The title of this book comes from its principal character, Esther. In this it is similar to many other Old Testament books (e.g., Joshua, Ruth, Samuel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, et al.).
PURPOSE
There seem to be at least two primary purposes for the
book:First, it demonstrates God's providential care of His people even when they were outside the Promised Land because of disobedience. A corollary of this purpose is to show that God can use ordinary individuals to accomplish His saving plan.
Second, it
explains the origin of the feast of Purim with a view to commending its
observance to the Jews (9:24-28). The Jews retold the story of Esther at Purim
each year.
A third purpose may be to warn readers against
anti-Semitism (cf. Gen. 12:1-3). "It is easy to see why the book is valued by Jews,
who have suffered so much through the ages and have clung to the assurance
implied by Purim that, however severe the threat upon their race, they have a
future."
Background:
Ahasuerus is the Hebrew name of the Persian king,
Khshayarsha, whom we know better in ancient history by his Greek name, Xerxes. He reigned over
the Persian Empire from 486 to 464 B.C. and was the son of Darius I (521-486
B.C.).
Xerxes is famous in secular history for two things: his
defeat at the hands of the Greeks, and his building of the royal Persian palace at
Persepolis. In 481 B.C. he
took about 200,000 soldiers and hundreds of ships to Greece to avenge his
father Darius' loss at the battle of Marathon (490 B.C.).
However, he too suffered defeat, in a three-fold manner. His soldiers lost the battle of Thermopylae to the
Spartans, his army also lost at the battle of Plataea, and the Greeks destroyed his navy in the battle of
Salamis.
The 127 "provinces" (Heb. medina) were governmental
units of the empire. These were political subdivisions of the satrapies
"Susa" (v. 2) was a winter capital. Susa was the name of both the capital city and the royal
fortress that occupied a separate part of the city. Nehemiah served as cupbearer to Artaxerxes, Xerxes' son
(cf. Neh. 1:1—2:1).
The third year of Ahasuerus' (Xerxes') reign (v. 3) was
evidently 482 B.C. For 180 days (six months) he entertained his guests (v.
4). This was evidently the military planning session that
Ahasuerus conducted to prepare for his campaign against the Greeks. The Greek historian Herodotus referred to this meeting
and said it took Ahasuerus four years (484-481 B.C.) to prepare for his Greek campaign.26
"…life at court was extravagant beyond imagining.
The more lavish the king's hospitality, the
greater his claim to supremacy."
White and violet (blue, v. 6) were the royal colors of
Persia. The Persian kings castrated many of the men who served
the king and his family (v. 10) so they could not have sexual relations with the female
members of the royal court and start dynasties of their own.
"Vashti" ("best," "the
beloved," or "the desired one," v. 11) It is not possible
to determine why Vashti refused to obey the king's summons (v. 12)
"From the satirical depiction of the grandiose and
lavishly excessive lifestyle of the Persian court,
our narrator turns to undisguised farce: the king who rules the whole world cannot bend his own
wife to his will! . . ."But its mockery has also a sinister side. It reveals a
society fraught with danger, for it is ruled by the pride and pomposity of buffoons
whose tender egos can marshal the state's legislative and administrative
machinery for the furtherance of selfish and childish causes.
Esther 1
God is in control: the
majesty and providence of God.
The book of
Esther is thrilling and inspiring and, more than anything else, causes you to
praise God for the wonderful ways in which he works.
I’ve got 4
points for you this morning, as we look at the various themes within the
chapter. We’ll
consider four points, and to help us remember them, they begin with the first
four letters of the alphabet.
Firstly, Asserting Control.
Secondy, Battle of the Sexes. Thirdly, Crucial Beginnings, and
Fourthly, Directing Operations.
So let’s look
first then at:
1.Asserting control
Why the heading?
Simply
because I think chapter one looks like a power-play between the major
characters introduced at this point. I think the
writer is subtly demanding an answer to an unwritten question. The question is this: Who is in control?
1
These events happened in the days of King Xerxes, who reigned over 127
provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. 2 At that time Xerxes ruled
his empire from his royal throne at the fortress of Susa.
3 In
the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his nobles and
officials. He invited all the military officers of Persia and Media as
well as the princes and nobles of the provinces.
Here is a
king with vast wealth. A king who rules 127 provinces. This is a party-loving
king. Now maybe you
like parties, but I bet you’ve never thrown a party that lasts for six months! But that’s
what Xerxes does in verse 4.
4 The
celebration lasted 180 days—a tremendous display of the opulent wealth of his
empire and the pomp and splendor of his majesty.
That’s not to
mention the guest list at his ‘small party’. This small
party only lasts a week, but the entire population was invited! Clearly, here
is a king who yields great influence, and great control.
5
When it was all over, the king gave a banquet for all the people, from the
greatest to the least, who were in the fortress of Susa. It lasted for seven
days and was held in the courtyard of the palace garden.
With that
kind of a ability, this is a man who can clearly win friends and influence
people. And look at his wealth as we read about all
the furnishings in verse 6-8.
6 The
courtyard was beautifully decorated with white cotton curtains and blue
hangings, which were fastened with white linen cords and purple ribbons to
silver rings embedded in marble pillars. Gold and silver couches stood on a
mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.
7
Drinks were served in gold goblets of many designs, and there was an abundance
of royal wine, reflecting the king’s generosity. 8 By edict of the king, no limits were placed on the drinking, for the king had instructed all his palace officials to serve each man as much as he wanted.
The next
character to be introduced is his wife, Queen Vashti. As the Queen of Persia, she clearly yields
more than a little power herself.
9 At
the same time, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of
King Xerxes.
So much so, that when Xerxes orders her to parade herself in front of his drunken friends, verse 11,
she
stubbornly refuses.
10 On
the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was in high spirits because of
the wine, he told the seven eunuchs who attended him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona,
Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas—
11 to
bring Queen Vashti to him with the royal crown on her head. He wanted the
nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very
beautiful woman. 12 But when they conveyed the king’s order to Queen Vashti, she refused to come. This made the king furious, and he burned with anger.
Here, in the pages of the Bible, is an icon for feminists everywhere. Here is a woman who stands up for herself. A strong woman. A powerful woman.
Then there
are the seven special advisors. If you think we’re having problems with special
advisors interfering with the civil service, just be glad you didn’t live in
Susa. These seven
people were the only ones in the whole land who could go and see the King
uninvited.
13 He
immediately consulted with his wise advisers, who knew all the Persian laws and
customs, for he always asked their advice.
14
The names of these men were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres,
Marsena, and Memucan—seven nobles of Persia and Media. They met with the king
regularly and held the highest positions in the empire.
They held
such power over him, it seems every suggestion they made, he would follow. Frankly, to
some people, it looked as though they ran the country, not the king!
15
“What must be done to Queen Vashti?” the king demanded. “What penalty does the
law provide for a queen who refuses to obey the king’s orders, properly sent
through his eunuchs?”
16
Memucan answered the king and his nobles, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only
the king but also every noble and citizen throughout your empire. 17 Women everywhere will begin to despise their husbands when they learn that Queen Vashti has refused to appear before the king.
18 Before this day is out, the wives of all the king’s nobles throughout Persia and Media will hear what the queen did and will start treating their husbands the same way. There will be no end to their contempt and anger.
19 “So if it please the king, we suggest that you issue a written decree, a law of the Persians and Medes that cannot be revoked. It should order that Queen Vashti be forever banished from the presence of King Xerxes, and that the king should choose another queen more worthy than she.
20 When this decree is published throughout the king’s vast empire, husbands everywhere, whatever their rank, will receive proper respect from their wives!”
21 The king and his nobles thought this made good sense, so he followed Memucan’s counsel.
22 He sent letters to all parts of the empire, to each province in its own script and language, proclaiming that every man should be the ruler of his own home and should say whatever he pleases.
So,
who is in control? Surely not Xerxes,
who could not control his own wife, and who was manipulated by his advisors. And
definitely not Vashti, who quickly loses the power she had and is
banished from the royal palace. And not even
the advisors feel in control, because despite their authority in the
citadel, needed an royal decree to ensure that their wives submitted
to them!
So who is in
control? We’ll come back to that question, later. Sometimes,
just like you I look at people, families: Husband, wife & the kids. Who is in
control, the husband says he is until the wife becomes unhappy, & when mom
is not happy…but how about
when the child starts screaming & throwing tantrums, the Father &
Mother starts to panic, begging their child to stop crying or screaming, trying
to appease their child w/ almost anything- a toy, an ice cream….
Next, let’s look at
2.Battle of the Sexes
Chapter 1, like much of the rest of the book
depicts a battle of the sexes. Feminism is nothing new, nor is male pride. Here in this
chapter we see Vashti taking a stand against the most powerful men in the land.Of course,
that’s not an easy thing to do in a patriarchal society, and it’s no
real surprise to us that she doesn’t last five minutes.
We then find
that Persia is not simply a country where women are expected to submit to their
husbands, but a country
where the law demands they submit to them. But
the chapters that are to come over the next weeks will reveal the story of another
woman, Esther. It will show her taking her stand against the
men who surround her.
How
on earth will she succeed where Vashti has failed? Susa was
clearly not a place for rebellious women.
But who is in
control?...the men, women, top dogs, underdogs… But thirdly,
chapter one asks us not simply to assess control, nor just to view the Battle
of the Sexes. The key
though here in this chapter could be summed up by the third point:
3.Crucial beginnings
The chapter
serves as an introduction to the rest of the book, and in itself is simply amusing
tale about a foreign king who was snubbed by his wife in front of all his
subjects. Like the book
of Esther, it didn’t look much of a dramatic start. But how
much that tiny little incident changed Esther’s life.
This bout of
rebellion by Vashti carried enormous significance in the history of God’s
people. Jews all
around the world still celebrate these events today, more than 2,500 years
after they occurred. What capture
the public’s attention was the trivial nature of it’s opening scenes. What should
grab our attention is the trivial nature of the entire chapter.
As
the book unfolds, we’ll see that the waves rippling out from these tiny little
events will soon overwhelm all those involved. But
unfortunately, you’ll have to wait for that, because for now the story is only
just beginning. But we’ll
finish with one last point, which is the most important point of all.
We’ve already
wondered who’s Asserting Control. We’ve viewed
from the sidelines the Battle of the Sexes. We’ve seen
these Crucial Beginnings. …from what beginnings? From where? Who is the author?
Who’s hands is controlling all of the events here.
Sometimes we
belittle our small beginnings: From this little unknown place… Jesus & some disciples, David….shepherd
to king. Most of us
started in small beginnings…migrating here with a few belongings & skills…. Hope we are
seeing, acknowledging & moving forward with the working of God in our
lives….
4. Directing Operations
The events in
Esther chapter one (very roughly) happen about 480BC. At that time,
the world’s eyes are looking to China, where Confucius was at his zenith. Nearer home,
attention is taken by Greece, where Socrates was starting to form his
philosophies. The Olympic
games had already been in existence there for nearly 300 years.Pythagoras is just about working out that a2
+b2 always = c2 in right-angled triangles.
But whilst
historians, and athletes, philosophers and mathematicians all had their eyes on
Ancient Greece and China, theologians look in another direction. Their
attention is turned to Jerusalem, where His people had recently returned from
the exile in Babylon, had rebuilt the temple, and were once more
worshipping Him in that place. In Judah,
Haggai and Zechariah are reminding the people of God’s covenant-faithfulness, and Ezra is
teaching them the law.
But the
events in chapter one do not happen in China, nor in Ancient Greece, nor even
in Jerusalem or Judah. They happen
hundreds of miles away, in Susa, the capital of Persia. You see, we
sometimes mistakenly see Israel and Jerusalem as the only place where God was
at work in the Old Testament.
We know that
Israel are God’s chosen people, we know that he has chosen them out of all the
peoples on the earth. But sometimes
we forget that God chose the Father of the Jewish people from Ur of the
Chaldees. We forget
that Joseph spent much of his time working out God’s promises in the land of
Egypt. We forget
that Ruth, one of Jesus’ ancestors, was actually from Moab. We forget
that Jonah was sent to the land of Ninevah, That David
was kept safe from Saul by the Philistines, that Ezekiel
did much of his preaching in Babylon. That
judgement came on Israel from Assyria.
You see, if
there’s anything the book of Esther teaches us, It’s that God is not simply God in Israel. This theme will develop more strongly as we go
through the book together, but for now I want to simply re-state the obvious.
The obvious
statement is this. If God is
going to care for his people, he needs to be in control not just in Israel, but
Ur, and Egypt, and Moab and Nineah and Palestine and Babylon, and Assyria. And,
of course, Susa. As the book
unfolds, we’ll find out that in about ten years time, these events would become
crucial for God’s people thousands of miles away.
None of the
people in Chapter 1 story cared about God. None of them
believed in him. But that
didn’t stop God working out his purposes in their lives. At the time
of our story, Xerxes is probably the most powerful man in the universe. He could have
anything he wanted, and he usually did. He was a
pagan, and he worshipped idols.
Comparisons
to 20th century leaders would be to Hitler, or Stalin or Deng Xiaoping. But God used
his petty row with his wife to start a ball rolling that would still be
remembered 2,500 years later. Ten years
before anyone else was aware of the dangers, God was maneuvering his pieces
into position, so that at just the right time, everything was ready to do
exactly what was best for his people.
God is in
control even of the USA, Phil., UK,ECC, Middle East
Application:
So what has
this story got for us today? Simply this. Maybe this
morning you’re in a situation where the outcome isn’t clear. Maybe you’re
glad to be in church this morning, away from the problems and the troubles that
have been plaguing you all week. Any maybe you
don’t know where the answer is coming from.
Maybe you
don’t know where to turn. Maybe you
wish God would act.
If there’s anything that we can learn from
the book of Esther is that God is at work in our world. His power and influence are not constrained
within the four walls of FLC. It’s
not that God can’t direct the operations of your school, your home, your place
of work. God is not thwarted by pagans who care
nothing for him.
I used to play chess w/ my 3 boys esp. when they were little ones. Sometimes simultaneous. Now I could barely defeat any of them. I have to say it gave me great pleasure to see them walking straight into the trap I had planned about four moves earlier, to put them in a position where they couldn’t win.
If you’re
waiting for God to intervene in a particular difficulty in your life, I want you to be confident that God has
already done so. He
may not yet have declared ‘check-mate’, but his pieces are already moving into
position, and many of them are already waiting simply
for the right time to act. The
problem is that we can’t often see God’s hand at the chessboard of life, and
sometimes we doubt his presence.
The Jews in
Israel had no idea of the shenanigens of court life in Susa. Even those in
Susa had no idea of the significance for them of these events. If you’ve
never read the book of Esther, you’re in exactly the same position as them! But those of
us who know the story see clearly God’s invisible hand at the table.
At
least, we see his opening moves, even if sometimes we don’t understand his strategy.
And
that gives us confidence that in our life, God will do the same for us. Sometimes,
in life, it will seem that just like in the Book of Esther, God is not there.
"Though no mention is made of God's providence, it
nevertheless plays a prominent part, and may even give the book its raison
d'etre." He
is, but sometimes he demands just that little extra faith to see Him.
Let’s not forget that He is in the details. That there is nothing that happens in this
world that is not under his control.
This first major part of the book explains how God placed
a simple Jewish young woman in position to deliver her people from possible
extinction.
*Adapted from the message of Mark
Barnes
