Esther Account Was Historically Accurate

Do you remember the story of Esther and how she was able to save her people from genocide as described in the Bible Book of Esther?


This account described how one of the King's princes, Haman the Agagite,  tried to have the Jews murdered  but he was thwarted by Mordecai and Esther who turned the tables on Haman by appealing her husband King Ahasuerus to pass an order arming the Jews so they could defend themselves against Haman's murderers as described in Esther chapter 8. In the end it was Haman and his cohorts who were destroyed.


But outside of the Bible is there any proof that this actually happened --  that this king actually existed? The Bible said he was Ahasuerus. But there is no King Ahasuerus of Persia. And this has caused  some to  question whether or not this Ahasuerus ever existed.


But eventually through their deciphering of Persian monuments  archaeologists found evidence that this Ahasuerus mentioned in Esther was Xerxes I the son of Darius the the Great. In their  transliteration of  Xerxes into Hebrew they found it  almost identical to the Ahasuerus mentioned in the book of Esther.


And everything  said in the book of Esther about Ahasuerus, his capital at Susa (Shusan) in Elam, his rule over Media and the extent of his empire from India to the island of the Mediterranean all agree with the facts about one Persian king: Xerxes.


Regarding this scholar Lewis Bayles Paton wrote, "The character of Ahasuerus, as portrayed in the Book of Esther also agrees well with the account of Xerxes given by  Herodotus and other Greek historians."


So yes, the Bible account was accurate -- further evidence of the accuracy and authenticity of the Bible.