Esther: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (EEC)

Top Highlights

“Purim is not merely about having a good time. Rather, it becomes a time for remembering that there are enemies surrounding God’s people and that deliverance is not merely a matter of passive trust in God, but of human response to divinely appointed opportunity.” (Page 73)

“more manuscripts exist of the book of Esther than any other biblical book.” (Page 13)

“In this text, we are skillfully directed to contemplate a God who is committed to His people, even when they show little interest in Him. The characters here display little of the pervasive piety typical of biblical heroes; indeed, they are much more like modern people than we may care to admit. Just as we typically do not recognize the providence of God even as we experience it, so, too, do the characters in Esther seem mostly oblivious to the hand that is guiding their fate, making only oblique references to His purposes.” (Page 128)

“In ancient Persia, betrayal of the king meant not only loss of life, but loss of property” (Page 308)

“It is not inaccurate to say that the book of Esther (as it now exists) is about divine providence, veiled in the guise of a ‘fate’ that plays favorites. On the other hand, it is also about human failure—especially the failure to maintain Jewish distinctiveness while living in the context of Diaspora. By removing God from the narrative, our redactor eloquently voiced his disapproval of the compromises the characters made in their Diaspora setting.” (Page 125)