There are numerous puzzles of Esther. It is a very secular book, as the name of God is never used or referred to. And there is no mention of prayer or worship. It does explain the source of the Jewish celebration of Purim, but that is not a God-ordained feast from Leviticus 23.
Mordecai and Esther hid the fact that they were Jewish as long as they could. To do this, they would have had to forgo a kosher diet. Daniel, an exile to Babylon, made no bones about keeping a Jewish diet in a Gentile world. Daniel 1: 8 But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods. [1] Yet God used what we might call secular Jews, Mordecai, and Esther, to save His people.
Violence and Jesus
As the Jews overcame their enemies at the end of the book of Esther, we see killing and death that seems crude in our culture. As Christians, we prefer the words of Jesus. Matthew 5: 38 You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.[2]
Jesus also warned that the world won’t like believers. John 15: 9 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. [3] The world didn’t like Mordecai and Esther because they were part of God’s people, the Jews. Yet, in the story, God allowed violence as part of His judgment against evil.
The Apostle Paul comments on how God works. Galatians 6: 7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.[4]
Living in the World But Not of It
From the book of Esther, God seems to be more comfortable with secularism than we are. We know that Jesus sent His disciples out into the world and sends us out into the world. Matthew 28: 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.[5]
We are sent into the world but are not to be of it. 1 John 2: 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.[6] We don’t want to love the things of the world, but we are to be in the world to build God’s kingdom. The puzzles of Esther “continually challenge us to consider our relationship to a world of people that God loves in a world-system that we are not to love.”[7] To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/triumph-of-the-jews
[1-6] Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
[7] Roberts, M., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1993). Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Vol. 11, p. 432). Thomas Nelson Inc.