couch convo ester

as movie buffs- one of my favorite movies is the 300.

which is loosely based on history.

The spartan 300 happened in 480 bc

King Xerxes ruled from 485-465 BC.

this actually takes place 3 years before the setting of the 300… but what is interesting..

The person depicted in the 300 seems much different from the portrait of the king that we get in Ester....

verse 4 shows us that he is for certain flamboyant..

so lets talk about the history around the story…

the basic idea of it… talk for a minute about the dispersha under king Nebuchadnezzar and then how this story fits into the larger story of Ezra and Nehemiah

Do you think that lack of chronology in the old testament confuses some people… I mean like the book of Daniel.. its all over the place chronologically, and the prophets are listed by size not chronological order.

there are people who believe Esther is a fictional story meant to teach israel a lesson

Archaeology has found a lot of proof to substantiate that this story is true...

and we know from history that king Xeres was famous for his over the top lack of morality.. Herodotus a 5th century Greek historian wrote a bunch about him and his lack of morality.

So what do you think about the fact that the name of God is never mentioned in the book?

i think it also show us that God is always there...

in popular theology we want to limit God’s power…

but Ester shows us that God is omnipresent as well as all powerful… provers 20: 24 says

24 A person’s steps are directed by the Lord.s 1

what if anything should we take from the story of Vashti being replaced?

ok so now we have this great beauty pageant taking place… I almost feel like Steve Harvey should be narrating this..

Mordecai has Esther withhold her nationality: So what do you think about this?

Is this lying?

it is at least dishonest.. and yet God uses it? what are we supposed to take away from that?

in the old testament we have stories of dishonesty being by prominent figures...

Abraham lies

Jacob and Rebecca's steal Esau’s blessing..

but then Ananias and Sapphire..

So Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman.. but we are not told why...

this infureates Haman.. talk about the Jealousy and greed here..

Hamman was an amalekite:

can we ever be truly happy if we are greedy and jealous?

think about it Haman had it pretty well...

so the most famous part of the story:

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish

.

And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”g 1

g g See

Esther’s life may not have been at stake, but her life’s purpose was...

what is the one take away from the book?