Esther became queen of Persia during the reign of which king?

The Answer

Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai, became queen to King Xerxes of Persia, also known by his Hebrew name Ahasuerus. When Haman plotted to destroy the Jews, Esther risked her life by approaching the king uninvited. Mordecai's challenge to her still echoes: perhaps she had come to her royal position for such a time as this.

The book of Esther never mentions God by name — and that may be its most powerful feature. His fingerprints are on every coincidence: a queen deposed, an orphan chosen, a plot overheard, a sleepless king reading exactly the right page of the royal records.

Most of our lives feel like the book of Esther. No burning bushes, no parted seas — just circumstances that, looking back, arranged themselves too well to be accidents.

You are not where you are by chance. The desk you sit at, the street you live on, the people within your reach — who knows whether you have come to your position for such a time as this?