Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

I want to give you a heads up that today's podcast might not be the best for

younger ears. I'm going to talk openly about what's happening in the text

here. This story has an important theme and a beautiful ending but there are some horrific

stops along the way so use your own discretion. Esther is generally regarded as

historical narrative but one other thing to note is that it's the only book in the Bible

that doesn't mention God's name. Maybe you didn't even notice that in our reading today

because we see him in the shadows of every scene, working things out in keeping with his plan and his promises.

We opened in the capital of Persia, the empire that toppled Babylon while the Jewish exiles were living there.

Ahschwaris is king. We first met him in Ezra 4 just a few days ago.

He was one of the kings who got a letter from the angry locals during their letter writing

campaign to stop the rebuilding of the temple. He's not a follower of Yahweh, he's just a regular

pagan king and a pagan empire. In history he's typically referred to as

Xerxes the first. At this point he's three years into his reign which

makes it approximately 483 BC.

He throws a massive six-month party, presumably for himself, and invites everyone to see how

rich and awesome he is. If you don't like it when people celebrate their birth week or birth month,

you probably wouldn't like King Ahashwares.

His wife, Queen Vashti, was a real looker,

and as the grand finale for his self-serving

Swaray he wants her to come out and take a lap in her crown and possibly nothing else

if ancient Jewish commentaries are correct it seems King A wants to parade his naked wife in front of all the men at his banquet.

...