Introduction:
A. The story is told of a man who after being away on a business trip, thought it would be nice to bring a little gift home to his wife.
1. The man went into a store and asked the clerk, “Can you recommend some perfume as a gift for my wife?”
2. The clerk showed him a bottle of perfume costing $50.00.
3. “That's more than I wanted to spend,” said the man, so the clerk returned with a smaller bottle for $30.00.
4. The man complained, “That's still quite a bit.”
5. Growing annoyed, the clerk brought out a tiny, tiny $15.00 bottle.
6. “What I mean,” said the man, “is I'd like to see something really, really cheap.”
7. So the clerk handed him a mirror.
B. Some people are really cheap when it comes to their spending on perfume and cosmetics, but not so for everyone.
1. Last year the beauty, cosmetics and fragrance companies reported 13 billion dollars of sales in the United States.
2. That 13 billion is divided up among the 314 million people who live in the U.S.
3. I wouldn’t be surprised if something comparable to 13 billion dollars was spent for the one year supply of beauty treatments that were given to the women who had been chosen for the Miss Persia contest we learned about last week in our story from the Book of Esther.
C. Today, as we return to our story of Esther, you will remember that last week we learned that Esther had been chosen to be part of the Miss Persia contest.
1. Rather than calling it the Miss Persia contest, we might call it “The Bachelor, Persia Edition.”
2. All of you have heard of the modern reality show called The Bachelor and some of you are aware of the way The Bachelor works.
3. The Bachelor is an American television dating game show that debuted in 2002 on ABC.
a. They just finished season 17!
b. The series revolves around a single, eligible, handsome bachelor and a pool of beautiful eligible woman (typically 25in a season).
c. Early in the season, the bachelor goes on large group dates with the women, and eliminates those whom he is not interested in.
d. As the season progresses, women are also eliminated on one-on-one dates and on two-on-one dates.
e. The process culminates with the final 3 women going on overnight dates to exotic locations, should they choose to accept.
f. In many cases, the bachelor proposes to his final selection, but as of the end of season 17, none of the bachelors has married the woman to whom he presented the final rose.
4. The contest we read about in Esther 2 last week is not that different from this modern TV reality show.
5. Look again at Esther 2:2-4: Then the king's personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 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. Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.
6. The Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us there were as many as 400 women involved in this remarkable competition.
7. Each of the women were given a year in which to polish their seductive arts, to enhance their beauty by pampering their bodies, and applying the art of costume and cosmetics.
8. Then each of them would be given one night with the king to show off their elegance, charm, beauty and seduction, and then the king would make his choice; just like the bachelor.
D. So let’s return to our story of Esther and see what happens to Esther and what lessons we can apply to our lives.
I. The Story
A. Look again at Esther 2:8: 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.
1. Notice that it says that “Esther also was taken to the king’s palace.”
2. I’m intrigued by the verb “taken” and its’ passive tense.
a. The verb can mean “taken by force” and some Jewish scholars give that interpretation.
b. I don’t know if there was coercion involved; we’re not told that Esther was “forced” to go.
3. But I think it would be fair to say that there must have been reluctance on her part.
a. Just stop and think about it – why would a young Jewess want to get involved in a plan that would force her to leave the only family she had?
b. Why would she want to spend a year shut away in a harem, culminating in a night with a heathen king that might result in the possibility of intermarriage outside her race?
c. I think it’s safe to say she went reluctantly, don’t you?
4. Add to all of that the atmosphere that Esther was thrust into.
a. Can you picture the competitive spirit that must have been rife in the king’s harem?
b. You’ve seen the movie Miss Congeniality, right? It showed the behind the scenes working of beauty pageants.
c. Who could forget the kind of infighting there was amongst girls in high school?
d. Remember, the women in the Miss Persia contest weren’t spending a year cultivating great character.
e. One can only imagine the petty rivalries, the in-fighting, the envy, and the jealousy that must have been present.
f. Imagine how tough it would be to maintain any kind of perspective or spiritual equilibrium when everything and everyone around you is emphasizing only the shape of your body and the beauty of your face.
g. How demeaning…how temporary…and how empty.
5. This is the kind of atmosphere that our heroine, Esther, was thrust into.
B. Yet, amazingly and admirably, Esther’s true beauty emerged in the midst of all this.
1. Look at verse 9: The girl (Esther) 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.
2. Esther not only won the favor of those who had discovered her and had taken her into the king’s palace, but she also won the favor of Hegai, who had great power and influence in the palace.
3. The literal translation of “the girl pleased him” says, “She lifted up grace before his face.”
4. Esther modeled grace before the face of the king’s influential servant, Hegai.
5. There was such an obvious and immediate difference between Esther and the other women, that Hegai quickly provided her with whatever she needed and then some.
6. Hegai moved Esther into the best accommodations in the harem.
C. Now, we learn two important things from the next two verses.
a. Esther 2:10-11: Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 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.
b. First, we learn that Esther kept her nationality hidden, as Mordecai had instructed her.
1. Here we see Esther’s trust in Mordecai and her obedience toward him.
2. Although she might not have understood why keeping that secret was important, she did so anyhow.
3. You know, verbal restraint is fast becoming a forgotten virtue – with the tell-all and hide-nothing talk shows and tabloids, and social media. Today, very few people can hold their tongue.
c. The other important thing we learn is that Mordecai was concerned for Esther, and attempted to constantly check on her wellbeing.
1. Could Mordecai have done more than this for Esther? Perhaps. But at least he did what he did.
D. Our story continues: 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. 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. 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. (Esther 2:12-14)
1. You may not have noticed, but the verses I have been reading and putting up here on the screen today are from the NIV (1984 Edition) not the ESV as I have been doing recently.
a. During all of my ministry years I have primarily preached and taught using the NIV.
b. Unfortunately, the publisher came out with a new NIV in 2011, and I do not like the new translation for a number of reasons that I won’t go into now.
c. Nevertheless, I still was preaching from the 1984 version of the NIV, until back in January, the publisher no longer allowed Bible websites to offer the older version of the NIV that I preferred.
d. That’s why I started preaching and teaching from the ESV, because the electronic version of the 1984 NIV was no longer available for me to cut and paste.
e. I am happy to say that this week I found the 1984 version of the NIV at another website, and so I’m going to begin preaching from it again, since most of our members are still carrying Bibles to church that are the older version of the NIV.
2. You will also notice that the NIV has chosen to use the name King Xerxes, rather than King Ahasuerus. (Xerxes is the king’s Greek name, while Ahasuerus is his Persian name)
3. In these verses we learn a little more about the Miss Persian contest.
a. Each contestant received 12 months of beauty treatments.
b. And when it was her turn, the contestant could bring with her whatever she wanted, from the harem, for her visit with the king.
c. Notice that the meeting with the king started in the evening and was over by morning.
d. When she returned to the harem, she was taken to a different part and was put under the oversight of a different servant.
e. She might never see the king again, unless he called for her.
f. This was a rather cruel competition. I’ll have more to say about that in a few minutes.
E. Finally, we are told that it was Esther’s turn to visit the king.
1. The Bible says: 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. 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. 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. 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. (Esther 2:15-18)
2. Notice how humble and teachable Esther was – she was willing to take the advice of Hegai and took only what he suggested she should take for her visit with the king.
a. Who knew the king better than Hegai? So who’s advice should she take?
b. Esther could have had the attitude: “I know what I’m doing, I don’t need anyone’s help! I’m going to do it my way!”
c. But that’s not how she thought, nor what she did.
3. And just like that, we are told that Esther won the king’s heart and won the contest.
a. The text seems to insinuate that this was immediate, and maybe it was.
b. I don’t know what number Esther was in the competition, but I can’t imagine she was last.
c. Maybe after the king was with Esther, he went ahead with all the other women, I don’t know.
d. But the text sure seems to insinuate that once he met Esther, he knew he had found the one he wanted to be his new queen and the contest came to an abrupt end.
4. And just as you would expect from this king, the king threw a banquet in honor of Esther and proclaimed a holiday and gave away a lot of money – probably tax rebates.
II. The Application
A. So what lessons can and should we wrestle with from today’s segment of the story?
1. I want to encourage us to wrestle with two questions:
a. Where were the parents?
b. Was Esther always a godly woman?
c. Let’s consider those questions in that order.
B. When you read the story of Esther and the Miss Persia contest (or The Bachelor, Persia Edition), do you find yourself asking the question: Where are the parents of these young women?
1. How many of you dads and moms read this story and freak out?
2. These girls are probably teenagers. Diana and I have 3 daughters, and one is still a teenager.
3. Were these girls and their parents so caught up in the immorality of the time and the glamorous possibility of becoming the queen that they don’t care what they have to do?
4. Sadly, we live in a day like that, don’t we? Today, people have the attitude:
a. If I have to dress a certain way, or cover myself with tattoos, or wear piercings or ear gages to catch people’s attention, then I will.
b. If I have to sleep with my boyfriend or girlfriend to keep them, I will.
c. Or if I have to live with them before marriage, or I may lose them, I will live with them.
5. What is your reaction to this awful competition designed to benefit only one person – the king?
a. What these girls were forced to do was not date the king.
b. It didn’t start with dinner and conversation, “Tell me about your family…what’s your favorite color?...what do you like to read…do you know how to read?”
c. Where did they start with the king? At bed time.
d. Unfortunately this king is not too different from a lot of guys today whose attitude is: “Let me sleep with you, and then I’ll figure out if I want to get to know you.”
e. How sad that many men treat women like that: “I don’t want to know her, I don’t want to date her, I don’t want to marry her. I just want her to show up at night and leave in the morning, and I don’t want her to call, text, or email me. If I want to see her again, I’ll let her know.”
f. Sadly, some women and young ladies are so mixed up and so desperate that they compete for that kind of man.
6. We joke sometimes about dads coming on strong and trying to put the fear of God into potential suitors of their daughters.
a. We joke about them cleaning their guns on the kitchen table when the young man comes to the door to pick up their daughter. I have certainly felt like doing that!
b. But in reality fathers and mothers are supposed to protect their daughters and sons, right?
7. We should make it very clear that we value our children and that we won’t be quiet or inactive if they are in danger.
8. If our daughter or son is dating a total loser, or he or she doesn’t believe in God, or they are sleeping together, or they are about to move in together, then it is not time to be silent or inactive.
a. We shouldn’t rationalize passivity saying: “well they’re a young adult now…they get to make their own decisions…I don’t want to create a scene…etc.
9. Parents, we must pray for wisdom and then act in the best interests of our children.
10. So, where were the parents in Esther’s story (of course, Esther’s parents were dead, but she had her adoptive parents) and why didn’t they act on behalf of their children? That’s a good question.
C. Another important question that arises as I read this story is: Was Esther a godly woman?
1. At this point in the story, Esther seems very passive.
a. She hasn’t spoken. She hasn’t done anything.
b. All the decisions are getting made for her, and it’s almost like life is like a river and she’s just a little twig being carried by the current of the decisions of others like Mordecai, Hegai, and Xerxes.
2. She was chosen for the Miss Persia contest and she cooperated.
a. When it was her time to spend the night with the king, the Bible says she went in, she came out, and she won.
b. But how godly was that?
c. I know that when these girls were taken into the harem, they became concubines, kind of quasi wives. But this arrangement was not commanded by God, and a godly person should not participate in it.
3. What makes our question about Esther so difficult is that God doesn’t comment on any of this.
a. There’s nothing in parenthesis that gives God’s commentary like: God didn’t hold her accountable because she had no choice.
4. There is one thing I think we all can agree on.
a. Xerxes is an awful, ungodly man.
1. We call can support that statement right?
2. We all would say, ‘Xerxes was a jerkses!”
5. But the question still remains…was Esther always a godly woman?
6. There are three possible answers to that question.
a. First, Esther was always godly, from beginning to end.
1. When we think this way we read into the story.
2. We picture Esther quoting Scripture whenever she speaks, and leading Bible studies and women’s prayer groups in the harem with all the concubines.
3. And when it came her time to be with the king, Esther went to him but maintained her virginity, and Xerxes was so taken with her that he married her on the spot.
4. Maybe it happened that way, but the Bible doesn’t give us those kinds of details.
5. Unfortunately, sometimes we are tempted to misread and misinterpret the Bible.
a. We want to think in terms of good people and bad people.
b. God loves the good people and not the bad people.
c. God uses good people and not bad people.
d. So, if God used Esther, she must have been a good person.
6. This misreading and misinterpreting of the Bible leads to one of two things: pride or despair.
a. Pride causes me to think, “I’m a good person, therefore God can use me.”
b. Despair causes us to think, “It’s too late. I’ve already blown it. I’m a bad person, therefore God can’t use me.”
7. If we think that way, we miss the entire message of the Bible – Everyone falls into one of two categories: One category includes all the sinners, the other category includes Jesus.
a. The main story of the Bible is the story of God’s grace.
b. God’s grace and mercy causes Him to love the underserving, and to use the underserving, because that’s the only kind of people there are.
c. The great people of the Bible were painfully normal and were sinners just like us.
d. Think through a few of the greats:
1. Abraham was a man of faith, but he twice lied about his wife.
2. Noah was a godly man, but then he got drunk and naked.
3. Moses was a godly man, but he let anger get the best of him.
4. David was a man after God’s own heart, but he was guilty of murder and adultery.
5. Then there was Samson, he wasn’t very godly at all, but God used him anyway.
e. All the heroes of the Bible and all the heroes today are heroes with a little “h.”
a. They and we all need a hero with a big “h” and His name is Jesus.
8. So, I don’t believe that Esther was always a godly woman, but God still used her.
b. A second possibility is that Esther was the innocent victim of sexual assault.
1. Scripture tells us of other innocent victims of sexual assault, like Dinah and Tamar.
2. That is certainly a possibility for Esther, but that is not the way it is described in the text.
3. As I said a moment ago, these girls were taken into the harem as concubines, and in that sense it was all legal or acceptable in their culture.
4. Esther could have said no to the king and refuse to be a concubine, but she didn’t. We all saw what happened to Vashti when she said no to the king. Something worse might have happened to Esther, but she still had a choice.
c. The third possibility is that Esther was not always godly, but became more godly as the story progressed.
1. At the beginning of the story of Esther no one was really walking with God.
2. No one in the story was praying to God or worshiping God. No one was going to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts or to make sacrifices. No one quotes a verse. No one even mentions God.
3. For whatever reason, Mordecai and his family, including Esther did not go back to Israel when they were allowed to, but chose to stay in the pagan land of their captivity.
4. But here’s what I see happening to Esther, as God gets a hold of her heart, she has a conversion experience of sorts, and begins to grow spiritually.
5. By the end of the story, we see Esther stop being passive and start to put her faith on the line and swim against the current of the worldly culture of her day.
6. In many ways, Esther’s story is a lot like each of ours, because we have not always been walking with God in godliness, right? Isn’t that true of you?
7. Nevertheless, God loves us and draws us to Himself, showing us His grace.
8. Even when we make wrong and sinful mistakes, God is still with us patiently working with us and even through us.
9. Just like with Esther, God can get us through the trouble we have gotten ourselves into.
a. Because of the choices we’ve made and even choices that others have made, sometimes our lives are really complicated.
b. Someone might say, “I married and unbeliever and it’s hard…or I had children out of wedlock and it’s complicated…or I got divorced and I shouldn’t have and it’s a mess…or I didn’t get an education, and now I’m paying for it…or I got in trouble with the law and it really closes a lot of doors.”
10. Just like with Esther, God gets her through it. God doesn’t get her out of it or around it, but through His providence, He gets her through it.
a. That’s what God does in our lives as well. Even if we’ve made bad decisions and others have made bad decisions that get us into a difficult position, God will, by his providential hand, get us through it.
11. We come to God guilty. We come to God confused. We come to God disqualified. And we come to God a mess. But God gives us grace and begins His work in us to make us more godly – just like God did with Esther.
12. I hope this encourages all of us to start where we are and move toward God and toward godliness.
13. May God do a great work in us and through us – just like God did in and through Esther!
Resources:
Esther: A Woman of Strength and Dignity, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1997.
Jesus Is A Better Savior, Sermon by Mark Driscoll, http://marshill.com
