Last week Michael gave us an overview of the book of Esther. Let’s recap the timeline.
Cyrus (559-530) Ezra 1:1 – 1st year of his reign over Babylon, allowed Jews to return
Zerubbabel led the first returnees in 538 BC
Started rebuilding altar/Temple but halted until 2nd yr Darius (Ezra 4:24)
Completed 6th year (6:15). Stopped 16 years.
Cambyses (530-522)
Darius (521-486) (Haggai and Zechariah ministered, encouraged rebuilding of Temple)
Ahasuerus* (485-464) ESTHER in Persia Susa, became queen 479 BC (7th year of Xerxes)
Artaxerxes (464-424) Ezra 7:7 returns (7th yr of reign) 458 BC sent by King
Neh 2:1 returns (20th yr of reign) 445 BC request granted by King
* NIV uses Xerxes (Greek), KJV, NASB, ESV uses Ahasuerus (Hebrew) ah har su air res
The author set the stage for us to understand what God has done.
• 1:1-2 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush (Ethiopia): 2At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa…
• [Show map] It’s the greatest empire of the known world then. Read Esther 1:3-8.
Although we do not know the author is, we can tell he is someone familiar with the Persian court, referring to the customs and events as though he knew it from the inside.
• Looking at what God has already done, the author writes “this is what happened during the time of Xerxes…” to tell the Jewish remnant (his readers) how God has delivered them (His people) from an almost certain extermination.
• And this deliverance is now commemorated as the yearly Festival of Purim, when they read through this entire story.
The author made an effort to paint the detailed backdrop to this and help us appreciate God’s work.
• The Persian kingdom was huge and powerful, stretching from India (E) to Ethiopia (Cush) below Egypt, covering over 127 provinces, including Judah.
• We see in this opening chapter the splendour and the power of the Persian King.
• The King held an empire-wide banquet for all his nobles and officials, military leaders and governors, lasting 180 days (6 months) and showing off his great wealth and glory.
Greek historian Herodotus said this was likely a gathering where the king garnered support and made plans for his military campaign against Greece, which they lost.
• He said Persia’s wealth and magnificence wowed even Alexander the Great, when he entered the palace of Susa more than a century later.
• He found 40,000 talents of gold and silver bullion (1,200 tons) and 9,000 talents of minted coins (270 tons) which had been accumulated by the Persian kings.
Verse 5 says after this long banquet, there was another one that lasted 7 days, meant only for the people of Susa.
• It was held in the garden of the king's palace and the author took extra efforts to describe the sights to us.
• Even the goblets of gold they used to serve wine are mentioned and that each one is different from the other.
• They had free-flowing royal wine in abundance. Everyone is free to drink to his own delight.
Be impressed. It’s meant to impress. The author seems to be at a loss of words trying to describe the scene. It’s the awesome display of the splendour of the king!
And then the author went on to tell us about the king’s power. Read Esther 1:9-22.
Queen Vashti, the King’s wife, was at another banquet with the women.
• Her husband was intoxicated by the heavy drinking and asked for her to come over, “in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles.” (1:11)
• It wasn’t a proper context and Queen Vashti wisely refused, under such a circumstance.
• No reason was given. It wasn’t important. It set in motion what God wanted.
The King went into a rage and consulted his wise men what to do (or not so wise men).
• Memucan, one of the wise men, makes a mountain out of a molehill. What appears to be a two-person issue was suddenly escalated into a crisis of empire-wide proportions.
• “Everyone will hear of the Queen’s behaviour and do the same. Better to issue a decree and stop this.”
• The edict was passed. Vashti was barred from the King. She would be replaced. And all women are to respect their husbands, throughout the empire. (1:20)
The King could not get his Queen to listen to him (and that because he showed no respect for her), and now he ordered all women to respect their husbands.
• He is ordering his empire to do what he cannot accomplish in his own palace.
Despite these blunders, the reality remains. The king rules. He is the law. No one is above him. Power is in his hands.
• We see the splendour of the king and now the power of the king.
This set the stage for what is to come. It is a prelude to help us understand what Esther and Mordecai is up against.
• If Esther has any chance to save her people, she will need more than just beauty or position, both of which Queen Vashti has.
• She needs God. She needs the providence of God. The Jewish people can only be delivered by the help of God.
Remember the author has already seen all that God has done, he is recounting the story.
• With this awesome display of the king’s splendour and power, and as this scroll is being read every year at the Festival of Purim, the hearers will soon catch this irony.
• They were moved by the splendour and power of this king, no doubt, but the HUMAN king, that is. He is the king that they can SEE.
But as the story unfolds, the Jewish remnant will get to see this other King, the divine and unseen ruler in their lives.
• The One with glorious splendour and absolute power, and He reigns.
• Each time as they re-read the story, they are led to see the splendour and power of the UNSEEN King who ultimately rules.
“Who is really in charge here? The seen King or the unseen King, who delivered them?
The one who seats in the Persian court, or the One enthroned in the courts of heaven?
• From seeing the king who rules, the author leads his people to see the King who truly rules! Imagine listening to this story recounted year after year!
Let me share with you this thought in closing.
God kept His covenant with His people, even though they sinned against Him and were driven away from the Promised Land and now in exile.
• God did not forget them. He protects them from a possible extermination. This threat was not localised only to the Jewish population in Susa.
• Haman (hay men), the evil advisor to the King, plotted to exterminate the entire Jewish race throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes (3:6).
• Which means all 127 provinces and that includes Judah. At this time, Zerubbabel had already led the first group of returnees back.
If Haman (hay men) has been successful, we would not have the 2nd part of Ezra and we will have no Nehemiah. But more importantly, we would have lost the Messianic line.
• That’s not possible, of course. God will step in. God will intervene.
• That’s just the human way of saying. God is always in. He is always involved in human history and our lives. He is never absent. (Just men treating Him as absent.)
The stage was set to let the Jewish remnant appreciate the providence of God. So must we in our own lives. We need to see and appreciate the providence of God!
The remnant get to see God delivering His people, not through miraculous interventions but ordinary turns of events in human history.
• Nothing supernatural. Nothing miraculous. No signs and wonders. Just ordinary events that happened around the Persian court.
• Almost imperceptible. We cannot see Him. Yet at the end of the day, through all that has taken place, we know that He is sovereign and in control.
Today if we expect God to work only through signs and wonders, then we are mistaken.
• If we expect Him to help us only miraculously or instantaneously, then we are mistaken.
• God is as present and as involved in the miraculous, as He is in the ordinary.
• He can heals through doctors and medicine, over a period of time, in very ordinary ways. Even naturally, healing that comes through this body that He has made.
God does not need to be mentioned (in this book) to be involved. He is. He is the covenant-keeping God.
• This is the wisdom and the faith of the author, helping his people see the works of God in the ordinary events of life.
• He did not put the name of God in the book and yet the end of reading it, we cannot help but see the sovereign acts of God at every turn of events.
God is active in history and in our lives today. He is more aware of what is happening to us and around us than we think.
• He is actively (not passively) involved even though He seems to be silent or absent most of the time. Be assured. God knows and He rules.
• He is the King who rules (sermon title).
