Est 1:1-2 | KingComments | STEP | The story of the book of Esther takes place during the second great world empire, that of the Medes and Persians. Under Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, a remnant of Israel returned to the land ( ). The events of the book of Esther can be placed between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7, i.e. between the year 483 BC – the third year of Xerxes ( ) and 473 BC – the end of the twelfth year of Xerxes ( ). In Daniel 11 there is talk of “three more kings … in Persia” and “a fourth” king ( ). The fourth king is Xerxes I, which is Ahasuerus ( ). He succeeds Darius I and reigns from 485-465 BC. He is mentioned in Daniel 9 and Ezra 4 ( ; ). The subject of this book is God’s providence, which means that we see God at work in this book, but in a hidden way. The name of the Jews is often mentioned, while God’s Name is not mentioned in this book. The latter has led critics to comment that this book does not belong in the Bible. However, anyone who reads this book with a believing heart will gradually be impressed by what this book has to say and will be strengthened in his conviction that it belongs to the inspired Word of God. There is a reason why the Name of God does not appear in it. The book is about the fates of the people of God, here called the people of ‘the Jews’. The leading role is played by two members of it: Mordecai and Esther. There is a murderous enemy who wants to exterminate the Jews completely. When the Jews hear of this great threat, we do not read that there is even one prayer to God. Nowhere does it appear that the Jews are aware of being God’s people. There is nothing to indicate that they take into account certain laws or statutes that God has given to His people. No, these people are separate from God, do not confess Him, do not think of Him. And because these people do not confess God, God cannot openly take sides with them. He cannot associate His Name with them. He hides Himself from His people. That is why the Name of God does not appear in it. However, the absence of God’s Name does not mean that He stops caring for His people. His Name may not appear in this book, but we do see His hand at work. Behind the events of this book, God is at work as the great Director. He controls the circumstances and also the deeds of the persons of this book, so that His intention is carried out. We will see that the outcome is fully consistent with the purpose He has set Himself. God cannot cease to be God. He is sovereign. He rules. For us it is important to remember that the throne is not on earth, but in heaven ( ; ). God rules, not people on earth. In His providence, God protects His people through Ahasuerus, for God wants His Messiah to come forth from this people. Therefore, the attack of Haman does not succeed. God saves His people from extinction, as He did in Egypt. The decisive time period of this book is eleven months. Then, humanly speaking, the history of God’s people hangs by a thread. God makes sure that the enemies of His people are ashamed ( ) and that His people are preserved, even exalted. He will save His earthly people through all the genocides that have marked their history. Across all suffering, the people of God will keep their identity. God also shows here what He is doing with the world. He cannot stop being this God. God controls the fate of the world for the sake of His people. For God’s people today, the church of the living God, this book has great practical significance. This book contains an enormous consolation for all of the church who believe that God is hiding from them. Certainly, Christians do live in a known relationship to God as children to their Father. They know of a God Who loves and cares for them. But aren’t there even times when they ask themselves: ‘Where is God? We can apply this to personal life as well as to the life of a local church. Well, the people of the Jews ended up in that position through their own fault. We’ll see about that. In the same way Christians can alienate themselves from God through their own failures. That does not take away the message of this book. That message is that God is fulfilling His plan in the background. This plan is to ultimately bless everyone who belongs to Him through repentance and belief in the truth. He will bless each of His children, not because of their own merits, but because of what His Son Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. There is another aspect that makes this book so valuable. That is its prophetic meaning. God’s people come in great distress, are saved from it and are exalted to great heights in Mordecai. This is how it will be in the end times. God’s people will go through the great tribulation, will be saved from it by the Lord Jesus and will be made head of the nations. This is at the same time an example of another aspect of this book. We can see pictures of spiritual realities in the various persons it contains. This is called a typological approach. In that approach we see in Mordecai a picture of the Lord Jesus, in Ahasuerus a picture of God, in Haman a picture of the devil and in Esther, originally called Hadassah ( ), a picture of the faithful remnant of Israel. We will have to be careful with this approach, but in general we will certainly recognize certain similarities in this history. We will pay attention to all the aspects mentioned. It is clear that the message of this book is multifaceted. All in all, there are plenty of reasons to listen to it carefully with the desire to let it teach us. In summary, this book can be viewed in four ways: historical, practical, prophetic and typological: 1. Historical means that we look at history as it has evolved. We then discover how God controls history behind the scenes. 2. This automatically leads to the practical application. Just as God governed the history of His people then, so He also controls the history of His people now and that of each of His people individually. Here are many encouraging lessons for the life of faith. 3. The prophetic view of this book of the Bible is also obvious. Just as God in this book of the Bible cares for His people and frees them from their enemies, so in the end time He will care for His people and free them from their enemies. 4. Although the typological view is not so obvious, it is present in this book of the Bible. A typological view means that we try to discover the spiritual meaning of this history, but without letting our imagination run wild. With this viewpoint we recognize, as already mentioned, for example in Ahasuerus a picture of God and in Mordecai a picture of the Lord Jesus. Another peculiarity of this book is that it is named after a woman, just like the book of Ruth. We also see that these two women marry a man who does not belong to their own people. Esther connects with a pagan who remains an idolater. This is due to the fact that she does not reveal her true identity until she is forced to do so. That is why God also remains hidden. He does not make His relationship to the people known until the people are forced to do so (cf. ). The books of Ruth and of Song of Songs as well as the book of Esther place a woman in the center. Esther, like the women in the other two books, is a picture of the faithful remnant going through deep trials. In all three books there is also an image of the Lord Jesus: in Ruth it’s Boaz, in Song of Songs it’s Solomon and in Esther it’s Mordecai. The book can be divided into two parts: 1. the first part describes the threat to the Jews (Esther 1-4); 2. the second part describes the triumph of the Jews (Esther 5-10). In the first part everything is written down that is necessary to come to the deliverance in the second part. In distress God lays down the seed of salvation. During the distress God already makes preparations for the deliverance. God is never embarrassed, because He determines the outcome long before it is seen by man. are the introduction to the book. Historically and practically, these verses show the world in its generosity and attractiveness, causing God’s people to forget their true King. With all that glory, their land of Israel falls into oblivion. So, it can also happen to us as Christians. In prophetic and typological respect, we see in Ahasuerus a picture of God as the sovereign Ruler Who rules the whole world. As Ruler over the world, God still blesses all people with earthly blessings, without forcing them to make use of them ( ). It is about the essential question of authority. Authority comes from God. He grants authority to man in various fields. Subjugation to it means the acknowledgment of God’s authority. Behind the authority of the ruler of a country, the head of state, the husband, father, mother, employer, teacher at school is the authority of God, for He has established these authority relationships. The rest of Esther 1 is dedicated to the actions of Ahasuerus with Vashti. From a historical and practical point of view we see that God uses the king’s counselors to erect a dam against evil through legislation, so that evil is curbed. This is what the government serves for today ( ). Prophetically and typologically, the casting out of Vashti represents the setting aside by God of Israel as His wife. Israel has failed to bear the testimony of Who God is, just as Vashti refuses to show her beauty which she has thanks to her connection with Ahasuerus. For the same reason, Christianity will be cast out just as any Christian who lives in contradiction to His confession. The deposing of Vashti paves the way for the introduction of Esther. It is a picture of the faithful remnant of Israel with which God resumes the history of His people in the future. The history of this book takes place “in the days of Ahasuerus” ( ), the king of the world empire of “Persia and Media” ( ). Ahasuerus rules “over 127 provinces”. One of them is the land of Israel. Israel is under foreign rule. We can see that in the dating. We read in about “the third year of his reign” – that is the year 483 BC. This means that God no longer dates history to the kings of Judah and Israel, but to the kings of the nations. After reference to Ahasuerus in in connection with the extent of the area over which he reigns, reference is made to him in in connection with his position. Here he is emphatically called “King Ahasuerus” and it is emphasized that he sits on “his royal throne”. He is the ruler and commander of an immense empire. This throne, which in reality is the throne of God, is here “at the citadel in Susa” and not in Jerusalem. This situation is not the way God wants it to be. God originally established His throne in Jerusalem. He is their King, whereby He has had His kingship over His people exercised by people He has appointed for that purpose. We see that in David and the kings that came forth from his lineage. But this kingship, entrusted to men, has failed. After much patience, God had to take away the kingship of His people and put it into the hands of the nations. The first king to whom God gives this authority is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Since he, too, is unfaithful to his mandate, his power is taken away from him. God has used the people of the Medes and Persians for this. The first king of the Medes and Persians, Cyrus, authorizes all the Jews throughout his kingdom to return to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s house, the temple ( ). Unfortunately, only a handful of Jews took advantage of this opportunity. Many remained where they ended up after their deportation. In the course of time they have built up their existence in the foreign land and have come to feel at home there. They have begun to miss their homeland less and less and the longing for it has eventually disappeared. This situation applies to the Jews living in Susa. We also come across the citadel of Susa in Daniel 8. Daniel is there when he gets a vision ( ). In this vision he is shown the judgment of the Medo-Persian world empire. He gets this vision when the empire is far from that size. God shows him the downfall of that empire, in the very citadel of Susa, the residence of the kings of Persia. Daniel is shown the rise of the empire and also how it is judged. This is how God shows us what happens to a world that impresses us so much. The world passes by and its lusts ( ). The Jews in Susa don’t think about that and many Christians don’t think about that either. The splendor of Susa and the brilliance of the world is in stark contrast to the ruins of Jerusalem. But we allow ourselves to be deceived when we hang on to the world with our hearts. Ahasuerus is in his third year of government ( ) when history begins here. As said, the era is according to the reign of pagan princes and not to that of the kings of Israel and Judah ( ). Jerusalem is no longer central, but a pagan kingdom. The history of salvation has changed. Jerusalem is supposed to be the head, but has become unfaithful and set aside and has become the tail instead ( ). The time of Israel being the center of God’s actions is over. “The times of the Gentiles “ ( ) began when God in Nebuchadnezzar made the nations the head and gave them power of government ( ). In the third year of his reign, Ahasuerus gives “a banquet for all his princes and attendants”, which are the leaders of his armies and of his provinces. They are with him for 180 days ( ). During those days he shows them “the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty”. The occasion of this feast was to get his staff on his hand to carry out his plan to start a war against Greece. We read the following about that intention in the book of Daniel: “Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all [of them]; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole [empire] against the realm of Greece“ ( ). This is explained in more detail here in the first chapter of the book of Esther. The third year of his reign is the year in which the unsuccessful campaign against Greece is decreed. In order to win them over to his battle plans, Ahasuerus invites all the leaders of the 127 provinces to visit him and demonstrates his extraordinary richness and splendor. That is why the feast lasts so long: six months. We don’t read anything about the battle here. God is concerned about His people in the midst of the nations and how they are doing.

‏ Esther 1:1-2

Introduction

The story of the book of Esther takes place during the second great world empire, that of the Medes and Persians. Under Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, a remnant of Israel returned to the land (Ezra 1:1-5). The events of the book of Esther can be placed between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7, i.e. between the year 483 BC – the third year of Xerxes (Est 1:3) and 473 BC – the end of the twelfth year of Xerxes (Est 3:7).

In Daniel 11 there is talk of “three more kings … in Persia” and “a fourth” king (Dan 11:2). The fourth king is Xerxes I, which is Ahasuerus (Est 1:1). He succeeds Darius I and reigns from 485-465 BC. He is mentioned in Daniel 9 and Ezra 4 (Dan 9:1; Ezra 4:6).

The subject of this book is God’s providence, which means that we see God at work in this book, but in a hidden way. The name of the Jews is often mentioned, while God’s Name is not mentioned in this book. The latter has led critics to comment that this book does not belong in the Bible. However, anyone who reads this book with a believing heart will gradually be impressed by what this book has to say and will be strengthened in his conviction that it belongs to the inspired Word of God.

There is a reason why the Name of God does not appear in it. The book is about the fates of the people of God, here called the people of ‘the Jews’. The leading role is played by two members of it: Mordecai and Esther. There is a murderous enemy who wants to exterminate the Jews completely. When the Jews hear of this great threat, we do not read that there is even one prayer to God. Nowhere does it appear that the Jews are aware of being God’s people. There is nothing to indicate that they take into account certain laws or statutes that God has given to His people.

No, these people are separate from God, do not confess Him, do not think of Him. And because these people do not confess God, God cannot openly take sides with them. He cannot associate His Name with them. He hides Himself from His people. That is why the Name of God does not appear in it.

However, the absence of God’s Name does not mean that He stops caring for His people. His Name may not appear in this book, but we do see His hand at work. Behind the events of this book, God is at work as the great Director. He controls the circumstances and also the deeds of the persons of this book, so that His intention is carried out. We will see that the outcome is fully consistent with the purpose He has set Himself. God cannot cease to be God. He is sovereign. He rules. For us it is important to remember that the throne is not on earth, but in heaven (Rev 4:3; Psa 11:4). God rules, not people on earth.

In His providence, God protects His people through Ahasuerus, for God wants His Messiah to come forth from this people. Therefore, the attack of Haman does not succeed. God saves His people from extinction, as He did in Egypt. The decisive time period of this book is eleven months. Then, humanly speaking, the history of God’s people hangs by a thread.

God makes sure that the enemies of His people are ashamed (Psa 37:12-13) and that His people are preserved, even exalted. He will save His earthly people through all the genocides that have marked their history. Across all suffering, the people of God will keep their identity. God also shows here what He is doing with the world. He cannot stop being this God. God controls the fate of the world for the sake of His people.

For God’s people today, the church of the living God, this book has great practical significance. This book contains an enormous consolation for all of the church who believe that God is hiding from them. Certainly, Christians do live in a known relationship to God as children to their Father. They know of a God Who loves and cares for them. But aren’t there even times when they ask themselves: ‘Where is God?

We can apply this to personal life as well as to the life of a local church. Well, the people of the Jews ended up in that position through their own fault. We’ll see about that. In the same way Christians can alienate themselves from God through their own failures. That does not take away the message of this book. That message is that God is fulfilling His plan in the background. This plan is to ultimately bless everyone who belongs to Him through repentance and belief in the truth. He will bless each of His children, not because of their own merits, but because of what His Son Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary.

There is another aspect that makes this book so valuable. That is its prophetic meaning. God’s people come in great distress, are saved from it and are exalted to great heights in Mordecai. This is how it will be in the end times. God’s people will go through the great tribulation, will be saved from it by the Lord Jesus and will be made head of the nations.

This is at the same time an example of another aspect of this book. We can see pictures of spiritual realities in the various persons it contains. This is called a typological approach. In that approach we see in Mordecai a picture of the Lord Jesus, in Ahasuerus a picture of God, in Haman a picture of the devil and in Esther, originally called Hadassah (Est 2:7), a picture of the faithful remnant of Israel. We will have to be careful with this approach, but in general we will certainly recognize certain similarities in this history.

We will pay attention to all the aspects mentioned. It is clear that the message of this book is multifaceted. All in all, there are plenty of reasons to listen to it carefully with the desire to let it teach us.

In summary, this book can be viewed in four ways: historical, practical, prophetic and typological:

1. Historical means that we look at history as it has evolved. We then discover how God controls history behind the scenes.

2. This automatically leads to the practical application. Just as God governed the history of His people then, so He also controls the history of His people now and that of each of His people individually. Here are many encouraging lessons for the life of faith.

3. The prophetic view of this book of the Bible is also obvious. Just as God in this book of the Bible cares for His people and frees them from their enemies, so in the end time He will care for His people and free them from their enemies.

4. Although the typological view is not so obvious, it is present in this book of the Bible. A typological view means that we try to discover the spiritual meaning of this history, but without letting our imagination run wild. With this viewpoint we recognize, as already mentioned, for example in Ahasuerus a picture of God and in Mordecai a picture of the Lord Jesus.

Another peculiarity of this book is that it is named after a woman, just like the book of Ruth. We also see that these two women marry a man who does not belong to their own people. Esther connects with a pagan who remains an idolater. This is due to the fact that she does not reveal her true identity until she is forced to do so. That is why God also remains hidden. He does not make His relationship to the people known until the people are forced to do so (cf. Deu 32:20).

The books of Ruth and of Song of Songs as well as the book of Esther place a woman in the center. Esther, like the women in the other two books, is a picture of the faithful remnant going through deep trials. In all three books there is also an image of the Lord Jesus: in Ruth it’s Boaz, in Song of Songs it’s Solomon and in Esther it’s Mordecai.

The book can be divided into two parts:

1. the first part describes the threat to the Jews (Esther 1-4);

2. the second part describes the triumph of the Jews (Esther 5-10).

In the first part everything is written down that is necessary to come to the deliverance in the second part. In distress God lays down the seed of salvation. During the distress God already makes preparations for the deliverance. God is never embarrassed, because He determines the outcome long before it is seen by man.

Introduction

Est 1:1-8 are the introduction to the book. Historically and practically, these verses show the world in its generosity and attractiveness, causing God’s people to forget their true King. With all that glory, their land of Israel falls into oblivion. So, it can also happen to us as Christians.

In prophetic and typological respect, we see in Ahasuerus a picture of God as the sovereign Ruler Who rules the whole world. As Ruler over the world, God still blesses all people with earthly blessings, without forcing them to make use of them (Acts 14:16-17).

It is about the essential question of authority. Authority comes from God. He grants authority to man in various fields. Subjugation to it means the acknowledgment of God’s authority. Behind the authority of the ruler of a country, the head of state, the husband, father, mother, employer, teacher at school is the authority of God, for He has established these authority relationships.

The rest of Esther 1 is dedicated to the actions of Ahasuerus with Vashti. From a historical and practical point of view we see that God uses the king’s counselors to erect a dam against evil through legislation, so that evil is curbed. This is what the government serves for today (Rom 13:1-5).

Prophetically and typologically, the casting out of Vashti represents the setting aside by God of Israel as His wife. Israel has failed to bear the testimony of Who God is, just as Vashti refuses to show her beauty which she has thanks to her connection with Ahasuerus. For the same reason, Christianity will be cast out just as any Christian who lives in contradiction to His confession. The deposing of Vashti paves the way for the introduction of Esther. It is a picture of the faithful remnant of Israel with which God resumes the history of His people in the future.

A Banquet for Princes and Attendants

The history of this book takes place “in the days of Ahasuerus” (Est 1:1), the king of the world empire of “Persia and Media” (Est 1:3). Ahasuerus rules “over 127 provinces”. One of them is the land of Israel. Israel is under foreign rule. We can see that in the dating. We read in Est 1:3 about “the third year of his reign” – that is the year 483 BC. This means that God no longer dates history to the kings of Judah and Israel, but to the kings of the nations.

After reference to Ahasuerus in Est 1:1 in connection with the extent of the area over which he reigns, reference is made to him in Est 1:2 in connection with his position. Here he is emphatically called “King Ahasuerus” and it is emphasized that he sits on “his royal throne”. He is the ruler and commander of an immense empire.

This throne, which in reality is the throne of God, is here “at the citadel in Susa” and not in Jerusalem. This situation is not the way God wants it to be. God originally established His throne in Jerusalem. He is their King, whereby He has had His kingship over His people exercised by people He has appointed for that purpose. We see that in David and the kings that came forth from his lineage. But this kingship, entrusted to men, has failed.

After much patience, God had to take away the kingship of His people and put it into the hands of the nations. The first king to whom God gives this authority is Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Since he, too, is unfaithful to his mandate, his power is taken away from him. God has used the people of the Medes and Persians for this.

The first king of the Medes and Persians, Cyrus, authorizes all the Jews throughout his kingdom to return to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s house, the temple (Ezra 1:1-2). Unfortunately, only a handful of Jews took advantage of this opportunity. Many remained where they ended up after their deportation. In the course of time they have built up their existence in the foreign land and have come to feel at home there. They have begun to miss their homeland less and less and the longing for it has eventually disappeared. This situation applies to the Jews living in Susa.

We also come across the citadel of Susa in Daniel 8. Daniel is there when he gets a vision (Dan 8:2). In this vision he is shown the judgment of the Medo-Persian world empire. He gets this vision when the empire is far from that size. God shows him the downfall of that empire, in the very citadel of Susa, the residence of the kings of Persia. Daniel is shown the rise of the empire and also how it is judged.

This is how God shows us what happens to a world that impresses us so much. The world passes by and its lusts (1Jn 2:17a). The Jews in Susa don’t think about that and many Christians don’t think about that either. The splendor of Susa and the brilliance of the world is in stark contrast to the ruins of Jerusalem. But we allow ourselves to be deceived when we hang on to the world with our hearts.

Ahasuerus is in his third year of government (Est 1:3) when history begins here. As said, the era is according to the reign of pagan princes and not to that of the kings of Israel and Judah (Est 2:16 ; Est 3:7). Jerusalem is no longer central, but a pagan kingdom. The history of salvation has changed. Jerusalem is supposed to be the head, but has become unfaithful and set aside and has become the tail instead (Deu 28:44b). The time of Israel being the center of God’s actions is over. “The times of the Gentiles “ (Lk 21:24b) began when God in Nebuchadnezzar made the nations the head and gave them power of government (Dan 2:38).

In the third year of his reign, Ahasuerus gives “a banquet for all his princes and attendants”, which are the leaders of his armies and of his provinces. They are with him for 180 days (Est 1:4). During those days he shows them “the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty”. The occasion of this feast was to get his staff on his hand to carry out his plan to start a war against Greece.

We read the following about that intention in the book of Daniel: “Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all [of them]; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole [empire] against the realm of Greece“ (Dan 11:2). This is explained in more detail here in the first chapter of the book of Esther.

The third year of his reign is the year in which the unsuccessful campaign against Greece is decreed. In order to win them over to his battle plans, Ahasuerus invites all the leaders of the 127 provinces to visit him and demonstrates his extraordinary richness and splendor. That is why the feast lasts so long: six months. We don’t read anything about the battle here. God is concerned about His people in the midst of the nations and how they are doing.