She was born in Persia and was of a family that chose to remain in Persia instead of returning to Jerusalem. She lived at Shushan, the capital city of Persia, Esther 1:2. She had been adopted by a man named Mordecai, Esther 2:7 / Esther 2:15-17.
It is thought that he probably held some office in the palace. Esther’s original name was Hadassah, Esther 2:7, which means “myrtle.” Her Persian name, Esther, is akin to the word “star.”
The name of God is not used in the book that bears her name, but His presence can be felt and seen throughout because of the obvious providence of God as he spares the lives of his people. The events described in connection with her life begin with the third year, Esther 1:3, during the reign of Ahasuerus.
It is believed the events surrounding her took place a little over fifty years after the first contingent of Jews left for Palestine, or thirty-three years after the completion of the second Temple in Jerusalem. It would fit somewhere between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7.
While the book of Ezra focuses on the temple in Jerusalem, the book of Esther focuses on events that were going on in Persia involving the Jews who did not return to their native land.
The king is the famous king who in history was known as Xerxes, Esther 1:1. His kingdom was very extensive, extending from India to the Red Sea and bounded on the North by the Euxine Sea and on the South by Ethiopia, Esther 1:1.
History indicates he was a fickle and capricious king who was extravagant in his habits. The extravagance and luxury of this king can be seen in the first chapter, in the description we have of a great feast he made for the people, Esther 1:4-9. Luxury was characteristic of Eastern monarchs, especially the Persians.
In these feasts, the king’s wealth, grandeur and power were put on display so that he might receive praise and flattery from his royal visitors, Esther 1:4. During his reign, the Persian Empire was in a state of decline. He lost two major wars with the Greeks.
It was about two years after this second defeat that Esther became queen, Esther 2:1-4 / Esther 2:5-7 / Esther 2:15-17. He was assassinated in his palace. While the king’s feast was going on, Queen Vashti had a feast for the women, Esther 1:9. In the East, women never mingled with men in public.
The wine flowed freely so that on the seventh day, Esther 1:7, the king, being under the influence of wine, decided to bring Vashti before the men that he might show off her beauty to the drunken revellers, Esther 1:11. He probably only wanted to bring her before the crowd unveiled, so that he could boast of her beauty.
The refusal of Vashti to obey the king gives us an insight into her character, Esther 1:11. Her name, Vashti, meant “beautiful.” She was correctly named. For her to appear before a vast company of boisterous and half-intoxicated men would have disgraced her before all of Persia.
Had the king really loved her, he would not have made such a demand. Her humility is evidenced by her refusal to make such an appearance. Her courage was equal to her modesty in that she resisted a royal command, knowing that it could bring serious reprisals. Her virtue and honour were at stake, and she was not about to sacrifice these.
In Esther 2, we become acquainted with the great hero of this story, Mordecai. He was the son of Jair, a Benjamite, son of Kish, Esther 2:5. He was the great-grandson of King Jehoiachin, who, with many of the Jews, was taken to Babylon one hundred and twenty years before in the first deportation of Jews to Babylon, Esther 2:6.
Being an older man, he had adopted Esther, his cousin, who was the daughter of Mordecai’s uncle, when her mother and father died, Esther 2:7. Hearing that Queen Vashti had been expelled as queen, he brought Esther to Hegai, the keeper of the women, that she might be trained to be a queen, Esther 2:8-9.
It was not known that she was a Jew, Esther 2:10. After twelve months of training and preparing, Esther 2:12, she was brought before Ahasuerus, and he was very pleased with her and selected her to be the next queen, Esther 2:16.
Afterwards, Mordecai became aware of a plot to have the king killed, Esther 2:21-22. The information was passed on to Esther, who informed the king, which placed Mordecai in a favoured spot, Esther 2:22. Haman, a very evil person, had been promoted to a high position by the king, Esther 3:1.
All “bowed and reverenced” him except Mordecai, Esther 3:2-4. His refusal to bow down before Haman was not that he refused to show respect for a civil authority, but the acts of prostration were looked upon as an act of worship, and it was not proper to worship anyone except God.
Haman became very angry and not only wanted to destroy Mordecai but the entire Jewish race in Persia, Esther 3:5-6. It is almost inconceivable that a man’s hatred could be so great that he would plot for the extinction (genocide) of an entire race. History records many such people. He even offered to pay the king to have all the Jews executed.
Letters were sent by the king to the different provinces to kill all Jews whom he accused of violating the laws of the king, Esther 3:7-15. Mordecai rent his clothes, put on sackcloth and cried bitterly, Esther 4:1-3.
Esther receives news of this decree, Esther 4:4. He sent word for her to go before the king and request that the Jews not be harmed, Esther 4:6-8. She says that she is not allowed to approach the king unless he extends the golden sceptre toward her and she touches it, Esther 4:9-11. Also, she has not been invited to come before him.
He informs her that she is the only hope, that if she does nothing, even her father’s house will be destroyed, Esther 4:12-14. She is the only hope. Mordecai says who knows whether “thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14.
She requests they fast for her and “neither eat nor drink for three days.” She will go before the king and “if I perish, I perish,” Esther 4:15-16. What a great decision Esther had to make when Mordecai appealed to her. It took a great amount of courage. It could mean her death. But she was resigned to do what she could.
“Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king’s house,” Esther 5:1. When the king saw Esther, she obtained favour in his sight, and he extended the golden sceptre to her, Esther 5:2.
She requested that the king and Haman come to a banquet she had prepared for them, Esther 5:3-4. They came, Esther 5:5, and she extended a special invitation for a second banquet, Esther 5:7-8.
Haman was elated but resented Mordecai, who would not stand up when he left the palace, Esther 5:9. His friends suggested he have a gallows made fifty cubits high and then ask the king that Mordecai be hanged, Esther 5:14. Haman came to the court the next day, Esther 6:4-5.
The king finds out that it was Mordecai who discovered the plot to kill the king and had not been rewarded for doing this. So the king asked Haman, “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honour?” Esther 6:6.
Haman vainly thought the king was thinking of him and suggested that the person be given royal apparel and ride the king’s horse with a royal crown on his head, Esther 6:7-9. This really backfired. Haman could only go home and sulk and mourn, Esther 6:10-12. His ego was shattered.
The king and Haman came to the special banquet Esther had prepared, Esther 6:14. When the king asked for her request, she spoke of the death threat to her people, Esther 7:1-4.
The king asked who had instigated this. She advises him that it was Haman, Esther 7:5-6. Haman falls on the bed of the queen to plead that his life be spared, Esther 7:8.
The king, seeing this, is enraged and said, “Will he force the queen also before me in the house?” Esther 7:8. The result was that Haman was hanged on the “gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai,” Esther 7:10. Haman was reaping what he had sown. His sins had caught up with him.
Esther again approached the king on behalf of her people, Esther 8:3. The king authorises Mordecai to command the Jews in the kingdom to gather together and to “stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power of the people” that would assault them, Esther 8:11.
While the king’s decree could not be changed, he made it possible for the Jews to defend themselves, Esther 8:9-13. The result that not many tried to do anything against the Jews, Esther 8:11.
Mordecai, along with all the Jews, rejoiced over their favoured situation, Esther 8:15-16. They could defend and destroy those who would attempt to kill them. In Shushan, they slew five hundred men, Esther 8:1-12.
The ten sons of Haman were also slain, Esther 8:12. Later, three hundred more at Shushan were killed, Esther 8:15. The total number killed in the kingdom came to seventy-five thousand, Esther 8:16.
From the book of Esther, we learn the origin of the Jewish feast of Purim, Esther 9:26-28. This feast is perpetually kept to this day by the Jews to commemorate the Jews’ preservation and the destruction of Haman.
The hand of God’s providence is seen throughout the book. The deposition of Vashti and the appointment of Esther to become the queen. Haman’s plans backfiring, Esther’s plea to the king, and Mordecai being honoured all point clearly to God’s providence.
Perhaps the most significant statement in the book is Mordecai’s “And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14.
Preserving the Jews while in bondage was essential to their return to Jerusalem, to re-establish themselves in Palestine, rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem and eventually to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.