TOM · The Owner's Manual · Old Testament

Esther 1

Before you read Esther: who, when, why

BOOK 17 OF 66 · OLD TESTAMENT · HISTORY

For Such a Time as This

AUTHOR: Not named. The Talmud says the Men of the Great Assembly, Jewish leaders after the exile, wrote it down. Some think Mordecai wrote part of it, since he recorded these events, 9:20.
EVENTS TOOK PLACE: From Xerxes' party in his third year, about 483 BC, to the first Purim in his twelfth year, about 473 BC.
DATE: Many think it was written not long after the events, in the 400s BC. Others think it was written in the 300s BC or later.
WRITTEN TO: Jews scattered all over the Persian empire, far from Jerusalem.
KEY VERSE: Esther 4:14. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

The Oldest Copy of Esther

A page of Papyrus 967, copied in Greek about 200 AD or a little later and now in Cologne, Germany. It holds Esther 1:6 to 10: you can read the gold and silver couches of the king's party, and near the bottom the Greek calls the king Artaxerxes. Esther is the only book of the Hebrew Bible missing from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The oldest copies are in Greek: this papyrus, then Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus from the 300s AD. The Aleppo Codex, a Hebrew Bible from about 930 AD, lost its Esther pages in the 1900s, so the oldest complete Hebrew copy is the Leningrad Codex, 1008 AD. Photo University of Cologne, Papyrus Collection.

The Setting

The citadel of Susa, a royal city of the Persian kings in what is now Iran. It happens between Ezra 6 and Ezra 7: the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt, but most Jews never went home. They lived all over an empire of 127 provinces, from India to Cush.

What Was Going Wrong

A King Ruled By Moods. Xerxes threw out his queen while drunk, 1:10 to 22, and signed away a whole people without asking who they were, 3:10 to 11.
Hate With A Plan. Haman wanted every Jew dead, young and old, women and children, on one day, 3:6 and 3:13.
Hiding. Esther kept her people secret, 2:10. Being a Jew could cost your life.

Where to Find Jesus

Esther 4:16. Esther risked her life to stand between her people and death. Jesus did more: He gave His life for us while we were still sinners, Romans 5:8.
Esther 4:11 and 5:2. No one could come to the Persian king without being called. Because of Jesus, we can come boldly to God's throne of grace, Hebrews 4:16.
Esther 7:10. Haman's plan to kill turned back on him. At the cross, the enemy's worst plan became his own defeat, Colossians 2:15.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

No Red Letters. The Hebrew book of Esther never names God, and no one quotes Him, so there are no red letters in this book. Yet His hand is everywhere. See Where Is God in Esther?
Not in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Esther is the only book of the Hebrew Bible with no copy among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Still Celebrated. Jews still keep Purim every year, 9:26 to 28, about 2,500 years later.

How Did It Turn Out?

The Jews lived, Haman's family fell, and Mordecai became second to the king. Purim became a yearly party. About 15 years later, in 458 BC, Ezra led another group home to Jerusalem, Ezra 7.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

King Xerxes throws a party that lasts six months, then a seven day one with free drinks. On day seven he is drunk and orders Queen Vashti to come and show off her beauty. She says no. His advisers panic that every wife in the empire will copy her, so Vashti is out.

Tap a color to hide it

In this chapterThe Big QuestionIs Esther History? · after verse 12 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Palace at Susa · after verse 22 MapThe Persian Empire · after verse 3

Xerxes’ Royal Feast

¹This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush. ²In those days King Xerxes sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa.

EST 1:1[NOTE]XERXES. The Hebrew calls him Ahasuerus. He ruled Persia from 486 to 465 BC. His empire reached from India, what is now Pakistan, to Cush, what is now Sudan.
EST 1:1[FIELD NOTES]See the Xerxes Field Notes page in Ezra.
EST 1:2[ARCHAEOLOGY]The palace of Darius and Xerxes at Susa was dug up by French teams, with its glazed brick archers now in the Louvre, see The Palace at Susa Field Notes page

³In the third year of his reign, Xerxes held a feast for all his officials and servants. The military leaders of Persia and Media were there, along with the nobles and princes of the provinces. ⁴And for a full 180 days he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness.

EST 1:3[NOTE]THE THIRD YEAR. About 483 BC. Some think this long feast was also a war council, because Xerxes was getting ready to invade Greece.

⁵At the end of this time, in the garden court of the royal palace, the king held a seven-day feast for all the people in the citadel of Susa, from the least to the greatest. ⁶Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.

⁷Beverages were served in an array of goblets of gold, each with a different design, and the royal wine flowed freely, according to the king’s bounty. ⁸By order of the king, no limit was placed on the drinking, and every official of his household was to serve each man whatever he desired.

Queen Vashti’s Refusal

⁹Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

¹⁰On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas— ¹¹to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold.

EST 1:10[NOTE]MERRY WITH WINE. The Greek writer Herodotus says Persians talked over big decisions while drunk, then checked them again the next day sober.

¹²Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him.

EST 1:12[NOTE]WHY VASHTI SAID NO. The book does not say. Many think she would not be shown off in front of a room of drunk men.

The Big Question

Is Esther History?

What Fits and What Puzzles

Esther 1:1 to 3 · 2:16 · 2:23 · 10:2

WHAT FITS: Xerxes was real, and his palace at Susa was real. The book knows Persian words, Persian customs, the royal post and the king's record of men who helped him, which Herodotus also mentions. Its dates fit Xerxes' reign, with a four year gap while he was at war with Greece.
A NAME ON A TABLET: A clay tablet names Marduka, an official in Persian times, and some link him to Mordecai. See the Field Notes page Mordecai on a Tablet?
THE PUZZLES: Herodotus names Xerxes' queen Amestris, not Vashti or Esther. He also says Persian kings married only from seven noble families. No Persian record mentions Haman or a law that could never be undone. No record outside the Bible tells of the fighting in chapter 9.
MORDECAI'S AGE: 2:6 can sound like Mordecai himself went into exile in 597 BC, which would make him over 100. Many read it as being about his great grandfather.

Is Esther History? · Every View

Esther 9:20 to 32 · 2 Maccabees 15:36

VIEW 1: TRUE HISTORY: Jews and Christians through the centuries, and the writer Josephus about 93 AD, read it as history. Many scholars today agree. They say Herodotus did not know everything, Persian kings had many wives, and some think Vashti is Amestris under another name, though that is hard to prove.
VIEW 2: TRUE, TOLD WITH STYLE: Others think the main events really happened, but the story is told with a storyteller's flair, like the big numbers and the perfectly timed twists.
VIEW 3: A STORY BEHIND A HOLIDAY: Many scholars think it is a historical novel, written to explain why Jews keep Purim, set in a real time and place.
PURIM IS OLD: Whatever the view, Purim was kept long ago. 2 Maccabees 15:36, written about 100 BC, calls Purim Mordecai's Day.
WHAT ALL SIDES AGREE ON: Most agree the writer knew a lot about the Persian court, and the book has given hope to Jews facing hate for more than 2,000 years.

Queen Vashti Deposed

¹³Then the king consulted the wise men who knew the times, for it was customary for him to confer with the experts in law and justice. ¹⁴His closest advisors were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had personal access to the king and ranked highest in the kingdom.

¹⁵“According to law,” he asked, “what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey the command of King Xerxes delivered by the eunuchs?”

¹⁶And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes. ¹⁷For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’

¹⁸This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard about the queen’s conduct will say the same thing to all the king’s officials, resulting in much contempt and wrath.

¹⁹So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she. ²⁰The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”

EST 1:19[NOTE]CANNOT BE REPEALED. A law of the Persians and Medes could not be undone, Daniel 6:8. That becomes the big problem in chapter 8.

²¹The king and his princes were pleased with this counsel; so the king did as Memucan advised. ²²He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his own household.

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Palace at Susa

Esther 1:2 · 1:5 to 6 · 2:3 · 4:11 · 5:1 · Nehemiah 1:1 · Daniel 8:2

Two archers of the king's guard in glazed brick, from the palace of Darius at Susa, about 510 BC. Louvre Museum, Paris. Public domain.

WHAT IT IS: The ruins of the royal city of Susa, in southwest Iran. Darius the Great built a huge palace on its high mound, and his son Xerxes, the king in Esther, lived there. The Bible calls it the citadel of Susa, 1:2.
HOW OLD IT IS: Susa is one of the oldest cities in the world, lived in for thousands of years. Darius built his palace there soon after he became king in 522 BC. The brick archers are from about 510 BC.
WHERE AND WHEN FOUND: William Loftus first dug there in 1851. Marcel and Jane Dieulafoy, a French husband and wife, dug in the 1880s and shipped the glazed brick archers to the Louvre in Paris. French teams kept digging until 1979.
THE ARCHERS: Life size soldiers in colored glazed brick march along the walls, each with a spear, a bow and a quiver. Many think they show the king's own guard.
BUILT BY THE WHOLE EMPIRE: Darius had a list carved in stone of what built his palace: cedar from Lebanon, gold from Sardis and Bactria, silver and ebony from Egypt, ivory from Cush and India, and workers from many nations.
THE GREAT HALL: The king's audience hall had 36 stone columns about 65 feet tall. A later king wrote that it burned in the days of Artaxerxes I and that he rebuilt it. At the site, mostly the column bases are left.
THE KING'S FEAST: Esther 1:6 tells of couches of gold and silver. Herodotus says that when the Greeks won in 479 BC, they found couches of gold and silver in the tent of his general Mardonius, filled with things Xerxes had left him.
WHERE THE STORY HAPPENED: The book knows the place: the king's gate, the inner court, the garden and the women's houses, 2:3, 2:14, 2:19, 5:1 and 7:7. Nehemiah served in the same palace, Nehemiah 1:1, and Daniel saw himself at Susa in a vision, Daniel 8:2.
SUSA TODAY: It is the town of Shush, Iran. Since 2015 it is a World Heritage Site.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: The palace is real, and so is Xerxes. No find at Susa names Esther or Mordecai.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH

Esther 1

The Oldest Copy of Esther

The Setting

What Was Going Wrong

Where to Find Jesus

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

How Did It Turn Out?

Xerxes’ Royal Feast

Queen Vashti’s Refusal

Queen Vashti Deposed

See the whole Bible light up in color.

Frequently asked questions