She Acted Wisely, Bravely and Selflessly

 Questions About Esther

Why did Mordecai allow Esther to marry a pagan unbeliever?

There is no basis for the suggestionof some scholars that Mordecai was an opportunist who wanted Esther to wed the king for the sake of prestige.  As a faithful Jew, he would not have favored such a marriage.  (Deuteronomy 7:3)  Ancient Jewish tradition holds that Mordecai tried to prevent the marriage. It seem unlikely that either he or Esther. mere foreigners in a land ruled by an autocrat who held a godlike status, would have had much choice in the matter. In time, it became clear that Jehovah used Esther's marriage as a means of protecting his people.  - ESTHER 4:14. 

Note: It was Jehovah's prophecy fulfilled in that the marriage was going to happen in order to save their people.  It was meant to happen. It was Jehovah's will. 

Why does the book of Esther contain no mention of God's personal name, Jehovah? 

Mordecai was evidently the inspired writer of the book.  Perhaps  the book was at first kept with official Persian records before it was taken to Jerusalem. The use of Jehovah's name might have moved worshippers of the Persian gods to destroy the book. In any case, Jehovah's involvement  in the story is clear.  Interestingly, God's personal name contained in the original Hebrew text by means of acrostics, wherein the phrasing  appears to have been arranged deliberatel so that the first or last letters of successive words spell out God's name.  - ESTHER 1:20.

In the book of Esther historically inaccurate?

Critics level that charge against the book. However, some scholars have noted that the writer of the book showed a remarkably detailed knowledge of Persian royalty, architecture, and customs.  True, no mention of Queen Esther  hs been found in surviving secular documents, But Esther would hardly  be the only royal personage who was erased from publics. What is more. secular records do show that a man name Morduca, a Persian equivalent of Mordecai, served as a court official in Shushan at the time describe in this book.

A Prophecy Fulfilled

In fighting for God's people, Esther and Mordecai fulfilled an ancient prophecy. Over a dozen centuries earlier, Jehovah inspired the patriarch Jacob to foretell regarding one of his sons:  "Benjamin will keep tearing like a wolf. In the morning he will eat the animal seized and at evening he will divide spoil."  (Genesis 49:27)  In "the morning" of Israel's kingly history, Benjamin's descendants included King Saul and other mighty warriors for Jehovah 's people.  In the "evening" of that royal history, after the sun had set on Israel's  kingly line, Esther and Mordecai, both of the tribe of Benjamin, warred effectively against Jehovah's enemies. In a sense, they also divided the spoil, in that Haman's vast estate went to them.

Next time: Do the Bible's Standards of Right and Wrong Matter Anymore?

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