A Savior is Born

Intro:

· What makes a good hero story? If you're a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you waited for years see the Avenger movies with all of the Avengers in them. The first several years of the movies were origin stories. There was Spiderman, then Iron Man, then the Hulk, then Thor, and then the Guardians of the Galaxies. The collective story doesn't make sense without all of the various origin stories. We need to know where each character came from. This is what chapter 2 of Esther does. It provides the reader with an origin story.

Contestants are Gathered

Read 1-4

· Vashti had been given the boot; sent packing. And the king had elected to begin the search for a new queen. The process would be a long, 4 year process.

· Vashti was booted in the 3rd year of Ahasuerus reign (1:3) and Esther chosen in the 7th year of his reign (2:16). History tells us that he was in battle with the Greeks during this time, but we know from the text that it was also just a lengthy process.

· It was essentially an extreme version of a beauty contest. Young virgin women were gathered from all over the kingdom.

o After their one night stand with the king the women would be kept in royal custody. They would live in luxury, but they would likely never see their families again, or even the king again.

o Some might argue the cruel sexism of this act. But it's not sexist. The king took young boys from across the empire too, only he made eunuchs of them and kept them as servants. Some historical records suggest that he may have had as many as 500 eunuchs in his employment.

Ancient roots

Read 5-7

· Haddasah - This is her birth name, her Hebrew name. We know her though by her Persian name.

o Esther could have been the Persian word for star. Or it could have been a transliteration of the Isthar, the Babylonian goddess of love and war.

o A beautiful young girl being raised by her cousin, Mordecai. He had taken her for his own daughter after her parents had died.

· Mordecai's genealogy is given to prove his heritage. He is a descendant of Kish, who was King Saul's father. Technically, Mordecai was of royal ancestry. However, his family had been caught up in the Babylonian captivity, and he had lived his life under Persian leadership.

Read 8-11

· Often we think of Esther as a hero, but this passage gives us to much to consider.

· Several questions to ponder from this passage:

o Why didn't Esther resist? She and Mordecai both had to know the nature of what she would have to do in order to please the king.

· Sins: the sexual nature of the job and the interfaith relationship of a Jew and a Gentile.

o Some scholars have suggested that it would have been better for to resist and be killed than to agree to go. Some say she should have taken her own life before committing the sin she committed.

o Not only did she not resist, she didn't even make it known that she was a Jew. Somehow, she managed to conceal her Jewish religion, which meant that she had already embraced the Persian diet and dress. She was, at the least, denying the practice of her faith. Not really a hero of the faith.

o Why didn't Mordecai protect her from being taken?

· He could have taken her and fled. He could have fought her captors. He stood by and let her be taken.

· He commanded her to conceal her faith and ethnicity, essentially encouraging her to play along and go with the flow.

o The Risk:

· Anti-Semitism plays a big part in Esther, and there is good reason to think that Mordecai had already caught wind of some anti-Semitic behavior. He told her to conceal her identity. He also checked on her every single day.

· Mordecai was a survivor. And he knew what it took to survive.

One Special Night

Read 12-18

· Each young virgin was given one opportunity to earn the queen's crown. And the king took that one night very seriously.

o The woman had to gain the favor of the eunuch in charge of the harem. Esther did this (v9).

o Then 12 months of skin and beauty preparation were required for each girl.

o When that special night finally came around, the woman could take anything with her that she wanted to take.

· Something to aid her in pleasing the king. Likely, this was jewelry or something that she would get to keep as a "wedding gift" of sorts; a souvenir. Esther took nothing accept what Hegai advised.

· Either she was confident in her self, or she had inside knowledge of the king preferred from Hegai. She had won his favor.

Application:

1. God's People are a Hated People

a. Genesis 3:15 promises an epic battle between the offspring of the Serpent and the offspring of the woman, Eve. The battle has raged!

i. Remember Pharoah attempted annihilation of every Hebrew baby boy born in Egypt? Remember when Jesus was born, Herod's attempted annihilation of the baby boys, and Jesus sought refuge in Egypt.

ii. God's people are under attack. They always have been! They always will be.

iii. The battle was very much alive and well during Mordecai's day, and Mordecai was clued into the war at hand.

1. The Babylonian's wanted to repurpose the Jewish people.

2. The Persians & Medes sought to manipulate them into being loyal, but knew they were there.

iv. Remember God's covenant with Abram: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you?" Do you know what that is promising? There will be those who curse you.

v. Church, you must understand who you are as part of God's covenant people.

2. God's People are Dual Citizens

a. Mordecai and Esther lived in two worlds. They were part of God's people, chosen by him, which meant that they had a particular law that they were to live by, and a particular set of values.

b. However, they had been captured by another people with a different set of values and another code of conduct.

c. Mordecai and Haddasah had some very difficult decisions to make. You and I should be careful before casting judgment on what Mordecia and Esther chose to do as they walked the fine line of living in two kingdoms.

3. God's People are a Protected People

a. An Unlikely Savior

i. Esther was a young teenage girl, who had never been with a man. She was not the most likely person to come along and bring about the redemption, the salvation of God's people. Who would have thought that God would use a young virgin girl to save his people? This is not the only time God would use a young virgin girl in his plan of redemption.

b. An Unlikely Salvation

i. Companies like Marvel and DC Comics are super successful because they tell a story of an endangered people, helpless and indefensible until a superhero shows up. Maybe he is stronger than a locomotive, or maybe he owns a billion dollar tech company, or maybe he has been bitten by some radioactive spider, but whatever the case, he is a super power, thus making him the likeliest of heroes.

ii. The story of Esther does not sell like the story of Peter Parker. Esther was not bitten by a spider. Esther did not have an Iron Man suit. Ester could not lift Thor's hammer. Esther was simply a young Jewish orphan whose beauty caught the attention of a man who could take anything he wanted, including the young girl's virginity.

iii. But here, in this unlikely circumstance, a savior is born. God is putting normal, ordinary things in motion to one day produce an extraordinary salvation.

iv. God has made a covenant with his people and he will do whatever he needs to do to protect his people. Be encouraged.

Conclusion:

· Child of God. God loves you! God has went to extraordinary measures to bring about your salvation.

· A baby born in a manger. Raised by fairly ordinary Jewish parents, a carpenter. A refugee as a small boy. Hated by the Jewish religious authorities. Murdered on a Roman cross. Doesn't sound like stuff Marvel producers are looking for, yet 3 days later, God raised him from the dead!

· Your salvation is secure! God will see to it!