Exploring the Connection Between Matthew 17 and the Book of Esther

Exploring the Connection Between Matthew 17 and the Book of Esther

For BibleInTen.com – By DH – 14th March 2026

Welcome back to Bible in Ten.

Today we come to Matthew 17, and in this series that leads us naturally to Book 17 of the Old Testament: Esther.

And with an explanation of the overall pictorial contents of Matthew 17 provided in the previous episode, Matthew chapter 17 becomes much clearer and in this supplementary episode, we will see how Esther strengthens it as a supporting witness.

Esther is not just a story about Jewish survival in Persia.  Esther is a book about the Lord hidden from open view, but still directing all things toward redemption. The book exists not mainly to magnify the Jews, but to show the unseen faithfulness of God in preserving them for the sake of His promises and ultimately for the sake of the Redeemer, the true subject of Scripture.

The Esther Bible Study available on the Superior Word develops the following pictures:

• Ahasuerus pictures God, the ruler over the world.
• Vashti pictures disobedience and loss of access to the throne.
• Esther pictures the Gospel, especially in her mediating role before the king.
• Haman pictures Law, even law bringing wrath and death.
• Mordecai pictures Christ: hidden at first, then honored, then exalted, then clothed with authority, then writing with full power, then sending letters of peace and truth, and finally having his greatness recorded through all the realm.

That makes Esther a strong support for what Matthew 17 is picturing.

1) “After six days” — the approach to kingdom rest

Matthew 17 begins, “after six days.”  As was said this points toward the six-thousand-year course of man’s time before the seventh-day rest, the millennial kingdom.

Esther supports this by opening in a royal setting already marked by splendor, order, and throne-rule. Shushan is treated almost like a paradise-throne setting, and Ahasuerus is taken as picturing the divine throne-rule itself. So both chapters begin not with chaos, but with the king and the court already in view.

2) Christ revealed in glory before a select company

On the mountain, Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John.

That is the hidden unveiling of the King before His glory is openly seen by all.

Esther supports this pattern through hiddenness before manifestation. The whole book works by concealed identity, concealed movements, and God working in the background long before the reversal appears.  The Lord is not named openly in Esther, yet He is there, hidden, moving everything toward the appointed outcome.

So Matthew 17’s select-company glory scene sits very comfortably beside Esther’s hidden-providence structure.

3) Moses and Elijah testify that all prior revelation converges on Christ

Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, but not as equals. They are witnesses.

That fits Esther’s Christ structure too. The whole book drives toward one central exalted figure: not Vashti, not Haman, not even Esther by herself, but finally Mordecai in exaltation. And Mordecai is clearly picturing Christ Jesus, the one advanced to authority by the king.

So just as Matthew 17 narrows the law and prophets toward Christ, Esther narrows all of its movements toward the greatness of Mordecai, a picture of the greatness of Christ.

4) “Hear Him” and “Jesus only”

This is the heart of Matthew 17.

The Father says, “Hear Him,” and the disciples then see “Jesus only.”

That fits Esther, because Esther repeatedly moves the reader away from outward structures and toward the one through whom life and deliverance actually come. Esther is a picture of the beautiful Gospel message, but Mordecai is the Christ figure who ends up invested with the king’s authority and acting with the signet.  The signet granted to Mordecai pictures the authority of Christ.

So if Matthew 17 says, in effect, “Hear Him”, Esther says in its own symbolic way: the decisive authority now rests with the Christ-figure who bears the king’s signet.

5) Hidden glory must wait for resurrection-grounded disclosure

Jesus tells them not to publicise the vision until after resurrection.

Again, Esther supports this because Esther is a book of timed disclosure. Esther conceals her identity, Mordecai watches from outside, and the hidden plan only comes into the open at the appointed hour. The Lord is working behind the scenes and the book’s whole structure depends on that hiddenness.

So Matthew 17 and Esther both teach: that public revelation comes only when the right moment arrives.

6) Elijah / restoration and Israel’s future turning

Matthew 17 speaks of Elijah in two ways at once: John the Baptist has already fulfilled an Elijah-like role, but Jesus’ wording also leaves a still-future restoration role in view.

Esther also supports a future restoration by showing that the covenant people are threatened but not discarded. Esther is treated as a book of redemptive history in which the Jews are preserved because God’s promises to them stand, and because the Messiah must come and return in connection with them.

Esther strengthens the Matthew 17 reading that Israel is not finally cast off. God is not finished with Israel chiefly through Jesus’ future-tense words about Elijah restoring all things, and then reinforced through the picture of Israel’s healing and restored sonship later in the chapter.”

Though threatened and with God’s face hidden from open view, they are brought through to preservation, mourning, reversal, and future blessing

7) The afflicted boy and Israel’s incurable condition

The Matthew 17 explanation treats the afflicted boy as picturing Israel in its historical condition: wounded, unstable, and untreatable by human means.

Esther strongly confirms that pattern. The Jews stand under a decree of destruction that has to be properly and purposefully dealt with. Haman, picturing Law, has issued a death-word, and the people are trapped unless royal intervention occurs.

In Matthew 17 the boy is incurable by the disciples.

IN Esther the Jews are doomed under an irreversible decree.

In both: the people cannot heal or save themselves.

8) Christ alone intervenes to heal and deliver

In Matthew 17, Jesus heals what the disciples could not.

In Esther, the same pattern appears through the Mordecai-Christ picture and the Esther-Gospel mediation.

Matthew 17 pictures Israel’s future restoration, healing, and restored sonship through Christ. The book of Esther supports that pattern by showing that although the first decree of death cannot be revoked, a new decree can be issued through Mordecai’s royal authority that brings life to the threatened people.

The old word of death cannot simply be revoked, but another word can be issued which grants life. That second word comes through Esther and Mordecai, and the edict issued by Mordecai is explicitly treated as a picture of the New Covenant.

Mordecai, picturing Christ, receives the signet, acts with royal authority, and sends out the saving word.

Thus Esther is supportive of Matthew 17’s portrayal of Messiah Himself being the one who intervenes.

9) The cross remains central

IN Matthew 17 Jesus speaks of betrayal, death, and resurrection.

A portion of the notes by CG on this from Esther chapter 10 bear repeating:

 

Haman pictures Law, but Christ actually died. It was Christ who was nailed to the cross, and so in type and picture, Christ became our Haman, our Man under Law, if you will. It is no different at all than Christ equating Himself with the serpent on the pole in John 3:14, or Paul saying that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. 

 

In the death of His body, the law died with Him for all who believe. For all who don’t, Law, and thus the enmity, remains. This is where the marvelous symbolism of a very misunderstood passage in the book of John is explained. It says in John 20, “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.” Many fanciful explanations have been made up about this, but the truth is revealed in what happened to Haman, when he was taken to be executed... they covered his face. The Law was to die. Christ died in fulfillment of the law. When He arose, the face covering was removed, and carefully folded. It was an intentional act of the Lord showing that the shame of death through Law had been removed for those who trust in Him. The people of Israel, the Jews, even to this day, celebrate Purim, and yet they are celebrating the exact opposite of what they think they are celebrating. They curse Haman, stamp their feet, and howl wildly as his name is read, and yet, he simply pictures Law that they are still under. Until they come to Christ, Haman will continue to come after them to destroy, to be killed, and to be annihilated because of the ministry of death, meaning Law (2 Corinthians 3:7). Why do the Jews celebrate Purim? It is because of what pur signifies. It is a lot, a broken piece, and thus Purim, the plural of pur, signifies broken pieces. Pur means “to break,” “frustrate,” “make ineffectual,” “annul,” “bring to naught.” This is what Christ has done concerning our covenant with death according to Paul – For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

The Jews cling to the law, but it is Christ who has defeated that enemy. The law is annulled in Christ. This is the message of Purim.

 

Life Application 

There is also a striking present-day echo. In 2026, Purim began on the evening of March 2nd just 2 days after Israel was again in direct conflict with Iran.

Just as Haman was also not himself Persian (he was Amalekite who gained influence at the heart of the palace and used imperial power against God’s people).  In a similar way,  The Islamic Republic of Iran’s rulers are militant usurpers who seized control of the land of Persia in 1979 and have held the nation in bondage ever since.

Even the recent reports and speculation about Israeli intelligence using covert medical cover—dentists, hidden tracking, to coordinate a sudden destruction on the Supreme Leader —carry an Esther-like atmosphere.    Just for fun check out the link to a stop motion lego video about this by “Stop Motion Sam”!

The deeper parallel is the same: the enemy appears secure, the plot seems advanced, yet unseen movements are already in motion, and when the appointed moment comes, the reversal is sudden.