In the book of Esther it is striking that the divine name JAHWEH, which we encounter almost 4000 times in the Old Testament, does not appear. We also do not find terms such as God (Elohim) or other designations for the Deity. In addition, you will find little or no references to the Jewish religion and rituals. Yet there is hardly any other book in which God’s sovereign rule and His guidance in all things is more evident than in Esther.
hidden
Esther is usually translated as star. But what exactly is a star? The name Esther is derived from a Hebrew word that means to hide (haster, H5641). We find this, for example, in:
Deuteronomy 31
17 Then My wrath will be kindled against them (=Israel) on that day. I will forsake them and hide (Hebrew: esthrthi) My face from them, and they will be devoured; and many terrors and afflictions shall befall the people, so that they will say in that day, Have not these terrors befallen me because my God is not among us?
18 I will surely hide (literally: hiding hiding, Hebrew: esthr asthir) My face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.
the Jewish people preserved
The book of Esther speaks of a time in which God does not seem to intervene directly in the circumstances of this world. A time in which He hides, but in which He certainly governs and disposes behind the scenes and the Jewish people are preserved in a hidden way.
In Esther, for example, we find that the Jewish people are threatened by extermination and saved. In history, we can find many examples of anti-Semitism that was aimed at destroying the Jewish people, one of the greatest of which was that of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. But despite all these persecutions, the Jewish people still exist. Because God has a plan and a future for them.