0 Esther : Family Values

Then said Esther, If it please the king ... let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. And the king commanded it so to be done ... and they hanged Haman's ten sons 9:13

Trivia: What Queen was deposed for refusing to appear (naked?) in front of the king's drunken guests?

Esther : Family Values (9)

  1. King Ahasuerus throws a party and encourages his guests to drink to excess. Then, when they are all drunk, he orders Queen Vashti to show her stuff before him and his guests. 1:7-11
  2. Vashti refuses to entertain the king's drunken guests by dancing before them. For this she is no longer to be queen, to be replaced by someone better (prettier?). 1:12-19
  3. Because of Vashti's disobedience, the king decrees that "all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both the great and the small" and "that every man should bear rule over his own house." 1:20-22
  4. "All the fair young virgins" throughout the kingdom are brought before the king, and the one that "pleaseth" the king the most will replace Vashti. 2:2-4
  5. When it was Esther turn to "go in unto the king," she pleases the king the most. So, having won the sex contest, she is made queen in Vashti's place. 2:8-9, 12-17
  6. At Esther's request, the king orders a preemptive strike on all 127 provinces from Egypt to Ethiopia. Everyone who planned to kill Jews shall be killed by Jews, along with their wives and children. And all this killing is to take place on a single day.
    (How are the Jews to figure out who planned to kill them and who didn't? Were they supposed to just kill them all and let God sort it out? And why did they need to kill the women and children?) 8:9-11
  7. The Jews kill everyone who ever had a bad thought toward them, along with their Jew-hating families. 9:1-16
  8. "The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they." 9:10
  9. "The king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman ... what is thy request further? ... Then said Esther ... let Haman's ten sons be hanged."
    Esther tells the king to hang the already dead bodies of Haman's ten sons on trees. Why? Would they make nice decorations? To show everyong what will happen to your children if you try to mistreat Jews? 9:12-14

Copyright © 1999-2024
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

Send comments to Steve Wells
at swwells(at)gmail.com