Esther 2:1-18; The Long Game

Esther 2:1-18; The Long Game

Sermon in a sentence: Our choices and actions have longterm consequences.

The King’s Choices (v. 1-4,17)

Xerxes’ first choice is listening to his wise men.

The King then chooses Esther as the new queen.

God uses even the sinful choices of Xerxes to put Esther into power and influence.

Mordecai’s Choices (vs. 5-7, 10-11)

1. He chose to not go back to Israel. (Compare to Ruth)

[vs. 6] “had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exiles who had been exiled with Jehoiachin, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled.”

Iain M. Duguid, Esther and Ruth, ed. Richard D. Phillips and Philip Graham Ryken, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005), 20.

Notice that unlike Esther/Hadassah, Mordecai only has one name. His Persian name is mostly likely after the Persian God Marduk.

Mordecai was a Benjamite! But yet he still chose to stay outside of the promised land of Israel.

The first lesson that this chapter of Esther teaches us is that disobedience and sin—even the disobedience and sin of others—have far-reaching consequences. Why was Esther caught up and condemned to this apparently meaningless life in a gilded cage? In part, at least, because she lived in Susa. The edict to gather all of the good-looking unmarried women in the empire was presumably carried out with more thoroughness in Susa, under the nose of the emperor, than in the more distant provinces. Why was she living in Susa? She was there because of the sin and disobedience of her forebears. It was disobedience that had brought the family of Mordecai and Esther into exile at the time of Jehoiachin. The destruction of Jerusalem was not simply an accident of fate: it was the culmination of the judgment of God upon his own people who had abandoned him. Disobedience brought God’s people into exile in the first place.

What is more, it was disobedience that kept Mordecai and Esther’s family in exile. In 538 b.c., Cyrus issued a decree permitting the Jews to return home. Some went back with Zerubbabel at that time (Ezra 1–2), but many stayed, comfortably settled where they were, outside the land of promise.

Iain M. Duguid, Esther and Ruth, ed. Richard D. Phillips and Philip Graham Ryken, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2005), 26–27.2.

2. He chose to be Esther’s father.

He chose to be a man.

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 ESV

13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV

8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

3. He chose to hide Esther’s identity.

Mordecai wanted Esther to distance herself from her identity as a covenant child of God.

Esther was chosen queen in the seventh year of Xerxes rule. This was after 12 months of preparation. Haman doesn’t try to kill the Jews until the twelfth year of Xerxes rule. So, for 6 years before any danger, Esther kept her identity secret.

4. He chose to keep watching after Esther.

I think this is an attribute we can appreciate about Mordecai. In the church we are far too quick to want conversion only rather than discipleship.

Esther’s Choices (vs. 10, 12-15)

She chose to submit to the decree of the government.

This is very different from the response of the Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They would rather die than sin against God. (Daniel 3)

This is different from the actions of Peter and John as they stood before the council in the temple. (Acts 4)

We must be careful to not pass too much judgement upon Esther because of the potential consequences for her refusal to obey the king.

We must also be careful to not judge those who refuse to obey the king either! During Covid, John MacArthur reopened his church before CA allowed inside services. It seemed like there were more Christians against him then there were nonbelievers!

She chose to listen to Mordecai

She truly was a woman that was not just in this world but also of this world.

She chose to excel where she was placed.

Now, I do not think that she should have obeyed. However, she excelled in the favor of the eunuch and the king. We need more exceptional Christians.

Her favor and submission allowed her to influence the king and ultimately be the means by which God would save His covenant people.

God’s Choices

Esther is a story about a throne that will bring forth salvation for the people of God.

The entire Bible is the story of God the Father setting up a throne for His Son to bring forth glory to God and salvation to his elect.

If you do not know Christ, I plead with you that today is the day of salvation. This life is short, but I promise eternity is a long time.

For those that do know God, what are you doing with your life? God has set you in this station of life. It might be because of the sin of others or yourself. However, how are you going to respond to the station in which God has placed you? What kind of inheritance are you leaving your children?