Esther 1:1-2:20
The Invisible Providence of God
Tonight
we are beginning a study in a very interesting yet unique book of the Bible.
The book of Esther –
Uniqueness of
the book is this: The name of God is not mentioned in this book at all.
There
are no prayers – no sacrifices – no offerings
– no pictures of the cross or of Christ.
Despite
all of that the hand of God is at work all the way through the book. He is
writing throughout the book –
“I am God I am
here. I am working things out.”
Matthew
Henry puts it this way: “Though the name of God be not
in it [Esther], the finger of God is directing many minute events for the
bringing about of His people’s deliverance.”
The
Story stands as a wonderful reminder of how God is often at work behind the
scenes working in unseen ways in the events of our lives as well.
A) The first three chapters
are sort of setting the background for the stage.
B) Revealing the ways by
which God was moving behind the scenes years in advance to fulfill His purposes
in times to come.
C) And as God works in our lives, sometimes the things that
God is doing today are not really for today:
1) They’re for five years,
or twelve years down the road before we really see what God had in mind.
And then we say; Now I get it!
A) Remember what happened to
us when..? Wow!”
B) And you see God's hand
was there guiding, and God was overseeing the whole program.
1) And it's exciting when
the cycle comes around, and we can look back, and we can see the hand of
God.
C) Hard when you are going
through it- Where is He?
Esther is one of those kinds of stories where God is laying
out years in advance for His purposes to be fulfilled at a strategic moment of
history.
The
setting of the story is
Esther
1:1-3
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the
Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from
Ahasuerus is not
his name it is his title – like Pharaoh or Caesar– The king mentioned here is Xerxes – He
reigned in Persia 21 yrs from – 486- 465 BC
He
is the grandson of Cyrus –
The
son of Darius I
The
Father of ArtXerxes – who will give Nehemiah
permission to go back to
So
it has importance – if for no other reason than developing
a sympathy for the people of
There
are five main Characters in the story:
Pagan
King – Xerxes
Strong
minded Queen – Vashti
A wicked officer named Haman – Instrument of Satan to
try and exterminate the Jewish race.
A
older Jewish man named Mordecai
A
young Jewish orphan – named Hadassah i.e. Esther
Let’s
begin the story
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the
Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from
3 that in the
third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants —
the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces
being before him — 4 when he showed the
riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for
many days, one hundred and eighty days in all.
Talk about
lifestyles of the rich and famous! This is an unbelievable display. It was a
banquet to end all banquets
A)
There were 127 provinces in his kingdom, and out of each of these he brought a
delegation
B)
So that he had present probably one or two thousand people for this banquet.
1)
It cost millions of dollars.. It was a great event in the history of the world
The
father of King Louis XV of
The
Advisor, who was handling the finances for Louis XV, said that he did not see
how he financed it.
Archaeologist
excavating Shushan have found inscriptions in which
this king refers to himself as the great king, The
king of kings. The king of the lands occupied by many races. The king of this
great earth.”
This
was an over the top display of the greatness of Xerxes!
Purpose: To reveal the wealth luxury and power of the
Xerxes had his
sights set on
That was his ulterior motive
for this Shindig – Ultimate in how to make friends and influence pp.
The banquet was pagan from
beginning to end.
It
had all the ingredients of a pagan celebration:
Loud music, lots of food, wild
dancing,
Eating and
drinking to excess
5 And when these days were completed,
the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in
Shushan the citadel, from great to small, in the
court of the garden of the king's palace.
A) Xerxes brought the
banquet to a climax in the last seven days.
B) Apparently he brought in
a tremendous population of people for the final seven days in the court of the
garden.
6 There were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of
fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were
of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise, and white and
black marble. 7 And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being
different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, according to the generosity
of the king. 8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; This verse tells us that it was not forced – drink all you want or as
little as you want it is totally up to you for so the king had ordered all
the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man's
pleasure.
9 Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal
palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.
In those days the women were
kept in separate quarters
The banquet for the men was
serious business, and apparently they did not mix sex and business.
Xerxes was selling a war; so Vashti entertained the wives
and women at another banquet.
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of
the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha,
Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven
eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti
before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the
people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold.
So
the king gets drunk. He overstepped himself.
A)
Under the influence of alcohol, doing something that he would never have done
if he had been sober.
Side note:
It is sad when people drink and lose their sense of judgment.
Oftentimes a person will do things under the influence of alcohol
that they would not normally do.
The
tragic thing is that it robs a person of natural inhibitions and of good
judgment.
So The King
commanded that Vashti be brought to the banquet.
A)
There is a debate concerning the phrase she was to be brought wearing her crown
B)
Some think the king was asking Vashti to
come in wearing her crown face uncovered – which in that culture would have
been scandalous
C)
Others think he was asking her to come wearing only her crown which would have
been really scandalous
1)
Absolutely degrading
Pt
was they had seen all the beauty of his Kingdom and now He wanted everyone to
see Vashti, his treasure, his crowning jewel, as it were.
12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at
the king's command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and
his anger burned within him.
Good for her – Queen Vashti – shows she is not going to be degraded in this
way! Eye candy
Alexander Whyte, the nineteenth century Scottish
pastor wrote,
The
sacred writer makes us respect Queen Vashti amid all her disgusting
surroundings . .
“The brave queen refused to obey it. Her beauty was her own and her husband’s;
it was not for open show among hundreds of half drunk
men. And in the long run, the result of that night’s evil work was that Vashti
was dismissed into disgrace and banishment.”
I cannot help but admire her, can you?
A) She sacrificed all the glamour and all the wealth and all the
stuff, for the sake of personal dignity.
B) She would not be a sexual pawn, to be shown off as a piece of
property, to be leered at by drunken men.
C) She was willing to sacrifice her crown, for the sake of her
character.
D) How many women in
What is your
reputation worth? How far are you willing to go in order to win praise and
attention?
A) Are you sacrificing your character on the altar of acceptance?
B) When was the last time you did the right thing and paid the price
for it?
C) Do you remember what it
cost you? A relationship? A job? A sales contract? A passing grade?
1) Take heart from this
story – it cost Queen Vashti everything.
Now, however, the king has a problem.
A) Imagine this scene:
The
king said to his guests, “I have a real surprise for you. I want you to see my
queen.
She
is going to stand before you with the crown royal upon her head. She is very
beautiful.”
In
a few minutes one of the chamberlains whispered in the king’s ear, “She won’t
come.”
Imagine
having to get up and say, “I’m very sorry, gentlemen, but we will have to change the program
of the evening. Our main attraction did not arrive. The queen will not be here
this evening.”
Ramification:
How can He command an army –
if he can’t command his woman!
V. 13,14 calls an Emergency meeting: Top Advisers who
understood the law and the times The
King asked the question:
15 "What shall we do to Queen
Vashti, according to law, because she did not obey the command of King
Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs?"
16 And Memucan
answered before the king and the princes: "Queen Vashti has not only
wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all
the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 For the queen's behavior will become known
to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes, when they
report, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but
she did not come.' 18 This very day the noble ladies of
Now there are some
commentators who suggest this guy Memucan was having
his own problems at home – which is why he was so eager for this to happen.
There
is a story about the man who told the people in his office that his wife said
that he was a model husband. He told this to a hard-boiled secretary and she
did not commend him. Instead she said, “Why don’t you look up the word model
in the dictionary, and you won’t be so proud of it.” He took her advice. A
“model,” he found out, was a small imitation of the
real thing.
That
is what Memucan; he was Mr. Milquetoast. He said loud
and clear, “Something must be done to protect our homes in this matter.”
Notice
Memucan’s proposal.
19 If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him,
and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it
will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and
let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. [who is more worthy than she ]20 When the
king's decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for
it is great), all wives will honor their husbands, both great and small."
21 And the reply pleased the king and the
princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan.
22 Then he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province in its
own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should be
master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people.
The
feast in Ch. 1 takes place during the 3rd year of his reign – V. 16
of Ch. 2 tells us these events took place in the 7th year of his
reign.
So there is at least a 3 year gap
between Ch. 1-2
We
must turn to secular history for the campaign of Xerxes against the Greeks,
since the Bible gives us no record of this campaign.
He led a great army against
the Greeks. But he was soundly beaten.
Several battles
It was an
unfortunate defeat for Xerxes, but God was overruling.
The
power was about to pass from
After
his defeat he returned in deep dejection to his palace. Added to his misery was
the absence of his queen and the fact that the law of the Medes and Persians
could not be altered—even by the king himself.
Vashti
could never again be his queen.
A)
Not a Sex thing: Concubines – he had a Harem – this was a relationship thing –
He missed his wife. – Missed that relationship.
B)
Men and Sex – Porn – addicted
1)
They will Ultimately miss their wives!
So
the Servants are watching the king – They
know his state of mind,. They know that something must be done.
After these things, when the wrath of
King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had
been decreed against her.
2 Then the king's
servants who attended him said: "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for
the king; 3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his
kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women's quarters, under the
custody of Hegai the king's eunuch, custodian of the
women. And let beauty preparations be given them. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the
king be queen instead of Vashti."
Idea the first ever MRS.
Persia Pageant – The king is the soul Judge
This thing
pleased the king, and he did so.
The
story in the Book of Esther to this point has just been the window dressing—the
stage props.
A) Prideful Heathen King –
Drunken party – a Banished queen
B) Up to this point there
has been nothing spiritual in the palace
C) We will begin to see the
hand of God moving in the palace.
D)
We are going to see His providence. He is
arranging the events so that at the proper time He will have someone to intervene
in behalf of His people, the Jews.
5 In Shushan
the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair,
the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. 6
A) Both Mordecai and Esther
come on the pages of Scripture in a poor light
B) Mordecai was taken
captive, probably at a young age, in the second deportation of captives that
left
C) The first deportation
that left
The second captivity took
out those, shall we say, of the upper-middle class Mordecai’s family
Now, Mordecai was probably himself not
personally carried away captive, because that would mean that he would be about
a hundred and twenty years old at this point, which is not very practical,
but the Benjamites were carried away, and he was of the tribe of
Benjamin, of the family of
After
the third deportation, when
Mordecai
had a young cousin whose parents may have been slain when Nebuchadnezzar took
the city, for multitudes were slain.
Now God had permitted His people
to return to their own land - as He had prophesied through Isaiah. Cyrus had
given a decree to permit them to return,
Some did – But most didn’t –
Comfortable in
He has a job in Shushan citadel – in the Palace
A) Joseph had a job in the
Palace – God’s design
B) Daniel –too
C) But Mordecai is not in the
direct will of God.
when
a child of God gets out of God’s will, He permits many things to happen of which
He does not approve.
And He will overrule through these events. God’s overruling power is one of the important lessons in this little Book of Esther.