Esther in rabbinic literature R. Shimon b. Yohai said that it was because, unlike Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they had bowed down to Nebuchadnezzar's idol. However, he explained that since they did not mean to show devotion, but acted only for appearances sake, so God decreed only the apparent destruction of the Jews, but would not permit Haman to carry it out. A second reason draws a distinction between Daniel, who abstained from Nebuchadnezzar's table and the Jews (with the exception of Mordecai), who attended Ahasuerus' banquet in Chapter 1. Mordecai called upon her to pray for her people and then intercede with the
Development of the Old Testament canon of the Catholic Church. All of these we also judge to be Canonical Books, and confess them to be Sacred Scripture. Not all books of the Old Testament are covered in the "Prophetologion", the official Old Testament lectionary: "Because the only exposure most Eastern Christians had to the Old Testament was from the readings during services, the Prophetologion can be called the Old Testament of the Byzantine Church." Development of the Old Testament canon The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books