In my last blog I mentioned that the Old Testament book of Esther contains not one mention of the divine name Yahweh, nor does it contain the word elohim, the Hebrew noun for God.  But as the old Puritan Bible commentator Matthew Henry remarks of this great book, “If the name of God is not in it, His finger is.”

I also mentioned that Esther records not even one tiny ‘miracle.’  Nevertheless, in her NIV Application Commentary on Esther, Bible commentator Karen Jobes writes:

Although there is not one tiny miracle found in the book of Esther, the cumulative result of a series of improbable events leads one to ponder the miraculous quality of the ordinary. As it has been said, “a coincidence is a miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous.” If, as the book of Esther implies, God interacts with individuals in such a way as to move history to the goal ordained by His eternal purposes, surely even the ordinary takes on a miraculous luster. In some ineffable way, ordinary human decisions cooperate with the divine plan.

Indeed, Jobes here touches on a great mystery:  the so-called “tension” between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.  But Christians need not worry about resolving this tension.  You see, the Bible clearly teaches both:  (1) God is absolutely sovereign over all persons and events, AND (2) human beings are responsible creatures who make real choices for which they are accountable.  We must leave it at that, for the Bible does not completely unveil to us all the answers to this great mystery. 

I hope you’ve taken up my challenge to read through this wonderful story, for Esther has much to teach us.  It certainly contains one of the most striking examples of the doctrine of God’s providence in all of Scripture!