Esther’s Rise as Queen
There are some interesting deductions that can be made with regard to the date and time of Esther’s being chosen as the new queen of the Persian Empire. Although the timing of these events is not obvious to a casual reader of the book, closer inspection does allow for the creation of a fairly precise timeline. Note the following: Both the Hebrew and Persian calendars were lunar-based, and their New Year began in about March/April in the Julian calendar (the exact time fluctuated from year to year, as the date for Easter......
Drinks in Golden Vessels
When Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes I) held a banquet in Susa at the end of his military planning party, he served drinks in “golden vessels of various kinds” (Esther 1:7). Over the years, archaeologists have recovered a whole variety of these kinds of vessels from the royal palaces of Persia. Many of these drinking vessels, called “rhytons,” are fashioned in the shape of an animal, seamlessly attached to a flared drinking cup. The one shown in this photo is made of pure gold, as are many others known from this period.......
Hidden In Plain Sight
In the introduction to his commentary on Esther entitled “Inconspicuous Providence”, Bryan R. Gregory points out five literary techniques that show us God in the book of Esther. He titles these techniques, “coincidences, peripeteia, naming, point of view, and allusion,”. I would like to take a few moments to explore the technique called “peripeteia” as I think it highlights how we can learn more than we think by simply observing closely. What is peripeteia? Quoting Gregory: “In literary terms, peripeteia is the sudden or unexpected reversal of a situation.” The first of......
Esther & Chronology
A quick read through the book of Esther might leave the impression that all of the events in the book transpired within six months. However, there are three references in the book to specific dates in the reign of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). The first banquet took place in the third year of his reign, 483 BC (Est 1:3). Esther became queen in the seventh year of his reign, 478 BC (Est 2:16). Haman hatched his plot to destroy the Jews in the 12th year of Ahasuerus. Because this happened in the......
God Keeps His Promises
Sunday in our introduction to Esther we saw that our God is a covenant keeping God. He is a God whose word can be trusted and relied upon. One of the examples mentioned was Joseph, who believed God would return Israel to the promised land. His belief was so firm that he forced the sons of Israel to promise to take his bones with them when they left Egypt. “Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from......
Julius the Centurion?
In Acts 27:1-3, Luke gives an account of the first leg of Paul’s voyage to Rome. Twice in these verses he mentions the centurion who was put in charge of taking Paul to Rome. Interestingly, he calls him by name, “Julius.” This is in contrast to the centurion and the tribune (of even higher rank) mentioned in Acts 22:25-28, both of whom remain anonymous. Why does Luke give the name of the centurion in Acts 27? In his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham suggests that typically the reason why some......
I Press On
As we enter 2019, Paul’s teaching in Philippians 3 can help us re-set our thinking for the new year. “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phi 3:13b-14, ESV). Paul was fond of using word-pictures from athletics to illustrate various aspects of the Christian life, and that seems to be what he is doing here. Like a well-trained athlete, Paul urges us to forget what......
