Esther’s Exodus

Esther is a dramatic story of God’s rescue of the Jews, His clever inversion of Haman’s plot, the courage of Esther. It is also an exodus story.

Haman the Agagite is a Pharaoh who wants to wipe out all the Jews. Ahasuerus, fortunately, is an anti-Pharaoh who works to protect the Jews, as soon as he discovers what’s happening.

The turning point comes at night, when Ahasuerus cannot sleep and asks for chronicles to be read. That night, the fates of Mordecai and Haman change places. Haman ends up on the gallows he built for Mordecai, Mordecai takes Haman’s house and his position at court, including the king’s signet ring. That night in the king’s bedroom is a “Passover.”

Once Ahasuerus discovers Haman’s plot, he gives Mordetai permission to write a decree that will neutralize his decree against the Jews. The Jews are permitted to carry out a form of herem war against their enemies, and plunder them, as they plundered Egypt.

Many Gentiles in Ahasuerus’s 127 provinces see what Israel’s God does for His worshipers, and convert. At the end of Esther, the saved company includes not only Jews but many Gentiles, a mixed multitude like the mixed multitude that escaped from Egypt.

There are a number of significant differences between Exodus and Esther. One of the most important is the prominence of Esther. Mordecai is like a new Moses, but Esther’s role has no analogue in the first exodus (not even Miriam has Esther’s stature). If the first exodus was mediated by a messianic prophet, Esther’s is mediated by a queen. Esther’s is a bridal exodus.