Bernie Monsalvo, focusing on an epoch of time in which God used three individuals to save Israel, prophesying the event years in advance, unmistakably establishing His credentials as sovereign God, capable of micro-managing world events, examines the accounts of Cyrus, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Before Cyrus was even born, God had planned his life's mission, releasing the Jewish captives, enabling Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and the House of God after many years of desolation. The book of Ezra records the accounts of the return of exiles and the purifying of the Jewish bloodline. The Jews who remained in Persia also were delivered by the remarkable intercession of Queen Esther, a Jewish orphan named Hadassah, reared by her uncle Mordecai. Ezra probably wrote the books of Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther received an incredible amount of “clout” by God Almighty, a type of the church. Esther, risking her very life, intercedes on behalf of her people, rescuing her people from the evil plans of Haman, realizing that she had evidently been predestined for this task. This heroic account is memorialized annually on Purim.

Ahasuerus * Babylonia * Babylonian captivity * Courage * Cyrus * Daniel 2:6-45 * Deliverance of Jews in Persia * Delivery * Esther 2:5-7, 21-23; 4:5-16 * Esther * Ezra 1:1-4 * Ezra * Hadassah * Haman as anti-Christ * Haman * Isaiah 44:24-28; 45:1-4 * Jeremiah 25:8-12; 29:10-12 * Laws of the Medes and the Persians * Medo-Persian empire * Midrash * Mordacai * Myrtle branch * Nehemiah * Purim * Shushan * Vashti