Esther is a unique book in all of Scripture and comes with some challenging issues with respect to interpretation. The chief “uniqueness” probably is the fact that Esther seems full of the work of the Sovereign LORD on behalf of His earthly people; yet, not once is there a reference, by name or title, to the Sovereign LORD. There are no references to the Law of Moses or the Writings or the Prophets. It tells a story that takes place entirely in what we could call the “Diaspora,” although that term is not used. Nor is there seen in Esther the longing of the Jewish people to return to their land. It seems that Mordecai and Esther and the Jewish people have done, with excellence, what Jeremiah told them to do in his letter (Jer. 29) where he told them to settle down in Babylon, makes homes, and pray for the king.
With all this comes a challenge to those of us who believe that, not only is all Scripture profitable (2 Tim. 3:16), but that all Scripture points to Christ. How is Christ revealed in this book of Esther? At the very least, the story involves the possible annihilation of the people of Israel, through whom would come the Messiah. But by the time of this story there have already been many Jews who have returned to Jerusalem and Judea. The kingdom of Ahasuerus is placed by many in the time between Ezra (rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem) and Nehemiah (rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem). Thus, the story of Esther and Haman and Mordecai “could” rank along with the slaughter of the innocents, the days of Queen Athaliah, and the time of the Flood as being times of Satanic attack on the Messianic line. The kingdom of Ahasuerus would have extended to Judah, as Esther 1:1 indicates: “who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia.” So in that sense, the story relates to the Incarnation, the coming of God the Son to earth, “born of a (Jewish) woman, born under the (Mosaic) law” (Gal. 4:4).
But can we go further with the story of Esther? Some view it as an “allegory” where Ahasuerus is in the role of the Sovereign God, Mordecai is like Christ, Haman the antichrist or Satan and Esther being the believer or “saint.” You may think this strange, that such “secular” people could be the means of telling a story deep in New Testament truth. But before I tell you to be careful, let me remind you of the allegory Paul used in Gal. 4, using Sarah and Hagar to depict the old and new covenants. Sarah and Hagar were no “saints” in the sense of strong, righteous women. Yet both, in Genesis, were blessed by the Sovereign Lord.
The problem with designating stories as “allegories” is that, without Scripture, we lack the ability to interpret the story accurately. The correlations in the preceding paragraph are my view of Esther. I have seen others where Mordecai is a picture of the believer, Esther is Christ, and Ahasuerus is nobody (note that everyone sees Haman as the Satanic villain). So, having said all this, I am going to use the term “devotional.” What I want to point out are devotional thoughts that can encourage us in our walk with Christ. Whatever we see in Esther will be corroborated with passages elsewhere. In the end, you can decide is the story needs to rise from devotional literature to allegorical literature. Our hope is that you find this story what it must be: inspired by God and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness, so that you will be better equipped for the life of good works in which God made us to walk (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:10).
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