The Book of Esther

Throughout the Book of Esther, the king of Persia is rendered Ahasuerus in the text. However, in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah he is recorded as Darius (Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:5-7; 6:1, 12-15 and Nehemiah 12:22). Moreover, in the Book of Ezra he is also called Artaxerxes in chapters seven and eight (Ezra 7:1, 7, 11, 12, 21; 8:1). It is imperative, if we are to have a correct understanding of the kings of Persia, to realize that the terms Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes and Darius are titles, not the names of kings. They carry the same meaning as Caesar in Roman history and Pharoah in Egyptian history. So, the king of Persia may use any one or all three of these titles to refer to himself, when describing his works. In fact, Xerxes, actually calls himself “Darius” in his inscription at Persepolis. In one paragraph he begins by saying “Xerxes the great king,” and in the following paragraph he describes himself as “Darius the king” (see Dr. E.W. Bullinger: The Companion Bible; Appendix 57). The time of the book begins near the end of the first section of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy (Daniel 9:24-25), which is about the 48^th year of the first section of the prophecy, “7 weeks” or 49 years. This will become clearer in the first part of the study below.