Lesson 19

Ester 500 BC

Open with prayer.

Introduce and show the Ester video

Bible reading:

Ch 3: Haman’s conspiracy
Ch 4: 12-17 and Ch 5 Ester’s courage (v. 4:17 is Ester saying “if I perish, I perish”)

This reading takes 8 minutes. It is hard to extract verses because this is such a tightly knit short
story. Maybe you can pick out a better set of verses based on your video selection.

The Persian Empire is big. The map size shrink down many of the seas and rivers listed on
earlier maps. Only new large bodies of water are listed: Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The map
also shows scripture from Ester 1:1 which offers Empire boundaries of India and Ethiopia. Point
out that Ethiopia is the land below Egypt. If time permits, offer questions of the smaller seas and
rivers. Again, you can draw this map in much less than a minute and it takes another minute to
label the seas and boundaries.

Reflection and forecast: The Persian Empire replaced the short lived Babylonian Empire which
replaced the long-lived Assyrian Empire. The Greek Empire established by Alexander the Great
will replace the Persian Empire during this era of change. This Greek empire does not have
Biblical reference.

Specific questions:

1. Who was the Jewish woman who became queen? Ester

2. Who was Ester’s uncle who raised Ester? Mordecai
3. Who was the man who wished to destroy all the Jewish people living in the empire?
Haman

Open ended questions:

1. Did anyone see any difference between what was on the video and what we read in the
Bible? (On the first and second class, tell the kids that this question is coming as we start the
video.)
2. What was the best thing you saw from either the video or the Bible reading?
3. How do you think Ester grew the courage to see the king without invitation which is
punishable by death?
4. Where do you see God’s love for the Hebrew people and Ester?