“All About Esther??” – FBC Morning Light (10/2/2024)

Then on Friday as well, so the rest this week in the book of Esther. I have a little different take on the book of Esther than is commonly seen. Usually the book of Esther is all about exalting Esther.

What a great woman she was, how noble, and she's almost portrayed as this godly heroine of the Old Testament. Well, I don't think the book of Esther is about Esther. In fact, it's not. The book of Esther is not about Esther.

The Providence and Grace of God in Esther

The book of Esther is about God. It's about the providence of God as he preserves his covenant people, and it's about the grace of God as he preserves an undeserving people. Let me explain. In the first place, look at the names Esther and Mordecai.

You run into them in chapter 2 in this beauty pageant. Why do they have these names, Mordecai and Esther? These are not Hebrew names. They're Medo-Persian names, and their names are derivative of the Persian gods and goddesses, Ishtar and Marduk.

Mordecai and Esther were simply trying to blend in and not be identified as part of the people of God, as Jewish people. We know that because it actually tells us that in chapter 2 verse 10, where it says, Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.

Mordecai told Esther, don't you dare tell anybody you're a Jewess. Don't do that. Let's keep the cloak. Let's maintain our secrecy. Another thing I want to point out is the contrast between Vashti and Esther in terms of the moral decisions.

Vashti, the queen, was summoned by the king in this drunken party. Vashti had her own party going on with the women, and Hashweros, the king, had his party with all the men. He had too much wine, there was too much wine and too much song, and now because of this nobody's going to get along.

Hashweros calls Esther to come and parade her beauty before all the men. Don't think of this as like a fashion show. Think of it more like she would appear before them with maybe a veil over her face, and that would be about it.

She refused. She said, I'm do that. I'm not going to do that. I hope you say, good, good for her. She shouldn't do that. That was the right thing for her to do. But I think there's an intended contrast here.

When Esther is chosen to become a part of this beauty pageant seeking a new queen in chapter 2, and how God providentially works it so that she ends up being chosen among all these beautiful women in the kingdom who were brought before the king.

But we have to be realistic in understanding the process here. We're told in chapter 2 that the women, when their turn came, would go into the king in the evening, and in the morning they would be sent off to the harem.

What happened in the meantime? Obviously I'm not going to explain it, but let me be sure to tell you that they weren't having an extended chess match. When the time came for Esther to go in before the king, here she is, supposed to be a woman who is of God's people, and what she is about to do is immoral.

It's just immoral, and yet she does everything she can to make herself pleasing to the king. When the next morning came about that he decided he's going to make her queen, it wasn't because in their protracted chess match he was so profoundly impressed by her strategic skills of playing the game of chess.

So there's a contrast there. Then you come to the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 2. The end of chapter 2 is interesting because it seems like there is a detail thrown in here that doesn't really go with the flow.

It's the account of how Mordecai foiled this plot to have the king assassinated, and verse 23 of the end of chapter 2 says, "...inquiry was made into the matter.". Mordecai reported, hey, there's this assassination plot.

Inquiry was made, it was confirmed, and the men who plotted to kill the king, they were hanged on a gallows, it was written in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. And then you go into chapter 3 and it says, "...after these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman.".

And then you know the rest of the story from here. Haman, because of his now elevated position, his promotion, he is supposed to be respected as the king is respected. So when he comes into a room, everybody would bow down.

When he rides in his chariot or whatever through the streets, everybody's to bow down, just as they would the king. But Haman, or Mordecai, refuses to bow down. Why? Why does he refuse to bow down? The excuse he gives is that he was a Jew.

Why all of a sudden did that become an important thing to point out? Why was this such an important matter to say, I'm not going to bow down because I'm a Jew? Did he all of a sudden become so pious that he would not kneel before a possible descendant of Agag, this Haman the Agagite?

There's a little bit of controversy there, whether he was from a region that would be called Agag, or he was a descendant of that Agag that should have been executed by Saul. Whatever the case, is that why?

Is it really that he was now so pious? Or when you look at the juxtaposition of Mordecai saved the king's life and nothing was done about it, and Haman is promoted. Remember, Mordecai was part of the gate of the king, the king's gate.

That is, he was one of the officials, or one of the king's servants, and he and Mordecai would have been peers. But Mordecai got the promotion. Who should have gotten the promotion? Who saved the king's life?

What was done for Mordecai? Nothing. I believe, I really do, I believe that Haman refused to bow down before Mordecai because he was jealous. It was his own pride, and he used the excuse of being a Jew that he wasn't going to bow down to a mere man.

Well, there's a lot more that could be said, but at this point I just want to leave it at this, that I believe the book of Esther is really about the providence of God as he preserves his covenant people, and that's going to be borne out in what comes ahead, and the grace of God as he preserves his undeserving people.

A Call to Clarity, Confidence, and Boldness

Let's be challenged by this, to be the people of God with clarity and with confidence and with boldness. Our Father and our God, I pray that we would learn from this, to without shame take the name of Jesus with us wherever we go.

We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, well listen, have a good rest of your Wednesday. May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.