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February 9, 2023 |
| Where Is God In Esther | ||
Every book of the Bible mentions God … except Esther. Many people have wondered why, of course. Two common answers have emerged:
Neither of these is satisfying, though. The first one seems to be contradicted by other Bible stories where God works behind the scenes but is still given credit and glory. There is also the question of Esther's faith. Is she trusting in God to see her through as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did? She says, "If I die, I die". They say, "Our God is able to save us".
The second reason above is contradicted by the book of Esther itself. At the end of Esther, people are becoming Jews because of the intervention of God. Why would Mordecai be concerned about tuning the story for a polytheistic culture. Daniel certainly showed no desire to do such a thing in his writing.
In this study we'll look at another reason.
In 538 BC, the Israelites were allowed to return to Jerusalem to live there, rebuild the temple and later rebuild the city wall. It was a long trip but many Jews made it. They had been in Babylonian and Medo-Persian lands for 70 years. Many of them had been born in those lands and had never seen Israel. Yet, they longed to be back in the land their God had promised them.
59 years later, in 479 BC, Esther is queen. She is one of many Jews who chose not to return to Jerusalem. Some could not return for health or age reasons. Daniel was one of those. He was too old to make the trip. That doesn't appear to be the case for Mordecai and Esther. They had no interest in returning to the promised land given by God. To this day, there are Jews in Persia who haven't returned to Israel.
When Judea is conquered by the Babylonians, it is because they have turned away from God. Likely, attendance to Bible teaching has been at an all-time low for some time and, thus, most of them know very little about God's word. They begin their captivity that way.
By Esther's time, there is no Jew alive in the Medo-Persian Empire who has ever heard a word from the Bible. We know this from the Jews who cared about God and returned to Jerusalem long before. During Nehemiah's time a Bible was found and read to people who had never heard the word of God before. For the first time, they understood how they had offended God and why they had been sent into captivity. With sorrowful hearts, they committed themselves to undo the wrongs they had done and live as God wanted.
There is no Bible reference that tells us much about the spiritual nature of the Jews, like Esther, in the Medo-Persian Empire. With a little thought, though, it isn't hard to understand. They would have known even less about God than the people who had returned to Israel. Without a written reference, the Bible in this case, they would drift farther and farther away. Also, those people who cared about God have left, along with their influence.
What if all the true Christians left the US and headed off to another country? For the people who remained, all the things about Christianity that they liked they would keep and the rest would be dropped. Parts of many Christian traditions would remain. For example, Christmas would remain but any mention of Jesus would be dropped. Likely the name would be changed.
After a few decades Jesus would never be mentioned.
I think the reason God isn't mentioned in Esther is because God was not part of their lives. What remained of Judaism would be only a shell. The traditions and some beliefs would remain.
Not only is God not mentioned, but Jerusalem is not mentioned either.
Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite (2:5-6)
Kish was one of the exiles taken from Jerusalem to Babylon 130 years before.
Mordecai had instructed her that she was not to reveal [her nation or relatives] (2:10)
We aren't told why he tells her this. From the rest of the story, it appears some people envy the Jews and others fear them. Likely he is trying to make sure Esther's chances of becoming queen aren't hurt.
That would indicate Mordecai is in favor of her becoming queen, which would be a bit odd. A position like that would have continual pressure to live an un-Godly life, as we see in the stories of Daniel. Is Esther eating Kosher like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Is she required to worship false gods? Does she continue to pray like Daniel. Mordecai shows no sign of that pressure being a concern.
Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage [to Haman for the reason that] Mordecai was a Jew (3:3,5)
The reason that is given here, presumably written by Mordecai himself, is that he is a Jew, not that God said, "you will have no other Gods before me".
their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not comply with the king's laws (3:8)
This is Haman speaking so we must be careful what we pull from it. We know he is accentuating the differences between the Jews and other peoples, to serve his plan to destroy them. We have already seen though that the Jews are holding on to customs that make them different from others, including other nations that had been swallowed up by the Medo-Persian Empire.
[Mordecai] tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. (4:1)
This is one of the places where you definitely would expect God to be mentioned - but he isn't. A Jew would be calling on God instead of complaining about how unfairly the Jews are being treated.
there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and mourning rites; and many had sackcloth and ashes spread out as a bed. (4:3)
Again, we see no mention of calling on God. Their actions seem to be only traditional ways of dealing with and protesting great mistreatment.
Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, liberation and rescue will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this (4:13-14)
Mordecai shows a belief that they are a protected people, though he doesn't seem to know why. He says the Jews will be rescued, one way or another. We'll see this idea expressed later as well, from Haman's side.
This is not so different from the words of the prophet who says "We will not die" (Habakkuk 1:12). He knows God has made promises to the people and God cannot renege on those, so he knows some will survive. It appears the Medo-Persian Jews have retained the "we will not die" part but no longer know the reason.
do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants also will fast in the same way (4:16)
Making this request without mentioning any appeal to God, stands out very strongly.
if I perish, I perish (4:16)
We discussed earlier how different this statement is from the one made by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Theirs is a statement of faith in their God. Hers is a statement of faith in chance. She hopes to catch the king at a good time.
his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai is of Jewish origin, you will not prevail over him" (6:13)
This shows an understanding by the non-Jews in Medo-Persia that the Jews are a protected people. Maybe they still know of the stories of Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Maybe God has done other things since then to protect certain Jews. In any case there is an understanding that, if you mess with the Jews, things will go badly for you.
Without mentioning the God of the Jews being their protector, this statement seems to be about fate / Karma.
there was joy and jubilation for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, because the dread of the Jews had fallen on them (8:17)
Haman is dead. The people see that, once again, someone tried to mess with the Jews and was messed with in turn. Many of them want to live under that umbrella. The drive to become a Jew comes from "dread of the Jews" not from love or fear of their God.
The Jews create a new Holy Day. It is named after the lots that Haman threw to decide the day of their fate. The choice of that name seems to be a statement to non-Jews of "remember Haman; don't mess with us". Again, no mention of God.
The command of Esther established these customs for Purim (9:32)
It needs to be understood that creating our own Holy Days does not impress God in the least. God is not a man that he can be worshiped through the works of men. Creating such a day is actually an act of arrogance and idolatry.
Micah makes this point with 10,000 rivers of oil. Nothing we do of our own initiative earns anything with God. He summarizes his point by saying "Walk humbly with your God".
The evidence supports the idea that God is not mentioned in Esther because God is not in Esther or her people. God has arranged the story to be that way, as a sign.
The Jews were at a low point in their understanding of God when they were conquered. Without a Bible to guide them during their captivity, most drifted further away. When it became possible to return to the promised land and to God, many people had no interest. These were Esther's people. They appear to have only the remnants of Jewish traditions.
Therefore, the story of Esther appears to be about how far away from God his people had become yet God intended to keep his promises to them and protected them in order to do that.