Esther: An Introduction and Commentary

Tyndale Old Testament Commentary

by Joyce G. Baldwin

The Jews were threatened with genocide. A decree ordered the extermination of young and old, women and children. The place: Persia. The time: fifth century B.C. The book of Esther describes how this crisis was averted through the bravery of Esther, the wisdom of her stepfather and the unity of the Jewish people. It also reveals the God who quietly—and sometimes unexpectedly—works behind the scenes to order the events of our lives.

Joyce Baldwin draws out the beauty and power of this book by discussing its background, structure and theology, and by providing a passage-by-passage analysis of its contents.

Genres: Reference, Christian, Old Testament, Nonfiction, Theology, Biblical Studies, Christianity

126 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1984

Reviews

[Filip Sylwestrowicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyce Baldwin's small volume on Esther frequently makes it to the lists of top commentaries on Esther. Its reputation is well deserved. Baldwin's writing style is readable, clear, succinct and to the point. Despite its modest size, her commentary contains a lot of information. It is particularly strong in helping the reader grasp literary qualities of the book. I also appreciated her excursuses on fasting, vengeance and portions. Baldwin wrote from an evangelical perspective and generally for a broader audience. She comments on Hebrew text but other works should be consulted on linguistic matters. Sadly this commentary is out of print.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyce Baldwin had an impressive skill for writing briefly without compromising depth. This certainly isn't the most exhaustive or up-to-date commentary on the book, but the combination of its insight and its brevity (the verse-by-verse commentary covers only 64 small pages!) recommend it to anyone looking for valuable devotional reading or accessible material for teaching Sunday School.

There are things I wish she would have covered more deeply. On p112 she writes that the author of Esther "often introduces an unusual word more than once, so drawing attention to its special place in its scheme." But Baldwin really only discusses one such unusual word ("portions"). Surely it couldn't have hurt to write a little more than she did. Even twenty additional pages would have left this a rather short commentary. Still, what's here is more than sufficient!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, accessible, and useful commentary on Esther. It’s worth including if you can only have one and are on a budget. I found it helpful in my sermon study. I wouldn’t recommend reading it devotionally.

[Zachary Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for sermon prep! Baldwin treats each chapter briefly, which by necessity leaves important issues out, but it’s still helpful and has a good bit of substance for its brevity.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent commentary, although it has been replaced in the Tyndale series.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine short commentary that covers the historicity, literary style and various versions of the book of Esther. This is a commentary designed for laypeople, Sunday School teachers and the like who have limited knowledge of this work on which the Jewish holiday of Purim is based.

As with most of the Tyndale commentary series, the introduction is both easy to understand and informative. I wasn't aware, for instance, of the various editions of the book of Esther that have circulated or that the Old Testament contains a fairly basic version of the book. This is all explained and the additional material that is omitted from our Bibles is added to the end of the commentary which is useful.The idea of the casting of lots and using dice and such and how it relates to the book and the festival of Purim is also covered.

The literary ideas of the book along with certain words or concepts that are repeated for effect though the work are explained nicely. For instance the idea of a Portion being an extra special blessing as opposed to just being one portion of an equal amount of food as in a portion of potatoes helped me understand not just the usage here but also elsewhere in Scripture. Overall this was a pleasant learning experience.

[Sae-chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am inclined to believe that Esther is a historical fiction. There was an actual event, but this is romanticized. This makes it easier to explain the discrepancy with other sources, the exaggerated numbers, not to mention the oh so many versions.

I feel that the deliberate omission of God, the name details of palace personnel, the play of words and themes were all the more the evidences of excellent literature.

But that doesn't mean that there are no value in the book of Esther. Just like parables in the bible or myth and legends of this world, they serve as agents to stir up our feeling, our thoughts, our ethics, our...whatever we hold dear in life.