Esther 1
Queen Vashti Dismissed as Queen
On the last day of a seven-day feast in the Shushan palace, the king was feeling happy because of so much wine and called for Vashti to appear before his drunken nobles to show her beauty and she refused (vv. 10-11). The king wanted her to wear her crown and let his people and officials …
King Xerxes Hosted a Banquet For His Officials
Esther’s story begins 103 years after Nebuchadnezzar had taken the Jews into captivity (II Kings 25), 54 years after Jerubbabel led the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:2) and 25 years before Ezra led the second group to Jerusalem (Ezra 7). Only Esther tells us anything about …