With this message we begin the life-study of the book of Esther. Esther is a sweet book, covering, as its central subject, the secret care and the open salvation of the hiding God in Israel’s captivity. God is omnipresent and also omnipotent, yet He is hiding. Nobody knows where He is.
The people of Israel had been scattered, dispersed, in their captivity. They probably told the Gentiles among whom they were living that their God was Jehovah. Gentiles, especially the rulers, might have said to the Israelites, “Where is your Jehovah? Is your Jehovah real and living? If He is, why are you here in captivity as slaves?” During the years of the captivity, God was hiding, and He is still hiding. Even today, in the church age, God is hiding Himself. Both for the children of Israel and for us today, it seems that there is no God in this universe. We need to realize that God is living and real, but He is hiding. He is a God who hides Himself (Isa. 45:15).
Because God’s people became degraded and rotten, God disciplined and punished them by handing them over as slaves to the Gentile nations. Yet in His severity there is mercy (Rom. 11:22). While the people of Israel were in dispersion and captivity, God was taking care of them in a hidden way, and at the right time He came in openly to save them. Even when the captives of Israel were in the lowest situation, at the bottom, Christ was among them, suffering with them (Zech. 1:7-17).
On the one hand, God used the Gentile nations as tools to discipline His people. On the other hand, the hiding God was with the people of Israel, caring for them. Eventually, God used the Medo-Persian Empire to overthrow the Babylonian Empire. Cyrus, the king of Persia, was even called God’s shepherd, one who would fulfill His desire (Isa. 44:28), and His anointed, one who would serve God’s purpose (45:1-4). From this we see that the hiding God did many things for Israel in a secret way.
Let us now consider some introductory matters.
The writer of the book of Esther was most probably Mordecai (Esth. 9:20, 23). As Esther’s cousin, he was the one who raised her.
The contents of this book cover a period of at least ten years during the reign of Ahasuerus (486-465 B.C.).
The book of Esther gives us a vivid record of how the hiding God of Israel took care secretly of His oppressed elect in their dispersion and saved openly His persecuted elect in their captivity.
The crucial point of Esther is that the very God who chose Israel, the descendants of Abraham, as His elect, after He gave them into captivity to the Gentile nations, became a hidden God to them to take care of them secretly and save them openly in secrecy (Isa. 45:15). This is the reason that this book does not mention the name of God even at occasions when the name of God should be mentioned (Esth. 4:3, 16). Because this book shows us a hidden God, it does not mention the name of God.
The book of Esther has two sections: (1) the secret care of the hiding God for His oppressed elect in their dispersion (chs. 1—2) and (2) the open salvation of the hiding God in secrecy to His persecuted elect in their captivity (chs. 3—10).