Esther
Key Learnings from Sunday School
Jun 2022 - Aug 2022
Esther Introduction
• Only book that God isn’t mentioned
• Events after Nehemiah and Ezra (Cyrus)
• Significant differences with the apocrypha Esther and Biblical Esther
Xerxes is the greek version of Ahasuerus
• King at the height of the Persian Empire
• Grandfather was Cyrus
• Battle of Thermopylae (300) documented by the Greek Historian Herodotus [484-425BC] (The father of History)
• Tomb of Esther and Mordechai is identified in Iran
• Human the Agagite - descendent of Agag the king of the Amalekites (1Sam 15)
Hamam’s reaction to Mordecai indifference is a reminder of the fall.
Gen 3:11 “Have you eaten” = Hebrew spelling similar to Hamam’s name.
The temptation of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil for us is
• To be god; to set the rules (Matt 4:5); to remove limits (Matt 4:3); to own creation (Matt 4:8)
God puts a forbidden tree in the garden for us
• To recognize creation is a gift from God
• To understand that all other gifts are from God; that we are beholden to God
Cast of lots = Horoscope equivalent? The faithlessness of Hamam?
- Haman was elevated above all the other King’s servants but that wasn’t enough.
- Garden connections
• Haman → Adam
• King→ What we can’t be
• Mordecai’s indifference → Tree of knowledge (What we can't have)
- Another named eunuch
- Sackcloth and ashes = repentance &humility; desolation & ruin;
- The text doesn’t mention God in connection to fasting.
- If Haman’s preparations to approach the king is a display of faithlessness then
• Esther’s fasting is a display faithfulness.
- Scepter: A Symbol of Authority to Rule
- Gallows: A pole for executing and exhibiting a victim by impalement or hanging
- Haman has wealth, family, and power but that is not enough
- Esther was not to share forbidden knowledge (her origins), is now required to share that forbidden knowledge and she does so by using food as she differentiates desire from good (Genesis 3:6).
• Forbidden Knowledge (New Testament Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:29-30; Luke 9:20-21; Mark 1:40-44; Matthew 8:1-4; Luke 5:12-15; Mark 1:34, Mark 3:11-12).
• Death follows forbidden knowledge
Esther the Greek Texts vs the Hebrew Text
Masoretic Text (the accepted Hebrew text of our Bible).
The Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew text) in use during Jesus’ time.
Jerome (4 AD) translates the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate) he found no equivalent passages of Esther in the Hebrew Text.
The Greek versions (Beta-text and the shorter Alpha Text.) have religious elements that are absent in the Hebrew. The name of God occurs not only in the Additions, but at several other points within the story.
Greek Esther is thought to be written in Egypt during the rule of the Ptolemies (114 BC). Ptolemies began their rule of Egypt after the arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Haman is not an Agagite in the Greek Texts.
Unlike the Apocrypha that we have use, the Greek Additions are more commonly referenced as A-F
- Esther First Request (Esther 7:4) echoes Judah before his brothers to save Joseph by selling him (Genesis 37:26-27)
- Esther Second Request (Esther 8:6) echoes Judah before Joseph to save Benjamin (Genesis 44:32-33)
- Mordecai’s decree = Just War: a war waged in support of a nation's right to a peaceful existence.
• Just Cause: War is waged for a morally legitimate purpose, such as in response to grave damage inflicted by an aggressor; only a defensive war is legitimate.
• Right Intention: To establish a good order or correcting an evil one; a just peace must be secured for all involved.
• Conduct of War: Lethal force directed only at combatants