Ashley Panwitz presented "Esther" on Saturday, February 13, to a group at Bellwood Church. She is a recent graduate of Concordia University.
Through drama, she portrayed Esther in the events in the book of Esther, during the reign of Xerxes I, between 485 BC and 465 BC. The twelve tribes of Israel split into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon. The northern Kingdom fell in 722 BC to the Assyrian empire. Assyria itself was defeated by the Medes and Babylonians. After the fall of the Southern Kingdom in 586BC, the Jews were taken into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar. By 539 BC the Babylonian Empire had fallen to the Persian Empire. In 538BC the first Jewish exiles began returning to Jerusalem to start rebuilding the city and the temple. However, not all of the Jews returned to their homeland, and thus we arrive at the beginning of our story with Mordecai and Esther living in the fortress at Susa. Esther's story anticipates the fulfillment of the Messianic promise-the birth of Christ-and the Gospel reason behind why God intervened and saved his chosen people from destruction.
