Esther’s Prayer Before Meeting the King (Est 4:17a-17h and 17i-17z)

Abstract

The article presents the penitential prayers that emerged as a literary genre after the Qumran discoveries and the intensive study of many prayers from these finds. The characteristic feature of the penitential prayers is that they do not ask God why He sent misfortune to the people, but rather acknowledge their own culpability for it. They were written during and after the exile. The prayer of Esther in the Greek version of the Book of Esther is one of them. It is prayed by Queen Esther before she goes to ask the Persian king to avert the death sentence already pronounced against her people after the atoning deeds have been done. Esther's coming before the king without being summoned puts her in mortal danger. So her prayer is a mixture of worship to God, acknowledgement of Israel's guilt, danger they are in, and a plea for her and her people's salvation. God answered her prayer.

Keywords

• god
• israel
• danger
• guilt
• punishment
• confession
• repentance
• mercy
• deliverance