In the final film of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, the main villain Bane watches the city of Gotham devolve into chaos and destruction while he calmly knits. This detail alludes to a character in Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities who knits while sentencing people to death. Nolan deploys this subtle hint to cue the audience to read his Batman narrative in light of Dickens’ novel. In a similar way, the author of Esther uses careful allusions in order to place the narrative within the wider scope of the Bible. The dialogue, decisions, and dramatic tensions introduced in Esther 3-4 pull on the narrative threads of prior Old Testament books underscore the unchanging and sovereign goodness of God towards his people. This is Understanding Esther. 

Check out the rest of our Understanding Series: https://www.fouroaksmidtown.com/teachings