Greetings! It has been a while since I have posted, so I decided to share something I have been working on tonight for a college class I am taking, namely, “Historic Books.” My professor, Dr. Peter Youmans, proposed a topic for discussion to our class. The following is my response. My purpose in sharing this post is twofold: 1) To encourage edifying discussion of the Book of Esther, and 2) To illustrate the importance of adhering closely to what the text of Scripture actually says when we interpret it. Brothers and sisters, we must handle the Word of God with great care, coming to our study of it in humility, trusting in the Holy Spirit as our primary Guide into truth (John 14:26). My own thoughts on Esther are not yet fully formed, but I have attempted to be accurate and humble in my observations of the text. Feel free to let me know what you think. 
Dr. Youmans’ Assignment:
“Choose one of the following propositions and defend your answer from your reading of the book of Esther:(1) Esther was a godly lady who demonstrated her love and devotion to the true and living God. (2) Esther was not as godly as some would suppose but rather simply followed her cousin’s (Mordecai) orders (Mordecai was more godly than Esther).”
My Reponse:
Eugene H. Merrill, writes in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, that “Esther herself, in almost fatalistic terms, informed Mordecai that she was about to appear before King Xerxes on behalf of her people. Not knowing the outcome, she committed herself to the Lord with the words ‘if I perish, I perish’ (Esther 4:16). Her life, she clearly understood, was in God’s hands and things would turn out according to His purposes for her and her people” (Zuck 202). Clearly Mr. Merrill would agree with Dr. Youman’s first proposition: “Esther was a godly lady who demonstrated her love and devotion to the true and living God.”
To be honest, I do not believe either proposition can be fully supported from the text of the Book of Esther. Though we can infer, based upon the integrity of her choices, that Esther believed specifically in the God of Israel, her faith in God is not spoken of clearly in the text.
The absence of a direct reference to God in the Book of Esther is what creates difficulties in judging the exact nature of her faith. Assuming the account was written by a Persian Jew (Geisler 171), why did he choose to exclude the name of God? That is a difficult question to answer, but it is possible there was “some basis for the fear of using God’s name in a document written in a foreign country – the name might be profaned or the story changed by the simple substitution of a pagan God’s name” (Geisler 175). In addition, the absence of God’s name might be due in part the possibility that “the book was compiled from the Persian royal records” (Geisler 175). Whatever the reason God’s name was excluded, it limits us to the use of assumptive logic in determining whether Esther had a strong faith in the true and living God, or whether her life simply displayed some of the character qualities of a woman who fears YHWH (cf. Prov. 31).
In spite of this difficulty, I do believe we can see from the text that Esther displayed compassion, humility, and courage. She was a woman whom God raised up, along with her cousin Mordecai, to deliver His people Israel from the arrogant wrath of Haman.
I don’t think we can say for certain that Esther’s actions were godly, since we cannot know for certain that she did them out of love and obedience to God Himself. We do know that she was an orphan taken in by her cousin Mordecai as his own daughter (1:5-7); we know that she “was beautiful of form and face” (1:7); we know that she pleased Hegai, a servant of King Xerxes, and found favor in His sight (1:8); we know that she obeyed Mordecai’s instruction, submitting to his loving authority over her (1:10,20); we know that she found favor in the eyes of all who saw her, including the king, who “loved Esther more than all the women, and she found…kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti; we know she “writhed in great anguish” when she heard Mordecai was in mourning (which is evidence she loved him dearly -4:4); we know that she seems to have initially responded in fear upon hearing of Mordecai’s orders for her to go before the king and intercede for her people (4:6-12); we know that her second response was to ask all of the Jews of Susa to fast for her for three days, and that she and her maidens did the same, in preparation for her going before the king (4:15-17); we know that she was willing to face death for her people (4:16); we know that she displayed wisdom and meekness in not asking the king directly to deliver her people, but instead holding two feasts before making her plea to the king (5:1-8; 7:1-6); we know that she followed through and made the toughest request of the king, asking him to rescind the law he had authorized Haman to write, and that she demonstrated both humility and grief for her people in doing so (7:3-4; 8:3-6).
Though it is very clear to me that God raised up Esther and Mordecai in order to deliver the Jews throughout the entire Persian empire (which I think may have included the land of Israel at this point) from the arrogant wrath of Haman, the exact nature of their faith in YHWH is not so clear to me. I believe Esther’s actions certainly seem to be the actions of a woman who fears God and keeps His commands, but because the text does not mention her faith in God, or even the name of God, I don’t think we can say with certainty that she is a godly woman. I believe it is highly plausible that she was such a woman, but the text does not fully support this proposition.”
Sources:
1) Zuck, Roy B. Ed. A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody, 1991.
2) Geisler, Norman L. A Popular Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977.
