Esther in the Bible - Essay Example

Religion and Theology

Introduction

This paper focuses on the book of Esther in the Bible. While exploring the book, summary and reflection of each chapter shall be provided. Further, in bid to provide proper background to the study, the characters in the book shall also be discussed. Through this, a comprehensive summary and reflection of book of Esther is provided.

Chapter 1

The book of Esther starts with a narration of a huge event that took place for 180 days. This event was made to be held by the king known as Achashverosh. The king was on the throne in the third year. He was a Persian Empire king reigning in more than 127 provinces. He summoned his wife, Vashti when the feasting days were almost over. His primary motive was to show off Vashti’s beauty, but to his disappointment, she never arrives. This angers the king who makes her be expelled.

Chapter 2

As time goes by Achashverosh regrets what he did. He misses the presence of Queen Vashti. Whatever he did was permanent, and no one could reverse it. The ministers were concerned about the king and sought to find a solution because of their bad advice. They proposed to the king to find another queen; this was going to be achieved through a beauty contest by all the maidens in the kingdom. Beautiful women from the 127 provinces were paraded before the palace so that the king could point his new wife.

In a capital city known as Shushan, there lived a maiden by the name Esther. Being an orphan, she was raised and grew in her uncle’s place who known as Mordechai. Mordechai is amongst the Jewish leaders who were in exile. Mordechai was strict to Esther revealing her identity when she was taken in the palace. They were neither to know her family nor her being Jewish. The selection process took around 12 months with Esther declared the most beautiful. Esther’s favor and charm amongst other virgins made the king love her more than the rest of the women. Having replaced Vashti, the king crowned her the queen of the empire with a royal crown (Esther 2:17).

Upon Mordechai not revealing his relationship with Esther, he used to frequent the gates of the palace to get news of how Esther was fairing on. One day, her uncle overhead plots of the king to be murdered by two men. Esther got the news and revealed the plan to the king who orders the men caught. The men are later persecuted while Mordechai’s name is uplifted for reporting the plot.

Chapter 3

Achashverosh appoints a prime minister in that current time; he is known by the name Haman the Agagite. He also passes a ruling that everybody should bow down before Haman. Mordechai disobeys this decree making Haman be infuriated. Haman reports this to the king because of he had a long-term hatred towards the Jewish people. He seeks permission from King Achashverosh to eliminate the Jewish. His way of presentation of the matter was in the form of being loyal. Haman claimed that the Jewish scattered all over the kingdom had different laws and they failed to observe the laws passed by the king. (Esther 3:8). Achashverosh agrees with him and a decree is issued in the 127 provinces stating that Jews to be eliminated and their goods to be looted.

Chapter 4

Mordechai upon hearing the decree, he wore sackcloths and poured ashes on himself. He sends words to the queen to stop this cruelty and prevent it from becoming a real act. The queen, however, becomes hesitant and afraid to address the matter to the king. It was always known that for someone to approach the king, you must be summoned, failure to do so, there are higher chances of facing death. Mordechai viewed this issue from a broader perspective; he told Esther that if their salvation were not coming from her, then somebody else would do it. If it was to be so, it was going to be too late because her father’s lineage would have already perished. It was only at this time that Esther’s could get an opportunity to save them since she was a royal. Esther gathered all her courage and approached the king. She tells the king that the Jews need to fast first for three days so that they can repent their sins and pray for the reversion of the heavenly judgment.

Chapter 5

With great anxiety while dressed in a beautiful robe, the queen approaches the king. As Esther walks towards the king’s throne, her prayer is that God has heard the Jewish repentance and prayers and the judgment against them will be nullified. The king captures Esther’s site and raises his golden septor signifying his welcome in the court .the king promises that any request from her will be granted. Modestly, she requests Achashverosh and Haman, the prime minister to join her in a feast she prepared. Pleased with this humble request that showed her wisdom and the best choice of a queen, the king grants her the request. Haman is called, and they get to dine together. The feast finally ends, and the king asks her to request for anything once more. Her only request again was Haman and the King to accompany her to a second feast.

Haman is pleased after the feast, and he leaves to go home marveling at the sincere favor ad humility shown towards him by Queen Esther. Haman comes across Esther’s uncle, Mordechai, on the way to his home, he becomes defiant to bow to him once more thus reigniting his fury. On arrival to his home, he is filled with anger concerning the defiant nature of Mordechai. He consoles himself that he is the second best after the king and he is respected and loved by Esther, the queen. He boasts to his friends and wife, known by the name Zeresh that only the king and I were invited to a feast prepared by the queen and he was expecting to have another same feast tomorrow. Haman claimed that all was nothing to him once he saw Mordechai at the palace gates. Haman’s wife who equaled his wickedness suggested that a gallow should be built so that she can hang Mordechai herself together with her sons.

Chapter 6

The King could not sleep that night. Achashverosh turned and tossed several times. He then ordered his ministers to appear before him. He wanted them to read for him a chapter in the Chronicles book. A section in the book is read, and he recalls he had never rendered Mordechai a great service since he rescued him from the plot of taking away his life. On his thought, for the best reward to grant to Mordechai for saving his life, the prime minister enters his room. Haman had built the gallows and wanted the king to grant him permission to proceed with hanging Mordechai. Before Haman spoke, the king asked his opinion on the best reward to honor a loyal subject. Thinking that he was being referred to, he suggested to the king that the subject should be dressed in the finest kingdom robes and then led around the city on a stallion. This answer pleased him; the king then orders the prime minister to prepare Mordechai with the palatial robes and then lead him on a steed around the town of Shushan.

Chapter 7

Haman returns home feeling humiliated, after a short while, he is summoned to the king’s palace to feast with the queen and king. When the feast was approaching its end, Esther spoke to the king and told him that an individual was seeking her demise and that of her people. Annoyed, King Achashverosh demands the name of the person to be mentioned. Esther for the first time, reveals her true identity (Jew) and exposes the prime minister as the enemy. The king is overcome by anger and goes to the orchard garden to spend time alone. Haman remains pleading for forgiveness s from the queen. On the return of the king to the feast, he finds Haman pleading with Esther and nearly falling on the couch she is lying. The king took this as an intended assault on his presence. The king does not become appeased, and he orders hanging of Haman on the gallows that aimed to hang Mordechai.

Chapter 8

King Achashverosh upon seeing this damage caused by the late Prime Minister, he appoints Mordechai to take his place. The first decree that Esther and Mordechai issue permits the Jews right of self-defense against anyone trying to destroy them.

Chapter 9

The Jews succeeded in defeating their enemies when the 13th of Adar arrived. The war was throughout the provinces, but it persisted up to the 14th day in Shushan. The late Haman ten sons were killed ruthlessly and their bodies hanged in public. Being conquerors, the Jews celebrated their existence by preparing a great feast. The feast which is known as Purim was celebrated on the 15th day of Adar. Mordechai, with her position as a Jewish spiritual leader, and the queen, declared that the 14th day of Adar to be of great celebration in the distant provinces. The 15th day will be Shushan’s day of the feast. These days were significant since their threat was ended. Several practices of the holidays were also categorized by Mordechai; Megillah reading, the festive meal, charity towards the poor and food gifts.

Chapter 10

The king, later on, imposed taxation on the islands and the mainland territories. The entire might and power on his account and the details concerning Mordechai’s greatness were recorded and kept in the book of Chronicles. To Mordechai, the palatial viceroy was a Jew and their leader. He was accepted by most people simply because he promoted welfare through the preaching of peace for all the generations.

Important Characters in the Book of Esther

It is of great importance to get to know the major characters in the book of Esther and their significance. In any setting, characters play a critical role in determining the story line of a narrative as well as the main theme. This section gives a detailed account of the characters in the book of Esther.

Achashverosh

Achashverosh is correlated by historians to Cambys, son of Cyrus. In the traditional view, he is taken as a pretender to the royal throne. He is seen as someone who gained authority through bribery and deceit. Achashverosh achieved the kingship and managed to impose his rule over a huge territory. Looking at chapter one, we find that he is a ruler that is swayed easily by opinions from others. He demands Vashti’s appearance so that he can boast of her beauty. He wanted to prove that he had the best. Vashti’s disappointment infuriates him. The ministers then advise him to banish the queen, and he blindly follows the advice not knowing that there would be regrets later. The minister's reason to do so is because they feared the women in the kingdom would stop adhering to their husbands’ orders. The King follows this advice blindly not knowing he would, later on, have serious consequences. The king also got his decision of finding himself a new partner from his subjects. Achashverosh is seen as someone who rarely makes his decisions but depends on choices from people. Achashverosh indetermination is seen on how he treated Mordechai for saving his life even though he had already passed judgment on their death.

Another important character that Achashverosh possessed is jealous. It is clearly explained in the book of Esther that one of the reasons why the Queen invited the prime minister for the private feast was to provoke his suspicions. King Achashverosh reason for having a sleepless night was simply because of his worries over Esther’s implication of inviting Haman. Someone could picture the king’s imagination when he returned and found the prime minister on the queen’s couch, even if it was an accident!

Vashti

Achashverosh union to Vashti was to legitimize his kingship. Vashti was the daughter of the last Babylon king known as Bal’shatzar and a great-granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Vashti’s line is known for being evil; she was the epitome of immorality and wickedness. In the Midrash, we are being taught that his failure to appear before the king was not merely because of the beauty but simply because of a sudden skin disease. If she never had that condition, her behavior would not have been limited in any possible way. We are also taught that she developed deep hatred towards the Jews when she was 12; this is because Darius killed her father. Queen Vashti used to be a cruel and used force on the maidservants that were Jewish. They were made to scrub Shabbat palace floors.

Mordechai

Mordechai is Esther’s uncle who is from Benjamin’s tribe. He is also a descendant of King Saul. Mordechai was a member of the supreme court ( Sanhedrin) and a prophet in Jerusalem before he was exiled. At his time, he was seen as a great Torah leader and the exiled Jews always sought his guidance.

Esther

Esther, who was the chosen queen, had wonderful qualities. He had modesty and exceptional beauty. Her other name, which was Hebrew was Hadassah. Hadassah meant myrtle branch. She is secretive since she stayed in the king's palace hiding her identity. Her name also indicated that she was a non-Jew. In Hebrew, Esther meant hidden. Esther also had tactical moves; this is shown how well she executed her plan until the Jews were saved from the massacre. After the Jewish salvation, Esther helped her uncle in sending letters to the provinces so that the Purim could be commemorated. According to the scriptures, King Darius II, the son of Achashverosh and Esther allowed the Jewish to reconstruct the temple of God

Haman

Haman is an Agagite who descended from the lineage of Agag. Agag ruled as a king of Amalek, and he was considered an enemy of the Jews. When King Saul destroyed the Amalekites, Saul disobeyed God’s command and set free Agag to live. Samuel the prophet heard about this and was infuriated. Samuel went and killed the fallen king, Agag, but it was too late. This is because the damage had already been done. Agag had got enough time of sowing seeds for the future generation. Haman married Zeresh, and they had a daughter and ten sons. The daughter committed suicide while the sons were slain.

Zeresh

She is Haman’s wife who is seen to have the same level of wickedness as her husband. During the Megillah reading, the mention of her name makes many to hiss and boo. Haman and Zeresh are prototypes in their marriage. The most important thing in their lives was power and honor. The Megillah points out Zeresh as Haman’s great consultant. They had a thirst for authority, and their aim was to terminate the Jewish community. However, Zeresh had seen some signs of failure when her husband was told to lead Mordechai; she told him: “If Mordechai, before whom you have begun to fall, is a descendant of the Jews, you will not be able to harm him, for you will surely fall before him (Esther 6:13).”

In conclusion, the paper has provided comprehensive details of the book of Esther right from chapter 1 to 10. Further, summary of characters and their traits have been provided for some of the significant characters who include Zeresh, Haman, Esther, Mordechai, Achashverosh and Vashti.