Esther 1-5 - If I Perish, I Perish

The Feasts of the King and Queen

Est 1:1-2 LSB - 

[1] Now it happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 

[2] in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which [was] at the citadel in Susa,

David Guzik Study Guide for Esther 1

This king Ahasuerus is well known to history, though more commonly under the name Xerxes. He inherited the vast Persian Empire from his father, Darius I (who is mentioned in passages such as Ezra 4:24, 5:5-7, 6:1-15; Daniel 6:1 and 6:25; Haggai 1:15 and 2:10).

The fact of the existence of this king and circumstance is extremely well attested; archaeologists have discovered the ruins of the very palace where these events happened.

 

Queen Vashti’s Refusal

Est 1:22 LSB - [22] So he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their tongue, that every man should be the ruler in his own house and the one who speaks in the tongue of his own people.

A Queen in Place of Vashti

Esther Advances in Favor

Est 2:10 LSB - [10] Esther did not tell [anyone] about her people or her kinsmen, for Mordecai had commanded her that she should not tell [anyone] about [them].

Est 2:16 LSB - [16] So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal house in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

Esther Is Made Queen

Est 2:17 LSB - [17] And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she advanced in favor and lovingkindness before him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Two of the King’s Eunuchs Are Hanged

Est 2:22 LSB - [22] But the matter became known to Mordecai, and he told [it] to Queen Esther, and Esther said [it] to the king in Mordecai's name.

Haman Seeks to Destroy the Jews

Est 3:4 LSB - [4] Now it happened when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.

Est 3:9 LSB - [9] "If it [seems] good to the king, let it be written down that they should perish, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do this work, to bring into the king's treasuries."

Esther Writhes in Anguish

Est 4:11 LSB - 

[11] "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days." 

Est 4:14 LSB - [14] "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not reached royalty for such a time as this?"

Esther and the Jews Fast

Est 4:16 LSB - [16] "Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish."

Esther Prepares a Feast

Est 5:8 LSB - [8] if I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it [seems] good to the king to give [heed to] my petition and to do my request, may the king and Haman come to the feast which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do according to the word of the king."

Haman Recounts His Glory

Est 5:14 LSB - [14] Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, "Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning say to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it; then go gladly with the king to the feast." And the word was good to Haman, so he had the gallows made.