Esther 2
Notes
Transcript
GOD IS AT WORK IN THE MOST UNSUSPECTING WAYS.
Last week, we opened with act one of this multi-chapter story found in the Book of Esther. A powerful king with a big enough ego to showcase all of his goods: the splendor and the glory of his majesty. A queen who says, “no.” An entire empire with a useless law and a generation of oppressed women all so one man can have his way. And to top it off, God is not mentioned once.
However, we learned that God is hidden in plain sight, working behind the scenes using the good, bad, and ugly to place people where he needs them to be. To place you where you are meant to be.
But now in act two, the story develops further when Xerxes’ anger fades and he is faced with loneliness after he banished of Vashti. Rather than repair his relationship, he seeks out a new queen through a wasteful and oppressive system. Read with me.
1 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her.
2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.
3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them.
4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.
Again, we see the vastness of Xerxes’ power. We cannot begin to imagine the brokenhearted farewells: the marriages that never happened and the children who were never born. Most of the loveliest girls in all the vast empire were condemned to live out their days without a husband or family at the whim of one megalomaniac!
But now two people step into this story with a pedigree that only God could love.
5 Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,
6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah.
7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.
8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem.
9 She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.
10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so.
11 Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.
That family tree was important, because these people had been exiled for more than 100 years. If they didn’t keep repeating their family tree, they would forget who they were as the sons and daughters of Abraham. Mordecai had never laid eyes on the hills of Judea, nor on Mt. Zion. To us, Mordecai sounds like the quintessential Jewish name, but it wasn’t. The Persian god was Marduk, so Mordecai’s name came from the Persian culture.
There is another important thing here: the mention of Kish. This makes Mordecai a direct relative of Israel’s first (and failed) king, Saul, because Kish was Saul’s father.
In verse seven, we meet an orphan girl, taken in by her older cousin. She has a Jewish name, Hadassah, but only her family knows it. She, too, has taken a Persian name: Esther.
Notice in verse ten that Esther hides her nationality at the request of Mordecai. There is nothing culturally to suggest the Jewish individuals were under persecution for their race. This may have been shrewdness on Mordecai and Esther’s part because culturally the King was meant to marry a Persian woman. However, we see he did follow that by taking young virgins from all over his empire. The hiddenness of Esther’s nationality will shortly become a life or death decision in our next act.
Here in this tale of lavish excess and power gone crazy are two people whom neither Xerxes nor any of those innumerable nobles knew or cared about. But their lives were about to intersect by the king’s order and edict.
These verses up to verse sixteen explain how these young virigns were brought to Susa from all over the realm and given all kinds of special beauty treatments until their night with King Xerxes. Esther was among them, and verse nine says she immediately caught the eye of the eunuch in charge and was given all kinds of preferential treatment.
Join me in reading about the beauty treatments these women went through.
12 Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
13 And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.
We read this and think: is what happened what I think happened?! Yes. Every night. A young woman was used and then sent packing to the “used women” section of the palace where, so far as we know, she’d live out her days. Remember: this was a queen search, so each girl’s only hope was to somehow capture the king’s attention from out of all the most beautiful girls in the empire. In one night. Their first night. With a king who clearly had intimacy issues.
We think a job interview will decide our fates. Did I sweat too much? Did I sound smart? Did I do that weird thing with my mustache?
We think a meal with our significant others parents will decide our fate if we can marry them. Was my handshake strong enough? Did I compliment their daughter well? Did I order the right food?
I experienced what I thought was a make or break moment the first time I had a meal with Danielle’s family. My make or break decision? I ordered ribs. The ribs were heavily sauced and I could not see the bones. Instead of getting my hands dirty I decided to split them apart with a knife only to find out that I was cutting across the bones instead of with the bone - making myself look like a fool. I thought my fate with Danielle was sealed that night. I’ll never marry this girl!
We think these events decide our fates, but these women absolutely had their fates decided by this moment. One out of thousands will be used and useful, while the rest are used and discarded.
But if you look quick, you might catch a glimpse of the unmentioned God. Read with me.
15 When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.
16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.
When we were introduced to Mordecai and Esther, I am sure you caught the tragedies in their stories: a Jewish family carried off into exile by Nebuchadnezzar, never to return home. A young woman orphaned. It’s a pretty familiar scenario in the Bible. In fact, God often maneuvers his people through life’s troubles.
For example, consider Esther’s spiritual twin, Joseph. More than a thousand years earlier in Egypt, he ended up saving Israel. Or there is Daniel, who was also captured by Nebuchadnezzar, but then was mightily used by God. In the New Testament, Aquila and Priscilla were positioned by God to help Paul.
Esther 2 mentions three times how Esther found favor wherever she went. With the eunuch in charge of all the young women, “she pleased him and won his favor.” She also found the favor of the whole court: “Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.” Remember, they’re seeing thousands of charming young ladies. Yet, Esther has won the favor of all.
Then there is the king himself: “Now the king was attracted to Esther more than any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins.” I do not doubt that Esther was a unique woman, but still - how does that happen? How does she consistently get everyone’s attention in a world full of competitive people? It happened because God is at work in the most unsuspecting ways. God not only positions his people, but when it fits his purposes, he works them into strategic circles and situations in unsuspecting ways. A chance meeting. An unexpected connection. Someone at HR looks longer at a resume. A kindness or courtesy at just the right moment. A significant end of year bonus. A surprise visit from a distant friend. Someone whom God loves and can use wins favor, gets in someone’s good graces. God has ways of making sure people in power do his bidding: all without ever hearing his name! God works in unsuspecting ways.
Up to now, this story has a similar flavor to Cinderella or Snow White. You could almost imagine tucking a little girl into bed with stories of how the orphan girl Esther became queen and had a royal banquet in her honor. Now it’s time to turn off the light and go to sleep.
But the storyteller clears their throat. Um, I’m not quite finished. I was just coming to a good part.
19 When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.
20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
22 But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
There’s that secret again. When you’re reading a story and someone has a dangerous secret, what do you think is going to happen? It usually doesn’t bode well. Meanwhile, Mordecai works at the king’s gate as a government official. His action to reveal this plot was a good thing. So both Esther and Mordecai end up being honored in the book of annals.
Next week, we’ll see how this dangerous secret Esther has turn into dark days for her and her people.
But for now, this week, this moment - God used a difficult situation with Queen Vashti, an oppressive decree, and a destructive search for a new queen all lead by a megalomaniac to bring about hope and future for his people.
God works in unsuspecting ways - he works in the office where the supervisor is a micro-manager nitpicking at every move that is made. He works in marriages where a spouse is militant toward Christianity. He works in the schools that may teach a curriculum you do not agree with. God works in unsuspecting ways. He works in the project that has gone over budget and has been delayed several times.
God works in unsuspecting ways - but you must be willing to look for him even when he is unmentioned in the events of daily life.
God’s pinnacle work displayed in Jesus Christ came in an unsuspecting way - God humbling himself and taking on flesh in order to restore and redeem us from the bondage of sin and evil. Allowing evil to believe they had won for a moment as they crucified Jesus upon that cross only for it to reveal the reality of new life for those who believe.
God worked in unsuspecting ways in the early church as the Apostles began to preach in every language at Pentecost. God worked in unsuspecting ways when those who listened to the gospel of Jesus asked, “what shall I do to be saved?” God work in unsuspecting ways when those individuals saw the goodness of God revealed to them. A God that worked forgiveness of sin, cleansed in the waters of baptism by the death and resurrection of Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit of God which cries out Abba Father, leads us, and transforms us into the image of Jesus.
Allow God to do an unsuspecting work in your life today. If you have not taken a step of faith, I want to encourage you to open to the Lord’s forgiveness and be baptized for the promise of God is for you and your children.
If you are struggling to see where God is working today, I encourage you to take time in prayer with God reviewing your past week and ask: Lord, when and where were you present in this moment, and this moment, or that moment?
God works in unsuspecting ways - trust in him today.
