Esther Saves Her People – Esther 2:5-18; 3:12-5:8; 7:1-10; 8:1-8

The Story in a Nutshell

There was a king in Old Testament times named Xerxes.  He reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. His queen was Vashti.  In the third year of his reign he held a great banquet.  During the banquet he had a falling out with the queen.  Xerxes was so upset that he decided to replace her.  After a lengthy contest and process, Esther, a Jew and the adopted daughter of Mordecai, was made queen (the king didn't know that Esther was a Jew).  Mordecai, also a Jew, worked in the palace (one time he saved the king’s life by reporting a plot against him).  Everything was going fine until Xerxes promoted a man named Haman to the most powerful position in the empire next to his.  Haman was made prime minister.  Because of Haman’s position, the king decreed that everyone should bow down to him, but Mordecai wouldn’t do it.  That made Haman furious, so he convinced the king to issue a decree that all the Jews living in the empire were to be killed (remember, the king didn’t know that Esther was a Jew).  The decree was to become effective in one year.  The Jews were terrified.  What were they going to do?  Mordecai told Queen Esther the problem and asked her to speak to the king.  This would be extremely dangerous because the queen was only to approach the king when requested (she could be killed for approaching the king).  Despite the danger, Esther put together an amazing plan to save the Jews.  It included honoring Mordecai (a Jew) for saving the king’s life, giving several specially planned banquets, and exposing Haman’s plan to kill the Jews.  When the king realized what was going on, he honored Mordecai for saving his life, he had Haman hanged, and he honored Queen Esther’s courage to expose the plan by issuing another decree allowing the Jews to live in peace in the land.

Review Questions

How did Esther become queen?

What secret did she keep from the king?

What happened when Haman was made prime minister?

When Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, what did Haman do?

What did Mordecai ask Queen Esther to do?

Why was his request so dangerous?

What did Esther do to save her fellow Jews?

What did the king do when he found out about Haman’s plan?

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