The Book of Esther, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the book of Esther chapter by chapter. If you have read our studies on Ezra and Nehemiah you know that only some of the Jews went back to Jerusalem. Many stayed in Persia. Esther tells us what happened to them. It takes place between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7. After the temple was rebuilt and before Ezra came to Jerusalem. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Esther is one of the most exciting stories in the Bible. A Jewish orphan becomes queen of Persia. A proud man plots to kill every Jew in the empire. A king cannot sleep. And everything turns around. But there is something strange about this book. The name of God is not in it. Not one time. No one prays out loud. No prophet speaks. No miracle happens. And yet God is in every chapter.

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. Esther is about the providence of God. God works behind the scenes even when we cannot see him. Esther is about courage. “If I perish, I perish” (4:16). And Esther points us to Jesus Christ. The one who stands before the King for his people. We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

The book is named after Esther. Her Hebrew name was Hadassah. Which means myrtle. Esther was her Persian name. It probably means star. We are not told who wrote the book. Some Jews believed Mordecai wrote it. The writer knew a lot about the Persian court. The king in the book is Ahasuerus. That is the Hebrew name of the king the Greeks called Xerxes.¹ He reigned over Persia from about 486 to 465 BC. The story starts in his 3rd year (1:3).

We need to talk about why God’s name is not in the book.² Some have used this to say the book should not be in the Bible. When the book was translated into Greek someone added prayers and the name of God to it. Those additions are not in the Hebrew Bible. We believe the writer left God’s name out on purpose. The Jews in Persia lived in a place where God seemed far away. They were not in the land. There was no temple near them. No prophets. The writer wanted to show them that God was still working. Even when you cannot see him. Even when no one says his name.

The book is full of reversals.³ Things turn upside down. Haman builds gallows for Mordecai and is hanged on them. Haman plans honor for himself and has to give it to Mordecai. The day set for the Jews to be killed becomes the day the Jews win. We will break the book down like this. Vashti removed (1). Esther made queen (2). Haman’s plot (3). For such a time as this (4). Esther’s banquets (5–7). The decree reversed (8–9). And Mordecai exalted (10). Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

Esther 1: The King’s Feast

Ahasuerus reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces (v.1). In his 3rd year he made a feast for all his princes and servants. It lasted 180 days (v.4). He showed them “the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty.”⁴ Then he made another feast for 7 days for everyone in Shushan the palace. There was so much wine that the king commanded no one to be forced to drink (v.8). Everything was about the glory of the king.

On the 7th day the king was drunk. He sent for queen Vashti to come wearing her crown “to shew the people and the princes her beauty” (v.11). She refused. The king was furious. He asked his wise men what to do. Memucan said if the queen got away with this every woman in the empire would despise her husband (vv.16–18). So the king made a law. Vashti would never come before him again. And her royal estate would be given to another (v.19). Letters went out to every province “that every man should bear rule in his own house” (v.22).

It all seems like palace drama. A drunk king. A proud queen. A silly law. But God was already setting things up. The throne next to the king was now empty. And God had someone in mind.

Esther 2: Hadassah

After his anger cooled the king remembered Vashti (v.1). His servants said let us find young virgins from every province and let the king choose a new queen. The king liked the idea. Then we meet two people.

“Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite” (v.5). Notice the names. Shimei and Kish. Kish was the father of King Saul. Mordecai was from the family of Saul.⁵ Keep that in mind. His family was carried away from Jerusalem with Jeconiah king of Judah (v.6). “And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother” (v.7). She was an orphan. And she was beautiful. Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Esther was taken to the king’s house. Hegai the keeper of the women liked her and gave her the best of everything (v.9). “Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it” (v.10). Every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the women to see how Esther was doing (v.11). After a year of preparation each young woman went in to the king. Esther did not ask for anything more than what Hegai told her. “And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her” (v.15). In the 7th year of his reign the king loved Esther above all the women. “He set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti” (v.17).

The book does not tell us whether everything Esther and Mordecai did was right. She married a pagan king. She hid that she was a Jew. The writer does not stop to judge. He just tells us what happened. And he shows us that God was working through it all.

The chapter ends with something that seems small. Mordecai sat in the king’s gate. He heard two of the king’s chamberlains plotting to kill the king. He told Esther. She told the king in Mordecai’s name. The two men were hanged. “And it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king” (v.23). Mordecai got no reward. Not yet. Remember this. It will matter in chapter 6.

Esther 3: Haman the Agagite

“After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him” (v.1). Notice the word Agagite. Agag was the king of the Amalekites. In 1 Samuel 15 God told Saul to destroy Amalek. Saul spared Agag. And Samuel had to kill him. God said in Exodus 17:16 “the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Now a descendant of Agag is second in the kingdom. And a descendant of Kish the father of Saul sits at the gate. What Saul did not finish was still not finished.

All the king’s servants bowed to Haman. The king commanded it. “But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence” (v.2). The servants asked him why every day. He told them he was a Jew (v.4). We are not told exactly why Mordecai would not bow.⁶ Jews bowed to kings in the Old Testament. David bowed to Saul (1 Samuel 24:8). Some believe Haman wanted honor that belonged only to God. Others believe it was because Haman was an Agagite. Whatever the reason Mordecai would not bend.

Haman was full of wrath. But killing one man was not enough for him. “He thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone … wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus” (v.6). Every Jew. Every man and woman and child. Including the ones who went back to Jerusalem.

They cast Pur, that is the lot, before Haman to pick the day (v.7).⁷ The lot fell on the 12th month. Almost a whole year away. Haman thought the lot was luck. But Solomon said “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD” (Proverbs 16:33). God gave the Jews a year.

Haman went to the king. “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws” (v.8). He did not even tell the king who they were. He offered to pay 10,000 talents of silver into the king’s treasury (v.9). The king gave him his ring and said do what you want. Letters went out to every province. On the 13th day of the 12th month “to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day” (v.13). “And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed” (v.15).

This was not just a plot against a people. It was a plot against the promise. God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15). He promised that through Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. If every Jew died there would be no Messiah. Pharaoh tried to kill the Hebrew boys. Athaliah tried to kill the seed royal. Herod would try to kill the babies in Bethlehem. And Haman tried to kill them all. The enemy has always tried to stop the seed.

Esther 4: If I Perish, I Perish

When Mordecai heard he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went into the middle of the city and cried with a loud and bitter cry (v.1). In every province there was great mourning among the Jews “and fasting, and weeping, and wailing” (v.3). Esther heard Mordecai was in sackcloth and sent him clothes. He would not take them. She sent a servant to find out why. Mordecai told him everything. He sent a copy of the decree. And he told Esther to go to the king and beg for her people (v.8).

Esther sent back a message. Everyone knew the law. Anyone who went into the inner court to the king without being called would be put to death. Unless the king held out the golden sceptre. “But I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days” (v.11). Then Mordecai sent this answer.

Notice what Mordecai believed. Deliverance would come. If not through Esther then “from another place.”⁸ He did not say from God. But he did not have to. Only God could save them. Mordecai knew God would keep his people. The only question was whether Esther would be part of it. And then the famous line. “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther did not become queen by accident. God put her there.

Esther did not rush in. First she fasted. And she asked all the Jews to fast with her. 3 days. Fasting in the Bible always goes with prayer. The writer does not say she prayed. But everyone knew what fasting was for. Then she would go. “If I perish, I perish.” She was willing to give her life for her people.

Esther 5: The Golden Sceptre

“Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house” (v.1). When the king saw her “she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand” (v.2). She lived. The king said “What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom” (v.3). She did not ask for her people yet. She invited the king and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet the king asked again. She invited them to another banquet the next day (v.8).

Haman went out happy. Then he saw Mordecai at the gate. Mordecai did not stand up or move for him. Haman was full of anger. He went home and called his friends and his wife Zeresh. He bragged about his riches and his children and how the king promoted him. And the queen invited only him to her banquet with the king. “Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate” (v.13). He had everything. And one man who would not bow ruined it all. Pride is never satisfied. Zeresh said build a gallows 50 cubits high and ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it (v.14). Haman liked that. He had the gallows built that night.

Esther 6: On That Night Could Not the King Sleep

This is the turning point of the whole book. On the very night Haman built the gallows the king could not sleep. Out of all the things he could do he asked for the records to be read. And out of all the records they read the one about Mordecai saving the king’s life (v.2). The king asked “What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?” They said nothing (v.3). None of this was luck. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). God kept the king awake.

Right then Haman came into the outer court. He came to ask the king to hang Mordecai. The king asked “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?” (v.6). Haman thought “To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?” So he said put on him the king’s robe. Put him on the king’s horse with the crown. Have one of the most noble princes lead him through the city and cry “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour” (vv.8–9). The king said “Make haste … and do even so to Mordecai the Jew” (v.10).

Haman had to put the robe on Mordecai and lead him through the streets crying out his honor. Then Mordecai went back to the gate. And Haman went home with his head covered (v.12). His wife and his wise men said “If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him” (v.13). Even his own family knew. You cannot fight against God’s people and win. While they were still talking the king’s chamberlains came to take Haman to the banquet (v.14).

Esther 7: Haman Hanged

At the second banquet the king asked Esther again. This time she told him. “If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish” (vv.3–4). The king said “Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?” (v.5). Esther said “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman” (v.6).

The king got up in anger and went into the garden. Haman stayed to beg Esther for his life. He fell on the bed where Esther was. The king came back and saw him there. They covered Haman’s face (v.8). Then one of the chamberlains said Haman built a gallows 50 cubits high for Mordecai. “Who had spoken good for the king” (v.9). The king said “Hang him thereon.” “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified” (v.10).

David wrote about this kind of man. “He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head” (Psalm 7:15–16). The enemy of God’s people was destroyed by his own plan. Paul tells us that on the cross Jesus “spoiled principalities and powers” and “made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). The cross the enemy used to kill Jesus became the place where the enemy was defeated.

Esther 8: Light and Gladness

The king gave Esther the house of Haman. Esther told the king that Mordecai was her family. The king took off his ring that he took back from Haman and gave it to Mordecai (v.2). Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. But the decree was still out there. The Jews were still going to be killed on the 13th of Adar. Esther fell at the king’s feet and wept and begged him to stop it (v.3).

But there was a problem. “For the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse” (v.8).⁹ The law of the Medes and Persians could not be changed. Daniel found that out too (Daniel 6:8, 15). So the king let Mordecai write a new law. The Jews in every city could gather together and defend themselves on that same day. And destroy anyone who attacked them (v.11). The first law still stood. But the second law gave them a way to live.

This is like God’s law and sin. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). God’s law does not change. But God gave a new law. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). The first law still says the sinner dies. But in Christ there is a way of life.

Mordecai went out in royal clothes of blue and white with a great crown of gold. “And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad” (v.15). “The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour” (v.16). Then notice this. “And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them” (v.17). People from the nations joined God’s people. Just like Rahab and Ruth.

Esther 9: Turned From Sorrow to Joy

The 13th day of Adar came. “The same day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)” (v.1). The Jews gathered and defended themselves. No one could stand against them. The rulers of the provinces helped them because they feared Mordecai. In Shushan they killed 500 men and the 10 sons of Haman (vv.6–10).

Then notice a phrase that is repeated 3 times. “But on the spoil laid they not their hand” (vv.10, 15, 16). They had the right to take the spoil (8:11). But they did not. The writer keeps telling us that for a reason. Remember Saul. When Saul fought Amalek he kept the best of the spoil (1 Samuel 15:9). And he lost the kingdom for it. Now a descendant of Saul’s family won the battle against a descendant of Agag. And this time no one touched the spoil. What Saul failed to do was finally done right.

The Jews rested on the 14th day. In Shushan they rested on the 15th. Mordecai wrote to all the Jews to keep both days every year. “As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” (v.22). They called the days Purim after the word Pur. The lot Haman cast (v.26). The Jews still keep Purim every year. Haman cast the lot to destroy them. God turned the lot into a feast.

Esther 10: Seeking the Wealth of His People

The last chapter is only 3 verses. The king laid a tribute on the land. The acts of his power and the greatness of Mordecai were written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia (v.2).

The man who sat in sackcloth at the gate now sat next to the king. The man Haman wanted to hang now had Haman’s house. And he used his power to seek the good of his people and speak peace. Jesus was humbled to the point of death. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). And now he speaks peace to his people. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27).

We have gone through Esther chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First Esther is about the providence of God. The name of God is never said. But God is everywhere in the book. A queen refused to come. An orphan became queen. Mordecai heard a plot and wrote it down in the records. The lot fell on a day almost a year away. The king could not sleep. And they read the one page about Mordecai. None of this was chance. God was working every step. Paul said “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Second Esther is about courage. Mordecai would not bow. Esther went in to the king not knowing if she would live. “If I perish, I perish” (4:16). God put her in the palace “for such a time as this” (4:14). God puts his people where they are for a reason. And sometimes that reason takes courage.

Third Esther tells us something about the one God. Isaiah said “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour” (Isaiah 45:15). In Esther God was hidden. He was not seen. His name was not spoken. But he was the Saviour. In Jesus Christ the hidden God came out of hiding. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). Jesus said “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).¹⁰ The God who saved his people in secret in Persia came in the flesh to save us openly on the cross.

And Esther points us to Jesus Christ. Esther went before the king for her people at the risk of her own life. Jesus went before God for us and gave his life. He “ever liveth to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). Esther had to wait to see if the sceptre would be held out. We do not. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy” (Hebrews 4:16). Haman was destroyed on the gallows he built. The enemy was destroyed by the cross he thought would win. And the day that was set for death became a day of joy. Esther is the last of the history books. The next books are the books of poetry and wisdom. That is where Job begins.