Jesus in the Book of Esther

READ: ESTHER 4:1-17; 1 CORINTHIANS 15:57

In the book of Esther, a young Jewish orphan named Esther is living in captivity in Persia, being raised by her older cousin, Mordecai. Esther is most likely a teenager when she becomes the wife of a powerful Persian king. She keeps her true identity a secret until Mordecai learns of a horrible plot to destroy the Jewish people: a high-ranking official named Haman has convinced the king to order that all Jews be killed on a set day. So Mordecai asks Esther to intervene by revealing that she is a Jew and begging the king to spare their people. Eventually Esther agrees to help, and because of Esther’s courage, the king stops the genocide plot and gives the Jewish people throughout Persia license to defend themselves and defeat their enemies. This victory is still celebrated by Jewish people each year at the holiday called Purim.

In the book of Esther, we see how God saves His people. Mordecai implies that God is at work in making Esther queen, and he is confident the Jewish people will be saved even if Esther remains silent. Then Esther asks her people to fast before she goes to the king. But no one in the entire book mentions God by name. Jesus says clearly, “the Scriptures point to me” (John 5:39). So how can a book that doesn’t even mention God point forward to Christ?

Let’s take a closer look. Haman, the enemy of God’s people, casts lots to choose a day to destroy them and pays money into the royal treasury to fund his evil plot (Esther 3:7-11). Similarly, Judas is paid thirty silver coins to turn Jesus over to His enemies, and soldiers cast lots to take Jesus’s garments (Matthew 26:14-15; 27:35). Both Mordecai and Jesus are sentenced to unfair deaths that are excruciating and public—Mordecai to be impaled on a pole, and Jesus to be crucified (Esther 5:14). But Mordecai is spared while his enemy, Haman, is killed in his place, and then Mordecai is exalted to a high position in the royal court and given a crown (Esther 8:15). Because of Esther’s and Mordecai’s acts of bravery and honesty, their people are safe. Jesus, however, is not spared. He goes to the cross, but when He dies, He defeats our enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Then, raised to life, Jesus is exalted and seated at the right hand of God, the ultimate King (Romans 8:34). Because of Jesus’s death and resurrection, everyone who trusts in Jesus is spared from destruction and welcomed into His victory. And that gives us a reason to celebrate every day. • Amber Vanderhoof

• What questions do you have about the book of Esther? Who are trusted Christians you can ask?

“Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 (NLT)