By the time that you read this article, Lord willing, you will have already heard my

lesson on the book of Esther.  For that reason, I would like to share the following information with you regarding the city of Shushan, the winter capital of the Persian Empire.  In particular, I would like to pass along some information regarding its palace.  This information is from the archeological supplement contained in the Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible, © 1988, B. B. Kirkbride Bible Co., Inc.  I think you will see that the

archeological evidence clearly supports the accuracy of the book of Esther - yet additional

support of the fact that the scriptures are indeed the inspired words of God.

     “The French began excavations here in 1852 under the direction of W. K. Loftus, resumed them in 1884 under M. Dieulafoy, and have continued the work under Jacques de Morgan and others.  The ruins are in four sections and cover about 4,900 acres...

     Dieulafoy, aided by his wife, discovered the palace fortress ...It covered 123 acres; was raised high above the surrounding city; and was made up of the throne room, the ‘House of the King,’ ‘the House of the Women,’ along with the inner and outer courts, the palace garden, pylons, stairways, terraces, and a few archways.  The throne room was a great hypostyle hall which covered nearly an acre of ground...’Here came the king when he sat on the throne of his kingdom, and here were held his banquets and state social events such as the prolonged banquet described in the first chapter of the Book of Esther.  The floor of the throne room was ‘a pavement of red, and blue and white and black marble,’ just as it had been described in the Book of Esther.  Across this marble floor had walked the beautiful Queen Esther at the risk of her life, as she approached the crimson canopied throne, stopping before the carpet which only the feet of the king were to tread, there to intercede for the lives of her people.

     In front of the great pillared throne room were the palace gardens where walked the king as he pondered the evil deeds of Haman.  Nearby were the ruined ‘House of the King’ and the ‘House of the Women.’  Then there was ‘the King’s gate’ where sat Mordecai the Jew.

And, in among the debris, Dieulafoy even found a quadrangular prism or dice, on which were engraved the numbers one, two, five and six.  With this ‘die’ or pur they cast lots - ‘They cast Pur, that is, the ‘lot’ is an explanation for the Jews as to how Haman ‘cast lots’ for fixing a date for the destruction of the Jews.”

  “It all made so profound an impression upon Dieulafoy that he made a scale model of the great palace in which had been enacted so many of the events in the Book of Esther, and placed it in the Museum of the Louvre in Paris.  With these restorations, one can readily locate the ‘Kings gate’ where sat Mordecai, the ‘inner court of the King’s house over against the King’s house’ where Esther appeared without being bidden by the king; ‘the outward court of the King’s house’; where Haman came to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged; and ‘the palace garden’ where the king went to think and cool off his anger against Haman.  Thus we are aided in restoring the structural surroundings of the palace and in gaining a more exact acquaintance with the many events that took place there, and of seeing the marvelous accuracy of the Book of Esther.”