{"id":813,"date":"2025-03-27T00:02:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T13:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?post_type=book_of_esther&#038;p=813"},"modified":"2026-10-15T08:32:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:32:38","slug":"2","status":"publish","type":"book_of_esther","link":"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2","title":{"rendered":"2 \u25ba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Esther 2 - The original Miss Universe competition (479BC)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zFrlzIEapl0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Esther 2 &#8211; The original Miss Universe competition (479BC)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Between chapters 1 &amp; 2 of Esther. There are wider geo-political events playing out. With huge ramifications for the known world. In between these 2 chapters, Xerxes assembles a massive army &amp; invades Greece, circa 480BC. The legendary short battle of Thermopylae occurs against the Spartan King Leonidas. But far more catastrophic for Xerxes, a massive storm, combined with expert Grecian navy manoeuvring, sees him lose many ships &amp; men at sea. Ultimately his campaign to conquer Greece fails. &amp; a significant portion, of his retreating army dies of starvation, exposure &amp; disease, in a long retreat back to Persia. This failed military campaign is not mentioned in the Biblical narrative. Unsurprising, given the narrative appears to have been written at a time of Persian censorship. The writer of Esther chooses their words very carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">0:00 Introduction<br>1:14 Esther 2: 1<br>2:18 Esther 2: 2-4<br>3:30 Esther 2: 5-6<br>5:23 Esther 2: 7<br>7:19 Esther 2: 8<br>8:10 Esther 2: 9<br>9:36 Esther 2: 10-11<br>11:13 Esther 2: 12<br>12:03 Esther 2: 13-14<br>13:10 Esther 2: 15<br>14:15 Esther 2: 16-18<br>15:23 Esther 2: 19-20<br>16:36 Esther 2: 21-23<br>17:33 Conclusion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-813","book_of_esther","type-book_of_esther","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2 \u25ba - theBible.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 \u25ba - theBible.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Esther 2 &#8211; The original Miss Universe competition (479BC) Between chapters 1 &amp; 2 of Esther. There are wider geo-political events playing out. With huge ramifications for the known world. In between these 2 chapters, Xerxes assembles a massive army &amp; invades Greece, circa 480BC. The legendary short battle of Thermopylae occurs against the Spartan King Leonidas. But far more catastrophic for Xerxes, a massive storm, combined with expert Grecian navy manoeuvring, sees him lose many ships &amp; men at sea. Ultimately his campaign to conquer Greece fails. &amp; a significant portion, of his retreating army dies of starvation, exposure &amp; disease, in a long retreat back to Persia. This failed military campaign is not mentioned in the Biblical narrative. Unsurprising, given the narrative appears to have been written at a time of Persian censorship. The writer of Esther chooses their words very carefully. 0:00 Introduction1:14 Esther 2: 12:18 Esther 2: 2-43:30 Esther 2: 5-65:23 Esther 2: 77:19 Esther 2: 88:10 Esther 2: 99:36 Esther 2: 10-1111:13 Esther 2: 1212:03 Esther 2: 13-1413:10 Esther 2: 1514:15 Esther 2: 16-1815:23 Esther 2: 19-2016:36 Esther 2: 21-2317:33 Conclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"theBible.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-14T21:32:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2\",\"name\":\"2 \u25ba - theBible.au\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-26T13:02:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-14T21:32:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2 \u25ba\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/\",\"name\":\"theBible.au\",\"description\":\"with Paul Woodley\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/#organization\",\"name\":\"theBible.au\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/theBible-logo-menu.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/theBible-logo-menu.png\",\"width\":1704,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"theBible.au\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thebible.au\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2 \u25ba - theBible.au","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thebible.au\/?book_of_esther=2","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2 \u25ba - theBible.au","og_description":"Esther 2 &#8211; The original Miss Universe competition (479BC) Between chapters 1 &amp; 2 of Esther. 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