Queen Esther and the Feast of Firstfruits A fascinating story involves the lovely Queen Esther, of the Book of Esther.  Ahasuerus, King of the Medo-Persian Empire, made Esther his wife.  Esther was Jewish, but Ahasuerus was unaware of this fact.  A prominent nobleman, Haman, hated Esther’s cousin and guardian, Mordecai.  Haman wished to destroy Mordecai, as well as all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews.  So Haman made a request to the king to exterminate the Jews, and the king gave his approval—not realizing, of course, that his queen was a Jewess. On Aviv 13 (or Nisan 13), the plans to annihilate the Jews were written up as an official edict and sealed with the king’s ring by Haman.  (Interestingly, this probably was the same date that Judas Iscariot conspired with the chief priests to betray Jesus and hand Him over to them—Matthew 26:14-16.)  For portions of three days and nights, the distressed Queen Esther fasted; and, on the third day (Aviv 16), she approached the king.  She invited him and Haman to a banquet that very day.  At the banquet, Esther invited them to yet another banquet the next day. The following day (Aviv 17), during the second banquet, Queen Esther revealed to the king (in Haman’s presence) the plan for the destruction, slaughter, and annihilation of her people, the Jews.  She also exposed Haman as the originator and instigator of the plan.  That very day, Haman was hanged on the same gallows he had had built to hang Mordecai.  The Jews were delivered victoriously from their primary enemy on Aviv 17.  It is noteworthy that the same words, “adversary” and “enemy,” used to describe Haman, also are used to describe Satan, from whose “edict of death” all believers have been saved as a result of Jesus the Messiah’s resurrection on Aviv 17—the Feast of Firstfruits.