Today’s passage: Esther 2
Helpful thoughts:
- Mordecai comes from the same family as King Saul (1 Samuel 9:1-2).
- His instruction to Esther to not disclose her nationality gives a hint of the anti-Semitism already present which will appear more starkly later in the book.
- The narratives of both Mordecai and Esther are moved forward in this chapter.
- Esther becomes the queen and “grows in favor in the eyes of all who saw her.”
- Mordecai is recorded as having saved the life of the king.
Questions to consider:
- In what ways do we see Esther being prepared for her significant role, even before the king knows that she is the one to be Vashti’s replacement? What other people had already started treating Esther with greater significance?
- What could this show concerning God’s work to prepare her for what she would later do to save her people? What could Esther see happening before she ever met the king?
- There is obviously wrong being done to a number of women in this account. How does remembering the sin committed against Christ leading up to and at the cross remind us of God’s ability to sovereignly bring about good in a world under the curse of sin?