The Story Ch 20: The Queen of Beauty and Courage

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King Darius has allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, but Persia remains in control, and many of those in exile decide to stay in their foreign homes rather than return to Jerusalem and work.

Esther is a young Jewish women, who is cared for by her uncle and adopted father Mordecai who live in the Persian capital, Susa.

King Xerxes, a Persian king who succeeded Darius, was married to Queen Vashti, who refused to come when he called her to show her beauty to his noblemen at a drunken banquet.

As a result, Vashti has her royal position taken away, and eventually it was decided that the king needed a new queen, and a beauty contest would be held to pick the finest young virgin in all the kingdom to be Xerxes’ bride.

Precarious position of women

High stakes bachelor, just as trashy, but the loser stays in the brothel forever, unless the king called her by name

Esther was selected for this contest, and Mordecai asked her to not reveal that she was a Jew, lest she face discrimination as many in Susa did not like the jews.

Esther immediately gets the support of Xerxes’ eunuch in charge of his brothel, who helps her to win the competition.

Queen of Persia

Esther is queen of Persia, Mordecai stays close.

At the palace gate, he overhears guards discussing an assassination attempt on the king, he warns Esther, who warns the king, and she credits Mordecai for the information

Hateful Haman

At the same time, there is a hateful man Haman, son of Hammedatha, who is a rising star in Xerxes court.

Everyone bowed before Haman, except Mordecai the Jew, who would not bow but to God.

Haman is enraged, so much so that he plans to destroy all of the Jewish people in revenge, and convinces King Xerxes to sign off on the genocide.

Mordecai hears about this and goes to Esther, telling her to reveal her Jewish heritage to the king and ask for mercy.

The tricky part is, no one can appear before the king without being invited, or they might be executed on the spot.

Esther asks Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Susa, to pray and fast while she does the same for 3 days, and then she will go to the king.

Esther’s Request

When Esther appears before the king, he extends his scepter to her, sparing her life, and asks her what her request is.

Esther invites the king and Haman to a banquet, and at that banquet he asks her again what she wants.

Esther invites him to another banquet the next day.

The night after the first banquet, Haman is so overcome with hatred for Mordecai that he tells his men to set up a pole 50 cubits high, to impale Mordecai on in the morning.

King Remembers Mordecai

But that night the king could not sleep, so he did what any poor sleepy boy would do, he has the book of the chronicles that detail every record of his reign read to him as a bedtime story. That night, he just happened to hear about Bigthana and Teresh, the would-be assassins who were exposed by Mordecai, saving the kings life.

Xerxes asks what was done to honor Mordecai for saving his life, and nothing had been done!

Mordecai calls in Haman, who had been waiting to ask the king to let him kill Mordecai, and says

Esther 6:6–11 NIV

When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’ ” “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.” So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”

Haman had been plotting to have Mordecai killed! And now at the king’s command, Haman was forced to lavish upon Mordecai all of the honors that Haman wanted so badly for himself.

Second Banquet

At the second banquet, when King Xerxes asks Queen Esther again what she wants, the queen tells him that she is Jewish, and that Haman has conspired to massacre all of her people. Xerxes is enraged, and orders Haman to be executed, ironically on the very same pole he had erected to kill Mordecai. The Jewish people are spared.

So what?

I love the story of Esther, because it’s a story of people being used by God in circumstances that must’ve seemed so far from Him right up until His great plan was revealed. Esther had to be terrified to face Xerxes, and either win his favor for a time, or be imprisoned in his Harem forever.

Mordecai must’ve been terrified for his adopted daughter, and then 1000x as scared when her husband ordered all of the Jewish people to be killed! But all the while, God was working each and every detail to perfectly set up this salvation for his people in Persia, and bringing the most ironic justice upon the man who was plotting against them.

Sometimes it’s hard to see what God is doing in our lives. It’s hard to see what situation He has us in, especially when we aren’t made queen of Persia in order to stop a genocide of our people! But we are told over and over in the Bible that God has a plan for His people, He has His upper story that we get to be a part of, it’s just out job to trust and follow Him.

Let’s pray for that before we go. Dear Lord, we praise you because you are God, because you are in control of all things, and because you have a beautiful upper story that we are so grateful to get to be a part of. Give us the faith that we need Lord so that when we, like Esther and Mordecai, are faced with scary, seemingly impossible situations, that we will know that you are in control, and that you will see us through. Thank you Lord for this great story, and most of all for Jesus. We pray in Jesus name, amen.