ESTHER’S SECRET
This week Jews around the world celebrate the festival of Purim. This holiday commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from the genocidal edict of Haman, the grand Persian vizier, as recorded in the biblical Book of Esther. Esther must hide her religion in order to gradually rise up through the royal hierarchy, getting closer to the king so that she may save her people from Haman. This Biblical book is particularly unusual because there is no explicit mention of God anywhere.
GOD IN THE BOOK OF ESTHER
When Queen Esther found out that Haman wanted to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire, she began her plan by saying: “let the king and Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared for the king.” (Esther 5:4). Now, look carefully at the original Hebrew text:
"יָבוֹא הַמֶּלֶךְ וְהָמָן הַיּוֹם, אֶל-הַמִּשְׁתֶּה אֲשֶׁר-עָשִׂיתִי לו"
The first four letters of the first four words form together the Hebrew name of God: י-ה-ו-ה (Y-H-W-H). We see that in the most critical moment of Esther’s plan, God is present after all.
HEBREW - A LANGUAGE OF SECRETS
The word God is not mentioned in the book of Esther, but his presence and Esther's faith is revealed to us only through the Hebrew language. This is just a taste of what our online course offers. I invite you to enroll in our online Biblical Hebrew course to experience the power of studying the Holy Scriptures in the original language. Come study with us the Hebrew secrets of the Bible.
