BE THE WORLD TO ONE PERSON (ESTHER 2)
Once a frog fell into a deep pothole and couldn’t get out no matter how hard he tried to jump out. Even his friends couldn’t get him to muster enough strength to jump out of the pothole. After a number of futile attempts, they gave him up to his expected fate. But the next day they saw their frog-buddy bounding around just fine. Somehow he had made it out of the deep pothole, so they asked him how he did it, adding, “It looked so hopeless. We thought you’d never get out of there.”
The frog replied, “I thought so too, but then along came this big truck…and suddenly I had to.” (Appleseeds.org)
It’s been said, “Circumstances do not determine a man; they reveal him.”
The immigrant Mordecai and his native-born cousin Esther were out of their comfort zone, deep in foreign soil and faced problems and challenges they never expected. What were they to do now and how to face the future: involvement or isolation, inclusion or exclusion, participation or prohibition in new surroundings, with new people and new roles?
What are believer’s challenges in an alien and a hostile environment? How can we make a difference and defy the odds?
Lean on One Another
2:1 Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful girls into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. 4 Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it. 5 Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. 7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. 8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. (Est 2:1-8)
A decade ago in Beverly Hills, California, the late bathroom fixture magnate Sydney Altman left behind a $5.5 million fortune not to his 32-year old girlfriend Marie Dana or his relatives, but to his cocker spaniel Samantha. Altman, who died at age 60, left his opulent Beverly Hills home and $350,000 to his hound dog Samantha, termed his “loving companion.”
Miss Dana, called his “good friend,” was left with $50,000 cash and a stipend of $60,000 a year, provided she took care of the dog as caretaker. Upon the 15-year old dog’s death, the will stipulated, “the arrangement with Marie Dana is cancelled, and I wish the house to be sold and the money distributed to” to charity. The girlfriend promptly filed a suit contesting Altman’s will. Dana is reportedly seeking $2.7 million.
www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/09/24/breeds/main1695.shtml
Many people have no room for loved ones, family members and close friends; they do not share what they have and believe they owe no one anything.
One of the surprises of the book of Esther is that her name is not the most recurring name in the book even though it occurs 56 times, including the name Hadassah; her cousin Mordecai’s name was the most visible with a stirring 58 times. Another surprise is that Mordecai’s name was first introduced before Esther. Why was Mordecai so special and given that much coverage?
In contrast to the coldness of the king and the pride of Haman was the compassion of Mordecai, who stood out like a beacon of light. Mordecai was one of the most inspiring and upright characters in the Bible. When you think of impeccable people, you often think of Daniel and Joshua. Parents are less likely to name babies after Mordecai than Daniel, Joshua and even Esther. One of the marks of a person’s greatness is one’s care for and influence upon family members.
Mordecai had endured untold suffering and survived impossible odds. He was taken captive with King Jeconiah, who was the son of Jehoiakim, the king at the helm when Nebuchadnezzar first invaded Judah. This “captive” word (v 6) is not your ordinary captive word but a technical word for the Babylonian captivity of Judah – the golah - that was first recorded in 2 Kings 24:14. Later, the country fell during Jehoiachin’s reign.
Not only did Mordecai have to fight the odds and to will to survive, he had more on his plate. He took in and cared for his cousin Esther, the daughter of his uncle and aunt who had passed away. This episode occurred many years into the exile –when Nebuchadnezzar was king, so Esther, no doubt, was born in exile. Esther was an orphan, but Mordecai was not that much better either. Probably he, too, was without parents. Why he was taking care of Esther was understandable. Esther was probably a young girl when her parents died. They were in a foreign country. He was in the country longer than any of his countrymen since he was in the first group exiled. Further, he was a man, so he could use his hands and head to survive without being harassed.
The word “brought up” ( v 7) is more than that. That’s the regular word for building up or supporting; fostering as a parent or nurse; figuratively it means to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be true or certain; to turn to the right. Mordecai gave more than food and shelter to Esther; he gave his love, support, advice. He was more than a distant cousin; he was a loving brother, a caring mentor and a father figure to her. Mordecai took care of her, spent time with her and gave his very best as a parent could. The word “bringing” in verse 20 occurs only one time in the Bible, giving us an idea how big his part was and much he had to sacrifice.
Listen to People’s Advice
8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. 9 The girl pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven maids selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 11 Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her. 12 Before a girl’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. (Est 2:8-12)
While I was preparing this sermon, someone rang my house door twice. A man with a note pad containing carpet cleaning brochures was standing at the door. When he saw me opening the blinds he said, “Open the door. Open the door.” I waved “no” to him, as I do to the pest control salesman, the security alarm salesman and other salesmen at my door, since it was difficult to shout through the wooden door and glass window. He said, “You’re not even going to open the door, are you?” I said, “No, thank you.” He did not even bother to show me his product or leave behind a flyer but left in disgust!
I was bothered. Was I wrong or rude? So I looked up police websites that posted this “If a Stranger is at Your Door” advice:
Never indicate you are home alone.
When home alone never open your door to a stranger.
Use your wide-angle viewer to see who is at your door.
Do not open the door to anyone you do not know without first verifying the person’s identity. This includes police officers, repair, delivery or salespersons, and political or charity volunteers.
Ask to see identification.
Have the person slip their identification card under the door. If you have any doubts about the person, look up the telephone number in the telephone directory and call the company or agency the person claims to represent.
Do not rely on telephone numbers given to you by strangers at your door, the telephone number they give you could be an accomplice.
Do not open the door to a stranger requesting help or the use of your telephone. Offer to make the telephone call yourself while the stranger waits outside.
When a package is delivered, ask that the parcel be left outside the door. Receipts that require a signature can be slipped under the door. Open the door and pick up the package only when you are positive the delivery person has left.
Never allow a stranger into a security entrance. This includes someone asking to leave a package or a note for a neighbor.
Children should be trained not to answer the door.
A parent or a guardian is one who is never tired of saying “Be careful” or “Be cautious,” nag or lecture if they have to! Nowadays, one is never too careful with strangers, neighbors or even with acquaintances.
The Chinese say, “Do not harbor a heart injurious to others, but do not harbor a heart free of caution of others害人之心不可有，防人之心不可無.”
That was what Mordecai believed in. Mordecai did not have an agenda in telling Esther not to reveal her nationality and family background, but he was concerned others would have an ax to grind against the Jews. Our present education system and parenting method of instilling honesty in a child comes with much ignorance, total abandonment and at a great cost, producing naïve, unsuspecting and unaware children. That’s why we have kids and youth and even adults telling someone they do not know on the Internet everything about themselves, their family and their all. Honest but not smart. In fact, it is totally irrational, extremely dumb and downright dangerous. Note that Mordecai did not tell Esther to lie about her race and even birthplace; he simply instructed her not to give more information that was required of her in the competition than that was required of other contestants. She did not have to talk about her parents, her relatives and her religion if the rules were mute. Telling everything is not wisdom; it is folly. It is such a secular lie and a philosophical deceit to have to tell everything – all the sickening, tasteless and crass details, all that’s not fit to print - in order to be an honest person. That is the message of Hollywood and the media, but it is an ideology, not truth. Mordecai anticipated that sick and bigoted people could use her background to their advantage to disqualify, smear or even harm her. She would not have the opportunity to answer her critics and make her case; she could end up losing her focus and losing precious sleep.
The second thing about the wisdom of Mordecai’s words was that the time was not ripe. It was not a secret per se, to begin with. A family secret binds people to unreasonable and blind loyalty to a falsehood, but Esther’s race was not a shame. There were no skeletons in the closet, no scandal in the family, no sin to owe up to. It is, however, wisdom to know what to tell, who to tell, and when to tell. By the next chapter, Mordecai did not hide the fact that he was a Jew (3:5)
To be fair to Mordecai, he included himself in the forbidden background category. Who would not want to boast if one’s cousin was queen of the country or even one of the finalists? I could afford to boast a little if my relative was rich, famous or successful. Mordecai wanted Esther to look good or who she was. He did not want to steal the show; he wanted her to have the credit. His concern was not to instill apprehension and anxiety in her but to instill alertness and awareness in her. He did not want to control or cripple her; all he wanted was to caution her not to let success get to her head. He did not want her to say “My cousin said this” or “My relative said that” or “Mordecai said that.” If you noticed carefully, Mordecai never asked for any credit in verse 22; Esther named him to the king.
So Esther listened and deferred to Mordecai and in the area of human judgment. The word “forbidden” (v 10) is too serious; it is the normal word for “commanded.” He did not stop or forbid her because nobody can do that to a soon-to-be married adult. His concern was positive and not negative, protective but not powering.
Mordecai’s work was never done. He told Esther not for the joy or heck of getting on her case, but because he was worried and concerned. Every day he paced up and down the palace doors. The phrase “every day” is “day and day” (Est 2:11). The worst thing is not sure what had become of Esther (v 11). How long did he have to wait? Twelve months and still not a word. Can you imagine how many times he regretted not doing more to stop the contest and how many times he beat himself death over what had happened? Note that he did not send Esther to join the contest; he had no choice (v 8). By the way, he treated Esther like an adult, too. He gave her space to make decisions, and she passed the test with flying colors (v 20), reporting to the king what Mordecai told her when she saw the need to (v 22).
Look to God Above
13 And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name. 15 When the turn came for Esther (the girl Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. 16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality. 19 When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up. (Est 2:13-20)
A man and the Lord stood by to observe a baseball game. The Lord’s team was playing Satan’s team. The Lord’s team was at bat, the score was tied zero to zero, and it was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate whose name was Love. Love swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because Love never fails.
The next batter was named Faith, who also got a single because Faith works with Love.
The next batter was named Godly Wisdom. Satan wound up and threw the first pitch. Godly Wisdom looked it over and let it pass. Ball one. Three more pitches and Godly Wisdom walked, because Godly Wisdom never swings at what Satan throws. The bases were loaded.
The Lord then turned to the man and told him He was now going to bring in His star player. Up to the plate stepped Grace. The man said, “He sure doesn’t look like much!”
Satan’s whole team relaxed when they saw Grace. Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To the shock of everyone, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen. But Satan was not worried; his center fielder let very few get by. He went up for the ball, but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and sent him crashing on the ground; then it continued over the fence for a home run!
The Lord’s team won. The Lord then asked the man if he knew why Love, Faith and Godly Wisdom could get on base but could not win the game. The man answered that he did not know why. The Lord explained, “If your love, faith and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, faith and wisdom will get you on base, but only My Grace can get you home.
What was the secret of Esther’s beauty? Why was she successful? How does a finalist win a beauty contest? Because she was beautiful on the inside. Inner beauty trumps external beauty all the time because beauty is the eye of the beholder.
Surprisingly, Esther did not win the pageant with her beauty! The word “beauty” dropped out of the pageant! In fact, the word “lovely” (v 7) did not appear again in the book at all. The same “beauty” word of other beauties in the Bible such as Sarah (Gen 12:11, 14), Rachel (Gen 29:17, 17) and Abishag (1 Kings 1:3, 4) was mentioned more than once in the Bible, but not Esther, whose “lovely form” was covered once only. The girl pleased all she had come in contact with. She won the favor of the harem director, who provided her with her beauty treatments and special food and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem (v 9). Esther was not a skin-deep person. Her purpose in life was not to please or marry the king and her motive was not to bribe or sweet-talk the officer (verse 3 and 14 translation of “eunuch” is unnecessary; it is the normal word for officer), even though it may seem that way. The phrase “won the favor” means “obtained kindness (hesed - the word for God’s loving-kindness)” in Hebrew. She tapped into the rich vein of the goodness of men, stirred in them the desire to be a kind person and made herself as one others would feel better in her presence and would have no problem trusting or befriending. In summary, Esther had complete social grace. She had wisdom not to tell all but had innocence to trust others, isn’t that amazing.
Another thing happened to her on the way to the throne. She won the “favor” of everyone who saw her. I like the original Hebrew word “grace” better. No, she did no favors for everyone. Unlike people today, especially the young and the impressionable who give their all and do stupid things to be liked, Esther did not resort to such things. The grace she treat others, her good grace in the presence of others and the graceful way she carried herself before others won the day - not throwing a tantrum, no feeling of entitlement, never a harsh word, even if you are on top of the world.
Because of who she was inside and in truth, by the time Esther met the king she had the competition all wrapped up. The king loved her, not “attracted to” her (v 17), as NIV translates, unfairly making it about physical attraction, bodily appeal and external beauty. The word is the same Hebrew word for the love men like Isaac (Gen 24:67) and Jacob (Gen 29:18) have for their wives, and the word parents such as Abraham have for Isaac (Gen 22:2) and Jacob have for Joseph (Gen 37:3).
Again the same words “loving-kindness” and “grace” emerge, now in the presence of the king, but in reverse order in Hebrew. She obtained his grace before loving-kindness (NIV’s “approval”).
In a literary sense and theological level the writer was comparing Esther and the Israelites “grace” or “favor” with the second chance God gave to men when He spared Noah, who found grace or favor in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:8). Just as chapter 1 was a comparison with Joseph in the new land, chapter 2 was a veiled comparison with the second opportunity Noah received.
Conclusion: Christians should not hide their heads in the sand, nor should they be scared like a deer in headlights. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, not just in your room or corner! We should not only better ourselves, but also those we come in contact with and those who we get to know. It’s been said, “To the world you are one person, but to one person you are the world.” Have you forgotten those who have sacrificed for your success? Do you resent their involvement, intrusion or even interference in your life? Do you use your heart and head, and not your face and body, to get ahead? Are you making a difference, if not a dent, in the world, and doing serious damage for the better or collective good?
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
www.epreaching.blogspot.com
