The events that the first chapter of the book of Esther describe what happened about 483 BC (Before Christ). Over 100 years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon) had attacked Jerusalem. He overcame the Jews and he took many Jews to Babylon. Almost 70 years after that, the king of Persia defeated the armies of Babylon in battle.
Then the people in Persia allowed the Jews to return to their own country. When the story of Esther happened, most Jews were spread out all over the Persian Empire. The book of Esther does not mention the name of God. This is strange for a book that is in the Bible. Sometimes God seems to be silent. We might even think that he does not care about us. The writer of the book of Esther wanted his readers to realize that God is always in control even if he is invisible. Although we cannot see God, he is always doing things in the world. Nobody can stop his plans.
A well-known theologian was once asked to prove the existence of God that he is real and present. He replied that he could prove God’s existence in two words: “The Jew.” From ancient history to today, many nations have attempted to exterminate God’s chosen people.
Starting with the Ancient Egyptian Empire who originally enslaved them and then tried to kill off all male babies. The Philistines and other nations who tried to annihilate them when they arrived in Canaan. Assyria, the Babylonian Empire and the Persian Empire, who massacred thousands, exiled them from their land, destroyed their temple and sometimes outlawed worship of their God. The Roman Empire, the Greek Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Crusaders, Nazi Germany, and Russia have all singled out the Jews for persecution. Today, the Jewish Nation is surrounded on every border by countries who have declared their intention to destroy Israel.
Miraculously, the Jewish people remain as a distinct people and one of the smallest, yet most powerful, of all nations. Certainly the most indestructible! As one Jewish historian puts it, “We have a Friend in the highest of places, so play nice.” Am Yisrael. Esther records one of these attempts to wipe out God’s people and Gods. Today the Jews remember & celebrate Gods deliverance in the book of Esther as Purim.
In the Book of Ether, a villain named Haman tried to wipe out all the Jews through the power and might of the Persian Empire, but God used a young maiden who had lost her parents and her uncle to save thousands of lives.
Est 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
For such a time as this is the divine thread that goes unseen. Corrie Ten Boom would always take a tapestry she weaved with her to speaking engagements. It was a picture of a beautiful crown representing the eternal life through Jesus Christ.
She would then turn over the back and show all the knotted mess of threads. She said that we see all the twists and turns and the knotted mess but God is weaving a greater picture that we can’t see yet.
God has his divine thread that is in and among all those twisted threads and is weaving a divine plan and purpose for our lives. Even if we can’t see him right now or feel he is near, God’s thread is there in the tapestry working behind the scenes.
God’s invisible hand weaving a beautiful plan — a divine deliverance and a divine destiny for you and for me.
“Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown.”
— Corrie Ten Boom, My Heart Sings
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Matthew Spoonhour is pastor of First Baptist Church, Monroe.
