Esther: When God seems Absent (2)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
A New Queen in Town- Esther 2:1-23
A New Queen in Town- Esther 2:1-23
A deep question to begin today:
How did you arrive where you are today?
In life, in relationships, in the church here today?
How you answer that big question in an indicator of your world-view and mindset in a lot of ways.
How you believe you got to where you are— leads you to believe how you will get to where you will end up!
Was it hard work? You believe you earned it.
Was it luck, or good fortune? Is it random?
No-
We as believers know that we are where we are today ultimately by
God’s providence
Article 5: Creation and Divine Providence, from the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective:
“We believe that God has created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and that God preserves and renews what has been made. All creation ultimately has its source outside itself and belongs to the Creator. The world has been created good because God is good and provides all that is needed for life...
We therefore are called to respect the natural order of creation and to entrust ourselves to God's care and keeping, whether in adversity or plenty. Neither the work of human hands, nor the forces of the natural world around us, nor the power of the nations among which we live are worthy of the trust and honor due the Creator on whom they depend.”
Today, we will continue with our study of Esther— and it will be very clear that we need to both “rest” in God’s providence— and also “wrestle” in God’s providence at the same time. It’s a most difficult place sometimes.
In today’s story— we pick it up where the poor King appears to be lonely— maybe depressed and his attending servants are working up a plan to cheer him up. Isn’t it interesting that this seems to be the case always— the servants and wise men helping him solve his problems. They are suggesting that they commission a search for the most beautiful and lovely women in the kingdom be brought to the palace in Susa.
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.
Scholars believe there could have been as many as 400 of these women brought to this process from around the whole kingdom.
Can you imagine this? Basically, this is 2500 years ago— and this is where they got the idea and originated the “Bachelor” reality TV show! 1 guy— a whole bunch of beautiful women— and the process goes on from there. That’s kind of funny now— but actually it’s not a laughing matter at all— we’ll talk about that later.
Three parts of the story today:
-Esther’s distance from the throne
-Esther’s path to the throne
-Mordecai’s faithfulness to the throne
Esther’s Distance from the Throne
Esther’s Distance from the Throne
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.
Esther was a captive in a hostile land. v.7
Esther was an orphan.
Esther was honorable and beautiful.
Basically there was no one LESS likely to become queen— than a Jewish, orphan, girl living with her older cousin.
She really had no status, no rank, no reason to be a person of significance.
The Persians think very little of the Jews— she is an orphan with no parents, no heritage.
Knowing what we know of the story— isn’t that just like our God to take something that is seemingly insignificant, and make it the most significant!
Have you ever felt like you were insignificant. Unskilled, unknown, forgotten maybe? I’m here to tell you, and the Esther story is here to remind us all, that God has not forgotten you. In fact, I believe with all my heart, that he has chosen you— yes, even you… to be his special representative in this world. You may feel like you’re unprepared, untrained, unlikely— but our God is the God of the unlikely!
Esther’s Pathway to the Throne
Esther’s Pathway to the Throne
An interesting part of the text here is to pay attention to the “verb tense”— it’s all in the passive tense— like she and the other women were brought here, and this was done to her, and then this was done for her, etc. It’s like she is being swept along by a current of providence. She had choices— of course, but it was her choices— and God’s control. Together the two “ropes” are held stable. That’s the image that I would like you to hold with me— it’s God’s providence— We do have choices, but God is in control— But those two “ropes” held together— that’s what keeps us stable and strong.
Watch and see if you can spot both the choices that Esther and Mordedai make— and the choice that even the King makes— but also watch for the influence and providence that God has here.
And remember— we are reading a part of scripture, where God is NEVER mentioned!
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.
1. Esther found favor with Hegai, the chief of the harem. v. 9
2. Esther was treated and pampered for enhanced beauty. v. 12
3. King Xerxes fell in love with her. v. 17
4. A banquet and holiday are declared in Esther’s honor. v.18
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.
No mistaking that God is at work here. Sometimes we glamorize these details, we like to think of Esther as this nice neat story— how it all comes together just right—Like Esther could be this Cinderella kind of Disney princess story. (Ahh, sigh…) NO this is a horrible story. With horrible details. Can we imagine what was going on here? These are some 400 women, yanked from their families, to be paraded around for a depressed and selfish earthly king, who may get one night to spend with this guy— and otherwise are robbed of a “normal” life— they can’t have a husband, or children, they can’t fulfill their God given purpose. This is a broken situation, with broken people, in a broken time, in a broken world. Sounds familiar to me. We see it everyday don’t we?
Listen— the Jewish people here knew God’s promises. He promised that the Messiah, the Saviour would come through the nation of Israel. Israel is hanging on by a thread here… It’s not going to get any easier here as we continue with the story! There will be an evil and sinister plot to eliminate all of them. But Esther represents God’s providence— in spite of the odds, in spite of the world, in spite of the evil. God’s providence— even when we don’t see it, your working...
Don’t sanitize it. We live a real life— just like this sometimes— and this story should give us Hope. God is in control. This is a terrible story, really— I’ve got three wonderful daughters. I can’t imagine the day if there was some knock at the door, and the kings says, yep— they’re mine. Lives changed forever.
We can see throughout our history, even here in the United States that people have endured trauma in our culture. I had the blessing of reading a prayer this week by a woman named Clara Ann Thompson. Clara lived from 1869-1959 in Rossmoyne, OH— a suburb of Cincinnati. She was an African American daughter of parents who were formerly slaved in Virginia. She was educated, was a teacher, a writer, and a civil rights advocate some 55 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. In fact, she died 5 years before that date.
She lived at a time where race relations were still unsettled— she writes a prayer in 1908, Titled: “I’ll Follow Thee”— this is written in the immediate wake of the Springfield, Illinois race riot where many were killed in a brutal clash between blacks and whites. It’s a powerful and intimate prayer for those who can’t see God— but none the less are determined to follow Him anyway.
I’ll Follow Thee (1908)
Clara Ann Thompson
My Savior, let me hear Thy voice tonight,
I’ll follow Thee, I’ll follow Thee;
The clouds that overhanging my way, obscure the light,
And all is dark to me.
I’d hear Thy voice above the tempest’s shriek;
I’ll follow Thee, I’ll follow Thee;
And though my sight be dim, my spirit weak,
I’ll trust, though naught I see.
I’d feel Thy arm, supporting in the dark’
I’ll follow Thee, I’ll follow Thee;
For Thou canst fan to flame, faith’s sinking spark,
And seal my loyalty.
I shall not sink, dear Lord, then Thou’rt my guide,
I’ll follow Thee, I’ll follow Thee;
Though lashed by heavy waves, on ev’ry side,
I’m safe, when Thou’rt with me.
I was moved by that this week— I hope you are too. Esther would have very easily connected with those sentiments also.
Mordecai was very attentive also—
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.
Between Mordecai on the outside of the palace— and Hegai on the inside, Esther has the support that she needed to carry on.
Why didn’t Esther and Mordecai do what Daniel had done? Remember Daniel— Just say “NO! I won’t bow, I won’t bend”, — What would you have done? I don’t know what I would have done. This is tough stuff. They didn’t know what was going to happen! We are a broken people, in a fallen world. It’s a mess sometimes.
Listen, there are difficult things that you and I are facing everyday in this life… There are extremely difficult things— I’m not sure what to do sometimes… But we can take hope in this story. I step back and marvel that this kind of story is even in our bible! Some probably didn’t want it in there… It’s all messed up. It reveals the bad in humanity— maybe reveals some good too, but it’s all mixed in together, just like you and me.
Let’s look now at Mordecai’s faithfulness to a throne that didn’t really recognize him at all. But he did the right thing, at the right time.
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.
Mordecai’s Faithfulness to the Throne
Mordecai’s Faithfulness to the Throne
Mordecai was at the King’s gate. v. 21
He discovers an evil plan to assassinate the king. v. 22
He tells Esther, who then tells the King, crediting Mordecai. v. 22
This is recorded in the king’s journals. v. 23
Once again, Mordecai actually isn’t just sitting there people watching— Historians believe that when Esther becomes Queen, Mordecai was given some sort of position or job at this gate— think of it as a little building where administrative business was conducted. People coming and going— Mordecai is serving the king in his giftedness. And the language here is still passive— “A plot was revealed— or Mordecai found out about the plan”— He didn’t purposely spy out the guards conversations— it was given to him to know what they planned. What is that? That’s providence.
It was recorded in the book- and then basically forgotten! Providence even in that— because of what we know will happen later, right?
A couple takeaways from this part of the story: (two things about God’s providence and control, and a third thing about his love)
What can we learn today?
What can we learn today?
Some conclusions:
God’s providence moves at glacial speed.
God is never in a hurry- but is always punctual.
These events happens over the span of years.
Animated film were first created in as early as 1892— Disney made the first full length animated movie in 1936. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Animation is a really tedious process of assembling many single shot pictures or photos in a sequence— and you sometimes can’t even tell the difference between the slides if you’re just looking at one— then the other. But when you put them all together, and put it in motion— then you can follow the changes and see the movement. For Snow White, It is estimated that there were over 1 million pictures that were created and painted, individually, for the entire film. They were each hand-painted. One couldn’t really see any differences between several tiles— until they were all set into motion. Each tile was exposed in front of our eyes for 1/24th of a second… then we can see the movement. The technique was so time-consuming, it was discontinued after that. God’s moves ever so slowly for us each day— but over time, like in this story of Esther, we can see the movement.
9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
God sees the first picture— and the last picture too. He sees that for your life, and my life— and he sees that for the whole world.
2. God’s providence comes from his character, not ours.
Thank GOD! Mordecai does the right thing— and nothing happens, yet.
It keeps me from getting my hands into everything. Often, I see injustice and I want to jump ahead of God.
It’s for our good, and for his glory.
3. God redefines beauty, and chooses us, even when we are ugly and broken.
The cross is that great ironic reversal.
Jesus chooses you and me— and he dies for us. Beauty is not outward.
He loves us so much— and chooses us. He gave himself that we can be with him.
Our reasonable response is to choose him also. What a great preparation for us to experience the baptisms of Michael, Becca, and Brianna today.
Let’s pray— and then we’ll move to that part of our service today.
Baptism publicly identifies us with Christ in his way of the cross and his resurrection (Romans 6:5-11). We are buried with him "by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4).