Questions on Esther
1. What was Queen Esther's Jewish name and what did it mean (Esther 1)? Answer
2. What was Esther and Mordecai's relationship (Esther 2)? Answer
3. What does Mordecai's name mean? Answer
4. How huge was Persia's empire at the time of Esther (Esther 1)? Answer
5. Where was the capital of the empire (Esther 1)? Answer
6. Why did Ahasuerus dismiss his wife Vashti (Esther 1)? Answer
7. What symbol of royalty and power did Esther receive when she married Ahasuerus (Esther 2)? Answer
8. How did Mordecai save the king's life (Esther 2)? Answer
9. Why were eunuchs used to guard harems (Esther 2)? Answer
10. How long did women in the king's harem wait before having sex with him (Esther 2)? Answer
11. How did Haman figure out when best to approach the king with his plot to murder all the Jews (Esther 3)? Answer
12. Why was Haman, even as Prime Minister, superstitious about when to meet the king (Esther 4)? Answer
13. How much, in today's money, was Haman willing to offer to pay for the destruction of all the Jews in the kingdom (Esther 3)? Answer
14. On what day were all the Persian Jews to be killed (Esther 3)? Answer
15. How high were the gallows that were made to hang Mordecai (Esther 5)? Answer
16. What happened to Haman's immense wealth after he was hung (Esther 8)? Answer
17. What is the "law of the Medes and Persians" that kept Persia's king from rescinding his order to kill all the Jews (Esther 8)? Answer
18. What was one of the major consequences of Mordecai's rise to power after sending his edict about the Jews (Esther 8)? Answer
19. What makes the Jewish celebration of Purim unique (Esther 9)? Answer
20. Where are Esther and Modecai buried? Answer
Answers on Esther
1. Esther, her Persian name, was called Hadassah in Hebrew. Esther means "star" while Hadassah means "myrtle."
2. Bible commentaries differ concerning the relationship between Esther and Mordecai. While one commentary states that Mordecai was her uncle, many others say they were cousins.
When Esther's parents died when she was quite young Mordecai "adopted" her and treated her like his own daughter (Esther 2:7).
3. Mordecai's name can either mean "little man" or "worshipper / dedicated to Mars."
4. The Medo-Persian Empire, at the time of Esther, was composed of 127 provinces that stretched from Ethiopia to India (Esther 1:1).
5. King Ahasuerus' throne was in the city of Shushan (Esther 1:2). Shushan, also called Susa, is located today within Iran.
6. Ahasuerus wanted Vashti, on the last day of his feast with Shushan's entire court in attendance (Esther 1:5), to show her beauty to all his male guests. Her refusal to do so lead to her dismissal as Queen and loss of all her royal possessions (verse 19).
7. Queen Esther wore a royal crown when she married the Persian king (Esther 2:17).
8. Mordecai learned about a plot by two royal guards to assassinate the king. Mordecai informed Queen Esther who then informed the king. The two men were caught and hanged from a tree (Esther 2:21 - 23).
9. The King James word "chamberlains" in Esther is a synonym for eunuchs.
Eunuchs were males who were castrated, usually at a young age, so that they could serve a king. Eunuchs were many times entrusted to guard harems or other women in the royal court. They were considered trustworthy as their lack of a sex drive and their inability to have sex meant they could serve undistracted and not threaten the king's position or his women.
[Was the Prophet Daniel a Eunuch?]
10. Each woman in the king's harem had to go through a whole year of preparation before they could go before the king (Esther 2:12).
11. Haman cast lots each month, starting with the first one named Nisan, to determine which one might be lucky for his plot to be approved by the king. Finally, in the twelfth month (Adar), on the thirteenth day, the lots give him the sign he needs (Esther 3:7).
[How Were Lots Used in the Bible?]
12. Persian kings had made it illegal for anyone to approach them, on their throne, unless they were summoned (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chapter 6, Section 3, see also Esther 4:11).
Those who dared break the law and see the king without a summons risked being immediately killed! Even Queen Esther had to have the king extend her special favor, through his scepter, before she could safely come to him (Esther 4:11, 5:1 - 2).
13. Persian Prime Minister Haman offered King Xeres, whom he served, the incredible sum of 10,000 talents of silver to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed (Esther 3:8 - 9).
A talent of silver weighs about 75 U.S. pounds (34.3 kilograms) which is equal to 1,094 troy ounces. If we assume a silver price of $31 per troy ounce, Haman offered to pay slightly more than $339 million dollars in today's money to kill all the Jews!
14. Haman had an edict written on the 13th day of the first month (Nisan) that commanded all Jews be murdered on the 13th day of twelfth month (Adar). Haman considered Adar 13 his lucky day (Esther 3:7, 13).
15. The gallows made to hang Mordecai were 50 cubits high (Esther 5:14). If we assume a conservative length of a cubit being 17.5 inches (44.5 centimeters) long, the gallows would have been 72.9 feet (22.21 meters) high!
[Weights and Measures in the Bible]
16. Haman's house was given to Queen Esther (Esther 8:1). The king also gave Mordecai the same royal ring he had given Haman, making him the new Prime Minister. Finally, Esther made Mordecai the overseer of Haman's entire estate.
17. The "law of the Medes and Persians" is mentioned in Daniel 6:8.
Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked. (Daniel 6:8, HBFV).
This law meant that even the king could not rescind or change a decree that was officially approved.
18. Those who were not Jewish, upon seeing Mordecai's rise to a position of power in Persia, became Jewish proselytes (or at least aligned themselves with them, Esther 8:17).
19. Purim is the only feast found in the Old Testament that Jews celebrate which is not legislated by Mosaic law.
20. Queen Esther and Mordecai were part of the royal court of Persia at Shushan (Esther 2:5 - 7, 16 - 17). Although their deaths are not recorded in Scripture, tradition places their graves in Hamadan, Iran.
The burial location of Esther and Mordecai is an important pilgrimage site for Jews in Iran. It was declared a World Heritage Site by the Iranian government in 2008.