Esther 2

Esther is a very unique book. It is the only book in the entire Bible that does not mention God a SINGLE TIME. Crazy huh?! Because of this some people have argued that it shouldn’t be in the Bible, even Martin Luther wanted to remove it. (Martin Luther was funny that way; he always wanted to take things out of the Bible… not a good idea!)

In this chapter we encounter the king after he has banished the queen. We see that he is lonely, and wants to bring a NEW QUEEN on to the scene. So, the SEARCH BEGINS.

It is here that we are introduced to Mordecai. He is a Jew, and a seemingly DEVOUT ONE. We note right off the bat that he is a loving man, for he is raising his little cousin Esther as if she was his own Daughter.

We can make a couple of safe assumptions here: 1.As a Jew, Mordecai was a man who loved and followed God. 2. Because of his Jewish roots, we can believe that Esther was raised with the word of God being taught to her, raised with the hope that one day they would be freed from captivity to return to Israel.

The plot thickens: Esther is taken away to the palace as a potential bride for the king. As she leaves Mordecai asks her to do one very important thing: SHE IS NOT TO LET ANYONE KNOW SHE IS A JEW! Now, there is no reason given for this, and it would be impossible to know why Mordecai said this if this chapter is where it all ended. As our story progresses we will see that this little fact is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE to the way that God unfolds His plan and purpose in this story.

Often, we are asked to do things and not given a reason. Maybe it’s our parents that ask, or a teacher, or even the still small voice of the Lord. We are told WHAT to do, but aren’t always given a why. If Esther HADN’T followed the instructions of Mordecai, we would be reading a completely different story today. God doesn’t always give us the why… we can’t always understand the why; but that is OK. Understanding all of the plans and purposes of God is not what we are called to do; instead we are simply called to trust and obey… and that is exactly what Esther did!

What a loaded chapter… Esther is made queen, and she continues to follow the Godly Advice of Mordecai. As time passes Mordecai catches wind of a plot to destroy the king, and he tells Esther about it. Esther tells the king, the plot is uncovered, the men are hung, and the story goes in the books, with Mordecai getting the credit for saving the life of the king… and the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.