Introduction
• The Book of Esther in the Old Testament is a rag to riches, romance, and intrigue plot all rolled into one story.
• A young orphan woman, raised by her uncle, becomes queen of the Persian Empire, and risks the death penalty to expose a plot to murder her, her uncle, and everyone who believes in the one true God. Her acts of heroism, and the Jewish victory over those who would exterminate them, is celebrated annually to this day.
• At every plot twist we see the hand of God guiding Esther. Her’s is a story of faith, courage, wisdom, and divine timing.
• I’m Brent and this is episode 22 of The Bible Unplugged. We dive in to the story of intrigue and courage that made Esther a household name in the Jewish culture.
• Please take a minute to look at the show notes for this episode at PowerLoveandMiracles.com under the Podcast tab.
Who was Esther
• Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, which is the name of the fragrant and beautiful myrtle plant. As an exile she was given the Persian name Esther, which means star. The Jewish people refer to her and the book in the Old Testament by her Hebrew name, Hadassah
• She was an orphan and was adopted by her kinsman, Mordecai. Jewish tradition says that Esther’s mother died in childbirth and that her father died before she was born.
• Her rise from orphan to queen started with the downfall of Queen Vashti, who fell out of favor with the King due to her stubbornness. Vashti refused to appear at the King’s request during a banquet and the king banished her. A search then started to find Vashti’s replacement.
• Esther’s beauty, gracefulness and political savvy made her a top candidate in the search. The man responsible for finding a new queen favored Esther and helped her learn what she needed to know to catch the king’s attention.
• The plan worked because the King chose Esther as his queen.
Who was Mordecai
• He was the relative who took Esther into his home when her parents died. The Hebrew word for kinsman does not specify if they were cousins or if Mordecai was Esther’s uncle. I tend to believe he was her uncle from the way he looked after her.
• Once Esther became queen, Mordecai stayed close to the King’s gate to watch over her. In the process, Mordecai learned of a plot to kill the king. Esther took Mordecai’s message to the king and foiled the plot.
Esther’s dilemma
• Mordecai learned about Haman’s plot which was a subject of our previous episode.
• Mordecai talked Esther into taking this news to the king.
• Esther was reluctant because even she risked death if she walked in on the king without an invitation, but Mordecai’s message convinced her.
• In Esther chapter 4 starting in verse 13, Mordecai said, “Don't think to yourself that you will escape in the king's house any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Who knows if you haven't come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
• Esther agreed and asked Mordecai to tell his people to fast and pray for three days. Esther and her maidens did the same.
• I love Esther’s reply to Mordecai. “… I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” That shows deep faith, courage, and commitment.
• Esther took the risk and approached the king and the king welcomed her. She wasn’t the kind of person to confront Haman directly, so she asked the king to come to a banquet prepared for them. What man wouldn’t want food offered from a beautiful woman.
• Esther was so sly that she held a second banquet the next day where she told the king about Haman’s plot.
• The king was so angry that he had Haman killed on the gallows prepared to kill Mordecai. In a monumental turn of events Mordecai was promoted into Haman’s former position.
The problem
• One would think that the King could just reverse the order to kill all the Jews, but that wasn’t the case. King Xerxes had sealed the order so that no one, not even he, could reverse it.
• The solution? The king sent out a decree that told every Jew to defend themselves against anyone who would do them harm. The turn of events caused everyone in the kingdom to fear the Jews. Many of the people in the kingdom were so afraid that they didn’t try to harm anyone, but those who did were met with deadly force.
• When the dust settled the Jews triumphed over those who would do them harm. Esther went back to the king and boldly requested that the ten sons of Haman would hang on the gallows. Whether or not this was the same gallows that Haman had built is not clear, but leaving this question “hanging” as it were is an irony for the ages.
• The Jews gathered together the day after the fight and declared a feast which is still celebrated to this day. This is The Feast of Purim, named after the objects that Haman used to randomly pick the date of the attempted slaughter.
What we learn from this
• God can use all kinds of people. Esther was a very unlikely candidate to accomplish all that she did, but God developed a strength of character and grace that helped her complete her task. We may feel that we aren’t worthy of accomplishing anything great for God, but God wants you to be willing if called.
• Eshter took a great risk in approaching the king as she did, but her commitment compelled her to move forward with her plan. Courage is a gift that we all have available to us, but we have to chose to be courageous.
• God worked through numerous people and many years to weave the course of history for this story to occur. God is still working in your favor to help you see his grace and amazing love for you.
What do we do with this
• Think of a time in your life when your courage helped you accomplish something meaningful. How easy would it have been for you to hold back and not follow through? Are there any situations in your life now that call on you to be courageous?
• Ask God to help you see how your unique gifts and abilities can be used for his glory and give you the faith and courage to follow through.
• Remember that God is always at work even in the lives of those who do not believe in God. God is at work in them to accomplish his will for you.
The conclusion
• Well, the music in the background means I have run out of time for this episode, but I have a lot more on the way,
• I hope this has been helpful. If so, give this podcast a high rating and share it with others.
• In the next two episodes we will look at the different leadership styles of Ezra and Nehemiah to see how God worked through them in different ways to fulfill his promises to the people of Israel.
• My prayer for you will know that God has a plan for you and has equipped you to have an impact on this world.
• Have a blessed week
The disclaimers
• Just to let you know
• All opinions are my own. If you agree, keep listening. If you don’t… keep listening, you may learn something
• All Bible quotations come from the World English Bible which is a public domain work
• Our show theme song is “Awesome Call” by Kevin MacLeod and is available under a Creative Commons license
• The content of this podcast is copyrighted 2025 by J. Brent Eaton
• This has been a Power Love and Miracles production
Share this post