Bethany Lutheran Church

God is never named in the book of Esther — and yet He is all over it. Esther becomes queen through a series of unlikely events. God's hidden work through the ordinary, even in secular settings. God's grace is not always spectacular but always present — especially in weakness and mystery. Esther 2:5–11, 15–18 (ESV)Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was tak