Although the book of Esther contains no direct references to God, his fingerprints can be found all over it. In God Behind the Scenes, Wayne K. Barkhuizen helps us trace the unseen hand of God throughout the Esther narrative, while pointing out how the book is still relevant today. As we walk through the book, we’ll see how God was indeed active in preserving the people through whom the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would one day come.

What if the way the book of Esther has been taught to us in church and retold to us in films, cartoons, and romance novels has missed the original point of the story? Far from being models of piety and devotion, Esther and Mordecai seem indifferent to the faith of their ancestors. How then did this story become part of the Bible and gain the broad acceptance that it has? If the church should not neglect the story, how should it be read? Esther and Her Elusive God calls Christians to avoid the common attempts to make Esther more palatable and theological, and to reclaim this secular story as Scripture. Readers will be encouraged to see in Esther a profound message of God's grace and faithfulness to his wayward people.

Widely praised as a seminal contribution to the study of the Old Testament when it first appeared, Michael V. Fox's Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther is now available in a second edition, complete with an up-to-date critical review of recent Esther scholarship. Fox's commentary, based on his own translation of the Hebrew text, captures the meaning and artistry of Esther's inspiring story. After laying out the background information essential for properly reading Esther, Fox offers commentary on the text that clearly unpacks its message and relevance. Fox also looks in depth at each character in the story of Esther, showing how they were carefully shaped by the book's author to teach readers a new view of how to live as Jews in foreign lands.