ESTHER
“for such a time as this”
Intro – Chapter 1
April 3rd, 2005
Esther
• Gives the history of the celebration of the
Jewish holiday of Purim.
• We are also commanded to eat, drink and
be merry. According to the Talmud, a
person is required to drink until he cannot
tell the difference between "cursed be
Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai,"
though opinions differ as to exactly how
drunk that is. (www.jewfaq.org)
Esther
• In addition, we are commanded to send
out gifts of food or drink, and to make
gifts to charity. (www.jewfaq.org)
• It is customary to hold carnival-like
celebrations on Purim, to perform plays
and parodies, and to hold beauty contests.
Americans sometimes refer to Purim as
the Jewish Mardi Gras. (www.jewfaq.org)
Problems in Esther
• God is never mentioned. Very little
religious things contained.
• In the first 7 centuries of the church, not
one commentary was written.
(NIV Application Commentary, p21)
Problems in Esther
• Martin Luther – “I am so great an enemy
to the second book of the Maccabees, and
to Esther, that I wish they had not come to
us at all, for they have too many heathen
unnaturalities.” (The Table Talk of Martin
Luther, p. 13)
• John Calvin never preached from Esther
nor included it in his commentaries. (NIV
Application Commentary, p21)
A brief history
• 586 B.C. – Jerusalem is destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzer. Jews are caried off into
the Babylonian captivity.
• 539 B.C. Cyrus conquers Babylon, Cyrus
Cylinder
The Cyrus Cylinder
The Cyrus Cylinder
Cyrus claims to have achieved this with the aid of Marduk,
the god of Babylon. He then describes measures of relief
he brought to the inhabitants of the city, and tells how he
returned a number of images of gods, which Nabonidus
had collected in Babylon, to their proper temples
throughout Mesopotamia and western Iran. At the same
time he arranged for the restoration of these temples, and
organized the return to their homelands of a number of
people who had been held in Babylonia by the Babylonian
kings. Although the Jews are not mentioned in this
document, their return to Palestine following their
deportation by Nebuchadnezzar II, was part of this policy.
The British Museum Online
The Cyrus Cylinder
“Free Iran” gifts and activisits wear.
Fighting for a free, secular, and just Iran.
A brief history
• 586 B.C. – Jerusalem is destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzer. Jews are caried off into
the Babylonian captivity.
• 539 B.C. Cyrus conquers Babylon, Cyrus
Cylinder
• 538 B.C. – Cyrus issues decree that
allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem
Ezra 1:1-2
In the first year of Cyrus king of
Persia, in order to fulfill the word of
the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the
LORD moved the heart of Cyrus
king of Persia to make a
proclamation throughout his realm
and to put it in writing:
Ezra 1:1-2
"This is what Cyrus king of Persia
says: "'The LORD, the God of
heaven, has given me all the
kingdoms of the earth and he has
appointed me to build a temple for
him at Jerusalem in Judah.
Daniel 6:8
Now, O king, issue the decree and
put it in writing so that it cannot be
altered-- in accordance with the
laws of the Medes and Persians,
which cannot be repealed."
Daniel 6:12
"Did you not publish a decree that
during the next thirty days anyone
who prays to any god or man
except to you, O king, would be
thrown into the lions' den?" The
king answered, "The decree stands,
which cannot be repealed."
Daniel 6:15
Then the men went as a group to
the king and said to him,
"Remember, O king, that according
to the law of the Medes and
Persians no decree or edict that the
king issues can be changed."