Today, I am reading and commenting on  Esther 1-3.

There are a lot of different things which we can focus on here, but I am going to write about a few things which I never noticed before (or, implications of them which I never noticed before).  The Book of Esther starts out with the story of King Xerxes divorcing Queen Vashti. One can look at it and learn some lessons about marriage and about respecting one’s spouse.  However, I realized today that the story is here for two reasons.  The first is obvious: it explains how and why Esther could become Queen.  The second is more easily missed.  I realized that I missed it because I have always read the Book of Esther in parts.  Perhaps someone who was studying the Book of Esther would more quickly recognize this reason.  What happened to Queen Vashti explains Esther’s trepidation about approaching King Xerxes later in the book.  It also explains why she does not just come right out and confront Xerxes with the fate he has allowed Haman to decree for her people.

Another point of interest is the fact that God is not directly referred to anywhere in the Book of Esther.  It is the only book in the Bible where this holds true.  However, we indirectly learn that Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman because he was a Jew.

Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.

Clearly the implication here is that Mordecai told them he was a Jew as a means to explain why he would not bow down to Haman.  Further the implication of that is that he would only bow down before God. This is not the only place in the book where Mordecai’s faith in God is implied without being mentioned outright.  Mordecai neither advertised his faith in God, nor did he hide it.  Some of us are called to live in a similar manner.  Yet, when the time came Mordecai stood up and served God.  The same is true of Esther, who initially hid her faith because Mordecai instructed her to do so.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.