ASSIGNMENT:
1. Looking back, how would you describe Esther in chapters 1 – 2?
The only real clue to her character appears in 2:10 & :20. What do those verses tell us about Esther?
Haman, Xerxes #1 man, became enraged when Mordecai would not bow down to him. With Xerxes’ concurrence, Haman issued a decree that called for the annihilation of every Jew in the Persian Empire on a particular day, eleven months hence. Evidently Queen Esther did not know of that decree until she investigated the cause of Mordecai’s weeping in public and wearing sackcloth and ashes. The two began “messaging” each other through a court eunuch and Mordecai asked Esther to go before the king and beg for mercy for their people.
2. 4:11 What was Esther’s initial reaction to Mordecai’s request?
3. Compare 2:20 and 4:17. What changes in the behavior of our two main characters?
4. 4:14 & 16 There are two memorable statements in chapter 4.
In :14, Mordecai says, “For if you (Esther) remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from ___________ _________ … who knows but that you have come to __________ position for ______________________.”
In :16, Esther says, “… if I ____________, I _____________.”
