According to Biblical history, the Northern Kingdom (known as Israel), fell into the hands of Assyrians [c.  722 BC] during the reign of King Hoshea due to the Israelites’ sins against the Lord Almighty (2 Kings 17:5-6 & 24).  Similarly, the Southern Kingdom (known as Judah), was attacked and defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most powerful Kings of the Neo-Babylonian empire, during the reign of King Jehoiakim due to the Israelites’ unfaithfulness to God and His Law [c.  605 BC] (Jeremiah 5:11).  After laying siege to Jerusalem for several years, the city of Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the temple was burned down during the reign of King Zedekiah, the last King of Judah [c.  586 BC].  Below are the three phases of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem under King Nebuchadnezzar who ruled the Babylonian empire for 43 years, that is, from 605 to 562 BC:

• • Phase One: It is assumed that Nebuchadnezzar initially invaded Jerusalem at the beginning of his reign [c.  605 BC] (2 Chronicles 36:5-7), which marked the beginning of the 70-year captivity of Judah predicted by Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11-12).  After the invasion, Jehoiakim, captured the King of Judah,  royal officials, including Daniel, and others like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They were taken to Babylon as captives (Daniel 1:1, 6-7) 
  • Phase Two: Jerusalem was again attacked by King Nebuchadnezzar during the reign of Jehoiachin, [c.597 BC], and the King along with ten thousand people and temple treasures were carried away to Babylon (2 Kings 24: 14-16)
  • Phase Three: King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem again for the third time during the reign of King Zedekiah [c.586 BC] and this time the Babylonians destroyed the city and burned down the Sanctuary.  King Zedekiah, the royal household, and officials were deported to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:15-20).  

In the course of time, the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persian King Cyrus [c.539 BC] and the center of government transferred from Babylon to Persia (Ezra 1:1).  Several decades later, King Xerxes, one of the most powerful kings in the line of King Cyrus came in to power and he ruled Persian empire from 486 to 465 BC (Xerxes was his Greek name but he had a Persian name – Khshayarshan and a Hebrew name – Ahasuerus).  The story of Esther was one of the incidents which occurred during his reign, between 483 and 473, in and around Susa, the capital city of Persia.  According to Esther 2:16-18, Esther became the Queen of Persia in the seventh year of his reign, that is, 478 BC.  Thus, the events recorded in the book of Esther fall between Ezra 6 and 7, if we study the exiles’ events in sequence, there was a gap of 60-80 years between Ezra 6 and 7.  Ezra 1 – 6 narrates the history of first return of Jewish exiles from Babylon/Persia to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the governor of the Persian province of Judah, during the reign of King Cyrus [c.538 BC] (Ezra 1:2; 3:8), and Ezra 7 – 10 narrates the second return of Jewish exiles under the leadership of Ezra during the reign of King Artaxerxes [c.457 BC] (Ezra 7:1, 8).  Although the book of Esther is positioned after the book of Nehemiah in the Christian Bible, the contents of the book occurred about 30 years prior to Nehemiah’s return to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1) [c. 444 BC].  While the post-exilic books of Ezra and Nehemiah deal with the issues relating to the Jewish remnant who returned to Jerusalem, the book of Esther deals with a life threatening challenge faced by the remnant who were still in Persia (Esther 3:5-6).  The responsibility of Esther as the Queen of Persia was not only to save the Jewish people from their total destruction but also to secure their safety and respect throughout King Xerxes’ Kingdom – 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush (Esther  8:7-9).