Note: This article takes heavy inspiration from James B. Jordan’s series “Esther: Historical & Chronological Comments.” See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.

In light of the results of my chronology study, we can see that the mainstream modern interpretation of Esther is significantly off base. The Book of Esther is not a morality tale about a brave woman and her righteous father figure fighting a wicked king and his proto-Hitler sidekick. Rather, it is a classic Scripture story about the wickedness and faithlessness of God’s people, how He allows them to be judged according to their sin, their repentance, and God’s mercy in restoring them to greater heights than before.

In this way, Esther’s story strongly resembles the story of Joseph, where the sons of Israel betray their brother and sell him into slavery, are afflicted with famine as a result, seek to protect Benjamin when given the chance to betray a brother again, and as a result, the whole family moves to the finest part of Egypt and is rewarded with great honor by the Gentiles around them.

These four ideas make up the four main stages of the Book of Esther: Establishment, Judgment, Repentance, and Restoration. The three main characters that go through these four stages are Esther, Mordecai, and the Jewish people as a whole. Let’s explore how this works.

Establishment

As covered in 7 Weeks of Restoration, the name “Ahasuerus” in the Book of Esther is actually an alternate title for Darius the Great, who helped complete the Second Temple in the Book of Ezra (the “Artaxerxes” who sponsored Ezra and Nehemiah is also Darius the Great). The events of Esther thus overlap with those in Ezra.

In the second year of Darius the Great, the Jews resumed construction of the Second Temple (Ezra 4:24-5:2). After a letter was sent to Darius to check whether Cyrus the Great had indeed authorized the reconstruction of the temple, Darius found the decree and commanded the local Persian authorities to let the Jews continue rebuilding in peace, to financially support the construction, and to provide the elements of sacrifice once the temple was complete (Ezra 6:6-12).

The Book of Esther begins the year after Darius sent this letter, in the third year of his reign (Esther 1:1-4), when his rule was established and the temple reconstruction efforts were proceeding smoothly. When you read Esther 1, knowing that the king is righteous makes your interpretation of his actions more generous. For example, he is not a drunkard, so he does not compel the people of Shushan to drink (1:8).

He also honors Queen Vashti by considering her the final, most beautiful treasure in his whole kingdom (1:10-11). When she refuses to heed his summons, he takes counsel with his wise men (rather than just killing his wife outright in his fury), and they advise merely banishing Vashti permanently from his presence, which probably means a lifetime of comfort in some royal house without having to attend to the husband she clearly despises.

In chapter 2, we meet Esther, who was adopted by her older cousin Mordecai. Mordecai is openly Jewish and a high-ranking Persian official, for he sits in the king’s gate in the capital city of Shushan (2:19). Esther is entered into a contest to be the new queen (while this might offend our modern sensibilities, in the context of the day, being the chief wife of an all-powerful, extremely wealthy, and God-fearing emperor was about the best possible outcome an everyday woman could hope for). She pleases the custodian of the women, and thus he helps her win Darius’ favor. So, Esther becomes queen of the Persian empire in Darius’ seventh year (2:16).

The Second Temple was completed in Darius’ sixth year (Ezra 6:15), and Ezra went to Jerusalem to reestablish proper sacrifices in his seventh year (Ezra 7:8). Thus, by Esther 2:18, we see the Jewish people returned from exile and with temple worship restored, Mordecai serving as the highest Jewish royal official, and Esther sitting at the king’s side.

Judgment

Unfortunately, the seeds of Esther and Mordecai’s downfall were already sown in 2:10, when Esther obeyed her adoptive father’s command to reveal neither her Jewish ethnicity nor her relation to him. Because the Persian king in the story is Darius the Great, not Xerxes, there was no reason for Esther to fear for her safety or success if she revealed her background. Instead, Mordecai clearly was hoping to have his daughter become queen without anyone knowing about their relationship, so she could advocate on his behalf for political promotion (no responses of “Oh, you think your Dad would make a great royal advisor? Shocker”).

And indeed, that’s exactly what Esther does when Mordecai stops a conspiracy to murder the king: she “informs the king in Mordecai’s name” (2:22). As a Jew, Mordecai knows the stories of Joseph and Daniel very well and is undoubtedly hoping to become Darius’ chief advisor. When he actually saves the king’s life, he is confident his plan is working and that he is guaranteed a promotion.

But not all is as it seems. First of all, Darius has clearly become dissatisfied with Esther, as he sends for an additional round of virgins (2:19). Then, as discussed in The Millennium and the Future, the Jews in Jerusalem martyr the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah in Darius’ eleventh year. God is thus very angry with Judah. Then, at the beginning of Darius’ twelfth year (3:7), God causes Darius to forget about Mordecai’s good deed and has him instead promote an Amalekite (3:1), a mortal enemy of the Jews.

Recall that according to Daniel 2 and 7, the Persian empire inherited Nebuchadnezzar’s right to rule the nations (see here for more info), so the Jews are expected to obey the Persian kings as long as their commands do not violate the Jewish faith. Furthermore, bowing to a human is not an act of idolatry – Abraham bowed to the Canaanites (Genesis 23:7), and there are plenty more examples in the Bible of bowing or kneeling being a simple act of honoring someone, especially someone of higher stature (like Pharaoh commanding his people to “bow the knee” to Joseph in Genesis 41:43).

Hence, Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman is not rooted in righteousness. Instead, he is simply bitter about being passed over, especially for an Amalekite, and especially considering that Mordecai is a Jew and has saved the king’s life. So, rather than accept God’s chastisement, Mordecai uses his status as a Jew to proclaim that he doesn’t need to obey the king at all (3:3-4), which obviously bothers the other servants of the king, who ask him about it daily (3:4). This is especially grievous because the focus of the Jews after the return from exile is supposed to be missionary witness to Gentiles. This kind of self-exaltation poisons their witness, to the extent that by the time of Jesus, the Jews are refusing to even eat with Gentiles for fear of becoming “unclean” (see Acts 11:1-3 – note that the Law of Moses never forbade eating with Gentiles).

So, now we have Esther still hiding her Jewish identity from Darius (a sinful refusal to witness), Mordecai refusing to obey the king’s command by claiming that Jews don’t have to (a sacrilegious perversion of witness), and the Jewish nation having just murdered their prophet Zechariah. Thus, God allows Haman to proclaim a death sentence on the entire Jewish nation (3:13).

Note that Haman lies to Darius and pretends that he is exterminating some minor rebellious faction within the kingdom, not the Jews Darius favors so much (3:8). When the decree goes out to the whole kingdom, the city of Shushan is perplexed (3:15). After all, Darius recently sponsored the completion of the temple and is funding the daily sacrifices indefinitely – why would he suddenly wipe out the entire Jewish people? However, his servants clearly figure that the decree is in line with Darius’ wishes, so they say nothing.

Note also that Haman’s entire plot depends on Esther hiding her identity. Were she open about her Jewishness, Haman would never dare try to kill all the Jews, for trying to kill the queen (or even just all the queen’s people) would cost him not just his job but also his life. Moreover, while he would instead direct his anger solely at Mordecai for refusing to bow to him, were Mordecai’s relation to Esther public knowledge, Haman would consider the queen’s father untouchable. Thus, Haman’s plot is entirely a monster of Esther and Mordecai’s own making.

Repentance

Naturally, the Jews all across the Persian empire respond to Haman’s decree with fasting, weeping, wailing, and lying in sackcloth and ashes (4:3). Mordecai does the same (4:1-2), and he commands Esther to reveal her identity and plead the case of the Jews to the king (4:8).

Esther, however, points out that she has not been called into the king’s presence for 30 days, and if she visits him without being called, she will be killed, unless he decides to grant her mercy (4:10-11). Mordecai, however, tells her she has no choice (4:13-14), so she agrees (4:15-16).

In this way, the three main characters are undoing their wickedness: the Jews are mourning instead of rebelling, Mordecai is undoing his plot to keep Esther’s identity secret for his political gain, and Esther is revealing her Jewishness to her husband. These are all critical acts of repentance.

It is also worth noting that by the end of chapter 4, instead of Mordecai ordering Esther around, as in her youth (2:20), she is now ordering him around (4:17). This is appropriate, as she is now the queen, so she currently outranks him.

Restoration

The rest of the book displays God’s overflowing grace and mercy to the repentant Jews, Mordecai, and Esther.

First, God humiliates Haman by having Darius force him to parade Mordecai around town in honor on the very day he planned to have him hanged (chapter 6). Then, once Esther reveals Haman’s plot, Haman is hanged on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai (7:10), his house is given to Esther (8:1), and his ten sons are killed (9:7-10).

Second, Mordecai replaces Haman as chief royal advisor, but only after Esther reveals their connection (8:1-2). In this way, Mordecai learns that power is properly obtained through faithfulness to God, not through political scheming. He uses his newfound wisdom and position to advocate continuously on the Jews’ behalf (10:2-3).

Third, Esther is restored into intimacy with her husband Darius. In Nehemiah 2:6, we see that she is still sitting beside him in the twentieth year of his reign (Nehemiah 2:1). Hence, she never falls out of favor with him again once she is open with him about her identity.

Fourth, God wipes out the enemies of the Jews within the kingdom by having the Jews kill them on the original Purim (chapter 9). Instead of the Jews being destroyed, they kill 75,000 of their foes, including 800 in the capital city. Their ability to do this leads to their joy and gladness (8:17), and after the slaughter they rest (9:17-19). In this way, the Jewish nation is restored. Note: as Darius is a champion of the Jews, their enemies are also his enemies, and so this mass killing also wipes out those who wish to destabilize his kingdom, while simultaneously strengthening the position of the Jews within the Persian empire.

Fifth, the Jews lay no hand on the plunder (9:10, 15, 16) because the plunder is sent to adorn the Second Temple. In Haggai 2, Haggai tells the governor and high priest of Judah that although the Second Temple is initially less glorious than the First Temple, God will “shake all nations,” the silver and gold will be His, and then the glory of the Second Temple will exceed the first (Haggai 2:6-9). The events of Esther fulfill this prophecy and thus serve as a key part of the restoration of Judah after the exile. This is also one of the reasons the “forty-six years of building the temple” in John 2:20 extends beyond the sixth year of Darius, through the events of Esther, and into the end of Nehemiah.

Sixth, the decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves initiates a mass conversion of Gentiles to Judaism (Esther 8:17). Even the Gentiles in the capital city who don’t convert are glad about Mordecai’s promotion (8:15). This begins the millennium of the binding of Satan that leads to many Gentiles either becoming Jews or becoming supportive of Jews throughout the remainder of the Intertestamental Period (see The Millennium and The Future for more info).