Mordecai's faith & Esther's faithfulness Thru the Bible: Esther 1-5 The life of Eshter took place in Susa in the mid 400B.C.s under the Persian rule of King Xerxes or as the Bible has him King Ahasuerus. This was the father of King Artaxerxes who would send both Ezra and later Nehemiah to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem. It was a time of unparalleled power, domain, influence and prosperity for Persia. Her life is pivotal in both Jewish and human history. Esther was used of God to stop a plot to destroy ALL Jews. If the plan had been successful ALL of God's promises regarding Messiah would have remained unfulfilled and God would have been made a liar. Humanity and creation itself would have been plundged into eternal hopelessness. Yet, we see as we go through this historical account of her life that she did not stand alone nor was it even her faith, initially, which averted this disaster. Thes first 5 chapters reveal people who appear little more than victims of circumstance, but God orchestrated the events in their lives to arrive at the conclusion necessary for His Own word to prove true and His devotion to His people to be exhibited once again. Blessings!