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Esther bible study for women9/16/2023 ![]() ![]() This view of history is in itself reassuring for a people in exile, buffeted by forces which they have little power to influence, which would easily lead to despair. “The center of the story portrays a dramatic parallel between Haman’s decree and Mordecai’s counter-decree: The author of Esther sees justice unfolding itself in history…This means first of all that history is portrayed as a sequence of ordered events rather than as a random collection of coincidences. The shape of the story itself provides us with a sense of order and meaning to the events taking place. Once we recognize the carefully patterned structure of the book (the chiasm) and the pivot in chapter 6 leading to the fall of Haman and the rise of Mordecai, we’re able to see the profound message being communicated. nahpok hu’ = “the reverse took place”, see 9:1). It uncovers a larger pattern of symmetry where the scenes before the pivot all correspond to the scenes on the other side… It is beyond doubt that the book displays a bilateral chiastic structure in which the events of the first half (A-F) consistently have a negative, foreboding cast, whereas those in the second half (F’-A’) are uniformly positive and correct the deficiencies of their counterparts… This feature of the book is best summed up in the narrator’s comment about Purim in 9:1 “the tables were turned” (Heb. “Our identification of chapter 6 as the pivot offers another angle of vision on the structure of the book of Esther. Jewish scholar Jon Levenson notes the importance of recognizing this chiastic structure as key to uncovering the meaning of the book: But, after the pivot in chapter 6, the events in F-A offer a positive counterpart for the previous events, correcting every crisis and deficiency leading to the exaltation of Mordecai and the Jewish people. When we look at the pattern of the book we see that the events in A-F display a dark, ominous negative pattern moving progressively towards the demise of the Jewish people, including Esther and Mordecai. X - PIVOT: Haman humiliated & Mordecai exalted į’ Esther’s 2nd banquet + Haman executed instead of Mordecai Į’ Esther and Mordecai plan to reverse the decree ĭ’ Mordecai’s counter-decree to save the Jewish people ī’ Queen Esther and Mordecai save the Jewish people Ī’ Two feasts + The splendor of Mordecai ![]() Check it out:Ī The splendor of the Persian king + Two banquets ī Esther becomes Queen + Mordecai saves the king ĭ Haman’s decree to destroy the Jewish people Į Esther and Mordecai’s plan to reverse the decree į Esther’s 1st banquet + Haman plans Mordecai’s execution Right down to every scene, you’ll find key-words and scenes that match the keywords in their partner scenes on the other side of the symmetry. The book of Esther is designed in perfect symmetry. And the anonymous author of Esther is no exception. It’s a brilliant technique that good authors often use. As a literary device, a Chiasm shows how the way words and ideas are structured can communicate a message just as powerful as the words themselves. The name “chiasm” comes from a letter in the Greek Alphabet “chi” which is identical in shape to the modern English letter “X.” The shape of the letter illustrates the idea: two separate lines meet together in the middle, creating a symmetrical shape. Wait-What’s a “Chiasm" and Why Does It Matter?Ī chiasm is a literary technique in a piece of literature (narrative or poetry) is designed with a symmetrical pattern that highlights certain themes and points of detail as being really significant. The entire story has been designed as a “chiasm.” Hmmm… let’s take a look at the book’s amazing literary structure to explore these questions. Or is this interpretation seriously missing something? Could it be that the absence of mentioning God is directly connected to the book’s brilliant literary design? Maybe God’s apparent “absence” is actually part of the book’s very sophisticated way of talking about God’s providence? Perhaps the point is that God is always at work, even when we can’t see that work explicitly. So is that it? Esther is the “secular” book of the Bible. It must be admitted that the spirit of Esther is not that which prevails generally in the Old Testament.” - Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (pages 486-487) Driver said that “In passing to Esther from the other books of the Old Testament, we ‘fall from heaven to earth.’ Not only does the name of God not occur in the book, but the point of view is throughout purely secular: the preservation of the Jewish race as such and its worldly greatness… are the objects in which the author’s interest is manifestly centered. Some resolve the tension by classifying Esther as a “secular” book of the Bible. This curious fact has bothered a lot of people throughout history. ![]()
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