Esther 1 · a question people ask
Who is King Ahasuerus? Is he the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6?
Esther tells you who he is in its own words: "this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces" (1:1), who "sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Susa the palace" (1:2), with "the army of Persia and Media" (1:3) and "the seven princes of Persia and Media" (1:14). Esther gives him no other name, and this study doesn't add one from outside it. Ezra has a king of the same name: "In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem" (Ezra 4:6). Neither book says whether they are the same king, and this study leaves it there.
The verses
“Now in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces), in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Susa the palace, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and his servants; the army of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him.”
“and next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom),”
“In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.”