This is one of the more exciting and curious books in the Bible. The story is set over 100 years after the Babylonian exile of the Israelites from their land. While some Jews did return to Jerusalem (see Ezra-Nehemiah), many did not. The Book of Esther is about a Jewish community living in Susa, the capital city of the ancient Persian empire. The main characters are two Jews, Mordecai and his niece Esther. Then there is the king of Persia and the Persian official Haman, the cunning villain.
Esther is a curious book in the Bible because God is never mentioned. This may strike you as odd because the Bible is supposed to be a book about God. However, this is a brilliant technique by the anonymous author. It’s an invitation to read the story looking for God’s activity, and there are signs of it everywhere. The story is full of odd coincidences and ironic reversals that force you to see God’s purpose at work behind every scene. Watch Esther's story down below.
The story invites us to see that God can and does work in human history's mess and moral ambiguity, using the faithfulness of even morally compromised people to accomplish his purposes.
The Book of Esther asks us to trust in God’s providence even when we can’t see it working. That requires a posture of hope, to believe that, no matter how horrible things get, God is committed to redeeming his good world and overcoming evil. That’s what Esther's story is all about.
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