Esther 10

Chapter context

What is happening in Esther 10?

providencecouragehiddennessdeliverance

Esther 10 belongs to the closing movement of the book, especially the section often described as reversal, deliverance, and Purim. Esther tells of threat, courage, hiddenness, reversal, and deliverance for the Jews living under Persian power. Read this chapter with the wider themes of providence, courage, and hiddenness in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. ² And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

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Glossary

Ahasuerus Person v. 1, 3: There are three kings designated by this name in Scripture. (1. ) The father of Darius the Mede, mentioned in Dan. 9:1 . This was probably the Cyaxares I.
Media Place v. 2: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tell Hagmatana.
Mordecai Tribe v. 2-3: The son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Persia Place v. 2: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tell Hagmatana.
Jew Tribe v. 3: The name derived from the patriarch Judah, at first given to one belonging to the tribe of Judah or to the separate kingdom of Judah.