Participants 81
Discussion Questions
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How would you respond to someone who says that the book of Esther shouldn’t be included in the Bible since it never mentions the name of God?
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13 Replies
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It shows God’s providence at hand in the midst of trying historical events.
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God’s name may not be mentioned, however, the events that transpire and all that occurs are for sure God’s plan, God is consulted by His people, they fast and pray for His deliverance and God’s plan unfolds and His people are victorious as a result.
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I think that God is not mentioned forthright to show that often His hand is unseen but is working through people and circumstances. He is able to do this because He is sovereign, even over the most godless persons and nations. This is why the glossary defines God’s providence as God’s preserving and governing all things by means of second causes.
In fact, narrating the story of Esther without explicitly mentioning God is very true to reality. In real life, God often works behind the scenes, and only the man whose “eyes of the heart have been enlightened” (Eph 1:18) can discern His hand and His ways.
#Esther
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The book of Esther shows God at work behind the scenes. The Lord doesn’t always work is obvious ways. He often protects and cares for his people without big and grand gestures, but in small. intimate ways. That is how He works in this book. He is off scene making a way for the Jewish people to arm themselves and be prepared when the enemy comes, for them to continue to flourish in this culture, and and for his care for them to be scene.
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It clearly shows God’s Hand in preserving His people in Persia. His Name doesn’t have to be mentioned in order for His Presence to be known. He guided Mordecai as well as Esther in this lovely story.
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What positive character traits does Esther exhibit and how does she demonstrate those qualities?
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16 Replies
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Faith, trust in God and prayer and fasting on behalf of her for God’s people who are also her people as well and the reliance on God even if it meant her life.
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Besides looking beautiful, Esther had many character virtues. She was humble and submissive. She gladly took the advice of Mordecai not to reveal her ethnicity at first. In contrast to the arrogant Queen Vashti, she pleased the king by her humility. Perhaps this was what Peter meant by “the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” in 1 Pet 3:4.
But her meekness was not weakness. When her uncle challenged her to rise to the occasion to save her own people, she was bold to act, yet without forgetting to consult God first – she declared a three-day fast on the Jews (Esther 4:16). Her willingness to die for doing God’s will was declared in her words “If I perish, I perish.”
Yet her courage was not foolhardy rashness. She was wise to make plans and patient to wait for God’s timing. Thus, she did not make her request known to the king too early, and she allowed Haman to walk into his own trap. The plot must have gotten more tense day by day, but she trusted in God’s way and timing.
In Esther we see a happy marriage of meekness and strength, and both stem from her reliance on and trust in the hand of the unseen God (who was unnamed throughout in the book as if to emphasize His unseen hand).
#Esther
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Esther shows bravery and strength when she approaches the king without being called to stand up for the Jewish people, since she could be killed for that. She also is compassionate in her relationship with Mordecai. Esther also demonstrates respect for the culture she is in and the king that runs it by appealing to him for her people.
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She demonstrates being obedient, loyal, and brave in the way she follows Mordecai’s instruction to keep her nationality a secret, in the way that she reports to King Xerxes about the assassination plan against him as soon as she finds out, and in the way that she stands up against Haman to defend her people’s lives .
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She shows courage by going before the king and risking her life.