Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The book ends with a brief epilogue that describes Mordecai’s considerable power and unwavering allegiance to his people.

II. Photo
Mordecai’s story was written down: “All his mighty and powerful acts, and a full account of the greatness to which the king advanced Mordecai, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia.” (v. 2)

III. Important Verses
v. 2: All his mighty and powerful acts, and a full account of the greatness to which the king advanced Mordecai, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Media and Persia.
v. 3: For Mordecai the Jew ranked next to King Ahasuerus and was highly regarded by the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brethren; he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all his kindred.

IV. Outline
1. Ahasuerus’ tax
2. A historical note
3. Mordecai’s power, popularity, and Jewish commitment

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/images/070615.persian-180.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The Jews of the empire attack their enemies on the 13th and 14th of the month of Adar. Mordecai and Esther then institute the holiday of Purim for the 14th and 15th of Adar, the days when the Jewish people first experienced relief.

II. Photo
The origins of the name “Purim” is described in vv. 24, 26: “For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy the Jews, and had cast pur — that is, the lot — with intent to crush and exterminate them… For that reason these days were named Purim, after pur…”

III. Important Verses
v. 6: In the fortress Shushan the Jews killed a total of five hundred men.
vv. 16-19: The rest of the Jews, those in the king’s provinces, likewise mustered and fought for their lives. They disposed of their enemies, killing seventy-five thousand of their foes; but they did not lay hands on the spoil. That was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar; and they rested on the fourteenth day and made it a day of feasting and merrymaking. (But the Jews in Shushan mustered on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and so rested on the fifteenth, and made it a day of feasting and merrymaking.) That is why village Jews, who live in unwalled towns, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and make it a day of merrymaking and feasting, and as a holiday and an occasion for sending gifts to one another.
vv. 24, 26:  For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy the Jews, and had cast pur — that is, the lot — with intent to crush and exterminate them… For that reason these days were named Purim, after pur…
v. 28: Consequently, these days are recalled and observed in every generation: by every family, every province, and every city. And these days of Purim shall never cease among the Jews, and the memory of them shall never perish among their descendants.

IV. Outline
1-10. The Jews of Shushan kill their enemies on the 13th of Adar
11-15. The Jews of Shushan repeat the carnage on the 14th of Adar
16. The Jews in the provinces kill seventy-five thousand of their foes
17-19. A note about Purim’s observance
20-23. Mordecai institutes the Purim holiday
24-26a. The name “Purim”
26b-28. The Jews accept the holiday for all generations
29-32. Esther corroborates Mordecai’s decree

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t312/T312327A.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Ahasuerus appoints Mordecai to replace Haman and to take hold of his estate. Mordecai issues a new decree in favor of the Jews, and the Jews enjoy a period of strength and pride.

II. Photo
Mordecai’s status is elevated in v. 15: “Mordecai left the king’s presence in royal robes of blue and white, with a magnificent crown of gold and a mantle of fine linen and purple wool…”

III. Important Verses
v. 2: The king slipped off his ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s property.
vv. 10-12: He had them written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet. Letters were dispatched by mounted couriers, riding steeds used in the king’s service, bred of the royal stud, to this effect: The king has permitted the Jews of every city to assemble and fight for their lives; if any people or province attacks them, they may destroy, massacre, and exterminate its armed force together with women and children, and plunder their possessions — on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar.
vv. 16-17: The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honor. And in every province and in every city, when the king’s command and decree arrived, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many of the people of the land professed to be Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

IV. Outline
1-2. Mordecai’s rise to power
3-14. Haman’s decree is repealed
15-17. Jewish pride and jubilation

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://www.cheapchaircovers.com/_images/ProductIcons/SatinLarge/Satin_Royal_Blue_jpg.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Esther pleads with Ahasuerus on behalf of her people, and incriminates Haman in the process. Haman is subsequently killed on the same gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.

II. Photo
Haman is hanged in v. 10: “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.”

III. Important Verses
vv.  3-4: Queen Esther replied: “If Your Majesty will do me the favor, and if it pleases Your Majesty, let my life be granted me as my wish, and my people as my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, massacred, and exterminated. Had we only been sold as bondmen and bondwomen, I would have kept silent; for the adversary is not worthy of the king’s trouble.”
v. 8: When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet room, Haman was lying prostrate on the couch on which Esther reclined. “Does he mean,” cried the king, “to ravish the queen in my own palace?” No sooner did these words leave the king’s lips than Haman’s face was covered.
v. 10: So they impaled Haman on the stake which he had put up for Mordecai, and the king’s fury abated.

IV. Outline
1-8. Esther blames Haman
9-10. Haman is killed

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://nicolen.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/noose2.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus remembers the good deed that Mordecai did for him. He asks Haman, “What should be done for a man whom the king desires to honor?” Haman thinks that Ahasuerus is speaking about him, and suggests that the person be dressed in royal garb and led around the city. The king agrees, and Haman is forced to parade Mordecai around the city.

II. Photo
Mordecai is led around the city: “… let the man whom the king desires to honor be attired and paraded on the horse through the city square, while they proclaim before him: This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor!”

III. Important Verses
vv. 7-9: So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor, let royal garb which the king has worn be brought, and a horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal diadem has been set; and let the attire and the horse be put in the charge of one of the king’s noble courtiers. And let the man whom the king desires to honor be attired and paraded on the horse through the city square, while they proclaim before him: This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor!”
v. 13: There Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had befallen him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish stock, you will not overcome him; you will fall before him to your ruin.”

IV. Outline
1-3. Ahasuerus remembers Mordecai’s good deed
4-10. Haman unknowingly proposes that Mordecai be treated as a king
11. Mordecai is paraded through the streets by Haman
12-13. A bad omen for Haman
14. Haman is led off to Esther’s banquet

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://www.talismanfarmlv.com/images/horsecloseup.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary

Esther regales Ahasuerus and Haman with a wine feast. Although Haman is proud to have attended the banquet, he is vexed by Mordecai’s refusal to rise for him. Haman and his family subsequently decide to have Mordecai hanged.

II. Photo
Ahasuerus is delighted to attend Esther’s banquet: “At the wine feast, the king asked Esther, ‘What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled!'” (v. 6)

III. Important Verses
v. 2: As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor. The king extended to Esther the golden scepter which he had in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
v. 14: Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a stake be put up, fifty cubits high, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then you can go gaily with the king to the feast.” The proposal pleased Haman, and he had the stake put up.

IV. Outline
1-2. Esther is accepted by Ahasuerus
3-8. Esther regales Ahasuerus and Haman at a wine feast
9. Mordecai refuses to rise for Haman
10-13. Haman is vexed by Mordecai
14. A plan is made to hang Mordecai

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/Friends/images/FofF_wine-glasses.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
After attempting to shy away from her responsibilities, Esther is persuaded by Mordecai to see King Ahasuerus and plead that the Jews be spared. She and the people of Shushan fast for three days as a preparation for the high-risk event.

II. Photo
Esther describes the riskiness of approaching the king unannounced: “All the king’s courtiers and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any person, man or woman, enters the king’s presence in the inner court without having been summoned, there is but one law for him — that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the golden scepter to him may he live…” (v. 11)

III. Important Verses
v. 3: Also, in every province that the king’s command and decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and everybody lay in sackcloth and ashes.
vv. 13-14: Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.”

IV. Outline
1-4. Mordecai and the Jews lament
5-11. Esther shies away her responsibility
12-14. Mordecai urges Esther to help
15-17. Esther agrees; The people of Shushan fast on her behalf

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://www.velvetchokers.com/images/GOLDSCEPTER.gif

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus appoints Haman as his chief officer. When Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman, Haman convinces Ahasuerus that all Jews are to be killed.

II. Photo
Ahasuerus agrees to Haman’s plan in v. 12: “The orders were issued in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet.”

III. Important Verses
v. 2: All the king’s courtiers in the palace gate knelt and bowed low to Haman, for such was the king’s order concerning him; but Mordecai would not kneel or bow low.
v. 7: In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, pur — which means “the lot” — was cast before Haman concerning every day and every month, [until it fell on] the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar.
v. 15: The couriers went out posthaste on the royal mission, and the decree was proclaimed in the fortress Shushan. The king and Haman sat down to feast, but the city of Shushan was dumfounded.

IV. Outline
1. Haman rises to power
2-4. Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman
5-6. Haman is angered
7. The lots are cast
8-11. Haman convinces Ahasuerus to exterminate the Jews
12-15. The Decree is promulgated

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://nmb366.aisites.com/images/ravennwax.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus chooses Esther as his new queen. Shortly after, Mordecai discovers Bigtan and Teresh’s plot to kill king Ahasuerus. Mordecai tells Esther, who immediately tells the king, and the two conspirators are killed.

II. Photo
Esther and the other girls prepare immensely to meet the king: “When each girl’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve months’ treatment prescribed for women (for that was the period spent on beautifying them: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics, and it was after that that the girl would go to the king)…” (vv. 12-13)

III. Important Verses
v. 7: [Mordecai] was foster father to Hadassah — that is, Esther — his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was shapely and beautiful; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.
vv. 12-13: When each girl’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve months’ treatment prescribed for women (for that was the period spent on beautifying them: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics, and it was after that that the girl would go to the king), whatever she asked for would be given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
vv. 17-18: The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the virgins. So he set a royal diadem on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. The king gave a great banquet for all his officials and courtiers, “the banquet of Esther.” He proclaimed a remission of taxes for the provinces and distributed gifts as befits a king.

IV. Outline
1-4. A new queen is to be picked
5-7. Mordecai and Esther are introduced
8-18. Esther prepares to meet the king; Esther is made queen
19-20. Esther does not divulge her Jewish ancestry
21-23. Mordecai exposes a seditious plot; Esther informs Ahasuerus

V. Comment
No comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/switch/slink/images/255×143/hb/mascara.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus and Queen Vashti entertain their citizens with a series of lavish banquets. When Vashti spurns her husband’s request to “display her beauty,” the minister Memucan convinces Ahasuerus that she is a threat to the country’s social order and must be sent away.

II. Photo
The king’s banquet is described in vv. 7-8: “Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king…  And the rule for the drinking was, ‘No restrictions!’ For the king had given orders to every palace steward to comply with each man’s wishes.”

III. Important Verses
vv. 7-8: Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king, in golden beakers, beakers of varied design. And the rule for the drinking was, “No restrictions!” For the king had given orders to every palace steward to comply with each man’s wishes.
vv. 10-12: On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he ordered Mehuman, Bizzetha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs in attendance on King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing a royal diadem, to display her beauty to the peoples and the officials; for she was a beautiful woman. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. The king was greatly incensed, and his fury burned within him.
vv. 16-17: Thereupon Memucan declared in the presence of the king and the ministers: “Queen Vashti has committed an offense not only against Your Majesty but also against all the officials and against all the peoples in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen’s behavior will make all wives despise their husbands, as they reflect that King Ahasuerus himself ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.
vv. 21-22: The proposal was approved by the king and the ministers, and the king did as Memucan proposed. Dispatches were sent to all the provinces of the king, to every province in its own script and to every nation in its own language, that every man should wield authority in his home and speak the language of his own people.

IV. Outline
1-9. The banquets of King Ahasuerus and Queen Vashti
10-12. Vashti refuses her husband’s call
13-22. The minister Memucan convinces Ahasuerus to send Vashti away

V. Comment
Brief comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

One question that scholars ask is, “What is the book of Esther’s literary genre?” Murphy writes (p. 159), “Dommerhausen characterizes this [chapter] as a ‘wisdom narrative’ on the basis of the following elements: Xerxes [= Ahasuerus] is a type of ‘foollish king’ (Eccl 9:18-10:1); the talion law (Vashti did not appear, now she is to disappear); the phrase ‘that every man be lord in his own house” (v. 22) recalls a wisdom ideal about the husband-wife relationship (Prov 32:10ff; Sir 9:2; etc.) While there may be wisdom motifs underlying the book of Esther… these characteristics in vv. 10-22 do not make it a specific wisdom narrative. More simply, it is a narrative, and it moves the story along in order to bring Esther on the scene.”

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from  http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd164/eric_lambert/beer_toast1.jpg