Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

AHASUERUS

(Heb. ʾăḥašwērôš; Gk. ʾAssouēros)

1. In all probability, the biblical name for Xerxes I (Pers. khshayârshâ), king of Persia 486-465 b.c.e., son and successor of Darius I. Under his father he was satrap over Babylon (498-486). Upon his accession he recaptured Egypt (484), which had revolted late in the reign of Darius I. In 480 Xerxes moved against the Greeks, to whom his father Darius had lost the battle of Marathon (490). He initially won a major battle at Thermopylae (480), but lost at Salamis (480) and Mycale (479), and decisively at Eurymedon (466). He implemented a tax structure which put non-Persians at a disadvantage. Ahasuerus is mentioned in Ezra 4:6 as the ruler when “the people of the land” leveled an unspecified accusation against the community in Jerusalem. According to the book of Esther, he first approved anti-Semitic measures (Esth. 3:12-14); subsequently, through the crucial mediation of his Jewish wife Esther, he permitted forceful resistance by the Jews against any organized assault (8:10-14).

2. Ahasuerus the Mede. Referred to in Dan. 9:1, he is otherwise unknown and considered problematic.

3. According to some versions of Tob. 14:15, along with Nebuchadnezzar a destroyer of Nineveh. The reference poses historical problems.

Gerald M. Bilkes

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

AHASUERUS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)