Done!

I have written a commentary on every chapter and every book of the entire Bible.  

Some of the label links to what I have written are below.  I have to publish the links in stages.

The Conclusion of Esther (Esther 8-10)

Esther reveals to the king her blood relation with Mordecai.  It is interesting that the king did not know or care about this before.  Here she was this beautiful "virgin" girl in his harem who he elevated to queen and it seems he never really asked about her family.  

The story continues.  King Xerxes confiscates the land of Haman and gives it to Esther and Mordecai.  Esther again goes before the king and requests his help to stop the annihilation of the Jewish people, which Haman had implemented.  The king spares her life again by showing her the scepter.  

The king then grants incredible power to Mordecai - he allows Mordecai to write a supplemental edict to be sealed with the king's insignia.  We later find the edict that Mordecia writes is grandiose and powerful in scope.  Via Mordecai's hand, the king tells the kingdom that stretches from India to Mesopotamia that the Jewish people are not to be harmed and they have the right to kill and annihilate the enemies of the Jews.  

The Jews do just exactly that.  They kill and annihilate the enemies of the Jews.  The text focuses on the immediate action in the citadel of Susa, where the king and Esther resides.  The Jews rise up and slay their foes.  People even convert to become Jewish out of fear of the Jews.  

Esther even asks permission to hang the ten sons of Haman, which the king the grants.

The Jewish people are not only saved from destruction, but rise up as warriors to fight and slay their oppressors.  Chapter 10 gives an epilogue of Mordecai personally.

Aside from the sexual innuendos written in between the lines, I think there are a few other things to explore:

1.  Is Esther a Proverbs 31 woman?

I give it a 70-80% match.  Proverbs 31 focuses on the woman's caring for the family and relationship with God.  Esther does that.  She is brave in the face of danger, has face in God, and knows how to act.  

However, it is not an exact match because Proverbs 31 also gives random details about manual labor and running a vineyard.  We do not know from Esther about any of these except she prepared a banquet for the king and Haman (she may have not actually cooked anything) and she eventually inherits land.  That said, the focus on the manual labor of Proverbs 31 is to provide for her family, which in Esther's case is not only Mordecai but the entire Jewish nation.  She does not weave flax, but rather walks with faith in her field - she is a politician and requests many to fast.  

So, Proverbs 31 applied to Esther's situation, I would say yes, she is.

2.  The book of Mordecai?

The book is called Esther and not Book of Mordecai.  Esther clearly is the central character, but it is also Mordecai's faith that drives the story.  Not only did he raise and teach her as a daughter, but he patiently waited with a quiet faith.  

Mordecai saved the life king Xerxes.  We see no complaint from Mordecai for lack of praise or honor from Xerxes, not even when Haman is plotting to kill Mordecai.  Rather, Mordecai awaits with a quiet patient faith for God's deliverance.  Finally, the king cannot sleep and remembers Mordecai.  Given the timing in the story, it is strongly implied that this was the work of God because Haman was going to kill Mordecai within a few days.

Finally, the faith of Mordecai is redeemed.  He is not only honored, but the timing of it saves his life.

3.  What can we get from Esther?

A few things scream out from the text.  

The Biblical standard of femininity of "the Proverbs 31 woman" can be applied to a variety of different circumstances, even if it does not literally fit.  In all honesty, let us hope that few women today can literally fit the Proverbs 31 woman 100%.

There is nothing wrong with beauty.  In fact, it is an asset.  I would even go even further that if we read between the lines, then sexualized beauty is an asset.  But if we go there, we also must admit the Esther example is within a quasi-polygamous marriage.  The king had a harem and maybe other wives.  This seems to be the standard among Old Testament families if we also consider Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon.  

That said, Proverbs 31 cautions that beauty is fleeting.  But really, it is only whatever king Xerxes found beautiful is what mattered.  Given that different men have different standards of beauty, and hence different potential husbands have different standards of beauty, this should encourage women.  Likewise, different women have different attributes so they cannot all manage vineyards or weave flax.

God's timing matters, not ours.  Mordecai was probably discouraged that he did not receive immediate praise for saving the king's life.  He was completely overlooked for something that should have elevated him within the Persian kingdom.  I imagine everyone can relate to this.  However, his life was likely spared because his praise was delayed until the time when men plotted against him.  At that time, God acted and gave him praise among men which changed his life, but also Esther's and the entire Jewish nation.

Gender relations (The Book of Esther, chapters 1-7)

The book of Esther seems to be a favorite among Christian women.  In fact, it still is a common name today.  The book of Esther is one of few Biblical books centered around a heroine.  She is smart, beautiful, follows God, and saves her people.  

But is it more than that?  The language seems nuanced, coded, and maybe even straddling the line of sexual innuendo.  What is Esther doing?  She's part of a harem...but still a "virgin"?  She needs twelve months of beauty treatment before being presentable to the king?  What is going on?  The book lends itself to a lot of speculation.  

The book also has a few facts that should not be glossed over either.  Rather, they make her story more real.  In particular, her beauty seems to be a key part in how she gets any power to begin with.  Likewise, she initially hides her Jewish identity.  

By way of background, Xerxes is king of Persia.  Xerxes is maybe the most famous of the Persian kings and was depicted in such films as 300.

Xerxes has a big banquet in which all his guests can get drink as much wine as they want.  He orders his wife, Queen Vashti, to stand in front of all his friends because she is beautiful to look at.  She refuses.  Why?  The text does not state exactly, but perhaps he wanted her to stand naked in front of his friends.  Perhaps it was because he was drunk.  Perhaps he said something else that went unrecorded.  Perhaps it was simply because she thought the whole idea was stupid.  We do not fully know.  But the stated reason for displaying was her physical beauty so we can at least presume it was that which appalled her.

The king is mad and makes a decree throughout the land that all the women must obey their husbands.  He also dismisses her as queen.  He goes on a search for a replacement queen although he already has a harem.  

Meanwhile, Esther has a tragic past.  Both her parents died and she now lives with her uncle Mordecai.  Mordecai is one of exiles who survived the war and were brought from Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.  This suggests that Esther's parents may have been killed in the war.  Despite all this, Esther is discovered for her beauty, enters the king's harem, and then becomes queen.  She does not reveal her identity as Jewish.

Mordecai is an interesting guy of his own right.  He uncovers a plot against the king.  He tells Esther, who relays it to the king, and the plotters are arrested.

Mordecai garners enemies who devise a plot to kill the entire Jewish nation.  In particular, he will not bow down to high-ranking people in the kingdom.  The conspirators convince king Xerxes that  killing the lawbreakers is necessary and he agrees.  An order goes throughout the land to kill all the Jewish people.

Uh oh.  This has a lot of similarities to the first part of Daniel.

Esther hears of this and she knows she must plead with the king.  However, the king has a law that whoever approaches the king without being summoned may lose his or her life.  To make matters worse, she has not been summoned to the king for thirty days.

So, why did the king not summon Queen Esther for over 30 days?  I think that there are two possibilities, both within the world of speculation.  On one hand, the king may have grown sexually tired of Esther.  He is king and we know he has a harem, so what is up with the 30 day wait?  

The other option is the king may have thought she was pregnant.  If you are king of Persia and you have a harem, but you need legitimate and healthy male heirs.  Childbirth killed women in those days.  You have a young queen who replaced a prior queen - so maybe he wanted to see if she was pregnant.  Meanwhile, he has a harem that he can attend to.

We can only speculate from the text what was in king Xerxes' mind.  We do know that Esther feared for the result of going before her husband for she wanted the entire Jewish nation in Persia, including herself, to fast and pray about it beforehand.

In the dialogue with Mordecai, Mordecai makes the interesting observation that perhaps God put Esther in this position for this specific purpose.  She tells Mordecai to get all the Jewish people praying and fasting for three days and then she will approach the king.

She approaches the king, who shows his scepter to her, and she may approach.  He even asks for her request, up to half the kingdom.  Her request is to have a banquet for Haman, the main conspirator.  At that banquet, she asks the king to let her prepare a banquet the next day just for the king and Haman.

Haman brags and taunts Mordecai.  He has a large pole built in preparation to execute Mordecai by implement.

That night, the king cannot sleep so he reads the chronicles and remembers that Mordecai was never homered for saving the king.  He is pondering what should be done with Mordecai when Haman walks in.  Haman is going to request the execution of Mordecai, but the king asks him what should be done with someone the king honors.  Haman thinks the king is referring to himself and gives some elaborate plan involving a royal display on a horse throughout the city.

The king approves of this and orders that Haman do the exact same for Mordecai.  Haman must do this and returns home in grief because his plan is falling apart.

However, he must now go to the banquet with Esther and the queen.  At the banquet, the king asks Esther what she wants.  Here, she finally acts.  I suspect it was the king's spontaneous praise of Mordecai that gave her encouragement to really speak up.  She does.  She begs for her life and tells the king about Haman's plot against Mordecai.  The king is angry and has Haman executed on the pole that Haman built to execute Mordecai.