Esther 2
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Continuing in the book of Esther
Like we mentioned last week you will not find the name of God anywhere in the book
No Jehovah, no YHWH, no θεος, nothing
But that doesn’t mean you won’t gain an understanding of who God is, and see His hand move
Like we said last week, Mark Dever (A theologian and pastor or Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC) says it this way, “(Esther) is one of the longest sustained meditations on the sovereignty and providence of God in the whole Bible. It is really just one long narrative illustration of Romans 8:28”
The book of Esther, though not having the name of God in it, is oozing with God through it
We saw that:
Jesus is the better king
We’re nothing compared to God
God works in the mundane
Today though, I think we will find something a little different about life
Without God there is no satisfaction
Without God there is no satisfaction
2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.
If you remember from last week, Ahasuerus threw BIG BIG parties, then tried to get his wife to parade around for all the men at the party
She refused for some reason, and so they made a decree that she would no longer be queen, and that every woman must obey whatever a man says
So now that she is gone, they come up with a plan to host a big beauty pageant to find a new queen
Any virgin girl that is appealing to the eyes will be taken by the king and essentially enter the tournament
5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,
7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9 And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. 11 And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.
We now see Esther, who the book is named after
She is one of the young girls who is forced into the beauty pageant
It says that she was lovely to look at and so under her uncles guidance, she allowed herself to be found and entered in the tournament
Bare in mind that they didn’t have a choice - if you were a virgin girl, and considered beautiful you were taken
12 Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women— 13 when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.
15 When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign,
We see that before they were ever presented to the king, they had a minimal of 12 months to “beautify” themselves before entering into his chamber
They were taken and told to bath, make up, skin care, nails done, etc for a YEAR before ever stepping foot into the palace of the king
17 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
Esther found favor in the King
She was the one that he considered the most beautiful, and so from there he made her queen
She won the “contest” and therefore was made queen
This leads to the first thing you’ll see from the story
Without God there is no true satisfaction
Without God, you will not find true satisfaction
Think, the king was missing his queen
So he hosted a make shift beauty pageant to find his next queen
It didn’t matter what her morals were
It didn’t matter what she thought, where she was from, nothing
The only thing that mattered was - is she hot enough
Does she excite me in the moment
BUT even with that, they were still forced to have a minimal of 12 months to “beautify” themselves
They were never ultimately be good enough for someone who is solely thinking from his sinful, lustful desires
If you are sitting here today and not seeking God, you will never find true satisfaction
The things in life you enjoy, they won’t be good enough
The person you are dating, they will get old and not look the same
The quirk that you find cute and lovely, will one day annoy you - just ask Kase about all my annoying quirks haha
I mean think about the process they went through just to try and find satisfaction
Went though the entire kingdom to take all the “beautiful” (whatever that means) virgins
Forced them to leave their family and live in a house full of other “beautiful” virgins
Force them for at least 12 months to prepare themselves to be with the King
Then after the night, unless they are picked, they are sent to live with the other concubines “used up” women to never see the king again
How terrible of a system with no satisfaction!
But Jamie - Esther found favor. There is satisfaction without God if you try hard enough
WRONG!
Mordecai told her to not reveal that she was a Jew.
To not reveal that she was believer in the true God
To not reveal that she worshipped YHWH
The only reason the king “found favor” in Esther was because God was going to use Esther for something bigger than herself
There was no satisfaction for the king outside of the fact that God made him satisfied
YOU WILL NEVER FIND SATISFACTION APART FROM GOD
That doesn’t mean you won’t find things that feel good - you will
But it means you won’t find anything that truly brings you joy, peace, and love
You will never satisfy the thing that God put in you that only He can satisfy
True satisfaction comes from God!
Without God there is no standard
Without God there is no standard
1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
We then see that sometime after the makeshift beauty pageant that Ahasuerus promoted a man named Haman
Haman’s exact title isn’t given, however we know that he was promoted highly - since everyone in the entire kingdom was told to bow down to him, just as they would to the king
However, as we see Mordecai does not bow down to Haman, but instead refuses to bow down
People began asking him why he wouldn’t bow down, and when he wouldn’t they told Haman that he wouldn’t bow down
When they found out he was a Jew Haman was furious that someone would not bow down to him
He got so angry that he runs to Xerxes and tells him that there is a people group that will not bow down, nor listen to/obey any of the kings commands
He proposes a mass genocide of all the Jews - which the king accepts
This leads to the second thing I want you to see
Without God there is no standard
Without God, there is no standard for right or wrong, good or bad, who should be in control
Nothing
There is no standard
Think about it
Haman was put into control - a guy who very clearly has ego and anger problems
We see this for a few reasons
The King had to tell people to bow to him
If he was of high regard or esteem they would have bowed by his nature of the position
Yet people had to be told to bow
He went bananas when he found out that one person in the entire kingdom didn’t bow
His immediate reaction was to go full mass genocide on the Jews
Haman was clearly not a good guy, and a very bad standard to be put in charge, yet the King was just as bad
Think he put Haman in charge - the people you surround yourself with, and put in charge is a reflection of your character
He also just allowed Haman to do what he wants as far as allowing genocide to happen
HE DIDN’T EVEN ASK WHAT PEOPLE GROUP IT WAS
The king doesn’t even bother to find out who they would be eradicating - he just says sure whatever you think
Not only that, but they also make the decree 11 months out to torture the Jews
The decree to kill them all was made, but wouldn’t go into effect for 11 months - meaning the couldn’t flee or else they would be committing treason, and they were literally numbering their days
Without God, there is no standards on morality, on right and wrong, on character
God is the one we must look to. He is the standard
Yet without Him, there is corruption and destruction
Then lastly Mordecai shows us the final thing
Choosing God is choosing death
Sounds brutal, but choosing God is choosing death
Mordecai choose God by not bowing to Haman
He choose to follow Jehovah, ultimately following the Torah - Hebrew Bible, though the book of Esther doesn’t say it
He was doing what God says
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
He was not bowing down or worshipping Haman, even though he was commanded to
Even though he knew he was supposed to
He choose God knowing that there would be consequences for not following the kings commands
He choose God, knowing that he could be killed for it, knowing that death could soon come
But this is the same thing that Jesus poses to us
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Jesus poses the question to us, that Mordecai displayed to us
Mordecai could have easily “saved his life” by bowing down to Haman, but in the process he would be losing his life
Yet to lose his life for God’s sake, will actually bring about reward
It’s not that hard of a principle to understand
You are going to die one day - nothing you can do to stop it
So in essence you can never really “save” your life
Instead all you can do is make your life count - choosing to die to yourself and your passions, lusts, and sinful desires and instead choosing to follow God
Just like Jesus said earlier in Matthew
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
You are all storing up treasures.
It just depends on where you are storing them
Either in heaven, or on earth
Mordecai could have saved his life on earth, to ultimately lose it
But instead he choose to loose his life for God, and will ultimately end up saving it
To choose God is to choose death
Death to your sin, death to your passions
Death to anything that isn’t bringing us closer to Jesus
Conclusion
Conclusion
In Him we will find satisfaction
In Him we find the standard for living
And in Him we find life
If we are looking for anything apart from God we will not find it, it is solely Jesus that brings us those things
You must choose God
