A Hero's Journey: Into the King's Palace

Introduction

Those who know me know that I’m a big fan of “hero” stories. I love movies with great heroes. I have an extensive comic book collection, full of heroes. My favorite movie and television series’ are Star Wars (the original), the Marvel Cinematic Universe (before it went woke), Firefly, The Lord of the Rings, Batman, Superman, and Indiana Jones (there are only three Indiana Jones movies…no more…and there will never be another…). My ringtone on my phone is from the G.I. Joe cartoon from the 80’s, a real American hero!

Needless-to-say, I love hero stories.

But, over the last few years something happened to the hero stories. Something that’s not good.

They’ve gone woke, putting identity politics before good storytelling.

They’ve tried to “humanize” the villains, attempting to justify their villainous actions and blurring the lines between good and bad.

There has also been the rise of the “anti-hero”; a hero who acts like a villain, and yet is considered the hero of the story.

They’ve done everything possible to shoe-horn political narratives into stories that should have little to nothing to do with American politics.

And the use of profanity, gratuitous sex scenes, over-the-top violence, and the normalization of drug and alcohol abuse have turned these once family-friendly stories into adult-orientated entertainment.

But, another major issue I have with modern hero story-telling is the approach they take when it comes to women.

Heroic women in most modern stories are pretty much the same: smaller, prettier, less-hairy men. They are typically under 120 lbs, but routinely beat up 250 lbs plus men. They don’t find their fulfillment in their family, but instead in living life like a single twenty-something male, going from one partner to another and living for personal pleasure above anything else.

They have no hero’s journey; in which they are lacking something and, throughout the story, grow, learn and develop into someone better than they were to start the story. Instead, their only journey is throwing of the chains of the patriarchy, realizing how awesome they’d been all along.

They can never receive anything good from a male, particularly white heterosexual males, who according to most of the stories are just the worst ever!

In short, they have done a remarkable job failing to celebrate what’s great about women. What’s unique about women. How a woman can truly be heroic as a woman, not as a short man. And, in doing so, they’ve unintentionally suggested that for a woman to be a hero, she must become more like a man.

So, to truly celebrate heroic women, we can’t look to modern story-tellers. They’ve failed and will continue to fail. Instead, we are wise to look at some of the great female heroes of the past.

One of the truly heroic women of human history was a woman named Hadassah, but you know her as Esther.

This morning we will be introduced to her. And throughout the next few weeks we will see the challenges she had to overcome; we will see how she was able to use the opportunities and blessings that God gave her to save her people; and how, through the guidance of her godly adoptive father, came to understand God’s sovereign purposes for her life in ways she would have never experienced without him.

In short, we will see Esther’s hero’s journey.

Body: Esther 2

Verses 1-4

Esther 2:1–4 (ESV)

After these things, when the anger of King A-hass-u-er-us had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 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 Hey-guy, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

It’s possible that Xerxes was now regretting how he treated Vashti. But the advisors quickly jump in to give him a different option. This was probably out of self-preservation.

Their plan is to gather all the beautiful young virgins of the kingdom and bring them into the king’s harem so he could choose his new queen.

Verses 5-7

Esther 2:5–7 (ESV)

Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shim-e-eye, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 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.

Now we are introduced to the two heroes of this book: Mordecai and Esther.

The important thing to remember about Mordecai is that his Jewishness is made very evident...

His father, Jair, had been brought into Babylon during the deportation, so Mordecai had likely been born in Babylon.

As for Esther, her parents died and her cousin, Mordecai had taken her in a raised her as his own daughter.

Hadassah is her Jewish name.

Verses 8-11

Esther 2:8–11 (ESV)

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 Hey-guy, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hey-guy, who had charge of the women. 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. Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.

Three things to notice here:

First, Esther finds immediate favor with one of the eunuchs, Hey-Guy and he does all he can to give her that extra edge.

The text doesn’t say why Hey-Guy favored her, but we should see God’s hand in this.

Second, Esther, upon the command of Mordecai, hides the fact that she’s Jewish.

This is likely because she would probably be immediately disqualified if this was made known.

Jews had opportunity in Persia, but, as we will see next week, there was some within the king’s court who hated the Jews. Mordecai was likely aware of this.

Third, Mordecai wasn’t able to directly communicate with Esther, but because he had a position of authority at the city gate, he had people who would feed him information.

Like any concerned father, he wants to know how she is doing.

Verses 12-18

Esther 2:12–18 (ESV)

Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King A-hass-u-er-us, 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— 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. In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of She-ash-gaaz, 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.

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 Hey-guy the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. And when Esther was taken to King A-hass-u-er-us, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tea-beth, in the seventh year of his reign, 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. 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.

After a year of beautifying, Esther finally has her night with the king. A couple things stand out here:

She doesn’t need any jewelry or other accompaniments, which reminds us of her surpassing beauty.

If she hadn’t been chosen, she would have remained a concubine all her life.

However, Xerxes falls in love with her and makes her his queen.

Then he throws a party of her and even gives gifts and cuts taxes for a time…no doubt to win favor for Esther with the people.

Verses 19-23

Esther 2:19–22 (ESV)

Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Big-than and Tea-resh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King A-hass-u-er-us. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai.

Esther 2:23 ESV

When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

This story will be important later. But for now, we can see that Esther’s presence in the palace is already paying off for Xerxes, as she, through Mordecai, protects the king from an assassination attempt.

So What?

Something we should all be able to agree about it: There is no way for us to know what will happen in the future.

We can make educated guesses; we can analyze data and make predictions; but ultimately, none of us knows the future.

As believers, we know that ultimately God wins, and therefore, we win as well. But the exact set of circumstances that will bring that about is a mystery.

But, our God knows everything; past, present and future. And, what’s more, our God isn’t a passive observer, but takes an active role, leading all things towards His divine purposes.

This is part of what we call God’s divine sovereignty. God’s divine sovereignty, simply stated is the theological teaching that God is the source of all creation and that all things come from and depend on God.

While not directly referred to in the book of Esther, God’s sovereignty is seen throughout this book. We see it in at least two ways in this chapter.

God’s Transcendent Sovereignty

This is the teaching that God’s sovereign purposes are often beyond our comprehension because they transcend or surpass our limited understanding.

Here we see God’s transcendent sovereignty in Mordecai and Esther’s lives.

In the case of Mordecai:

Mordecai had no idea why God brought him to the position of authority he had in Persia, nor did he understand why his uncle and adult died, leaving him with the responsibility of raising their young daughter, his cousin, as his own daughter.

Mordecai’s response to these circumstances wasn’t to complain or bemoan his situation. It wasn’t to take advantage of his position to make something of himself, or even to try and protect his adopted daughter from becoming part of the king’s harem. Instead, he just did what needed to be done.

Mordecai is an example to follow in that he takes on vitally important responsibilities and faithfully fulfill’s his role in the kingdom and in the life of Esther.

If we personalize this, for many of us, we end up inheriting circumstances we didn’t necessarily create and we have a choice: do what needs to be done, even at great personal cost; or live for ourselves and let someone else deal with it.

If we are going to follow the example of Mordecai, we need to be willing to take on whatever God puts in our pathway, doing the best we can, even if it means great personal sacrifice. But why?

Because along with God’s transcendent sovereignty, we also recognize that God has what we call purposeful sovereignty as well.

God’s purposeful sovereignty means that God’s sovereignty is moving all things towards a specific end. This is true about all of history, but it is also true of all of our life’s circumstances as well.

Philippians 2:13 ESV

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Just like Mordecai, we don’t know why God allows various different circumstances to come into our lives. But, as Paul says in Philippians, God is at work for His good pleasure, which ultimately will be for His glory and our good.

In the case of Esther:

The text doesn’t tell us whether Esther wanted to go into the harem of the king or not. I can’t imagine her wanting to, but it’s hard to know for sure.

Regardless, she is uprooted from the life she knows, judged not by who she is as a person, but simply because she’s beautiful, young and a virgin. In essence, she becomes an object to the king, not a person with intrinsic worth and capabilities. Eventually, she will show that she is much more than a pretty face, but thus far in the narrative, she’s just a beautiful, young, virgin.

She clearly has no idea why she’s come into the king’s harem, nor why God allowed her to experience all of this.

Think about it for a moment, she’s prettied up for a year, all to be brought into the king’s bedroom for one night to determine if the king likes her or not.

If she’s not chosen by the king, she would likely remain in the king’s harem for the rest of her life, living life as a concubine to a godless king.

This clearly doesn’t seem like something God would want for His people.

And yet, as we will see, God has a very specific reason for putting her before this king.

That is immediately displayed by her using her position as queen to protect Xerxes from an assassination attempt when word reaches Mordecai.

But later, her position as queen will become vital in protecting not the king, but the Jewish people living in the Persian Empire.

Esther is also an example to follow in that she allows herself to be used by God to fulfill His purposeful sovereignty, even though in doing so she has to go and do things she certainly wouldn’t have done otherwise.

Additionally, she has to hide something very important to her; namely her Jewish identity. But, in this case, God’s transcendent and purposeful sovereignty mattered more than her own feelings of personal identity.

This example is part of the reason why I said at the beginning that Esther is a hero within this story. And it’s an example to emulate, particularly today.

In our world, the focus is heavily on self-gratification. The idea being, for a person to be truly fulfilled in life, they must seek their own personal happiness, typically at whatever means necessary.

Esther is a shining example of seeking God’s higher purposes not self-gratification.

And it doing so, she is able to live a fulfilled life; a life that literally saves other people’s lives!

What if we were willing to put aside our own desires and focused our attention on God’s higher purposes, what would God do in and through us?

Again, Paul can teach us something important here.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

If we are followers of Christ Jesus, then we too have been crucified with Christ. But, too often, we want to jump down off that cross and live our life in the flesh for us and not by faith in the Son of God who both loves us and gave Himself up for us.

But, when we truly understand the incomparable gift that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is, then we begin to understand that a life of faith is far greater than a life in the flesh.

Both Mordecai and Esther exemplify this for us throughout this book. But, will you exemplify this to someone in your life?