In 2012, a graphic adaptation of the book of esther was illustrated by j. They are listed, at least as it seems, in chronological dating order. I cant mention all but today i will share some coincidences that truly crazy and horrible. Naturally, being a rather unstable fellow, ahasuerus firesslashdivorces her. The story of esther turns on a series of seeming coincidences. The book cautions that diaspora history is controlled by coincidence and. The book of esther furnishes us with another example of how god moves behind the scenes of mans little world, and though the subject is approached from a different angle and many of the chief actors are godless potentates dealing with matters of high policy, yet the proof of it is not one bit the less striking. Surely the possibility of genocide always seems implausible, whether in the pages of a novel or a history book. A lot of christians as well as jews plus some of those curiously interested skeptics like to divide history into two categories, sacred and secular. It is one of the five scrolls megillot in the hebrew bible.
Free sermon outlines from tony evans on the book of esther. Feasting is another prominent theme in esther, as shown in the outline below. Providence is the overall theme of this old testament book. This curious fact has bothered a lot of people throughout history.
The book of esther is one of two biblical books that never mention god. The author of esther sees justice unfolding itself in historythis means first of all that history is portrayed as a sequence of ordered events rather than as a random collection of coincidences. The book of esther begins with the queen of king ahasuerusvashtisnubbing the kings request to meet with her. There are a lot of crazy coincidence in the world history. On the surface, it appears to be a story about survival, prejudice, and politics. The unknown author of the book of esther was most likely a jew very familiar. Now he needs to pick a new queen and eventually manages to select esthera comely, young secretly jewish woman who is a part of his harem. In this topsyturvy diaspora world, god does not act in history on behalf of the jews. In addition, the author showed gods involvement through an incredible string of coincidences.
Esther is, among the generality of jews, the best known of all the books of the bible p. However, that victory is dependent on a sequence of unlikely coincidences. During this time period, the first remnant of jews who had returned to judah were struggling to reestablish temple worship according to the law of moses. Throughout much of the story the author calls to mind the ongoing conflict between israel and the amalekites see notes on 2. His presence permeates much of the story, as though he were behind the scenes coordinating coincidences and circumstances to make his will happen. Divine reversals sermon by tony evans esther series. The book of esther is one of only two books in the hebrew bible that never mention god the other is the song of songs. The book of esther focuses on a ten year period 483473 b. The book of esther punctuates this point in a unique way. The book of esther is a 20 movie starring jen lilley as queen esther and joel smallbone as king xerxes.
Book of esther simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The story of esther does not specifically mention god. Many have pointed out that god is everywhere implied in the series of noncoincidences throughout the book. Esther and the silent sovereignty of god the gospel coalition. The story itself is implausible as history and, as many scholars now agree, it is. The author of esther sees justice unfolding itself in historythis means first of all that history is portrayed as a sequence of ordered events rather than as a.
The book of coincidences is really a book of grace. Unbelievable facts 10 unbelievable coincidences facebook. The global message of esther esther and the sovereign rule of god. The story of esther, where sacred and secular history meet. The most curious thing about the book of esther is that god is never mentioned. But for those who know the larger story of the bible, gods hidden hand can be discerned in these events, working to protect and preserve israel. For traditional jewish commentators, the absence of gods name did not mean that god was absent from the book. Megillat esther, the book of esther in the form that we have it in the hebrew bible, provides the story of the origin of purim, the blueprint for its celebration, and the authorization for its observance in perpetuity. Listen to this description in the five megilloth, a jewish commentary published by the soncino press. Intro to esther biblica the international bible society. The first five books of the bible covered quite a bit of history as well, but their prime focus was on the law. Although we do not find the name of god mentioned even once in the book of esther, throughout the book we are conscious of god working things together behind the scenes to accomplish his purposes. Although we do not know who wrote the book of esther, from internal evidence it is possible to make some inferences about the author. There is with many a christian the habit of looking at second causes, or even at third causes, in connection with the many events which go to make up their lives, and thus they miss the joy of tracing the moving of the hand of god behind all the scenes.
Esther, purim and why it all still matters jews for jesus. Jul 23, 2017 the center of the story portrays a dramatic parallel between hamans decree and mordecais counterdecree. The intricate weavings of gods workings in history are sometimes better appreciated than investigated. Tony evans is the founder and senior pastor of oak cliff bible fellowship in dallas, founder and president of the urban alternative, chaplain of the nbas dallas mavericks, and author of. The author of the book of esther is unknown, though some attribute the work to mordecai. Xerxes, the persian king, rejected his wife queen vashti, and fell in love with esther at a beauty contest. The book contains several historical, chronological and cultural details, which would lead us to believe that it is intended to be read as actual history, rather than as a parable. It would be a curious coincidence if homn, one of the chief deities in.
The book of esther is set far away from the promised land, on the opposite end of the world in the city of susa, the capital of the powerful persian empire c. The book cautions that diaspora history is controlled by coincidence and caprice, not by the clear and reliable will of god. The sheer number of coincidences in the book of esther beg the reader to take notice of the invisible hand of god at work to bring about salvation and justice. Esther happens to win the contest to become the queen. Summary of the book of esther genuine leather bible. The book of esther, also known in hebrew as the scroll megillah, is a book in the third section ketuvim, writings of the jewish tanakh the hebrew bible and in the christian old testament. In the narrative, ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, vashti, refuses to obey him, and esther is chosen for her beauty. This summary of the book of esther provides information about the title, authors, date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the book of esther. Esther is the only book in the bible not to mention the name of god. The events of the book of esther took place around 475 bc in the land of persia, where iran is today. Haman stands as the example of what happens to those who try to destroy the jewish people. He took esther as the new persian queen, not knowing she was an israelite. The story of esther blurs the lines between sacred and secular history. The author also could easily have mentioned god as being behind any of.
Analysis of the book of esther the story of esther is about the faithfulness of the jewish people in exile and gods commitment to deliver his people by using esther to fulfill this plan. Discover purims exciting origins in the book of esther. The key personalities are esther, mordecai, king ahasuerus or xerxes, and haman. Mar 14, 2012 the coincidence authority asks a simple question. Thank you for your interest in these free sermon outlines from tony evans. An appreciation of providence is one of the benefits that come to growing christians when they read the book of esther.
He were behind the scenes coordinating coincidences and circumstances to. It would be a curious coincidence if homn, one of the chief deities in the. Intertextual ripples of the book of esther vrije universiteit. With them, you will be able to see how, in the book of esther, god wanted to show how his providence, his invisible hand, works behind the scenes to bring about his purposes in history. In this way, the book offers a stance of profound faith michael v. And despite appearances, esther is not a soap opera or fairytale. Esther is described in the book of esther as a jewish queen of the persian king ahasuerus. And it teaches there are no coincidences in jewish history. History rarely follows the conventions and logic of fictional narratives. During this time the enemies of israel hired counselors to bring false accusations to the ears of the different persian kings. The book of esther is about a jewish girl adopted by her uncle, mordecai, after her parents died. The book of esther 6 powerful life lessons from the bible. Why did a 2,400 year old bible book terrify the nazis.
It is perhaps more striking when we remember that esther is one of the two books in the bible in which god is not mentioned. Book of esther overview insight for living ministries. The story of esther, however, doesnt fit that paradigm. The kings chief adviser, haman, is offended by esthers cousin and guardian, mordecai, and gets permission from the king to have all the jews in the kingdom killed. The book was written sometime between 460 and 331 b. The book of esther would also encourage them to worship the god of israel, though he is not mentioned by name in it ibid. In esther, a string of coincidences occur in order for the jews to be saveda. Childs notes the typology which the writer uses in identifying haman and mordecai through genealogies when he writes, haman, the enemy of the jews, is portrayed as the son of hammedatha, the agagite 3. In the biblical book of esther, the jews are in danger. He can even use a harem girl and an arrogant, pagan king to do this. Though gods name is never mentioned, the book of esther is filled with.
The story of esther, where sacred and secular history meet focus. Waldman and appeared in volume one of the graphic canon, edited by russ kick and published by seven stories press. Joshua, judges, ruth, 1 samuel, 2 samuel, 1 kings, 2 kings, 1 chronicles, 2 chronicles, ezra. The willingness to face history with an openness to the possibility of divine providence, even when history seems to weigh against its likelihood, as it did in the dark days after hamans decree. The events in the book of esther occurred from 483 bc to 473 bc, during the first half of the reign of king xerxes, who chose esther as his queen. The book of esther the story of esther is a narrative history, by an anonymous author. The jews had been forced to leave their homeland as captives many years before 586 bc when the babylonian army under nebuchadnezzar conquered their nation and burned the temple. The author of esther patterned much of his material on the events of the joseph story see notes on 2. Our main sources of information about ancient persia are herodotus, a greek writer, and ctesias, a persian doctor. It relates the story of a hebrew woman in persia, born as hadassah but known as esther, who becomes queen of persia and thwarts a genocide. Shea in this study of esther for the anchor bible series, c. Esther is the only historical book in the greek old testament that has a subscription. Even though god is not on the front page of esther, his fingerprints are all through the book.
Events recorded in the bible are sacred history, and those outside, secular history. You see, there is no mention of god in the narrative. Strange coincidences have occurred throughout history that are too bizarre to be believed from the predicted sinking of the titanic to a man who saw the start and end of the civil war on his property. The underlying, almost invisible, current running through esther is that god is working in the world to accomplish his purposes.
Mitchell first, a local teaneck scholar, carefully addresses the book of esther in one of the many essays in his esther unmasked, a collection of scholarly investigations into jewish history and texts. The illfate of the book of estherthe greek versionthe apocr additionstalmudic. The center of the story portrays a dramatic parallel between hamans decree and mordecais counterdecree. Moore divided the arguments against the historicity of the book into three groups. The genre of the book of esther is narrative history.