The Old Testament: The Book Of Esther

The Bible needs to be read in the same fashion as any other book—beginning to end. When you start anywhere else, you lack the context to understand the coherence of the various historical anecdotes in the Bible as well as the overarching theme of the Bible. Although the Bible has sixty-books written by approximately forty authors in a span of over 2,000 years (Roberts, 2002, p. 14), the Old Testament has remained 95% accurate, and the New Testament has remained 97% accurate (Stokes & Lewis). Subsequently, while reading the Bible exactly as you would any other book is extremely important, so is knowing the historical context and authors of any specific book in the Bible. Again, just like any other book, being written from a certain perspective

During this banquet, King Xerxes calls on Queen Vashti and she refuses to come. In a brash act of anger, and probably embarrassment, King Xerxes divorces Queen Vashti; he and his council decide he needs a new wife. Esther is an orphan who is being raised by her cousin; so when the king’s men came for young virgins to be in the king’s harem Esther joined. She eventually won the favor of the people in the harem and eventually with King Xerxes himself, becoming his new wife and Queen. Esther’s story, however, starts not when Esther is named the new Queen, but when Haman plots to destroy the

Haman goes to King Xerxes with this plot, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let the decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury” (Esther 3:8-9, NIV). King Xerxes responds by giving his signet ring and says to go ahead and do whatever Haman feels is best; this is important because the ring was a symbol of full executive power. It is at this point, the imminent threat of the Jews, where Esther’s true story begins; Mordecai goes and wails outside the palace gates while wearing sackcloth, and Esther fasts for three days before visiting the king. Esther is worried that she will be executed for visiting King Xerxes unannounced, but rather he tells her he will give her whatever she wants—in return she asks to have a banquet for Haman and the king, twice. At the end of the second banquet Esther pleads with the king, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request” (Esther 7:3, NIV). King Xerxes grants Esther’s request, hanging Haman to death in