FROM CAPTIVE TO QUEEN – Esther 1:1-2:23

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 25, 2014 under 2014 |

Preached Sunday, May 25, 2014 from Esther 1:1-2:23

Theme: The providence of God is always at work in the lives of His people to bring them from obscurity to opportunity in the fulfillment of His will.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

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Every Saturday morning, a group of men from Bethany Bible Church meet for coffee at a local doughnut shop. We chat and joke with each other for a while, then we share prayer requests and pray for one another. Somewhere near the end off our time, I do my best to explain to them what it will be that I’ll be preaching the next day at church; and we all walk through that passage together and think it through. It has—for all of us—grown to be one of the most valued times of our week.

Yesterday, as I was preparing to tell them what it was that I would be preaching this morning, I was impressed with the deep nature of the prayer requests we all shared together. It was pretty heavy stuff! One man came to share with us how he was doing after having just lost his wife to cancer the day before. Another man shared with us the grief he was feeling over the impact on his family of a long and difficult divorce battle. Another shared about a busy and active friend—a pastor—who has suddenly been put on the sidelines because of a severe stroke. Another shared about two friends who were in the process of dying from terminal illnesses. There were prayer requests about a lot of very difficult things. But there were also prayer requests about good things that have happened, or great victories that God has brought about. It was quite a time! And with all the stories of all the things God was doing—or that we were asking Him to do—I began to wonder in the world I would manage to steer the conversation to what I was hoping to preach the next day!

But it occurred to me that all those things that we prayed about had very much to do with what I have felt led to preach on. You see; all of those things—hard and difficult and seemingly-out-of-control as they may appear—are actually all in the hand of a mighty and sovereign God. The direction of our lives is not subject to ‘fate’. As followers of Jesus, we don’t attribute the outcome of things to mere ‘luck’ or ‘chance’. Instead, we affirm that our heavenly Father allows those various things in our lives—those various twists and turns; and that He directs them according to His good will. The circumstances of our lives are, quite literally, His ‘servants’; and He uses them to providentially bring about His perfect will and to accomplish His good purposes in our lives. We may not see His hand at work directly guiding them; but His hand is nevertheless there—and it always proves itself good in the end.

And the workings of that sovereign, providential hand is what we will be studying together over the next little while. There really is no better book of the Bible to learn about that hand from than the little known, rarely studied, but wonderfully practical Old Testament book of Esther.

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The Book of Esther is a record of a true story—a historical narrative. But more than that, it’s one of the greatest historical political espionage romance adventure thrillers ever written! There’s a story often told of someone who—a century or so ago—hand-copied the Book of Esther onto some sheets of paper, and read the pages aloud at the meeting of a famous, free-thinking British literary society as if it were a story that he had just discovered and wanted to share with them. He had the members of the society spell-bound; and by the time he was through, they were all astonished and wondered where in the world he had found such a beautiful and exciting story. As soon as he told them that it was from the very same Bible that they all despised, they threw him out of the group—and the pages of the story with him.

It’s one of the Bible’s most exciting historical narratives. But it’s a historical narrative with a purpose. It’s lesser purpose, you should know, was to explain how it came to be that the Jewish people celebrate the Feast of Purim—which is a feast they celebrate even today in mid-March. But it has a greater and more edifying purpose—a purpose that has much to do with those of us who are followers of Jesus. It shows us how God was able to work behind-the-scenes—through the seemingly-unrelated circumstances of life—to bring about the protection of His precious Jewish people from almost certain destruction; and to preserve for us the promise that His precious Son and our Redeemer Jesus Christ would be born into the world through the Jewish people.

It’s not only one of the most exciting and edifying stories in the Old Testament, but it’s also one of the most unusual books in the Bible. It stands out as a biblical narrative in which God is not mentioned directly—not even once! Some Bible teachers have been rather uncomfortable with that fact; and they have even sought to find the name of God hidden somewhere in it—perhaps encoded in the first letters of various words. But they really don’t need to search hard to find God somewhere in the Book of Esther. His invisible hand is unmistakably clear in the outworking of the events of this remarkable story.

And I suggest to you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that this makes the Book of Esther very much like your and my lives. We don’t see the clear, visible hand of God at work on our behalf. And in fact, there are times when it almost seems as if He is not there at all. But if we will look closely, and learn to trust Him as we should, we will find that His hand is very clearly detectable in the various circumstances of our lives—bringing about His good purposes for us.

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So; let’s get started. In the first two chapters of this book, we’re introduced to three very important players in the story. A fourth important player will come up very quickly in Chapter 3. But in Chapters 1-2, we’re introduced first to King Ahasuerus of Persia—the greatest king of the greatest empire of the world at that time. He is otherwise known in history as Xerxes I. He reigned between 486 to 465 B.C.

Then, we’re introduced to a man named Mordecai. He was a Jew who lived as a foreigner in the empire over which King Ahasuerus ruled. Mordecai as a man who—I believed—had great insight into the times; and knew that the times were not good for his people. God used him to influence the king for his people’s protection; and later on, God elevated him to one of the highest positions of authority in Ahasuerus’ administration.

And finally, we’re introduced to the the star of the story—Esther. She was the beautiful cousin of Mordecai; a mere ‘captive’ Jewish girl in the pagan kingdom of Ahasuerus. But the first division of the Book of Esther shows us how God worked behind the scenes to elevate Esther to a place of influence—making her Ahasuerus’ queen; so that through her, God could save the Jewish people from complete destruction.

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All of this teaches us that we too can trust the wonderful providence of God to be at work in our lives The providence of God is at work in the lives of His people to bring them from obscurity to opportunity in the fulfillment of His will. And I believe we can see that this is true . . .

1. EVEN IN THE MIDST OF EVIL TIMES (1:1-22).

The times of Esther were evil. But it may not seem so at first; because the story opens with a banquet. The first four verses tell us;

Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia), in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the citadel, 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—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 (1:1-4).

The capital city still exists today, by the way. It’s the little town of Shush in western Iran—not far over the border from Baghdad. It doesn’t look like much today; but what a glorious banquet this must have been back then! And this great banquet was only the officials of his kingdom. As we read on, we find that he also threw another, seven-day-long feast for all the people of the capital city—one in which everyone was invited to come and bask in the luxury of the mighty Median-Persian empire according to their hearts desire.

That may sound wonderful; but other historical sources suggests to us that Ahasuerus had a motive behind it all. He had been planning for years to muster up a great military campaign against the Greek people. A few years before, Ahasuerus’ father Darius had suffered a humiliating defeat by the Greeks at the battle of Marathon; and Ahasuerus wanted revenge. This banquet, it seems, was intended to persuade the officials of his empire to support him in his campaign against the growing Greek empire. So; even though it seemed like a wonderful banquet, it was actually the testimony of troublesome times.

At the same time as this banquet was going on, Ahasuerus’ wife, Queen Vashti, also hosted a feast for all the women of the royal palace. Vasthi was apparently a beautiful woman. But history lets us know that she was also a very brutal and murderous woman. People in the king’s court were afraid of ever getting on her bad side. In verses 10-11, we’re told of a situation that Ahasuerus’ officials took advantage of in order to get her out of the place of power. We read that, “On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine” (which is the nice way of saying that he was a little drunk), he commanded his officials “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” (v. 11).

The queen refused to come out at the command of the king’s officials. And really, can you much blame her? What a disrespectful request!—to come out and parade herself in front of a bunch of drunken spectators! But we’re told that the king was furious at her for this. In fact, we’re told that “his anger burned within him”. He turned to his advisers and asked; “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?” (v. 15).

And it was then that one of his chief advisers jumped into action—at a time, I believe, when he new that the king was unclear in his thinking:

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. 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.’ This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king’s officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be excessive contempt and wrath. 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. 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” (vv. 16-20).

This plan pleased the capricious and drunken king. And it would be an inviolable law throughout the land; because, as we learn from elsewhere in Scripture, no law made by the king of the Median Persian empire could ever be revoked or altered. The law was written and sent out throughout the 127 provinces of the empire that Queen Vashti would be removed from her position and no longer be allowed to come before the king; that her position would be given to another; and that all the women of the kingdom would learn “that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people” (v. 22).

What a soap opera! What a heavy and cruel hand! And it seems to me to speak to the character of the times. The rulers of the people were living in luxury and acting like children; and the rules they imposed on people were emotional and self-serving. It would shortly thereafter be the same kind of impulsive and self-serving manner of rule that would put the Jewish people in danger of being completely destroyed.

But all this reminds us that even when the times are bad, God is still good. He was already working behind the scenes for the good of His people. Let’s remember that fact during the hard times in which we live. It may seem as if God is not at work on behalf of His people; but you can take it for a fact that He very much is! He can still work to move the circumstances according to His will, and put His people in places of service to His cause.

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This is also true for His people . . .

2. IN SPITE OF THEIR PERSONAL FAILINGS (2:1-11).

I hope I will not be misunderstood when I say this; but I believe that not even the personal failures and errors of God’s people can thwart His purposes for them. That’s not something, of course, that should give us license to do wrong Rather, it should give us great confidence to trust in God’s sovereignty.

You see; one of the important parts of the background of this story is that, several decades before Esther’s time, the Jewish people had been taken captive by the Babylonian empire and removed from their homeland. Their captivity was a punishment from God for their rebellion against Him. And just a short while before this story, one of the previous Persian kings had conquered the Babylonian empire; and he had released them all to return to the land that God had given them and rebuild their temple and their city. Only a percentage had returned to their homeland. But most did not. They didn’t value the opportunity to return to the land God had given them. They liked the life they now lived in a pagan land.

The next two important figures in our story were among those who chose to stay in a pagan land—Mordecai and his younger cousin Esther. But in spite of their failure, God used them and worked through them on behalf of His people. Here’s how it happened:

It wasn’t too long before King Ahasuerus began to subside in his anger toward his disposed wife. He remembered her—what she had done, and what he had decreed against her. But there was no turning back. The decree was irrevocable. Also, you should know that—historically, not long after disposing Queen Vishti—the king did indeed engage in a vast military campaign against Greece. He was miserably defeated. He even had to stand helplessly and watch as his vast fleet of navel ships was destroyed. He was probably despondent and was feeling a little lonely. It had been, after all, a really bad day at the office.

And so—perhaps fearing that, in his loneliness he might try to get his former wife back; which, of course, would lead to the death of everyone that advised that she be put away—his servants crafted another plan:

“Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; 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. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti” (vv. 2-4).

This would have been the ancient version of a reality show: “Who Wants To Marry The King?” And, probably not too surprisingly, the king liked the idea.

And it’s then that we’re introduced to the two main heroes of our story. In verse 5, we’re told, “In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai . . .” His great-grandfather was among those who had been carried away from Judea into captivity in Babylon. But we’re also told that Morediai was found in the citadel—which suggest that he had risen to a position of political service to the Persian empire. We read in verse 7,

And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter (v. 7).

Do you notice how she is described? She wasn’t just lovely. Nor was she just beautiful. She was “lovely” and “beautiful”. I take this to mean that she was a Jewish girl who had a beauty that was manifest both inside and outside. It’s no wonder that she caught the attention of the royal beauty contest recruiter Hegai. He was particularly pleased with her; and he gave her all the beauty preparations she would desire—along with seven choice maidservants from the palace, and the best place in the royal residence of the women. Clearly, Hegai wanted her to be the king’s choice.

But note that Mordecai, her uncle, gave her a very unusual piece of instruction: “Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her” (vv. 10-11). Why did he urge her to keep her identity a secret? I believe it was out of fear. He was a perceptive man; and he knew the danger of the times. As we all know, this wouldn’t have been the only time in history when Jewish people—living in a hostile foreign land—felt compelled to keep their ethnic identity hidden.

And yet, even this was used by God. Esther’s secret identity made it possible for her later to influence the king for the salvation of her people.

Now; let’s not handle the point of all this too recklessly. I trust you’ll understand what I mean when I say this. We should never deliberately err and disobey God; and then expect God to rescue us or use our errors. That’s a terrible presumption. But the fact is that we will fail and we will have lapses along the way. We can rest assured, however, that our errors and our failings and our lapses in judgment do not—and cannot—constitute problems for our great God. He is even able to use the missteps of His people along the way; and to still guide them where He wants them to be.

Praise Him! His sovereign plan for us is never thwarted by our own weaknesses and failures. He is still able to put His people where He wants them to be in the outworking of His plan.

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And finally, notice that this is especially true . . .

3. THROUGH THEIR SUBMISSION AND OBEDIENCE (2:12-18).

Esther—though raised in a circumstance of sad failings—nevertheless was, herself, a young woman of faithful submission. In verse 20, we’re told that she obeyed the instruction of her elder relative, “as when she was bought up by him”. And she demonstrated that same spirit of submission in her preparations to be presented to the king.

We’re told that each woman had a full year’s preparation before being presented to the king—with six months of oil treatments and six months of perfume treatments. And when her day came to be presented to the king, she was given whatever she wanted from the woman’s quarters—anything from the wardrobe department, anything from the jewelry department, anything at all that she wished. It seemed that it was at the discretion of each young woman to take whatever she thought best. Then, on the evening of her appointed appearance, she would appear before the king, and return in the morning. (There’s no reason to think that there was anything improper involved in that, however. It would be hard to imagine that the pious Jewish man Mordecai would have handed his young Jewish cousin over to a situation that he knew to be indecent.) Then, after her appearance before the king, each young woman would return to the custody of another of the king’s trusted servants. Each of those young women was a very precious entrustment at that point; because any one of them could become queen. None of them would return to the king, however, unless he called for her.

But when it was Esther’s turn to appear before the king, she did something that was unusual—and really very wise. She knew that no one would know what would be pleasing to the king more than his trusted servant Hegai. And Hegai himself had already demonstrated that—knowing the king as well as he did—he was quite sure that Esther would be the most pleasing to the king. And so, we’re told, “she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised” (v. 15a). We can be sure that Hegai was very delighted with this submissive request, and knew just what she should wear and how she should present herself in order to be most pleasing to the king. It proved to be a very wise decision indeed; because we’re told, “And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her” (v. 15b).

May I pause here, fellow Christians? I wonder if this man Hegai isn’t meant to be seen by us as an illustration of the role that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. After all, it is His role to serve as our divine “Custodian”—keeping us, as the Bride of Christ; and preparing us and beautifying us until the day we are presented to our Lord Jesus in glory. And if that’s true, then what might be the best way for you and I to be made to walk—in the daily trials and circumstances of life—in a manner pleasing to our King? The Holy Spirit knows—with absolute precision—what would be most pleasing to our Lord. He has preserved a written record of the King’s will for our lives in the pages of the Holy Scriptures; and He will be delighted to help us understand them if we ask. He supplies us with every necessary grace; and prepares us and refines us to be a bride most pleasing to our King. What a difference it would make if, in the circumstances and decisions of daily life, we prayed and asked, “Dear Holy Spirit; what shall I do that would make me most pleasing to my Lord Jesus? What attitude should I have? What action should I take? What words should I say? Guide me and empower me with wisdom and grace; so that I take nothing before the King but what You advise”—and then faithfully did as He advised us?

One of the great lessons we learn from the life of Esther is that God’s providential care is sure to guide us and get us where He wants us to be if we are submitted and obedient to Him! That’s what happened in Esther’s case. Because she sought the guidance of her custodian, we read;

So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king (vv. 16-18).

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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; this is something we need to let sink deeply into our hearts in the daily matters of life. The very same God who worked long ago in the lives of Esther and Mordecai—getting them into the place were they could be used by God to save their people—is the God who also works in your life and mine today. And just as it was true in the story of Esther—that the hand of God’s sovereign providence is often invisible; and that it doesn’t seem as if He is working at all—He nevertheless causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.

We can rest assured that God is at work in the lives of those He loves—even during what seems like the worst of times. Not even our own failures and shortcomings can thwart His good purpose for us. And if we will willingly submit to Him, ask for His guidance, and obey His commands in the different circumstances of life, He is able to put us in the place He wants us to be for good purposes in the service of King Jesus.

Just look at what He did in this story! He was even able to bring a humble captive girl to the throne of a queen.