A Queen Deposed
Woodlawn Baptist Church
June 11, 2004
Introduction
When you think of fascinating books of the Bible, there are many that might come to mind, and probably you have your favorites. Think of Genesis, with its wondrous accounts of Creation and the Flood, or of Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea. Maybe you like Jonah for obvious reasons, or Samuel, who tells of David and Goliath. Some might name a New Testament book like Acts, where the Lord’s churches began to multiply and grow throughout Asia, or Revelation, with its prophecies of End Time events. This morning I want to draw your attention to another fascinating book; one that tells us about a young woman by the name of Esther and her rise to fame; the story of a girl who went from being a Jewish orphan to the Queen of Persia and how she would save her people from genocide at the hands of a wickedly self-absorbed man named Haman.
The Book of Esther is one of only two books in the Bible bearing the name of a woman, giving us an idea of her great importance in Jewish history. We don’t know who wrote the book, but whoever it was showed an amazingly accurate knowledge of Persian palaces ad customs, and he elevates Esther’s importance by mentioning her name more than any other woman in the entire Bible. Esther’s name appears 55 times in these 10 short chapters. The name of no other woman is recorded so often. In fact, the next closest is Sarah, whose name appears only 51 times.# What really sets this book apart as so different from all the others is that God is never mentioned in it. From beginning to end, we are told the story from a human perspective, and though we see the affairs of men and women from long ago seemingly acting of their own accord, we are given great glimpses of the Person, the Presence, and the Providence of God at work directing the affairs of people and nations to accomplish His will.
As we consider the first chapter this morning, we’re going to be introduced to Persian royalty and customs during a time of celebration. We open the chapter with the king and queen entertaining, but the joy quickly ends. Because of time, we’ll not read all the chapter, but I want you to walk through it with me. First we are told about…
A Fabulous Celebration
In verses 1-9, we find king Ahasuerus throwing a grand party that had been going on for 6 months. We are not told what the king’s name is; Ahasuerus is only his title, like Pharaoh. The Bible doesn’t tell us, and historians disagree about which king this was, so we’ll be satisfied with his title. The Scriptures tell us that Ahasuerus had invited all the princes and rulers from all 127 of his provinces to this party just so he could show off what he was and what he had.
Ahasuerus had plenty of reason for pride. Persia had three capital cities: Susa, Persepolis, which was the official capital city, and Ecbatana, which was the royal refuge from the fierce summer heat of Susa.# Of the three cities, Susa’s winter palace was the finest. Verses 6 & 7 describe for us the hangings and pillars and marble and the various colors they used. Verse 7 mentions also that each one of the guests (and we’re talking about hundreds, if not over one thousand), was drinking out of gold cups or goblets that were different from each other. Each cup was individually hand crafted of gold. The wine was flowing and people’s hearts were merry.
In a separate palace, the royal house, Queen Vashti was throwing her own party. Many people talk about the Queen as though she were righteous, but it is my opinion (and you can do what you want with it), that being a Persian Queen of heathen descent, that these ladies were probably about as loaded as the men. The wine most likely flowed freely in both palaces. Regardless, here we have King and Queen, throwing fabulous parties that lasted 180 days. As the parties were nearing an end, during the last 7 days in fact, we are told that the king issued…
A Foolish Command
He decided that he was going to show off his beauty queen to all the guys, so in verses 10 & 11 he commanded his seven chamberlains, or seven court officials to bring Vashti over where he would parade her in front of everyone. When Vashti heard the command, she refused to do it, and determined not to obey the command or go to his party. The chamberlains were at a loss for what to do. No one disobeys the king! It didn’t matter that he was her husband: he was king, and the king was to be obeyed! When they went back to deliver the news, you can imagine the scene. The king has all his favorite national rulers gathered around him, they’re all pretty drunk, and the chamberlains come in. The king and men smile as they anticipate seeing Vashti’s beauty, ready to be swept off their feet. The chamberlains want to be discreet about telling the king, but he wants to boast and show off his bride, what bad news could they possibly be bringing? But when they deliver the news, the king lost his temper and was shamed in front of all the men he had been prancing around in front of. How dare that woman not come when he commanded her!
The king ordered all the chamberlains and provincial rulers out of his presence and went to find his counselors, the seven wise men or princes mentioned in verses 13 & 14, and he said to them, “Now what am I going to do? What are we (notice the we) going to do to Vashti because she didn’t obey me?”
I love Memucan’s response to the king in verse 16,
“Vashti the queen hasn’t just done wrong to the king, but to all the princes and to every husband everywhere! When everybody finds out that she disobeyed you, women everywhere are going to start disobeying and dishonoring their husbands. We can’t have that sort of thing happening in the kingdom!”
I can see the wise men standing around the king, considering what Memucan was saying, imagining what would happen if women everywhere started doing what they wanted to do instead of obeying their husbands, wondering what such an epidemic might look like, when Memucan finally offered…
A Fixed Course of Action
“Let’s make an example out of Vashti. If the women want to use her as an example, let’s give them an example of the consequences also.” The king decided the royal command would be wise, so in verse 19 he dismissed Vashti as queen, probably taking the crown away and divorcing her as his wife, but allowing her to remain in his harem, which would have been an ultimate disgrace to such a highly esteemed woman. Ahasuerus then allowed the men to draw up a decree, which according to verse 20 said that “all the wives should give to their husbands honor, both to great and small.” They then spread the decree throughout all the kingdom in every language so that women everywhere would know their place.
Now, in time Ahasuerus would regret his decision concerning Vashti. He evidently loved her, but according to Medo-Persian law, no law or royal decree could be changed. The king himself didn’t even have the power to alter his own laws, so he had to live with the consequences of his own decision, giving way for Esther to enter the picture in the next chapter.
So what difference does any of that make to you or me? We read the account and know what’s in it, but there’s a legitimate question you may ask that goes like this: “So what?” It’s not another history lesson that you need; you didn’t come this morning to learn about Persian customs or to hear about how they felt about women. The chapter doesn’t mention a single thing about our main character, so what would God have us to learn from these events? What is it that He wants to teach us from this particular passage of Scripture? As I spent time thinking about these questions, I realized that there were some important lessons you and I can learn from the text.
No one lives independently of God
Had you asked Ahasuerus or Vashti or any of the wise men about God and their responsibility to Him, they would have openly mocked you. These were not God fearing people – they worshipped themselves and any other god that would suit their base desires. They acted of their own accord, doing as they pleased to get what they wanted, and yet because we have read the rest of the book, we know that God was present all along.
Who can live independently of God really? Men can choose to reject Him, you might choose not to need or want Him, but that’s like choosing to live independently of oxygen. You don’t see it, can’t touch it or feel it, can even claim you don’t need it, but the moment it is taken from you life would cease to exist. Who do we think we are? We elevate ourselves so high! We have such lofty ideas about our strength and ability to do what we want, but the Bible teaches that we are merely lumps of clay in the Potter’s hands, a cup full of dirt formed in the image of God with life and breath that come from the One who controls life and death.
Adam and Eve thought they might live independently of God. He was holding back from them, keeping them from enjoying something they wanted, and in their quest to be free from Him (after all, God is so restrictive right?) they ate of the forbidden fruit, and Genesis 3:8 says that they tried to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. After Cain killed his brother Abel, and God called him on the carpet for it, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, moving to the land of Nod. Was he really living independently of God? The God who put His mark on Cain’s head for protection? Every day he could claim to be on his own, but every day he would have to look in the mirror and know that the only reason he was alive was because God’s presence was there on his head. The psalmist rightly asked,
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”#
Listen, lost or saved, whether you like it or not, you can’t live independently of God. His presence is evident in your life, and no matter how much you try to deny it He is there all the while calling to you to bring your life into fellowship with Him. “This is my life, and I’ll live it like I want to!” some might say. And to you I would also say that you’re right: it is your life and you can live it like you want to. God isn’t going to force Himself on you, but you’re not really living outside of His presence. Like it or not, you can’t live independently of God in this life. If you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior because you don’t want Him in your life, then let me assure you that there’s coming a day when you’ll get all the isolation from God you want, a day when this life will come to an end and you’ll begin an eternity of separation from Him in hell. If I might plead with you for just a moment, we have no idea of what we’re asking for when we try to flee from God’s presence. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says,
“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
It’s not just lost people trying to live independently of God, saved people do it too. They get angry or bitter or just hard hearted. God hasn’t been working like they wanted Him to work, or life just hasn’t turned out like it was supposed to, and we get it in our minds that we’re just going to do what we want to do. It’s a sad thing to see this happen in the life of a child of God. You can’t flee God’s presence. In fact, you’ll experience no greater joy than when you’re in His presence. Psalm 16:11 says,
“Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
God does not need your cooperation to accomplish His will
Did you ever think about that? God doesn’t need your cooperation, in fact, God uses the decisions you make every day to accomplish His will; His eternal plans whether you’re aware of it or not. God has been at work through the ages to bring glory to Himself, and He’s going to get glory whether you cooperate or not. He created man for His glory. He saves man, “that we should be to the praise of His glory.” God works in your life today to get the glory, just as He was at work in and through the life of Ahasuerus to bring glory to Himself. He was at work behind the scenes preparing a king and a kingdom because in His perfect foresight, he had a young Jewish woman who was to sit on the throne. That’s not to say that God condones everything that we choose to do or that Ahasuerus did, but that because He has perfect foresight of what we’re going to do, He brings those things to pass in such a way as to accomplish His purposes, and at the end of this story, the Jews can’t praise Him enough, and God used a heathen king to accomplish that purpose.
God is the God who knows all things, sees all things, controls and directs all things, even our human decisions so that they accomplish His purposes and will. Ephesians 1:11 says that God “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” Isaiah 46:10 says,
“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
That’s not just how God worked in Esther’s day, He’s doing it every day. Today God is at work, even as we speak, in your life. Sometimes His hand of providence is so obvious that none could refute it. Other times it may not be so clear. Now that ought to get you to thinking, “This is my life, my time, my choices, but you’re saying that God controls and directs them all to accomplish His will.” And that’s exactly right. God already knows what choices you’re going to make and He has predetermined to bring those choices to pass so that He receives glory from them. And how does God desire to receive glory from your life? Through a personal relationship with His Son Jesus Christ, and by bringing you into conformity with the image of that one and same Son. Paul said in Romans 8:28 –29,
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
The question I want to ask you this morning is this: are you willing to allow God to carry out that work in your life? C.S. Lewis once wrote that…
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it.”#
You see, you are free to choose for or against God, but your choosing doesn’t void out His presence or His hand of providence in your life – it only forfeits your enjoyment of it and the blessings you might receive as the result of it. You are free to choose your own way, but God is still God and He is still going to bring to pass His will, and in the end, you will be the one to suffer the consequences. If you are lost today, those consequences will be paid in hell, where there is no rest night or day, only eternal torment. If you are saved but have chosen to go your own way, or you refuse to allow God to bring you into conformity to the image of Christ, you are already paying the price, missing out on a life of joy and satisfaction that can only be found in Him.
As we close with a hymn of invitation, would you surrender your life to Christ? Would you admit to Him that you’re aware of His work? Would you pause to realize that you’re not here by accident today? God has orchestrated the events of your life, of your week, even of this day so that you might be in this service, hearing this message, so that He can do a great work in your life. Give your life to Christ today. Surrender your will to Him afresh. If you’ve been saved but you’ve been drifting out there on your own, repent and return to the God who has had His hand on your life all along. Make it your choice to live in absolute dependence on Him, to live in cooperation with Him, and to live every moment in such a way that He receives glory and pleasure from a glad and willing heart.
