Day 266 (Esther 1-5) - Year 8
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Why does the Book of Esther never mention God’s name?
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
I want to give you a heads up that today's podcast might not be the best for younger ears. I'm going to talk openly about what's happening in the text here. This story has an important theme and a beautiful ending, but there are some horrific stops along the way, so use your own discretion. Esther is generally regarded as historical narrative, but one other thing to note is that it's the only book in the Bible that doesn't mention God's name. Maybe you didn't even notice that in our reading today because we see him in the shadows of every scene, working things out in keeping with his plan and his promises. We open in the capital of Persia, the empire that toppled Babylon while the Jewish exiles were living there.
Ahasuerus is king. We first met him in Ezra 4 just a few days ago. He was one of the kings who got a letter from the angry locals during their letter-writing campaign to stop the rebuilding of the temple. He's not a follower of Yahweh. He's just a regular pagan king in a pagan empire. In history, he's typically referred to as Xerxes I. At this point, he's three years into his reign, which makes it approximately 483 BC.
How does King Ahasuerus’s banquet lead to Queen Vashti’s removal?
He throws a massive six-month party, presumably for himself, and invites everyone to see how rich and awesome he is. If you don't like it when people celebrate their birth week or birth month, you probably wouldn't like King Ahasuerus. His wife, Queen Vashti, was a real looker, and as the grand finale for his self-serving soiree, he wants her to come out and take a lap in her crown, and possibly nothing else. If ancient Jewish commentaries are correct, it seems King A wants to parade his naked wife in front of all the men at his banquet. Even if these weren't the specifics of his request, Vashti refuses to come, which is an affront to his ego and his throne. He calls a staff meeting to find out what kind of punishment he's allowed to hand out to her.
And his advisors say that they are personally offended by her response because now their wives will feel like they can do whatever they want too. If these Persian men can't earn the respect of their wives by treating them well, they'll legislate it. They brainstorm and decide to write a law banishing and replacing Vashti. In order to find Vashti's replacement, the king's advisors decide to throw a mandatory beauty pageant. They gather all the young beautiful virgins from the 127 provinces in King A's territory, essentially kidnapping them and forcing them to come to Susa to be in the king's harem. To be fair, some commentators suggest this could be voluntary, but given how King A and his advisors seem to view females, it's doubtful.
What happened here is probably more along the lines of human trafficking of girls in the age range of 12 to 14. By the way, the king would have been roughly 40 years old at this time.
What is the process that brings Esther from a captive to queen?
The king's staff spends about a year preparing each girl. Then they dress them up and make them look nice so he can decide which one he wants that night. For King A, choosing a new queen is an audition process where each girl spends the night with him and is sent away in the morning. Essentially, what's happening is the king is systematically deflowering all the girls he's kidnapped over a period of years to decide which one he likes best. After their night with the king, they're added to his growing list of concubines while King A moves on to the next, devastating an entire generation of females in Persia. Among those is a girl named Esther. She's basically been raised by her cousin Mordecai because her family were exiles back in the day and she's been orphaned at some point.
Fortunately, cousin Mordecai is really protective of her and he has a good position, despite being a Jew in Persia. He tells Esther to keep her nationality a secret because it will not go over well. Meanwhile, in the king's harem, four years after Queen Vashti is dismissed, the king finally chooses Esther for the knight. That's almost 1,500 days and possibly 1,500 girls later.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why does the Book of Esther never mention God’s name?
0:00–1:14
2
How does King Ahasuerus’s banquet lead to Queen Vashti’s removal?
1:14–2:48
3
What is the process that brings Esther from a captive to queen?
2:48–4:14
4
Why does Mordecai refuse to bow to Haman and what are the consequences?
4:14–5:20
5
How does Haman plan the genocide of the Jews and finance it?
5:20–6:33
6
What risks does Esther take to approach the king and stop the plot?
6:33–8:06
7
How does God work behind the scenes in Esther’s story despite being unseen?
8:06–9:18