2006 Bible Reading

Esther

This page is not a commentary, nor an outline. It is something to bear in mind in this kind of reading. These materials I learnt from two books by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth; How To Read The Bible Book By Book). You could consult these books if you are interested. (Pastor Raymond)

According to the Hebrew Bible, the following five books are considered as one single book known as the “Five Scrolls”, each with a title of a feminine gender noun, placed right after Proverbs and just before Daniel: Ruth, Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther. Therefore, I plan to introduce these five books together this time.

In the order of the Hebrew Bible, Esther is placed at the end of the Five Scrolls immediately before Daniel. This is a meaningful order. On the one hand, the Book of Daniel is overt in its presentation of the obvious sovereign intervention in the affairs of man, placing kings and kingdoms in God’s palm. On the other hand, the word of “God” is absent in the entire Book of Esther. Yet any reader of Esther cannot but ask, “Are these all coincidences?” The expected answer is of course, “No, God is still sovereign in the affairs of man!”

Esther records what took placed during the years of 486-465 B.C. under the rule of the Persian ruler Xerxes. At that time, both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel had fallen and the fate of all Israelites was in the hands of the Persian king.

But if we only catch that “Yahweh looks after Israel,” then we have missed the masterful story telling techniques of the author particularly, the connection to the Holy War between Israel and the Amalekites that Yahweh fights on behalf of His people.

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim (Exod. 17:8)	1 Sam. 15:2-3, “This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' "
There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish…He had a son named Saul (1 Sam. 9:1-2)	“Then Saul attacked the Amalekites… He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive… But Saul and the army spared Agag… they were unwilling to destroy completely” (1 Sam. 15:7-9)
Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish (Esther 2:5)	Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, (Esther 3:1)

Where Saul had failed, Yahweh now uses another Benjamite, son of Kish to achieve, to completely destroy Haman the Agagite and his ten sons. Chapters 8-10 therefore speak of the Holy War of the people of Yahweh, via the struggle between Mordecai and Haman. The statement in 9:2 that “No one could stand against them” echoes Joshua 21:44, “The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them.” No wonder Esther 9:10, 15 and 16 repeatedly describe that the Israelites dared not act as Saul did in 1 Sam 15:7-9, even having the explicit authorization of the Persian ruler: “but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.” It is quite possible that the author wanted to show that the Israelites now followed Moses’ instructions in Deut. 13:16: “Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God.”

There are many intriguing narrative touches in this book that helps to drive home its message:

? The book is all about banquets, with the greatest one in the end lasting for two days, becoming the Jewish festival of Purim today. But against the eating and drinking, there is a sole mention of fasting (4:16). That is when they need to cry to God for intervention.

? Haman planned to destroy the Israelites but in the end his family was wiped out.

? What Haman prepared to hang Mordecai ended up hanging himself.

? Haman drafted an edict for the ruler intending to bless his family and punish Mordecai’s. The outcome was just the reverse.

? All characters in the book are clearly marked: Xerxes (29 times), Haman (48), Mordecai (54), Esther (48).

? The book ends with Mordecai becoming the prime minister, seeking the good of the Israelites (10:3). This leads directly into the following book Daniel, where he too served in the Babylonian Empire in a similar position, also to the benefit of the Israelites.