Anonymous God

How many readers have read the book of Esther? To the unbeliever, Esther would still be good reading material, especially in this era: The protagonist is a woman, and the story is one of courage. It also has no mention of God, except when Mordecai is pleading with Esther to go before the king on behalf of the Jews.

So where is God in Esther? He's there, but He remains anonymous. To non-Christian readers, the villain in the story was defeated in a series of circumstances.

1. King Xerxes, while completely drunk, asks Queen Vashti to wear her crown in front of the men at his party (this is like the President asking the First Lady to join a White House party in revealing attire). He banishes her after she refuses.

2. Adassa (Esther's Hebrew name), is beautiful enough to catch the king's eye among a throng of beautiful women.

3. Mordecai happens to hear an assassination plot being discussed by Bigtha and Teresh, two of the king's servants, and, after Queen Esther credits him with overhearing the plot, somebody forgets to reward him.

4. The king shows favor to Esther when she enters the throne room without being summoned.

5. The king happens to have insomnia on the night when Haman comes to ask him for permission to build a gallows to hang Mordecai. He happens to catch the lack of reward given to Mordecai and wants it rectified immediately.

6. When the king, after hearing of Haman's sinister extermination plot, returns from the garden after stewing over the revelation, Haman just happens to be in a position that is easily mistaken for rape.

Christian readers and Jewish readers, however, can see God's work from backstage. But why is He not mentioned by the narrator? For one thing, this story takes place after the exiles' return to Jerusalem. This story is about the Jews who chose to remain in Persia because they considered their businesses more important than their love of their country. Even so, if you read with a Christian or Jewish perspective, you can see how God took care of His people.

Esther: Is God Absent?

The book of Esther is a unique book in the Bible: It is the only book where God is not mentioned. The unbeliever can read this story and think it a story of courage in the midst of the threat of genocide. The Jews, (s)he would say, were saved by a series of circumstances:

Xerxes happened to be drunk when he requested that Vashti, the woman he'd been married to for who knows how long, parade herself to be ogled at by a group of drunk men. He also was drunk when he decreed that she be banished for refusing to obey such a stupid order.

Hadassah (Esther) happened to be chosen, out of many beautiful girls, to be the next queen.

Mordacai happened to overhear Bigtha and Teresh plan together to assassinate Xerxes, and somebody happened to forget to reward him.

The lots Haaman cast happened to indicate a date that was far off.

Xerxes happened to have insomnia on the night before Haaman was to ask him for permission to build the gallows to hang Mordicai, and he happened to be reminded of Mordicai's loyalty before he fell asleep.

Haaman happened to be in a position where Xerxes would mistake his actions as sexual assault.

The gallows meant for Mordicai happened to be completely built in time for Haaman to be hanged on it.

Was God absent when all this occured? To the Jews of that time who were condemned to die, it must have seemed that way. But God was "backstage" all along, making sure things went as He planned them.

Just like the Jews in Persia, we are living in difficult times. Does that mean God is absent? No. He's in control of everything. He has a plan.