Esther

The story of Esther fits between the first return of the Jews led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, and the second return under Ezra. It provided the only biblical record of the Israelites who had chosen to remain in Persia rather than returning to their promised land after the seventy-year captivity.

Although God was not mentioned in the book, Esther's story clearly shows that He was actively involved behind the scenes. On the surface, it appeared that different characters were at work, thinking or else scheming and bringing about the events that happened to the Jews residing throughout the regions of the vast empire. But God was in charge and working things out for His glory and the benefit of His people.

Esther was just a simple Jewess but rose to great prominence to become the new queen of the Persian king after the original was deposed for her contempt of the king's command. To be noticed and selected from a vast number of beauties through-out the empire was nothing short of a miracle—it was God's preparation and provision for a great peril ahead.

The chess pieces were in place to counter a genocide of ethnic proportion, and the first Jewish holocaust was averted because of the courage of Esther and the counsel of Mordecai.

4:14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Mordecai's words acknowledged a divine purpose in Esther's position, and is also a reminder to every believer to serve God's purpose by exercising his or her privilege and gifting for the good of their generation.

OUTLINE OF ESTHER

1. Feast of Ahasuerus (1:1-2:23)
Coronation of Esther
a. Queen Vashti deposed (1:1-22)
b. Esther crowned as new queen (2:1-20)
c. The king saved from murder plot (2:21-23)
2. Fast of Mordecai (3:1-4:17)
Persecution by Haman
a. Haman's rise and revenge (3:1-6)
b. The king's decree (3:7-15)
c. The Jews' response (4:1-17)
3. Feast of Esther (5:1-7:10)
Condemnation of Haman
a. Esther's first feast (5:1-8)
For the king and Haman
b. Haman's progressive downfall (5:9-6:14)
Secret plot | Self pride | Humiliation
c. Esther's second feast (7:1-10)
Against Haman
Revelation | Indictment | Judgment
4. Feast of Purim (8:1-9:32)
Commemoration of Deliverance
a. Mordecai promoted (8:1-6)
b. First decree countered (8:7-14)
c. Gentiles converted (8:15-17)
d. Jews delivered (9:1-16)
e. Purim celebrated (9:17-32)
Epilogue (10:1-3)