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Esther 7 Bible study: An adversary and an enemy
In 7:1, banquet is the verb drink, as when "The king and Haman sat down to drink" (Esther 3:15). Esther's "to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish" (7:4) are the three verbs of Haman's letters, and her "I would have held my peace" (7:4) is the verb of Mordecai's "if you remain silent now" (Esther 4:14).
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“Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.”
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“In Esther 7, Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen.”
Is that in Esther 7, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
The second banquet
"So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen" (7:1). Here banquet isn't the noun of Esther's other banquets but a verb: to drink (tap banquet). It is the verb of chapter 3, where, once the decree was given out, "The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed" (Esther 3:15). Now the same two men sit down to drink with Esther. The king asks again, as he had at the first banquet (Esther 5:6): "What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed" (7:2). This time she answers: "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request" (7:3). She asks for her life and her people, in the king's own two words, petition and request.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Esther 7
That was a taste
The rest of Esther 7 is waiting in Favor
- "We are sold"
- "Who is he?"
- Then the king's wrath was pacified
- Harbona, and Harbonah
- Words that come back
- To save a life
- 6 questions as you read
- 14 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
צַרtsarsay TSAR
Brown-Driver-Briggs, for this use: "adversary, foe". Strong's gives it as "from 6887", and among its senses, "an opponent (as crowding)". Esther uses it twice: "although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss" (7:4), and "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!" (7:6). These are its only two uses in the Hebrew of Esther. The word Strong's gives it as coming from is the verb behind the book's own name for Haman, "the Jews’ enemy" (Esther 3:10).
For your group
Esther 7 Bible study questions
- 1Esther said, "if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace" (7:4). What would it take for you to stop holding your peace about something that matters?
- 2Esther asked for her own life and, in the same breath, "my people at my request" (7:3). Whose good do you find you can't separate from your own?
- 3Esther had said, "I will do tomorrow as the king has said" (Esther 5:8), and on the second day she answered (7:2-3). The chapter doesn't say why she waited. When have you had to choose when to say something hard, and what helped you choose?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Esther 7 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home