September 23: Esther 1-5

September 23, Esther 1-5

Esther. The author is unknown. A very interesting thing about this book - it does not explicitly mention the name of God, yet the entire book is about God working things out for His people and His purpose. This is a book about courage, hardship and faith.

Historically, this book is very important. As you will read, there were great threats that the Jews were to be annihilated after they were exiled to Babylon. This in and of itself sets this book apart as historically important. 

Esther 1 The king of 127 provinces, Ahasuerus, threw a great feast. He showed off all his wealth by impressing his friends for almost 1/2 a year. They drank much wine out of golden cups and they drank to excess. At the same time, the Queen - Vashti, threw a banquet for the women in one of the palaces. The king was fairly drunk and he though it would be a good idea to bring his wife to his party, wearing nothing but her crown, to show her off to his buddies. She declined. Back in that day, nobody refused the queen without consequence. The king was furious and after receiving some advice from his counsellors, he banned her from being queen and ever seeing him again. The counsellors reasoning was that if she didn't submit to the king, there was no hope for any of the other wives to submit and they would treat their husbands with contempt. The king sent out a letter to all people that the men were to be the leaders of their household - both the high and the low families. Ironic, that the king was going to force it on others as his home didn't reflect his desires. 

Esther 2 After this happened, the king decreed that he wanted all the beautiful young virgins to be found and brought to him. They were to be trained in the ways of palace living and the goal was to find a queen to replace Queen Vashti. 

Now enter the narrative two people, Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai was a Jew who was exiled with the others when Nebuchadnezzar took over. Mordecai had raised Esther, he was related to her, because she had not mom and dad. She was young and beautiful (meeting the criteria of the king), so she was brought into the palace for the king. After 12 months of palace training, she had won the favor of all around her. She went into the kings palace and the king loved her more than all the other women. He set the crown on her head and made her Queen instead of Vashti and he threw a party.

Esther 3 Enter another character to the story, Haman. The king promoted Haman and advanced him above all the other rulers (beside himself). All people were to bow down in his presence, but Mordecai refused to. This infuriated Haman and it made him want to destroy the Jews because of Haman. Haman schemed on this and figured out a way to convince the King to kill all the Jews, and Haman would even put his own money in to make it happen. His spin was that they didn't keep all the kings rules, and the king agreed. They wrote up the decree that all the Jews in all the provinces were to be plundered and destroyed, and the king sealed the decree (irrevocable). 

Esther 4 Mordecai learned what was decreed and he tour his clothes and mourned and wept aloud in the city. Every Jew was mourning. Esther heard about Mordecai and she was distressed. The option was for Esther to go to the king and see what she could do - however here is the caveat: if she goes to the king without him asking to see her, it would mean sudden death to her, unless of course the king approved of her visit by holding out his golden scepter. Mordecai gave her a nice challenge and told her that she would not be spared either, as she was a Jew - not public information as of yet. “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, buy you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” I love that line - only God knows why He has us when and where He has us. They agreed to all fast for 3 days and she would go in and see the king. 

Esther 5 On the third day, Esther went in to meet the king - she hadn't been called by him for 30 days at this point - and he held out his scepter and accepted her to be in his presence. He asked her what she wanted, even up to 1/2 of his kingdom! She said she wanted to hold a feast for him and Haman. Granted. She held a feast for them, and after they were done he asked her what her request was, and she replied that she would tell him if she could hold him an additional feast the next day .He agreed. 

Haman was full of joy and happiness, that is until he saw the Jew Mordecai not bowing down to him. His was instantly furious and went and gathered his wife and friends for some advice as to what he should do about it. His wife came up with the idea for him to build a huge allow (hanging contraption) and get the king to allow him to hang Mordecai on it. He like date idea and the construction of the death gallows began…

To sum it all up: 

• Do you see how God is working everything out?
• Even when things seem completely horrible - know that God is in control and will work it out. I know that sounds trite and easier said than done… but believe you me - if God isn't in control of everything - we are severely screwed. There is no such thing as chance.
• God has you where He wants you - now be obedient and do what He is calling you to do. God has put people in your life for a reason. Now be obedient and pursue holiness in every relationship. Live intentional.