The book of Esther never mentions God’s name, yet God clearly orchestrated all of its events. Esther, a Jew living among the exiles in Persia, became queen of the empire in about 480 B.C. Haman, a Persian official, sought to eradicate the Jewish minority, but God had prepared Esther “for such a time as this” to save his covenant people.
The book was written some decades later to document the origins of the Jewish observance of Purim, which celebrates Israel’s survival and God’s faithfulness. The author is unknown, but some believe it could have been Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who is a key person in the book.
Throughout the book we see God’s sovereign hand preserving his people, showing that everything is under his control.
This book started out explaining that King Ahasuerus was reigning from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces. They were in Susa, the capital and were having a great feast.
Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.
On the seventh day of the feast when the king was quite drunk, he ordered the queen be brought to him so he could show off her beauty. Except, Queen Vashti refused to go to the king’s command, and that really pissed him off.
King Ahasuerus consulted with the wise men about what to do with the queen since she did not perform the command of the king. They knew that by allowing her to get away with that behavior, would entice the other women to look at their husband’s with contempt and they would be able to do the same thing.
They decided to make a royal order that Vashti was to never again go before the king, and she would have a position with someone who was better than she.
So they made a decree throughout the entire kingdom that men would be masters in their own homes, and “women shall give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”
When all of this was taken care of and King Ahasuerus had made a decree against Vasthi, beautiful young virgins were sought out for the king. The women were to be brought to Susa under the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the women. The young woman who pleased the king would be queen in place of Vashti.
There was a Jew in Susa named Mordecai who had been carried away from Jerusalem at the time they were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had no parents; so Mordecai took her as his daughter.
The young woman was beautiful and when all the women were gathered to the king’s palace, she was also taken. She pleased the king and won his favor.
She was quickly provided cosmetics, her portion of food, and with seven other women she was given the best place in the harem.
She had not told anyone of her people for Mordecai had commanded her not to. And every day Mordecai walked in front of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.
When the time came for the women to go into the king, it had been twelve months under the regulations for women for the period of their beautifying. There was six months with oil and myrrh, and six months with spices and ointments.
When the women went into the king they would stay the night with him, and then would not see him again unless he delighted in them and summoned them by name. The women could take anything they wanted with them from the harem to the king’s palace.
When it was Esther’s turn she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch advised. Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
When Esther was taken into King Ahasuerus he loved her more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than any of the others. He set the royal crown on her head and made her queen.
Esther had still not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her not to.
At one point, Mordecai discovered that there was a plot against the king. Two of the king’s eunuchs became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Mordecai told Queen Esther, and Esther told the king. The two men were hanged in the gallows.
After these things, the king advanced Haman the Agagite and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. All the king’s servants bowed down and paid homage to Haman, except for Mordecai.
They asked him why he wouldn’t pay homage, but he would not listen to them. Somewhere along the way it was found out that Mordecai was a Jew. When Haman heard that Mordecai would not bow down to him he was filled with fury.
Haman would not lay hands on Mordecai alone, but sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
Haman went to the king and told him that the Jews were a people who had different laws from everyone else and did not keep the king’s laws. Because of that, it did not profit the king to tolerate them. Haman convinced the king to let him destroy the Jews.
So a decree was made to all the land “to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children.” The city of Susa was thrown into confusion, but the king and Haman sat down to drink.