Alarms are ringing from some in the Jewish community. Their concern: evangelical Christian efforts to combat antisemitism inspired by the biblical figure of Esther.

But why would that be a concern? At a time of skyrocketing antisemitism, wouldn’t Christian efforts to stand with the Jewish people be welcomed? In these divided times, it is becoming harder and harder to understand people with different perspectives.

The Jewish people need Christian allies to stand with us. Several Christian initiatives to do that have used the example of Queen Esther, who risked her life to stand before King Ahasuerus to save her people. However, rather than seeing these Christians as allies fighting for their cause, some in the Jewish community are wary. They accuse evangelical Christians of taking Esther and distorting the Purim story to advance their own political agenda. 1

While there are real political differences between politically Conservative Evangelicals and politically Liberal2 Jews that impact their interpretations of the book, a significant source of the conflict is cultural misunderstanding. Liberal Jews and Conservative Evangelicals accuse one another of misapplying the book of Esther to advance their political agenda. The truth is all of us read some of our own ideas into the Book of Esther.

Can We Ask a Better Question?

In these types of controversies, people tend to talk past each other. It may be more helpful to ask what the Book of Esther means as shared Sacred Scripture for Jews and Christians. A first step to doing that is to understand the different ways that each side reads the book.

Esther can be read as a historical event of a real event that happened or as a fictional account that communicates a deeper lesson. Though there are Jews and Christians on either end of that spectrum, in general, many Jewish people today believe that we can take the story of Esther seriously but not literally. 3 The fact that God’s name is omitted has even led some scholars to call it “secular.” For these kinds of Jewish thinkers, Esther is evidence that, as history progressed, God withdrew his presence (some even suggest that Esther’s name comes from the Hebrew word “Aster” meaning “I will hide”)4 These readers emphasize the text’s omission of God’s name and present the actions of Esther and Mordechai as complex—not totally righteous but not totally wicked. In this interpretation, the message of the story of Esther is “You’re on your own” so step up like Esther!

For Christians, the book of Esther is part of the Old Testament and therefore part of God’s plan of salvation. Most read the events described in the book of Esther as a record of history. They see Esther and Mordechai as “heroes of the faith” whose trust in God is what motivates all of their actions. They also tend to see God at work behind the scenes—though he is not mentioned in the story—present Esther and Mordechai in a favorable light. 5 The emphasis of this Christian reading is “God is with us, so trust him and act!”

So, we can see that Progressive Jews and Evangelical Christians are reading the same text but reading it in different ways. They see it from very different angles—because what you already believe about God and the Bible will shape how you read the book.

Is There a Better Way to Read?

It is hard for us all to remember that the Book of Esther isn’t written about us. It is about an ancient community of Jews living in Persia. They are the descendants of exiles, they have adjusted to life in Persia and have decided not to return to Israel when Cyrus, king of Persia, gave his famous order for the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild the Temple. They are established in their new home, but they remain vulnerable. When they face a threat, events play out in such a way that their enemy’s plans are turned back on them. The Jews survive, and their enemies are defeated.

So, what if we ask a different question, “Why is the book of the Bible part of the Bible” in the first place? The Rabbis included Esther in the Scriptures, and the early Church followed their lead. They saw this book as an important part of the larger biblical story ranging from creation to Abraham to the Exodus and on down to the exile and return—and for Jesus’ followers, to Messiah. If we can borrow a word from the world of modern comics, Esther is part of the same “universe” as Noah and the Ark, Moses and the Exodus, and Jonah and the giant fish. It is a world inhabited not only by human beings but by a God who intervenes to save his people.

Read in this light, the Book of Esther is a guide for God’s people in times and places where their homeland and God seem far away but their enemies are close. Mordechai, Esther, and the Jewish community of Susa lived after the Jewish world had shifted from one time period to another. Their ancestors lived in the land of Israel, worshipped in the Temple, and received messages from God delivered through prophets. Now the Jewish people are exiles “scattered among the peoples” living as ethnic and religious minorities. They are vulnerable because their destiny is not in their own hands and their God seems remote. This would be the situation for the Jewish people for the next several thousand years.

So, the Jewish reading that sees it as a call to step up like Esther, makes a lot of sense. But the book’s inclusion in the biblical universe suggests that the Evangelical reading also has some merit. Throughout the Bible story, God is never fully absent from his people. Even when there are no signs of his direct presence, he is always with them (e.g. Exodus 3:7-10).

Put into that wider context, it seems safe to assume that God was working “behind the scenes” in the Esther story to save his people. 6 God only appeared to be absent from a human perspective, but we can see with hindsight that God had a plan to save the Jews all along. Mordechai doesn’t call down plagues or split the Red Sea, but God is at work in the mundane everyday events of our lives, steadily unfolding his plan.

The challenge that Mordechai gives Esther puts her at the crossroads of these two ways of reading. On the one hand, perhaps Esther has been placed in her privileged role in Babylon “for such a time as this.” It’s a challenge to step up at act. But even if she doesn’t act, Mordechai says that “deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.”

In other words, God will save his people no matter what. The question before Esther is whether she has the courage to play the part God has given her in that salvation. Either way, “the place” from which deliverance will come is God himself.

A Challenge for Us

In our own time of a world in transition, we are faced with a similar challenge. We look around and wonder where God is and what he is doing. The Book of Esther shows us that despite the way things look, God is here with us and working behind the scenes to save us.

That doesn’t mean the book of Esther is advocating that God’s people be passive. Mordechai’s words should spur us to action. But what is our motivation? Fear that if we don’t act the world will end? Rage coming from despair? Our motivation must be based on the hope that the unseen God is with us and confidence that he will work through us when we are called to stand up to evil.

Endnotes

1. Last year Conservative Evangelicals raised similar concerns about House Resolution 6090, a bi-partisan piece of legislation meant to combat antisemitism. Some on the right were concerned that it limited the free speech of Christians.

2. By “Conservative Evangelicals” I mean Evangelical Christians who hold to traditional beliefs like the Bible’s divine inspiration and authority. And by “Liberal Jews” I mean Jewish people who believe in accommodating Judaism to modern times. Many, but not all Conservative Evangelicals are politically conservative. Many, but not all Liberal Jews are politically liberal.

3. The Book of Esther”

4. Two Modern Thinkers on Why God is Hidden in Megillah

5. This is not an exclusively Christian instinct. It goes back to the Jewish translators of the Bible into Greek (known as the Septuagint). The Greek version of the book of Esther has several lengthy additions that explicitly bring God into the story. Rabbinic and modern retellings of the story also tend to explicitly include God in the story and present Esther and Mordechai as righteous.

6. The Hiddenness of God: Reading Esther Theologically