This question has been a source of controversy for centuries. Why isnt god mentioned at all in the book of esther. But esther is a story of human action, and song of solomon focuses on human love. Though gods name is not mentioned, all of the events the downfall of vashti and rise of esther, mordecais discovery of the assassination plot, the shortlived exaltation of haman, the insomnia of the king, the book read to the king reminding him of mordecais heroics and the exaltation of the jewish people reflect the providential design of gods handiwork moving history towards his. Indeed, there is no direct reference to god at all. When god does something completely out of the ordinary, the bible credits him for it. To be sure, it is more of a tale than an epic investigation into the relationship between god and humanity. Mordecai sent a message to queen esther which said, do not think. The events in the book take place from 483 bc to 473 bc, during the first half of the reign of king xerxes. The image of god that appears in the national, canonical book. And in fact, the whole story of esther is a bit like a game of hide and seek first of all, you may have noticed that god himself is hiding in the book of esther he is not mentioned at all. Most books of the old testament mention prophets, who speak on god s behalf.
Where does god say the book of esther is perfect scripture. In 2012, a graphic adaptation of the book of esther was illustrated by j. On the surface, the characters in the book of esther act on their own initiative, being saved not by divine intervention, but through their own efforts. But many of the things that happen in the book could not be just luck. Which books of the bible is gods name not mentioned in.
For the religion of the jews, god appears as a character in the national book, the hebrew bible. Can we learn anything about prayer from such a book. The book of esthers legitimacy as part of the canon of christian scripture has been the subject of debate because there is no direct reference to god. Where does god say the book of esther is perfect, let alone part of the bible. Some believe thet the reason god s name is not in the book is that it had to pass through the hands of a roman censor. There is no specific mention of prayer, no mention of the jews speaking to god, nor any reference to god speaking to his people through his prophets. This would not be unusual in a book whose subject matter or outlook was more secular, but esther is a book in which the religious element is prominent. Even when the judeans fasted because of esther s request, no mention is made that they prayed for divine aid. The book of esther is a 20 movie starring jen lilley as queen esther and joel smallbone as king xerxes.
Our beautiful lord and god intended for that to be like that in this book. So, is the book of esther the only book in the bible which does not contain the name of god. It would harp on her lack of consideration for classic old testament doctrines such as covenant and circumcision and point out that ultimately she would never be quoted in the new testament, either. In fact, considering that it doesnt really mention god, it might be the bibles most secular book. We know that prayer and fasting is certainly a religious act associated with god s worship.
It is one of only two books that has no mention of god in it, the other song of solomon. Why doesnt the book of esther directly mention god. Its extremely important to notice this in the book of esther because it has one lifechanging implication for us. The drama of esther is unique among the books of the bible. When a statement is made by mordecai who is a symbol of the holy spirit god s name is found as the first letter of the first few words of the scripture. This has led some modern scholars to claim that the book was originally intended as a purely secular history.
Ezra was the scribe and priest who led a remnant of the jewish captives back to jerusalem, but this would come twenty years later, under the reign of king artaxerxes, in 457 b. Even though the name of god is technically not mentioned in esther, the holy spirit is seen weaving redemptive history thorough its pages esth. When mordecai first tells her she should speak to the king about hamans plot, she is terrified. A lot of sunday school pastors write this off, saying god doesnt have to be mentioned for evidence to show religious forces are at work in esther s life. Curiously, god is not mentioned in this volume of scripture and there is no indication that god was involved in any way in helping esther and mordecai save the jews of persia from the evil machinations of haman, who planned to kill them.
Why does the book of esther not mention god answers. Once you can honestly answer that question, maybe you will be able to handle the really hard ones. It is the only book in the bible where god is hidden like this, but he is there. The book of esther is one of two biblical books that never mention god. It all may seem hopeless but god s justice can turn it all around. In esther s story, god s involvement is implicit rather than explicit. Some have even questioned the book s place in the bible because of it. God, in fact, is not mentioned, esther is portrayed as assimilated to persian culture, and jewish identity in the book is an ethnic category rather than a religious. The biblical book of esther is a secularized elamite myth of ishtar esther and her consort marduk mordecai, who sacrificed to the god hammon, or amon haman. It is one of only two bible books named after women, the other is ruth.
The book of esther is one of only two books in the hebrew bible that never mention god the other is the song of songs. Still, since esther is included in the bible, the god of the bible must approve of the killings, insofar as a nonexistent being can approve of anything. Gods grace in life of esther first presbyterian church. There are a few reasons these books dont mention god. How can a book which fails to mention not only the name of god, but also prayer, worship, the coming messiah, heaven, hell or faith, be included in the canon of the old testament.
Scholars regard the book of esther as a secondcenturybce jewish novel that was not originally intended as a religious text, so it contains no mention of god. Since these books dont mention god, say the scholars, they must be suspect. The name of god is not mentioned here or elsewhere in the book of esther. One distinguishing characteristic is that its the only biblical book that does not mention. Esther is in no way similar to what many think the book contains. For example, when esther asks the jews to fast, we can assume this included prayer est. Even the bible story admits that esther ishtar was not the real name of the elamitejewish queen. In fact, god is not even mentioned in the book of esther. The 2 books of the bible that dont mention god overviewbible. There is no mention of prayer nor dependence upon god in this book. The book of esther, though divinely inspired scripture, doesnt mention god by any name or title. A robust treatment of esther s defects would surely include the book s famed failure to mention the name of god or to recognize divine providence.
And although the book doesnt mention god by name, it mentions that esther prayed and fasted for three days before asking the king to save the jewish people and she also asked the jews to also do the same esther 4. The probable reason would be that king xerxes was worshipped as a god, and no other god, including god almighty the god of the jews would be mentioned. Unlike the many other books in the bible, throughout whole book of esther, the word god is not mentioned once. When we read the book of esther, we never read gods name. There are two books that dont directly mention god s name in them. However, at several points in the narrative, the author alludes to god s hand in the events. In short, esther risks her life to prevent an act of genocide against her people. The book of esther is unique among all the books of the old and new testamentthere is no mention of god and no prayers. It is true that god is not mentioned at all in the book of esther, but then again it is. God has proved his existence to all that are truly seeking his face in providence.
The book of estherno prayers and no mention of god. The book is named 4 its principal character, esther,whose name means,star. True the books near the end of the old testament period appear unconcerned with the question of how jews ought to. Esther, purim and why it all still matters jews for jesus. Well, the answer is that it depends on whether one reads esther in the original hebrew, or another language. The book of esther and god hidden and revealed lutheran. But that doesnt mean that god has no plan or purpose for her in ahasuerus court. The hidden god of esther scroll of esther from the jewish museum near the dohany synagogue in budapest, hungary. You may already know that the books of esther and song of songs are the only books in the hebrew bible that do not explicitly mention god.
The book of esther is one of the twentyfour books of the hebrew bible. The word all is mentioned numerous times in esther 3. As it happens, her cousin mordecai is more scrupulous in keeping jewish law, which after some time puts him in conflict with ahasuerus highest official, haman es. Is it really the inspired word of god if it makes no mention of him.
For traditional jewish commentators, the absence of god s name did not mean that god was absent from the book. Finally, the book of esther may not mention god because the emphasis is on gods providence. Why is esther in the bible when it doesnt mention god. The book of esther serves as a reminder that we do not need to see god or read his name to know that he is there for he is not far from each one of us acts 17. There is a whole series of killings in esther, mostly to avenge antisemitism. Why is god not mentioned in the book of esther answers. Having ezra in the story also emphasizes the importance of god, whereas in the book of esther, no mention of god is made. Waldman and appeared in volume one of the graphic canon, edited by russ kick and published by seven stories press. Its about the life of a woman, though thats also covered in the book of ruth. Satans work through the nephilim of which hamaan was a descendent was continuing, and thus satan was working to destroy the jewish nation and hinder the fulfillment of the promise of a redeemer. The book of esther has 167 verses there are 192 references to the king, kingdom, or name of ahasuerus. One striking feature of the hebrew version of the book of esther is that no divine names or titles are employed here. Yahweh was never mentioned, because the jews of elam worshipped marduk, not yahweh. At face value, it comes across more like a political novella than a movement in the biblical narrative.
Why is the name of god not mentioned in megillat esther. Perhaps most noteworthy about the book of esther is that it contains no mention of god and no indication that the judeans observed any biblical command. But we see everywhere in esther evidence of a sovereign god at work behind the scenes. Esther is never quoted in the new testament, nor is there even a casual reference to it. The book of esther does not mention god, but rather is meant to illustrate gods intervention in the world from the background, without making himself known with miracles such as those at the. The author is unknown, but some biblical scholars conclude that it was mordecai, himself, who wrote the book of esther. It relates the story of a hebrew woman in persia, born as hadassah but known as esther, who becomes queen of persia and thwarts a. It is one of the five books called megilloth rolls and is placed beside the pentateuch in importance.
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