther’s true agenda—that she can somehow keep quiet and weather the storm. Mordecai positions this as a real option—Esther could easily decide to remain quiet throughout this ordeal.
If she does, however, Mordecai then poses a very intriguing philosophical and theological position. The Book of Esther does not mention God, but it sure involves a lot of theology. Here’s what Mordecai sketches out for his cousin.
Mordecai believes that God will deliver the Jews, no matter what. After all, God has made a covenant with the Jews and He is faithful, even when men are not. Mordecai is a man of abundant faith in Scripture. He knows that God will protect His people. Mordecai is also humble enough to admit that he does not know exactly how God is going to do this. He then makes the assumption that Esther might keep quiet, but implied in this statement is the notion that Esther might just as well take action. Mordecai does not know how things will turn out for Esther, but he does know that the Jews will be preserved. What Esther is going to do is the variable in this equation. The fixed element in the equation is the fact that God is going to deliver the Jews as a people. Esther is the only Jew on earth at this moment who has an obvious way to address the problem, but she also can decide to act or not to act.
What Mordecai also states is that Esther’s fate is unknown as well. God will save the Jews, but that does not mean every single Jew will escape with his or her life.
This idea is both a relief and a strange paradox. If God is going to deliver the Jews no matter what, why on earth should Esther risk her life?
...and a little bit more ... or go back
Esther 5:1
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the place, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance.
There is a lot of good fashion advice in the Bible. One thing it tells us here (and in some other verses as well) is that when you’re asked to stand before an important person in a potentially dangerous situation, it’s a good idea to wear your best clothes. Joseph did it when Pharaoh finally dragged him out of jail, and Esther did it after her fast as she decided to risk death to confront her husband about Haman’s evil edict to exterminate the Jews.
Esther’s royal robes are a symbol of who she is. Only the queen was allowed to wear them. Esther might have lent other garments to the other women at court, but no one else had the honor of wearing this particular outfit. It represented her status as a queen. She was not going to face King Xerxes as Esther the poor young girl dragged into the harem, nor was she going to stand before him as “merely” his wife and consort. She was not going as Hadassah, the orphan girl, or as Mordecai’s cousin or even as a Jew. She was going forth as the queen.
We all have many roles. We are parents and children, siblings and friends, teachers and helpers, employees and followers. Yet we are not all roles to all people and it’s hard to play more than one role at the same time. That’s why if one friend works for another friend, their relationship changes. Why? Because their roles shift to boss and employee and they really can’t relate simultaneously in different two ways. There is nothing wrong with roles changing, but it is foolish to expect that the old relationship can be sustained when things change. For instance, if a secretary marries her boss, their relationship changes. They soon drop the old boss/employee pattern and embark on a new one as husband/wife.
The Bible is vague in terms of Esther’s real feelings about Xerxes and their true relationship. I’ve seen and heard romanticized accounts that make it seem like Esther loved Xerxes and he was enamored of her, but the Bible is very skimpy on any evidence that would support (or refute) that. For whatever reason, she was going to make her appeal to him not as his sweetheart or even as his wife, but as his queen.
In my opinion (and that’s all this is), I don’t believe the Esther and Xerxes had a deep personal relationship. The idea about marriage being a partnership between man and woman was foreign to the ancient world. The notion that spouses could be friends or even “soul mates” was something the people in those times would have found ludicrous. In the ancient world, marriages was often just a deal made by two families that put two more-or-less strangers (sometimes children) together in a legal and sexual union without benefit of much relationship. It would have been typical for a man like Xerxes to relegate his queen to a life in the harem with only an occasional conjugal visit with him rather than regard her as a partner. King Xerxes certainly never would have considered Esther his equal.
Esther 5:11
Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials.
In one way, Esther is a book about wives. Rarely in the Old Testament are wives so prominently mentioned. Here, we find out Haman’s wife is named Zeresh. She even gets a speaking role in this book, showing the power of the “women behind the men.” The wives in Esther are Vashti (the disgraced wife and deposed queen), Esther (the unexpected wife and queen of the Jews—though no one knows that yet), and now Zeresh, the villain’s wife. We’ll come back a bit to Zeresh later, but it is intriguing to me that she is called out by name in this story. That is a clear indication of her prominence in the story, even though her role in the story is comparatively brief.
Haman has been on an emotional thrill ride. We’ve seen in the past two verses that he has been up and down in a very short time. At his height, he was the honored guest of the king and queen of Persia. At his low point, a man who gets on his nerves had the audacity to “snub” him by not rising in his presence. He has also exerted tremendous control over his emotions by trying not to act on them. By the time he gets home to Zeresh, he’s probably emotionally exhausted and stressed out. So what does he do? He gathers his friend and his wife around him.
Like most of us, Haman has friends and he draws comfort and support from them. There’s nothing wrong with having friends; in fact, friendships are a great blessing. But Haman is a man rising rapidly in power and influence. It may be that these friends are not true friends but more like hangers-on, sycophants eager to take advantage of being in orbit around Haman. In fact, powerful people have to be careful about the many friends that gather around them. The actress Liz Taylor once said that success was a great deodorant, meaning that lots of people want to be around you when you’re successful. At this point in the story, Haman is wildly successful.
What did Haman do? Was he interested in relaxing with his friends? Was he eager to talk about his emotional day? Did he just want to zone out? Was he interested in what his friends and wife had been doing? No, he used this gathering to serve as an audience while he boasted. Haman shoots off his mouth about how great he is. The stuff he brags about is the very same stuff that people are likely to revel in today: money, family, honor, and position
Home |