Josephus and Queen Esther

[Gail]

I am having a great time reading Josephus' account of Queen Esther.

After Ezra and Nehemiah comes the story of Esther.

First of all, I didn't realize that the Artaxerxes of Esther's time was the son of Xerxes who ordered Nehemiah back to Jerusalem to complete the building of the city wall and temple. That part of history now flows better for me.

Queen Vashti was abiding Persian law when she refused to appear before strangers at the king's ball. I think she got a bum deal out of it. They apparently sent her abroad. The Persian kingdom stretched from India to Ethiopia.

Each of the applicants for the job of Queen got to spend one night with the king before he decided which one he wanted. He falls in love with Esther, not knowing her family origin.

Interesting!

[ClubV12]

I love this stuff! I haven't been reading Josephus lately, but some of the Old Testament stories are like a book you can't put down. The key is having a bit of background on the players and an idea of where the story is going. Then as you see it unfold it begins to read like something you've never really read before. Oh, oh,,, and then what happened? It was like that for me recently reading about Davids mighty men, wow, they were really mighty!