A True Fairy Tale?
Everybody seems to like a fairy tale (especially little girls). My granddaughters love for me to make up fairy tales, and they always want to be in them. They act out the parts as I tell the story and they always want there to be princesses, fairies, and of course a wicked witch. They also like mermaids, though it’s challenging to work them in sometimes.
So many of the classic fairy tales have that familiar “rags to riches” storyline: beautiful obscure girl (often with wicked stepsisters) found by a prince, or living in the forest with seven small men (sounds suspicious to me).
But as we get older, we realize fairy tales are not true. Or are they?
Here before us is a story that in many ways reads like a fairy tale. There are no fairies, witches, or princes (and certainly no mermaids), but there is a beautiful orphan girl who wins a beauty contest and becomes a queen. And there is an evil man who plots her destruction and the destruction of her people. But because of her bravery, she saves her people and they live “happily ever after”!
It’s the story a beautiful young Jewish girl named Hadassah; she is better known as Queen Esther. But she was not always not always the queen.
Where Is God in the Book of Esther?
A unique feature of this book is that the name of God is never specifically mentioned. For that matter, the Lord is not referenced or even prayed to overtly. Yet God is all over this book, from beginning to end. The Lord is present in every scene and in the movement of every event.
As a Christian, I do not believe in coincidence, but in Providence. Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
I am often asked what my favorite scripture is. That’s very hard to answer, because it depends on the situation.
• When I am in a difficult and worrisome situation, it’s Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything . . .”
• When I look at how crazy things are in our world, I love John 14:27, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (NKJV).
• But overall, I would say one of my favorites is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (NKJV).
But there are times when God does not seem to be paying attention to our lives. We must remember, He has promised to never leave or forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5) and that He will walk with us through the floods and the fire.
Chuck Swindoll, in his book Esther, wrote, “God’s presence is not as intriguing as His absence. His voice is not as eloquent as His silence. Who of us have not longed for a word from God, searched for a glimpse of His power, or yearned for the reassurance of His presence, only to feel that He seems absent from the moment, distant, preoccupied. Yet later, we realize how very present He was all along.”
Setting the Stage
The story of Esther begins with the king of Persia, Xerxes. He was a very powerful king, ruling over the vast Persian Empire, which ranged from India to Ethiopia. He was raised as a royal, being the son of Darius the Great and grandson of Cyrus the Great.
History depicts Xerxes as physically towering over his contemporaries. Yet he also was an intolerant and insensitive man. Though a powerful and forceful leader, he lacked in what we would call “people skills.”
He decided to throw a great feast, which was to last for 180 days. Everyone was invited. The food was plentiful and the wine was flowing freely. The drinks were “on the house,” courtesy of King Xerxes. You could eat or drink as much as you wanted—king’s orders! People were drinking out of gold goblets, each one custom-designed. And the party was set in the lavish beauty of the royal palace.
Imagine the sense of power King Xerxes must have felt. Add to this the fact that he was “wasted.” And as we all know, drunk people say and do really stupid things.
So the great king decided to summon his beautiful queen, Vashti. She was to come in among the drunken subjects and be paraded about. Some Bible commentators believe the text implies that she was to come in naked, wearing only her crown. Xerxes was treating Queen Vashti like an object or personal possession. To her credit, she flat out refused, not wanting to be humiliated.
So now the king was in a quandary. If he let this go, it would show (according to his advisors) that he was losing his grip, his control. They said, “You must make an example of her!” That was because they were afraid all the women would be inspired by Queen Vashti and not let their husbands humiliate them as they always did. So the king decides he is going to remove Queen Vashti’s crown and replace her.
“Big Doors Swing on Small Hinges”
What is so amazing about this story is how such huge events were set into motion by such seemingly insignificant circumstances and decisions. God was quietly but directly working behind the scenes here, moving and rearranging events and changing minds even in the most secular of settings.
It’s a reminder that “big doors swing on small hinges.” We tend to think that if God is really engaged, things will change in an hour or so. But God does not wear a watch. He is above time and works on His own schedule. He is never early or late. He makes all things beautiful in His time (see Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Scripture reminds us that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1 NKJV).
Exit Vashti . . . Enter Esther.
Esther 2:5–9:
“At that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. His family had been among those who, with King Jehoiachin of Judah, had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter. As a result of the king’s decree, Esther, along with many other young women, was brought to the king’s harem at the fortress of Susa and placed in Hegai’s care. Hegai was very impressed with Esther and treated her kindly. He quickly ordered a special menu for her and provided her with beauty treatments. He also assigned her seven maids specially chosen from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.”
So the search is on for the great beauty of Persia. Whoever won the contest would be the next queen. Every young girl living in Persia would want to win this.
This is the dream of so many young girls today. To be “discovered” and go to Hollywood and be a star, the next “American Idol,” the next supermodel, or simply to be famous. American teenagers are fixated on fame. More than a third of them would prefer it to beauty, intelligence, or strength. Even more problematic? Those teens aren’t just dreaming about being famous; they’re planning on it. According to a poll I read, 31% of American teenagers expect they’ll be famous one day.
Whoever would win this beauty contest would be the most famous of all. I honestly don’t think Esther necessarily wanted this. Though stunningly beautiful, she certainly wasn’t flaunting it. She didn’t have any videos posted on YouTube. She didn’t tweet or post “selfies” on Instagram. She figured she would live a quiet life, unnoticed by the great empire of Persia. She probably had a nice Jewish boy she hoped to marry one day. But God had other plans in mind.
She would be the girl who saved a nation.
Beauty Contest
The beauty contest was on, and Esther was summoned. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us there were as many as 400 women involved in this rather remarkable competition.
First of all, they had to be virgins, and then they went through an extensive makeover. You had your team of stylists to do your hair and makeup, helping you to look hot. It was all designed so they would be picked by the king and their dream would come true.
Young Hadassah had lost her family and was living with her cousin Mordecai. Scripture tells us she was beautiful in form and lovely to look at. The king saw the Persian beauties, one after another, but there was something about the lovely Hadassah, Esther, that took his breath away immediately! That “something” was not merely outer beauty, but inner virtue.
What Is Your “Something”?
We all have talents and gifts that God has given us. For Esther, it was extraordinary beauty. But far too often, those who are the most beautiful or handsome can be shallow. They always got the special favors, the attention, and the praise: “You are so beautiful!” People stare at them when they walk in a room (and they know it). They learn what their “best side” is. In the photo, they are one in the Zoolander pose.
But we need to take what God has given us and cultivate it, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Esther had inner character to match her outward beauty. She also had great courage as well, as we will see later.
Perhaps you have not been blessed with beauty, but with brains, or a musical or artistic talent. Then again, you may be good at crunching numbers or building things. One can be a great visionary but not very good with the practical. Another is a detail person who is not big on vision.
Discover your talents and gifts, cultivate them to their fullest, and use them for God’s glory! Scripture tells us to not neglect the gift God has given to us (see 1 Timothy 4:14), or as one paraphrase puts it, “keep that dusted off and in use” (MSG).
Determining Your Gift
But how do you know what your gifts are? By exposing yourself to as many opportunities as possible and “giving it a go.” Mere process of elimination can play a part. Walt Disney, a visionary himself, used to tell a story about a little boy:
A circus came to town, and was going to have a parade. The bandmaster needed someone to play trombone, so the boy signed up. He hadn’t marched a block before the horrible racket coming from his horn caused two old ladies to faint and a horse to run away. The bandmaster demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t play the trombone?” The little boy replied “How could I know? I never tried before!”
Many of us never find out what we can or cannot do because we never try! So, you blow your trombone in the circus parade, or you try to lead that song, or teach that little Bible study at lunch break, or volunteer to do that one thing no one else wants to do, and you make a discovery: You are gifted at it! (Or then again, maybe you are not gifted at it!) You discover you have a talent in an area you had never thought of before.
I never thought I would become a public speaker, much less a pastor. Like most people, I was terrified to be in front of people, much less speak in front of people. I still can remember having to give an impromptu speech in school and failing! I always liked to draw and design and work behind the scenes. But one day, I discovered I had an ability to speak before a group of people. Perhaps it was because I finally had something to say!
There Is a Time to Speak Up and a Time to Be Quiet.
Esther 2:10 says, “Esther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background,
For Mordecai had told her not to.”
Was this right or wrong? It can be argued both ways. Some would say she should have identified herself as a Jew up front. In not doing so, she was compromising her faith. There is merit to that argument, but perhaps some flaws as well.
Sometimes we may think that we have to bombard everyone we meet with the whole gospel. But I have found that God uses me to sometimes “sow seeds” only. This is done by simply living as a follower of Jesus Christ.
For someone to meet an actual Christian that is not half-psycho is, in itself, a feat today. Frankly, there are quite a few weird people who become Christians and are still weird. But nonbelievers think Christianity or, more to the point, Jesus made these people weird when they converted. Fact is, they were weird to start with and now are just saved and weird. Unfortunately, many of these people are the most public among us. They seem be more verbal to others. Thank God for good, salt-of-the-earth, normal, yet committed Christians out there.
Yes, there are times to sow seeds, but then, of course, there are times to reap where others have sown and watered, boldly proclaiming the gospel when that right moment comes without fear, or simply asking a person “Would you like to commit your life to Jesus Christ right now?”
But there is also a place for silence in our witness to others. Take a Christian wife with a nonbelieving husband. Conventional wisdom would say she should preach sermons to him every day. 1 Peter 3:1–4 (MSG) says,
“Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.”
Make no mistake about it: a godly and attractive girl is a powerful tool in God’s hands. It was a girl who was attractive outwardly, but especially inwardly, that got me.
I’m not advocating being “hot babes” for Jesus. Actually, I’m talking about the very opposite of that. The fact is, inner beauty will shine brighter than outer beauty. Proverbs 31 says, “Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God” (MSG).
So, Esther may have been wise to wait for just the right moment to speak out. She certainly modeled this passage we just read in 1 Peter. As stated, Esther was a standout beauty. But it was that inner beauty that attracted the king to her.
If this were a fairy tale, it would end with the words “and they lived happily ever after.” But the Book of Esther is not a fairy tale; nor is life.
Haman
Now, enter the villain of this story: Haman.
He was power-hungry and doing everything he could to manipulate his way to even greater power, resulting in his promotion to prime minister. One day, proud as a peacock, Haman is strutting down the main street. He passes by the godly Mordecai. The order from the king was that everyone was to bow to Haman, but Mordecai did not.
Haman was outraged at such rebellion. He demanded to know more about this unruly subject. Finding out he was a Jew, Haman wants to destroy Mordecai, and his people. The penalty for not bowing? Death to the entire Jewish race! It was like a precursor to Hitler’s “final solution.”
Prime Minister Haman knows exactly how to get the king on board. He will appeal to the kings’ ego.
Esther 3:8–11:
“Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, ‘There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.’ The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. The king said, ‘The money and the people are both yours to do with as you see fit.’”
Little did the king know that he was sealing his own queen’s death—as well as her entire race. This decree was published and posted throughout the empire. It told them they had one year to live. Then, they all would die. What a wicked plot this was on Haman’s part. He wanted them to suffer mentally as well as physically.
Now Esther would discover why she had won that beauty contest and was queen. As I said earlier, it was not coincidence, but Providence.
Mordecai
There was public mourning in the city, weeping in the streets. Esther’s cousin Mordecai was right outside the entrance to the palace in sackcloth. He could not enter in, so he tried to make himself visible to the queen. I don’t know that she knew much, if anything, about this edict. She lived in the secluded, highly protected environment of the palace, locked away from the concerns of common people. Her own people were weeping in the streets and she did not know it.
Distressed, she sent him some nice clean clothes so he would be more comfortable. Talk about missing the point! Mordecai was going to need more than clean clothes; he and his people were going to die! His little cousin needed a wake-up call.
It was only after her servants came and told her that she reacted. Mordecai sent back to her the written decree, signed by the king so she would know exactly what was happening.
Queen Esther understood what he wanted, and she was not prepared to do it. If she were to approach the king unsummoned, she could be executed on the spot, or at the very least, fired as queen. Yet her entire race was going to die!
The Danger of Isolation
This reminds me of some people in the church today. They do everything they can to isolate and insulate themselves from this world. They don’t want to know about or hear about it, so that they don’t have to care about it.
In the church today, we have a “Christianized” version of just about everything. We have Christian radio, TV, books, music—all of which is great. We have Christian hotels, gyms, clubs—you name it, we have it.
Maybe we should have a Christian car. There are too many secular ones out there. The Christian car’s radio would be preset to gospel radio stations only. When you hit the horn, instead of a honk it says, “Could you please move? God bless!” Your GPS system not only gives you directions to your destination but counsel as well. The car won’t start unless you begin in prayer. You remember James Bond’s Aston Martin with the ejection seat on the passenger side? You would have that feature for all of the seats, to be activated at the sound of a trumpet!
Seriously though, it’s time to come out of our Christian bubble. We need find out what is going on in the real world and then do something about it. It seems for some, their goal is to get through a day without any contact with an unbeliever. But how can we learn to care if we don’t know about them?
Esther is not quite ready to leave the safety of her bubble yet, so she sends this message:
Esther 4:10–14:
“Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the decree issued in Susa that called for the death of all Jews. He asked Hathach to show it to Esther and explain the situation to her. He also asked Hathach to direct her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people. So Hathach returned to Esther with Mordecai’s message. Then Esther told Hathach to go back and relay this message to Mordecai: ‘All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days.’ So Hathach gave Esther’s message to Mordecai. Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: ‘Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?’”
An Important Question
Has God placed you where you are “for such a time as this?”
There is only one you! You are the only person walking this earth with your exact heritage and experience, the precise events and sufferings of life that have brought you to this hour. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, you are unique from all others. If you have suffered in life, if you have been neglected, mistreated, abused, I’m sorry. But God can take all this hurt and pain the world has dealt us and use it to make us into the men and women he wants us to be “for such a time as this.”
There is “a time to be quiet and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7). For Esther, that time has come—”For such a time as this!”
This same is true for each of us! It’s not coincidental you live in the neighborhood you live in. Your relationships, your job, your friends (your everything!) are not just because of “dumb luck.” It’s Providence. God has something unique for you to do! God has placed you where you are to be an influence for Him on others you know.
So instead of moaning about your circumstances, instead pray, “Lord, how could You use me where I am ‘for such a times as this’?”
A classic example of this is Joseph. Talk about mistreatment! He was heartlessly rejected by his own siblings, who sold him to slave traders. When the day came for him to get some deserved payback on them, he instead said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives” (Genesis 45:4–5).
“God did it!” That is an amazing statement. Joseph didn’t even say, “God allowed it.” He simply said, “God did it.” He knew God was in control of everything that had happened to him. Whatever happens in your life is something God has allowed or is doing!
So, here was Esther, in the right place, and the right time. And here are you in the same position. God has been preparing you, equipping you for this moment.
But you need to be aware of what is going on around you. Instead of isolating, you need to infiltrate and permeate.
• “How can I use my Christian influence here?”
• “How can God be glorified in this situation?”
• “What does God want me to say or not say here?”
If Esther obeyed Mordecai, she stood to risk everything, including her very life! Although the king was her husband, she couldn’t just stroll into his office and casually speak her mind. Things did not work that way in ancient Persia. She had to be summoned, and the king had not done so for a month.
On top of that, she was Jewish. How would the king respond when he heard that? It was a dilemma. But Mordecai had raised Hadassah in the way of the Lord. She knew the Scripture from her youth. She was not only beautiful on the outside; she had character on the inside. She was not a fragile drama queen; she was a Hebrew warrior! And it was time to fight!
She would put her legendary beauty and feminine influence to great use. One commentator wrote, “Wherever there is a people of God, there are enemies of God. A realization that there is in fact an enemy forces a reassessment of priorities. The moment Haman surfaced, Esther began to move from being a beauty queen to becoming a Jewish saint, from being an empty-headed sex symbol to being a passionate intercessor, from the busy-indolent life in the harem to the high-risk venture of speaking for and identifying with God’s people.”
I love her statement to Mordecai in Esther 4:16: “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”
We will look at the exciting conclusion of this story in Part 2.
So What Do We Learn from the Life of Queen Esther?
• We learn that our lives belong to God. He created us, called us, gifted us, and now wants to use us.
• Come out of your Christian bubble and pay attention to people around you.
• Instead of cursing the darkness, try “turning on the light.”
• Instead of being upset with God about your circumstances, ask yourself the question, “Am I here for such a time as this?”
• Ask the Lord to help you know the time to be quiet and the time to speak.
• There are people who are crying in the streets, lonely, hurting, and waiting for someone to tell them.
And what are we to tell them?
We are to tell them that God loves them. That they are separated from Him by their sin. That if they will turn from that sin, He will forgive them. If they do not turn from that sin, they will face judgment. Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins. They need to come to him now!
