Esther is a hero story. The main hero of the story is a woman, Esther. Through her, God saved her people, the Jews, from distortion at the hands of a high official in the Persian government.
Esther could be subtitled “A Reversal of Fortunes”, as it shows a queen losing her crown, an unknown, minority woman becoming queen, and a powerful advisor executed for treason on a platform he built for the execution of his Hebrew rival.
Esther is also one of two books in the Bible that do not mention God. And, the people portrayed in the book seem to be only nominal Jews. They are ethnically Jewish, but do not seem to be very religious. The characters in the story never give credit or glory to God for their deliverance.
This has raised questions among some people as to why the book is in the Bible. However, although we do not see the name of God in the book, we see his providential care of his people. He may be hidden in the story, but he is there.
1:1-4
The Six Month Feast of Nobles
The book first tells us that the story happens during the reign of Ahasuerus. It was the Ahasuerus that reigned from India to Ethiopia, a vast kingdom of 127 provinces. He is better known by his Greek name, Xerxes 1. He was the son of Darius the Great (who was the son-in-law of Cyrus the Great) and ruled from 486-465 B.C. He ruled from his capital city of Susa.
A little historical review will help us place the story of Esther in context with Biblical history. Remember that, 2nd Chronicles 36 tells us that the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and took the surviving Jews to Babylon. This is what we call the Exile.
Daniel 5 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar, succeeded him on the throne. He is the one for whom there was the writing on the wall, where God revealed through Daniel that Belshazzar’s kingdom had come to an end. He was defeated by Darius I, King of the Medes and Persians, who made Daniel one of the top three men in the kingdom. Although he also allowed Daniel to be placed in the lion’s den.
After Darius I died, Cyrus the Great became king. Isaiah prophesied this many years before, quoting the Lord as saying that Cyrus was his shepherd to fulfill the Lord’s purpose to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. (Isaiah 44:28) We see here that, even as Isaiah prophesied in advance that Israel would go into captivity in Babylon, he revealed that God planned to redeem them from that captivity as he had redeemed them from captivity in Egypt. He had already chosen the man and the nation that would accomplish his purpose.
Cyrus issued the decree that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and the temple. The decree of Cyrus recorded in Ezra 1 and 2 Chronicles 36. But, many Jews stayed in the Persia.
Cyrus’s son was Darius II, or Darius the Great. When he died, Darius’s son-in-law, Xerxes, became king. He is known for invading and conquering a large part of Greece, and is the Persian king known in the story of the 300, where the Spartans tried to hold the pass against against the Persian army of thousands. His religion was evidently Zoroastrianism, although he did not seem to live according to its standards.
It is during the reign of this Xerxes that the story of Esther unfolds. It was around 482 B.C. It begins with a feast of six months where Xerxes showed off his wealth and power. Some think it was given to win over the nobles and the army to support Xerxes in his bid to conquer Greece. He showed them all his riches, the splendor of his palace, and his royal glory. (4)
Esther 1:5-8
The Second Feast
At the end of the six month feast for the nobles and governors, Xerxes\Ahasuerus gave a seven day feast for all of the male residents of Susa, the capital city. It was held in the court of the garden of the palace, maybe because he did not want commoners in the palace itself. He again displayed his wealth in the decorations, food and drink. Evidently, there was lots of drinking.
Esther 1:9
The Third Feast
The third feast was hosted for the women and also took place at the palace.
Esther 1:10-22
The Crisis
After 7 days of drinking, the king was “merry”. (10) He decided to show off his wife, the queen, so that the men could admire her beauty. He ordered her to appear before all of these men with her crown on. (11) The Jewish commentators take this to mean she could only wear her crown.
However, the queen refused to come. We are not told why, but she defied the king by refusing his summons. The king was enraged at her defiance and the embarrassment it caused him. (12) Here he was, king over the greatest empire on earth, and he could not get his own wife to obey him. Vashti created a crisis.
Xerxes called on his wise men, the seven princes of the kingdom who had personal access to the king (“who saw the king’s face) and asked what he could do to Queen Vashti for refusing to obey his command. (17)
At this point, the wise men get a little hysterical. One called Memucan said that Vashti had not only wronged the king, but all of the people in the whole empire. (16) He reasoned that all of the women in the kingdom, upon learning of Vashti’s defiance, would have contempt for their husbands and refuse to obey their husbands(18) So, they got the king to issue a royal order that could not be repealed, banning Vashti from the king’s presence and stripping her of her title. (19) This would make all women honor their husbands.
So, Xerxes issued the order and included that every man be master in his own household.
Certainly the Bible tells us that a woman should submit to her husband. (Ephesians 5:22) But we also know that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. (Ephesians 5:25) There was no discussion about that among these men.
Vashti was not wise in her defiance. She lost her title and place in the kingdom. The decree that was made banned her from the king’s presence and set in motion the process to find her substitute. She may have been justified in refusing since the order was demeaning, but she is fortunate she was not executed. Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote that Xerxes was cruel and petty.
This result of all of this is a huge upheaval in the royal family and the stage set for major change.
This is the first place we see God at work. He used the pettiness of the king and the pride of the queen to set in motion a plan to protect and redeem his people. No one knew, at this point, that God was working toward this end, or even that he needed to. But he was.
It is the same in our lives. We may not see what God is doing, or even think he needs to do something, but he is working. Later, however, as we think back, we see that God was indeed working and brought about good things for us As Romans 8:28 says, “…for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Unlike the Jews in this book, we want to give God credit for what he has done and thank him for his work in our lives and in salvation history.
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