http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 1 Commentary by Ron Thomas Questions by John C. Sewell Introduction to the Book of Esther
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 2 Introduction to the Book of Esther Ron Thomas The outline and introduction below is the work of Doug Hoff. This was a work he completed in the 2000. The commentary will follow this outline. I. Threat to the Jews. 1:1 4:17 Outline of the Book A. The Selection of Esther as Queen. 1:1-2:20 1. The Divorce of Vashti. 1:1-22 a. The Feasts of Ahasuerus. 1:1-8 b. Refusal of Queen Vashti. 1:9-12 c. Removal of Vashti. 1:13-22 2. The Marriage to Esther. 2:1-20 a. Decree to Search for Vashti's Replacement. 2:1-4 b. Preparation of Esther. 2:5-14 c. Selection of Queen Esther. 2:15-20 B. The Formulation of the Plot by Haman. 2:21-4:17 1. Mordecai Reveals the Plot to Murder the King. 2:21-23 2. Haman Plots to Murder the Jews. 3:1-4:17
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 3 a. Haman Is Promoted. 3:1 b. The Reason for Haman's Plot. 3:2-6 c. Ahasuerus' Decree to Destroy the Jews. 3:7-4:17 II. The Triumph Of The Jews. 5:1 10:3 A. The Triumph of Mordecai over Haman. 5:1-8:3 1. Setting for the Triumph. 5:1-6:3 a. Esther's First Feast. 5:1-8 b. Haman Plots to Kill Mordecai. 5:9-14 c. King Ahasuerus' Plan to Honor Mordecai. 6:1-3 2. Mordecai Is Honored. 6:4-14 a. Haman's Plan to Honor Himself. 6:4-9 b. Haman Is Forced to Honor Mordecai. 6:10-14 3. Haman Dies on Gallows Prepared for Mordecai. 7:1-10 a. Esther's Second Feast. 7:1-4 b. Haman Is Indicted. 7:5-8 c. Haman Is Hanged. 7:9-10 4. Mordecai Is Given Haman's House. 8:1-3
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 4 B. The Triumph of Israel over her Enemies. 8:4-10:3 1. Preparation for the Victory of Israel. 8:4-17 a. Esther's Petition to King Ahasuerus. 8:4-6 b. King Ahasuerus' Counter-Decree. 8:7-14 c. Many Gentiles Are Converted. 8:15-17 2. Israel's Victory over Her Enemies. 9:1-16 a. Victories on the First Day. 9:1-11 b. Victories on the Second Day. 9:12-16 3. Israel's Celebration. 9:17-10:3 a. The Feast of Purim. 9:17-32 b. The Fame of Mordecai. 10:1-3 Table 1. Kings of the Medo-Persian Empire (Sixth & Fifth centuries B.C.) King Dates Relation to other O.T. books Special Notes Cyrus 539/8-530 Ezra 1-6 Cyrus allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 36:20-23; Ezra 1:1-4); foundation of the 2 nd Temple laid (536/5 B.C.) Cambyses (had his brother Smerdis killed) 530-522 Ezra 1-6 possibly another Ahasuerus; 4 conquered Egypt
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 5 King Dates Relation to other O.T. books Special Notes Smerdis (pseudo) 522 Ezra 1-6 not mentioned in the Bible Darius I (son of Hystaspes) The Great Xerxes (a.k.a. Ahasuerus) son of Darius Artaxerxes I (Longimanus): son of Xerxes 521-486 Haggai (520) Zechariah (520) 486-465 Esther (483-473) 464-424 Ezra (458-444) Nehemiah (445-432) 2 nd Temple completed (516) defeat at Marathon by the Greeks (490) Egypt rebels Egypt conquered (484?); Great feast (483) Battle of Thermopylae defeat at Salamis (480) Esther becomes Queen 478 B.C. Jews delivered from Haman=s plot (473) Xerxes assassinated by a guard and eunuch 4 Ezra restores the Law; Nehemiah rebuilds the Wall Darius II 423-404 Malachi (435-400?) not mentioned in the Bible
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 6 I. Who Wrote the Book of Esther? A. The Author is unknown. INTRODUCTION 1. However, Mordecai has been suggested as a likely writer. 2. Whoever wrote the book had an intimate knowledge of palace life. a. The writer identifies the king as Ahasuerus. b. There was more than one Ahasuerus mentioned in the Bible. c. There is also the Ahasuerus of Daniel 9:1, In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; (father of Darius) and Ezra 4:6, And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. (Cambyses?). d. This Ahasuerus reigned over India yet it was well known that earlier Persian monarchs had not conquered India. e. Some think Ahasuerus was a title more than a name (like Pharaoh). f. He records minute details about the banquet, royal customs, and laws of the king.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 7 g. He lists names of the king s officials. h. This person also gives details about the lives of Esther and Mordecai. B. Ultimately, the Author is God since it is an inspired book. II. Why Was It Written? A. One reason is to show God s providence at work. 1. God had promised Abraham that of his seed the Messiah / Redeemer Savior would come. a. Genesis 12:1-3; Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. b. Genesis 21:12; And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. c. Genesis 22:18; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 8 d. Genesis 26:3-4; Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; e. Genesis 28:12-14; And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 2. Later, the promised was shown to apply specifically to the tribe of Judah. a. Genesis 49:10; The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. b. Hebrews 7:14; For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. c. Galatians 3:16, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 9 3. God s chosen people were confronted with other crises and God providentially caused them to continue. a. Joseph as prime minister in Egypt averted the famine. b. Slaughter of the male Hebrew babies in Egypt, yet Moses was spared, raised in Pharaoh s court and became the Deliverer of the Israelites. i. Exodus 1:15-17, And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. c. The slaughter of the male babies in and around Bethlehem, yet Jesus was spared and became the Savior of the world. B. Perhaps another reason is to show what happened to the Jews who did not return to Judea. 1. Only a small remnant of the Jews who had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar returned under the leadership of Zerubbabel (538 B.C.), Ezra (458 B.C.) and Nehemiah (445 B.C.).
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 10 2. Many chose to stay in the land of the Babylonians, Medes and Persians. (See a map of the Persian Empire circa 500 B.C.) III. Does Esther Belong In the Bible Since God is Not Named in the book? A. Many people have accepted this book as part of God s word. 1. The Council of Jamnia in A.D. 90 regarded it as an inspired book. a. Granted, this opinion was not universal but the majority felt this way. b. Also, there is evidence that it had long been accepted. 2. The first century historian Josephus (himself a Jew) accepted it as canonical. a. The Jewish people have long accepted it. b. The feast of Purim is still celebrated among Jews to this day. 3. It is hard to account for this if the Jews think Esther is not from God. B. Charges that Esther is historically flawed are unmerited. 1. Some have attacked Esther as being a fictional story to promote Jewish nationalism.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 11 a. They claim Esther should be rejected because Esther is not mentioned in other historical documents from the Persian period. b. The implication is that Esther was not a real person. 2. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of Biblical characters such as Sargon and Belshazzar. a. In the past some have claimed they did not really exist either. b. Herodotus (a 5 th century B.C. Greek historian) did not mention Esther. So what! This is an argument from silence. Herodotus lived from 484-424 B.C. and thus contemporary with Esther. It is not surprising that the Greek historians do not mention Esther; they mention only those people connected with their own history. Xerxes was notably polygamous. Considering these things it is not surprising that the Greeks mentioned two wives of Xerxes not mentioned in the Bible and the Bible mentions Vashti and Esther, who are not mentioned by the Greeks. 3. Excavations of the royal palace at Shushan (Susa) in 1852 uncovered the hall and throne room. a. A trilingual inscription was found on the pedestals of four columns describing how the throne room was rebuilt after a fire. b. The fact that it was written in three languages shows that different peoples were part of the kingdom. Additional excavations in 1884 revealed the true extent of Shushan (nearly 5,000 acres!). 5, p. 1097.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 12 i. It was originally divided into four districts: The citadel mound; The royal city (Shushan the palace); the business and residential area (Shushan the city); the plain to the west of the river. ii. The royal palace included three courts of different sizes surrounded by halls and apartments. It had been decorated in the Babylonian manner with beautifully colored glazed bricks on which figures of griffins, bulls and spearmen were executed in relief.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 13 References 1 Adron Doran, What Does The Life Of Esther Teach About The Providence Of God? in The Providence Of God, ed. Thomas B. Warren and Garland Elkins (Pulaski, TN: Sain Publications, n.d.), 189-204. Brother Doran has some good historical background on page 192. 2 Gleason L. Archer, Esther, in A Survey Of Old Testament Introduction, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974; paperback ed. 1985), 425-9. Excellent background material! 3 Canon Rawlinson, Introduction To The Book Of Esther, in The Bible Commentary, ed. F.C. Cook, vol. III (1871-1881; reprint, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1981), 469-74. 4 The Book Of Esther, in The Bible Commentary, ed. F.C. Cook, vol. III (1871-1881; reprint, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1981), 475-97. 5 R. K. Harrison, The Book of Esther, in Introduction to the Old Testament (1969; reprint, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), 1085-1102. 6 Furman Kearley, A Chronological Harmony Between Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther Haggai Zechariah and Malachi, in Difficult Texts Of The Old Testament Explained, ed. Wendell Winkler (Hurst, TX: Winkler Publications, 1982), 288-94. 7 Furman Kearley, Is Esther Canonical Since The Name Of God Is Not There? in Difficult Texts Of The Old Testament Explained, ed. Wendell Winkler (Hurst, TX: Winkler Publications, 1982), 298-300. 8 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (xi, vi, 1-3), in The Works Of Josephus (Complete and Unabridged), trans. William Whiston, one volume ed. (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987), 237-8. 9 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Introduction To The Book Of Ezra, in The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1978), 693. This page has a good chronology of the Persian kings from Cyrus to Darius II and how they correspond to the lives of Haggai through Malachi.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 14 10 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Introduction To The Book Of Esther, in The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1978), 734. 11 John A. Dickson, Esther [Introduction], in The New Analytical Bible and Dictionary of the Bible: Authorized King James Version, revised ed. (Iowa Falls, Iowa: World Bible Publishers, 1973), 611-2. 12 John A. Dickson, Esther B Outline, Outstanding Facts and Contemporary History, in The New Analytical Bible and Dictionary of the Bible: Authorized King James Version, revised ed. (Iowa Falls, Iowa: World Bible Publishers, 1973), 621-5. 13 John A. Dickson, Old Testament Chronology: The Persian Period, in The New Analytical Bible and Dictionary of the Bible: Authorized King James Version, revised ed. (Iowa Falls, Iowa: World Bible Publishers, 1973), 1455. 14 John A. Dickson, Persian Empire (About 500 B.C.) in The New Analytical Bible and Dictionary of the Bible: Authorized King James Version, revised ed. (Iowa Falls, Iowa: World Bible Publishers, 1973), Map VII. 15 Time Chart 1: Prehistory, and from 5000 B.C. to 400 B.C.@ in The March of Man, ed. Albert Bushnell Hart and Isaac J. Cox (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1935), chart comes after page 68. 16 William Smith, Esther, in Old Testament History, revised by Wilbur Fields, (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1983), 724. It is not surprising that the Greek historians do not mention Esther; they mention only those people connected with their own history. Xerxes was notably polygamous. Considering these things it is not surprising that the Greeks mentioned two wives of Xerxes not mentioned in the Bible and the Bible mentions Vashti and Esther, who are not mentioned by the Greeks. 17 J. A. Thompson, Archaeology And The Book Of Esther, in The Bible and Archaeology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962), 193-6. 18 Jack P. Lewis, Ahasuerus, in Archaeological Backgrounds to Bible People (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1971), 124-7.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 15 19 E.M. Blaiklock, Persepolis, Persia & Shushan (entries), in The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, ed. Merrill C. Tenney (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967), 638-40; 791. See also page 576 for drawing of the Ishtar Gate (aerial view). Page 387 shows a picture of the remains of the actual gate. 20 Figure: A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, in The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Atlas, ed. E.M. Blaiklock (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), 158-9. See also pages 70 & 691 in Harper s Bible Dictionary for a picture of the reconstruction. See also: E:\PC Study Bible Images\Ishtar Gate.wpd 21 Foy L. Smith, Facts and Reasons, in 'Beautiful Star': A Study of the Book of Esther (Riverside, California: Foy L. Smith Publications, n.d.), 10.
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 16 Questions Introduction to the Book of Esther 1. Into what two major sections did Hoff categorize the events in the book of Esther? 2. What two major topics did Hoff identify in Esther 1:1-4:17? 3. What two major topics did Hoff identify in Esther 5:1-10:3? 4. Who was Ahasuerus who became Esther s husband? 5. List seven kings of the Medo-Persian Empire and specify how they were involved with the Hebrews. (see Table 1)
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 17 6. Who wrote the book of Esther? Give your best answer with reasons to support your response. 7. Give reasons the book of Esther is rightfully a canonical book and is not historically flawed. 8. Who was Mordecai? 9. Who was Vashti?
http://www.biblestudyworkshop.com 18 10. What is the Feast of Purim?