I was reading the book of Esther in a Jewish publication the other day. It was an interesting article and perhaps tomorrow I can summarize more of it. Do you realize that there are only 2 books that Jews are required to read with their family every year? The 1st is the book of Moses, which we have divided into 5 books. The 2nd is the book of Esther which must be read every year all the way through with your family on the feast of Purim. I had never realized that the book of Esther and the character of Esther were so important to the Jewish people.
There was a movie out a while ago about the 300 Spartans who stood in the way of the million man Persian army. The army was so huge that when the horses drank from a river, it was said that the river ran dry. The 300 Spartans stood between that Army and the country of Greece. They held up the Persian army until the country of Greece could prepare and defeated. The king of that army was Xerxes, the king in the book of Esther. When he returned to his country’s people were very angry and his wife Vashti refuse to have anything to do with him. If you remember the story he sends Vashti away and marries Esther. There are many assassination attempts on the king and after Mordechai and Esther revealed that they are Jewish, he begins to staff his government with loyal Jews rather than his own people whom he fears.
It is interesting that that heroic stand of 300 farmers against an army of trained Persian soldiers changes the events of the Bible. God’s people who had been taken into captivity rose to positions of power in the nation that took them captive. Eventually, they had attained such a position of trust and power that Darius the next King was willing to send them back and gave the money to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.
My Bible Study Notebook 