Providence In The World Series

Time magazine covered the extravagance of the Shaw Of Iran

back in 1971. It was the 2500th year anniversary of the founding of

the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. Nine kings and five queens

were there, along with princes and princesses, and 16 presidents. It

was a high class elegant affair that cost $100,000 dollars. As

extravagant as it was, however, it could not hold a candle to the

banquet thrown by his predecessor many centuries early. Esther

begins with an account of possibly the greatest most plush banquet

of all time. It will probably never be excelled until the redeemed

enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb.

King Ahasurus, better known as King Xerxes, had a banquet for

all of his princes, military leaders, and political leaders. It lasted for

180 days, or one half of a year. Now that is what you call a party, it

was a six months smorgasbord. Then he topped that off with a

seven day banquet for all the people in the capital city of Susa.

Xerxes, like most absolute rulers, could be very cruel, but you can be

sure of one thing, nobody ever called him a party pooper. The one

thing wealthy people have in common is a love for parties. This is

their way of revealing their wealth and status. Mrs. Cornelious

Vanderbuilt use to spend three hundred thousand a year on

entertainment.

Scholars are convinced that Xerxes is trying to make a big

impression. He has an ambition to conquer the Greeks, and rule,

not just most of the world, but all of the world. This half-year

banquet was to get all of his leaders together to persuade them to

cooperate, and plan the strategy. Verse 4 stresses that Xerxes

paraded his riches and glory before them, and you get the

impression it is like may day in Russia, when all of the big rockets,

tanks, and other weapons are paraded before the leaders, in order to

build the ego, and say to all, look at how great and powerful we are.

You can be sure that everyone was impressed with the power and

glory of Xerxes. He had wealth beyond our imagination, and we will

never see as much gold as he had until we look down as we walk the

streets of the heavenly city.

There is no point in trying to describe the splendor of his

kingdom. The point we need to see is that the story of Esther takes

place in an environment of pleasure and treasure without measure.

Almost the entire book takes place in the palace of the king. It is in

the midst of glory that we see only in fairy tales. Esther, the Jewish

girl, was a mere nobody, and she was exalted into this atmosphere of

elegant royalty. It is a true Cinderella story. It is important that we

see the environment in which the story takes place. That is the only

way you will be able to grasp why things in this book seem to be

acceptable that would be totally unacceptable in any other context,

for both Jews and Christians.

Martin Luther never could enter into the context of Esther, and

see it from the perspective of ancient Eastern royalty. The result is,

he despised the book of Esther, and felt it was immoral, and ought

not to be in the Bible. You don't have to like what went on in the

palace of king Xerxes, but the fact is we can learn a lot of relevant

truth about God's working in history by taking advantage of this

behind the scenes peek. We are privileged to get an inside view of

what is happening in the palace that affects the people of the whole

world. We get to follow God into the most exclusive setting, and see

how He providentially works behind closed doors in the decision

making centers of world governments. Just to be aware that God

works in such ways is a valuable revelation that can change your

world view.

The first thing the book of Esther does for us is it forces us to

broaden our perspective on the sphere of God's working. God is not

limited to Israel. He is not limited to His chosen people. God is the

God of the whole world, and His providence works even in the

pagan world. Mal. 1:5 says, "Great is the Lord, even beyond the

borders of Israel."

In verse 11 God says, "My name will be great among the nations, from

the rising to the setting of the sun." Esther brings us into a Persian

setting, where we see the whole history of God's people bound up in

what happens in Persia. God did not start working in Persia just

because Esther and the Jews were there. He had been providentially