Persia at the Time of Esther



Persia at the Time of Esther

Esther is only one of two books named after a woman (Ruth). It is not quoted in the NT. It occurs during the Persian period of world history 539BC – 331BC. Esther covers 483 BC – 473BC during the reign of Ahasuerus which is the Hebrew transliteration of the Persian name Khshayarsha or Greek Xerxes.

The book occurs between the time of the first return of Jews under Zerubbabel (538 BC; Ezra 1-6) and the second led by Ezra (458 BC; Ezra 7-10). This book like Exodus chronicles how foreign powers under Satan tried to eliminate the Jewish race and how God sovereignly preserves His people.

In 605 BC the first Babylonian exile occurred under Nebuchadnezzar and in 586 BC Israel fell for the last time. They stayed in captivity for 70 years in Babylon. Many of these Jews settled around Babylon. In 559 BC Cyrus ascended the throne of Persia and 9 years later defeated the Median army. He became King of Media uniting the 2. In 546 BC he defeated Lydia and added Asia Minor to his territory.

In 539 (Dan 5:30) Cyrus invaded Babylon and defeated Belshazzar King of Babylon. Cyrus issued two decrees authorizing Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple (Ezra 6:3-5). This was prophecy fulfilled (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:-4). Many of them did not return but stayed in the new Medo-Persian Empire. This marked an unusual friendly connection between Jews and Persians.

Isaiah 44:28

28 Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd,

And he shall perform all My pleasure,

Saying to Jerusalem,"You shall be built,"

And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid."'

Isaiah 45:1-4

1 Cyrus, God's Instrument

"Thus says the LORD to His anointed,

To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held --

To subdue nations before him

And loose the armor of kings,

To open before him the double doors,

So that the gates will not be shut:

2 'I will go before you

And make the crooked places straight;

I will break in pieces the gates of bronze

And cut the bars of iron.

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness

And hidden riches of secret places,

That you may know that I, the LORD,

Who call you by your name,

Am the God of Israel.

4 For Jacob My servant's sake,

And Israel My elect,

I have even called you by your name;

I have named you, though you have not known Me.

To the East of Babylon was Susa or Shushan, one of the most important towns in the east in which the Kings of Persia had their winter residence. It’s name comes from the abundance of lilies. Daniel saw his famous vision of the Ram and Goat while on business for the King.

Daniel 8:2

I saw in the vision, and it so happened while I was looking, that I was in Shushan, the citadel, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision that I was by the River Ulai.NKJV

Nehemiah 1:1

1 Nehemiah Prays for His People

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel,NKJV

The Kings after Cyrus quickly made it the center place for their reign because it was both closer to east and yet still central. The needed a command post west of the mountains and Susa was cooler than Babylon, closer to mountains, and had abundant water. Darius who began to reign in 522 BC built the palace named in Esther. It became the metropolis of Persia at the end of a royal road connecting it to the west.

Xerxes (Ahasureus) his son was the king named in Esther. He married her in his “7th” year after leaving Vashti at the end of his 3rd year. (interesting since Jesus ended ministry when Jews rejected at end of his 3rd year and will marry church at rapture in millennium or start year 7,000.)

Xerxes went to war with Greece and lost between Ch 1 & 2. His son Artaxerxes took over in 464 BC and was the king so friendly to Ezra (Ezra 7:11-28) and Nehemiah (Neh 2:1-9).

The climate was varied from mountains, to river valleys to desert. Suffocating heat to perishing cold was a true and popular description.

The world was growing rapidly during this period on into the time of Esther. The Roman republic was established in 509 BC, the Greeks were flourishing, and both Buddha and Confucius were alive during reign of Ahasuerus.

The empire spread from Northern Thrace near Greece (N) to western Africa and Egypt, and eastward to India. Darius mentions no fewer than 30 countries subject to him besides Persia proper. The Persians were divided into ten tribes (3 noble, 3 agricultural, 4 nomadic). The “Dehavites” of Ezra 4:9 are thought to be nomadic.

The government was a monarchy (Despotic tyranny) where the ruler had absolute power. There was a council of the state composed of 7 princes who get to “see the Kings face” (Ezra 7:14, Esther 1:14). Royal scribes kept a regular journal of chronicles and judicial edicts (Ezra 6:1; Esther 10:2). The King did seem bound to what he made official and what those of the past had put in order (Daniel 6:15, Esther 8:9-10). There was also a system like mail with couriers etc to administer the kingdom.

Culturally there were accomplished with fine arts and architecture. The people had minute distinctions in public with different salutations from kissing on lips to bowing. They were lively with impressionable minds. Their faults were recorded as vanity and impulsiveness. Their religion was one of dualism. They worshipped one Supreme God “Auramazda” with occasional rare mentions of other Gods. Their Satan was elevated to a much higher power and position being a near equal an opposite to God “Ahirman”. There were few altars, no images, and no priests. Sacrifices were unusual. They did have temples. They did have special worship of the sun and moon under “Mithra” and “Homa”.

History of crucifixion:

Britannica reports that the first historical record of Crucifixion was about 519 BC when "Darius I, king of Persia, crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, crucifixion).

Some further detail is given in "The Eerdman's Bible Dictionary", Rev. Ed., 1975: CROSS ... Crucifixion is first attested among the Persians (cf. Herodotus, Hist. i.128.2; iii.132.2, 159.1), perhaps derived from the Assyrian impalement. It was later employed by the Greeks, especially Alexander the Great, and by the Carthaginians, from whom the Romans adapted the practice as a punishment for slaves and non-citizens, and occasionaly for citizens guilty of treason. Although in the Old Testament the corpses of blasphemers or idolaters punished by stoning might be handged "on a tree" as further humiliation (Deut. 21:23), actual crucifixion was not introduced in Palestine until Hellenistic times. The Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes crucified those Jews who would not accept hellenization (Josephus Ant. xii.240-41; cf 1 Macc. 1:44-50).

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