Quodlibet
Backstage Deity
by Donald T. Williams
Esther is the only book in the Bible that never directly mentions God. Why? Because it is about the way in which he works behind the scenes. He is just as much at work when we do not see him as he is in the plagues of Egypt or the crossing of the Red Sea. When Mordecai tells Esther that if she does not risk an audience with the king, deliverance will arise for Israel from another place, his statement makes no sense unless in the back of his mind rests the entire structure of Old Testament theology: God's covenant never to forsake Judah utterly; his faithfulness, which will lead him to keep his covenant promises to Abraham and to David; and his sovereign power, which will enable him to do so. The author incarnates the message of God's providential work behind the scenes so completely that he does not need to beat us over the head with it by mentioning God. He trusts the story to carry the message. And we can trust God's promises even as Mordecai and Esther did.
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on Bible from the online archives
27.4—July/August 2014
The Bible, Sacred Theology & the Mind of Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon
24.3—May/June 2011
The Making & Endurance of the King James Bible, 1611-2011 by Barton Swaim
32.2—March/April 2019
on Preserving Physical & Spiritual Nourishment by Nathanael Devlin
more from the online archives
32.2—March/April 2019
on Properly Rendering Things to Caesar & to God by Peter J. Leithart
27.4—July/August 2014
The Bible, Sacred Theology & the Mind of Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
