Esther 1:1-9
We’ll be reading in a moment
or two Esther chapter one verses one through nine. So we’ve just
finished Daniel. Daniel was a young exile, exiled,
I guess, in 586 or so, and his whole life was spent, 80 years
or better, in service to all the different rulers over the
Babylonian and then Persian Empire. Esther is going to be a little
later, but Esther is a Jew in Susa, the capital of Persia,
and she and her uncle Mordecai are two of the main characters.
There’s Haman, the bad guy. There’s Xerxes, or Ahasuerus,
the king. There’s Vashti, the disobedient
queen, who won’t appear at his party. We’ll see her next week.
But remember, as you think through Esther, God is never mentioned. His name is never mentioned,
but He is ever present and at work. And so we want to enjoy
this study over the next several weeks. So pick up with me, if
you will, in verse one of chapter one of Esther. It says, now in
the days of Ahasuerus, The Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia,
over 127 provinces. In those days when King Ahasuerus
sat on his royal throne in Susa, the capital, in the third year
of his reign, he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media
and the nobles and the governors of the provinces were before
him. And while he showed the riches
of his royal glory and the splendor and the pomp of his greatness
for many days, 180 days, And when these days were completed,
the king gave for all the people present in Susa, the citadel,
both great and small, a feast lasting seven days in the court
of the garden of the king’s palace. There were white cotton curtains
and the violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and
purple to silver rods, the marble pillars and also couches of gold
and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry marble, mother of
pearl and precious stones. Drinks were served in golden
vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was
lavished according to the bounty of the king. And drinking was
according to this edict. There is no compulsion. For the
king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do
as each man desired. Queen Vashti also gave a feast
for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus. Amen,
this is the word of the living God. Well, this is a strange
book with strange things in it. It begins with a feast, and it’s
gonna end with a feast. The beginning feast, as we’ll
see in a moment, is the feast of Ahasuerus, this king who loves
himself, and he loves his riches, his power, and his splendor,
and he wants to show it off. But the book is going to end
with another feast, a feast of the Jews celebrating God’s victory
for them over another edict, not an edict to drink as you
wish, but an edict to exterminate all the Jewish people throughout
this vast empire we’ve just heard of. Maybe some of you in the
1980s watched That high-quality television show with Robin Leach,
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Robin Leach had a great show
in the 1980s. He would go into the homes of
the wealthiest people in the world, princes and sheiks. all the rest. And on this television
show, you would see these vistas, these panoramic shots of houses
and swimming pools and cars and airplanes and helicopters and
glamorous people throwing lavish parties. And I think if I remember
correctly, all the furniture was always white, white couches,
white beds, and all the rest. And then you would hear on the
payroll of these rich and famous people. They had a full-time
clock winder. They had a full-time chef, a
full-time pool maintenance person. You can’t say pool boy anymore,
I guess. They had full-time doctors and nurses and masseuses and
all the rest. Well, that’s the picture you’re
getting here and the life of Ahasuerus. The language here
is, well, it’s grandiose language. It says in verse one, now in
the days of Ahasuerus, now in case you get this Ahasuerus mixed
up with another one, it’s yes, the Ahasuerus who reigned from
India to Ethiopia, not the one who was governor of Rhode Island
or maybe the prince of some little tiny island out in the Mediterranean.
No, this was the Ahasuerus, the one he wants you to know about,
the one that ruled from India to Ethiopia. He ruled over 127
provinces. India to Ethiopia would be Sudan
to Pakistan in today’s modern maps and geographical names.
Now, it’s really interesting here. you read through some of
the Old Testament commentaries, 127 provinces. They could have listed it as
we saw in the book of Daniel, how many, how many, uh, satraps
he had. I remember, uh, about a dozen
or so with, uh, Darius. Uh, but, but 127 is a little
more prominent, isn’t it? Uh, if you’re sitting at, uh,
dinner with your family in your 1200 square foot house, Your
table is probably in the kitchen, right? It’s an eat-in kitchen.
And if you say to the family, let us retire to the drawing
room, in your 1,200 square foot house, that sounds really opulent
and prominent. And as long as nobody knows,
you’re retiring to the front room, which also serves as the
front entry coat closet and catch-all, right? And there’s probably a
treadmill in there. But just to say the words, let us retire
this evening into the drawing room, sounds rather opulent. And so the language here is meant
to be ridiculous. you’re meant to know it is that
Ahasuerus. It is that one who rules over
these provinces from Pakistan to Sudan. And at this point in
time in history, he’s one of only a handful of rulers over
a massive superpower. In fact, up until this point,
this is the greatest kingdom amassed in the world. He’s outruled
the Egyptians and the Greeks and, well, the Romans haven’t
popped up yet, but he’s out amassed land. And we get a description
of his palace at Susa, the curtains, the curtain rings of silver,
the marble pillars and the rods which these curtains hang from
And the stone floors, the mosaics, the fancy beauty. It’s interesting. This man is
not only Lord over land, but he’s like a king of Egypt, isn’t
he? He’s like a Pharaoh. He has all the craftsmen at his
disposal, all the tradesmen on his payroll. He has all the right
people in the right place to make his life wonderful and glorious. Now this is his winter palace.
He’s got other places he can go, but this place would be too
hot to be in the summertime, even with the swimming pool or
with servants to fan you. So this is a winter palace with
a winter party we are reading about. Uh, and there’s wine,
180 days of wine. Now, interesting to pick up on
the, the phrases and the nuance, even the irony and all this passage,
it says he, he threw a feast. Well, it doesn’t say anything
about food. This was, this was a drinking
party, 180 days of wine. Um, you have your grocery list
on the counter. And maybe you go on a certain
day of the week, and you have a budget for a certain amount.
And you say, OK, kids, don’t drink all the orange juice. It’s
got to last till Friday, or Saturday, or whatever grocery day is. Don’t
drink all the Cokes. Don’t drink all the, you never
have to say don’t drink all the water. But they’re never going to run
out. 180 days, that’s, is that half
a year? That’s a few days shy of half
a year. That’s a very long drinking party. And so he throws this
festival, this feast for 180 days, for six months. He throws
it for his nobles and his military leaders. He throws it for the
best of the best, the cream of the crop. And then he throws
a second party when this one’s over. He throws maybe a Thanks
for helping out, party, to all the males, young and old, great
and small in the city. And at the same time, Vashti,
his wife, is throwing a feast. Now, why is he throwing this
feast? Maybe it was a victory for a certain war. Maybe it was
his marriage to Vashti. Who knows? But the point of it
is this. He is showing off his power,
his wealth, Well, he’s showing off his foolishness, isn’t he?
Showing off his lack of sense. This, this guy’s a nut. He’s
a, he’s a, um, what do we call him in today’s terms? A mega
low maniac. He’s a, he’s a narcissist. He
has a big view of himself and notice the control. There’s even
an edict about how to drink and what’s the edict. Do what you
want, but there’s still an edict. It’s rather humorous to take
a look at all these words of description. He is in control. We’re gonna see next week, well,
he’s really not in control. Vashti says, nope, not coming
over to your party. I’ll stay over here. So this
is Ahasuerus, this is that Ahasuerus, the one who has amassed land
and amassed great power and wealth, and he’s putting it on display.
But let’s think for a moment about the the main character
and he’s never listed in the book but it’s it’s God it’s Yahweh
and we remember that when God created the world and everything
in it he he built this earth he created the world and everything
in it to be a stage for the drama of redemption and in this stage
we see the the drama of redemption unfold with the entrance of Satan
and temptation and sin, the curses of the fall, and this little
story in the a little blip, a 10-year blip of the history of Israel.
This guy’s going to get assassinated. He’s not going to make it too
long. Lots of plots will take place during his kingdom and
one will finally get him. But this drama of redemption,
this story, this 10-year little stretch reminds us that it’s
just a little dot on the timeline of human history. The hand of
God is at work. Now, during the 1700s, 1800s,
there was a theology. Actually, it wasn’t a theology.
It was paganism. But in theology, we call it deism. Deo, God. Deism, a view that
there is a God. And yes, he is sovereign and
powerful. He’s king and all the things the Bible says. But he
rarely, if ever, enters into human history. He rarely, if
ever, enters into natural space and time. He rarely enters, if
ever, and breaks into the laws of our universe. Well, we know
that’s not true. The sun stood still that Israel
might win a battle. We know of all kinds of times
and ways where God himself, the sovereign one, the ruler of heaven
and earth, as we say in our definition of providence, he, in a most
holy, wise, powerful way preserves and governs all his creatures
and all Their actions we we know this deism not to be not to be
true. It’s a Spin the basketball on
the finger of you God took the world and he got it like a Harlem
Globetrotter spinning on the tip of his finger and then he
tossed it in the air and And until it runs out of energy,
it will continue to spin, but he does not have to be involved.
That’s a very low view of God. That’s a very low view. Actually,
it’s no view of God, but God is in control of everything.
And we’re going to see that in this story of redemption through
the book of Esther. The Jews, in large number in
Susa. They’re in the provinces, these
127 of them from India to Ethiopia, and they are in danger. We’re
going to see an edict to exterminate them all. But God, we remember,
is the one who has the showdowns with Pharaoh and the plagues. He has the showdown on Mount
Carmel with Elijah. They’re representing him and
the wicked leaders of other religions. And so there’s a question though
in front of the Israelites, are we stuck here in exile? And is
our God unable to save us? Well, the answer is, of course,
He can save us. I found an interesting list,
and I don’t like to read stuff to you, but this is such an interesting
list. This comes out of Mark Dever’s
book, The Message of the Old Testament. He has a chapter on
every book of the Bible, and he asked this question, You know, is God at work in the
life of Esther? Is God at work in the life of
Israel? And are these things coincidences? The answer is no. Or are they the marks of God
at work? Esther just happens to be Jewish.
And she just happens to be beautiful. Esther just happens to be favored
by the king. Mordecai just happens to overhear
the plot against the king’s life. A report of this just happens
to be written in the King’s Chronicles. Haman just happens to notice
that Mordecai does not kneel down before him, and he just
happens to find out that Mordecai is a Jew. When Haman plots his
revenge, the dice just happen to indicate what the date for
exacting revenge is put off for almost a year. Esther happens
to get the King’s approval to speak, and then she happens to
put off her request for another day. Her deferral just happens
to send Haman out by Mordecai one more time, which just happens
to cause him to recount his plan to his friends. It just happens
that they encourage him to build a scaffold immediately. It just
happens that Haman is excited to approach the king early the
next morning, and it just so happens that the previous night,
the mighty king could not command a moment’s sleep. He just happened
to have a book that was brought to him and recounted Mordecai’s
deed. He then happened to ask whether Mordecai had been rewarded,
to which his attendants happened to know the answer. Simply consider
for a moment the fact that Mordecai happened not to have been rewarded
for having saved the king’s life. Haman happens to approach the
king when the king is just wondering how Mordecai should be honored.
The king happens to return to the queen just when Haman happens
to be pleading with Esther in a way that can be misconstrued.
And the gallows Haman built for Mordecai just happened to be
ready when the king, Xerxes, wants to hang Haman. And those
are just a few of the happy coincidences we might call in this story. There’s Ahasuerus, the opulent,
foolish king of this world, but then there’s God Almighty. And
I think one of the things we ought to remember that our God,
our King is at work in this world. We have no doubt of that, but
he is at work through his son and he left the riches and the
splendor of heaven. And when he came down here, he
didn’t end up on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. We don’t
have videos or tell-alls of Jesus’ opulent palace. You know, he
would have had one at Jerusalem and one at Galilee if he had
been a worldly man. He wandered about in the deserts
and had no home to call his own. And he lived his life in service
to his father, but also to us. And isn’t it wonderful, though
we have kings of the earth that have all these trappings that
we have a true king and his greatest pleasure is not to build a kingdom
and a palace for himself, but it’s to build and prepare a place
for you and he’s promised to go there and prepare it and bring
you home to be with him. And so, by God’s grace, may our
faith in Jesus and our faith in Almighty God and his providence
be strengthened as we look through this strange story of the scriptures. Let’s pray together. Our God,
we thank you for your love and mercy to us in Christ. We thank
you that the ways of your kingdom are not the ways of this world.
And we look forward to seeing what you will do day by day in
the rest of our lives as we walk with you and trust you by faith. And we pray that you give us
strength as we go tonight in the name of Christ. Amen.