www.biblica.com/niv/studybible/esther.php:
I. The Feasts of Xerxes (1:1—2:18) (v.3 – “the army officers of Persia / Media” - Afganistan) 486 BC
A. (Queen) Vashti deposed (ch. 1) because she refused to be a model in a beauty contest so her husband Ahasuerus, king of Shusan (Xerxes I) divorced her. He because ruler over 127 provinces.
MHM: “This book is the only book in the Bible that does not mention the name of God or Lord one time. In the ancient Hebrew text however, there were 5 places where the name of God was hidden, being abbreviated JHVH (for Jehovah) 4 times and EHYEH (for I AM that I AM, where Soldiers fell back in the NT) once. These letters were used as acrostics in certain statements. They were originally larger than the rest of the text so that they stood out boldly on the scroll. 1:20; 5:4; 5:7, 5:13. These 4 verses show JHVH written in large capital letters above the scriptures; 7:5 is where EHYEH was used.
“Still less can be said in favor of the suggestion that in Esther 1:20 four words read from left to right form by their initials an acrostic on the name YHWH (compare Konig, Einleitung 293).”
www.internationalstandardbible.com/A/acrostic.html Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
B. Esther Made Queen (2:1–18) (or Hadassah; she replaced Vashti, 479 BC)
II. The Feasts of Esther (2:19—7:10) (Anti-Semitism exposed) 474 BC
A. Mordecai (Benjamite, not vegamite!:) Uncovers a Plot (to destroy all the Jews) (2:19–23)
B. Haman’s Plot (ch. 3), recently promoted, son of Hammedatha the Agagite (ancient enemies of the Jews;
I’m of Wayne the MO)
C. Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help (ch. 4), Esther learns of Haman’s plot
D. Esther’s Request to the King: Her First Banquet (5:1–8)
E. A Sleepless Night (5:9—6:14), the king plans to honor Mordecai
F. Haman hanged on the gallows he made for Mordecai: Esther’s Second Banquet (ch. 7), plea to save the
Jews
III. The Feasts of Purim (chs. 8–10) from rags to riches; a wise man helps the king
A. The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews (ch. 8), Mordecai promoted (v. 11 By these the king allowed the
Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate any
armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to
plunder their goods)
B. The Institution of Purim (ch. 9), the Jews destroy their enemies
C. The Promotion of Mordecai (ch. 10), his greatness
Esth.9:[26] Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. And therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had befallen them,
[28] that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every family, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
[29] Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Ab'ihail, and Mor'decai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim.
[31] that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mor'decai the Jew and Queen Esther enjoined upon the Jews, and as they had laid down for themselves and for their descendants, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting.
[32] The command of Queen Esther fixed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
Esth.11 [1] In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy (dynasty from 305 – 30 BC) and Cleopatra (Egypt, 69 – 30 BC), Dositheus, who said that he was a priest and a Levite (tribe of priests), and Ptolemy his son brought to Egypt the preceeding Letter of Purim, which they said was genuine and had been translated by Lysimachus the son of Ptolemy, one of the residents of Jerusalem.
“The story of Esther also holds out to the Church the hope that “relief and deliverance” may indeed be effected by the combination of the providence of God and human effort. Esther and Purim call the Church to celebrate the joy of deliverance in the face of unmitigated and unthinkable evil.” www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/esther_bush.pdf
