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EshtemoaAid to Bible Understanding
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ESHTEMOA
(Esh·te·moʹa), Eshtemoh [obedience].
1. Son of Ishbah, or, possibly, a Judean town many of whose inhabitants descended from Ishbah.—1 Chron. 4:17.
2. A Maacathite and descendant of Hodiah.—1 Chron. 4:19.
3. A town in the mountainous region of Judah, also called Eshtemoh. Though originally assigned to Judah it was thereafter allotted, along with its pasture grounds, to the Levites. (Josh. 15:50; 21:14; 1 Chron. 6:57) It corresponds with the modern village of es-Semuʽa, situated about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) S of Hebron. Perhaps the same as No. 1.
Eshtemoa was one of the places frequented by David as a fugitive, and, after his victory over the marauding Amalekites, he sent a gift from the spoils to friends there.—1 Sam. 30:26-28.
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EshtonAid to Bible Understanding
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ESHTON
(Eshʹton) [effeminate, or, possibly, uxorious].
Son of Mehir; descendant of Chelub of the tribe of Judah.—1 Chron. 4:1, 11, 12.
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EsliAid to Bible Understanding
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ESLI
(Esʹli) [possibly, Jehovah has reserved].
A postexilic ancestor of Christ; the son of Naggai and the father of Nahum.—Luke 3:25.
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EstherAid to Bible Understanding
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ESTHER
[Heb., Hadhas·sahʹ, myrtle, joy; Es·terʹ, fresh myrtle].
A Jewish orphan girl of the tribe of Benjamin, a descendant from among those deported from Jerusalem along with King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) in 617 B.C.E. (Esther 2:5-7) She was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai. (2:15) Her guardian was her older cousin Mordecai, one of the “king’s servants that were in the king’s gate” of the palace at Shushan during the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I, in the fifth century B.C.E.). (2:7; 3:2) After Ahasuerus had deposed his queen Vashti for disobedience, he commanded the gathering of all the beautiful virgins for a period of special massage and beauty care, so that the king might select one to replace Vashti as queen. Esther was among those taken to the king’s house in charge of Hegai the guardian of the women. At Mordecai’s direction, she kept secret the fact that she was a Jewess. (2:8, 10) Esther was selected as queen in the seventh year of Ahasuerus’ reign. (2:16, 17) All along, she kept in touch with Mordecai, following his counsel. She spoke in Mordecai’s name to the king when Mordecai uncovered a plot against the king.—2:20, 22.
In the twelfth year of Ahasuerus, Haman the Agagite, who was prime minister, planned the annihilation of all the Jews in the 127 jurisdictional districts in the empire. He received authorization from the king to issue a decree to carry this out. (Esther 3:7-13) Acting on the information and advice of Mordecai, Esther revealed to the king the wicked intent of Haman’s plot. Haman’s reaction added to the king’s rage and Haman was hanged. (4:7–7:10) The king, at Esther’s request, issued a second decree authorizing the Jews to fight for their lives on the day set for their slaughter. (7:10; 8:3-14) Because of the king’s edict and for fear of Mordecai, who replaced Haman as prime minister, the governors and officials of the empire helped the Jews to gain a complete victory over their enemies. (Chap. 9) Mordecai’s instructions, confirmed by Esther, commanded the Jews to celebrate the Festival of Purim annually, a custom kept down to this day.—9:20, 21, 29.
While the book of Esther does not mention the name of God, it is evident from the actions of Mordecai and Esther that they were both faithful servants of the true God Jehovah. Esther displayed the qualities of one trusting in God’s law. She was “pretty in form and beautiful in appearance” (Esther 2:7), but, more importantly, she manifested the adornment of “the secret person of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of the quiet and mild spirit” (1 Pet. 3:4), and thus gained favor before Hegai, the guardian of the women, as well as before the king himself. She did not count showy adornment the important thing, and, accordingly, “did not request anything except what Hegai . . . proceeded to mention.” (Esther 2:15) She showed great tact and self-control. She was submissive to her husband Ahasuerus, approaching him in a tactful and respectful way when her life and the life of her people were in danger. She kept silent when it was wise to do so, but spoke boldly and fearlessly when it was necessary and at the right time. (2:10; 7:3-6) She accepted counsel from her mature cousin Mordecai, even when following it endangered her life. (4:12-16) Her love and loyalty toward her people the Jews, who were also God’s covenant people, were demonstrated when she acted in their behalf.—See ESTHER, BOOK OF; MORDECAI.
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Esther, Book ofAid to Bible Understanding
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ESTHER, BOOK OF
A book of the Hebrew Scriptures the title of which is taken from the name of its principal character, although some copies of the Latin Vulgate call it “Ahasuerus” after the Persian king who figures prominently in the account. The Jews call it Meghil·lathʹ ʼEs·terʹ or simply the Meghil·lahʹ, meaning “roll, volume,” because for them it constitutes in itself a very highly regarded roll.
THE BOOK’S WRITER
The Scriptures do not say who wrote the book of Esther. Some scholars credit the book to Ezra, but the weight of evidence points to Mordecai as the writer. According to the Great Synagogue of the Jews, Josephus, and Clement of Alexandria, the writer was Mordecai. Mordecai was in position to know all the minute facts that are related in the narrative about the personal concerns of himself and Esther, the doings of the members of Haman’s family, and particularly what went on in Shushan the castle. After his promotion to the prime ministership of the Persian government he would have access to the official documents mentioned in the account, and just as Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah held official positions in the government of Persia during other periods and wrote Bible books describing the relation of the Jews to that world power, so Mordecai, with Jehovah’s blessing, was the most likely one to write the book of Esther.
HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES
The account sets the time for its events during the reign of the Ahasuerus who ruled while the Persian Empire extended from India to Ethiopia and included 127 provinces or jurisdictional districts. (Esther 1:1) These facts and its inclusion in the canon by Ezra confine its coverage to the period of the reign of one of the following three kings known to secular history: Darius I the Persian, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes Longimanus. However, both Darius I and Artaxerxes Longimanus are known to have favored the Jews before the twelfth year of their respective reigns, which does not fit the Ahasuerus of the book, as he apparently was not well acquainted with the Jews and their religion, nor inclined to favor them. Also, the fact that Xerxes I is known to have held a great feast and council of war in the third year of his reign before setting out against Greece tends to confirm the conclusion that the King Ahasuerus of the book of Esther must have been Xerxes I. (Esther 1:3) An American Translation and Dr. James Moffatt’s translation even substitute Xerxes for Ahasuerus in the text. Xerxes I began to reign in 486 B.C.E., and according to the writings of Thucydides (of the fifth century B.C.E.), considered in conjunction with a table of chronology by Diodorus (of the first century B.C.E.), his reign terminated about 474 B.C.E. So he ruled about twelve years, probably into his thirteenth year, as indicated by Esther 3:7; 9:1 and the events described in 9:15 to 10:3. Because the first events related in the book of Esther occurred in the third year of his reign, and the rest of the account covers the remainder of his reign, the book covers the
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