Esther: The Shadows of Providence
The Book of Esther Session 2
Introduction: The King Dethrones the Queen Cont.
(Esther 1:13-22)

“Esther, as compared to the rest of the Old Testament, is like falling from heaven to earth.” – Heinrich Ewald

Introduction
Esther is an obscure book to many. It is a story of human love, palace intrigue, and the glory days of the Persian Empire. A Jewish maiden, elevated to the Throne of Persia as queen, is used by God to preserve His people against a Hitler-like annihilation… The Book of Esther commemorates the deliverance celebrated, to this day—the Feast of Purim. It is, in the end, an account of God’s providence in the people of Israel.
Puzzles
• No mention of the name of God;
• No reference to worship or faith;
• No prediction of the Messiah;
• No mention of heaven or hell…nothing “religious” about it.
• It is a gripping tale, but why is it here in the Bible? Is it a revelation of God’s providence? Martin Luther believed it should not be part of the Canon!
• Esther = means “Something Hidden”(!)
• [The name of YHWH is hidden inside the text in several ways…]
Paul reveals that the historic incidents that happened to Israel are intended as types for us:
Romans 15:4 (NKJV), “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
Examples include:
– Feasts of Israel = prophetic implications (Passover, Firstfruits, etc.);
– Days of Noah;
– Abraham’s Offering of Isaac;
– Jonah, three days…
The story behind the story: Ourselves.
Bible = To know God; to know ourselves!
Time Period
Chronologically, it antedates the Book of Nehemiah by about 30 years. Esther makes possible Nehemiah. It was Esther’s marriage to the King of Persia that ultimately leads to the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
These are historical events: not just a story to highlight a moral imperative. It deals with an escape from annihilation after their return from Babylonian captivity and enables the chain of events that led to the Messiah five centuries later.
The book takes place in the Persian period (539-331 b.c.), after many Israelites had returned from the Exile to the land of Palestine to rebuild the temple. Most Israelite captives, however, chose not to return to their homeland. They should have done so for Isaiah and Jeremiah had urged the yet-to-be-exiled nation to come out of Babylon after 70 years (Isa 48:20; Jer 29:10 50:8; 51:6) and return to the place where the Lord could bless them under the promises (Deut 28).

The events in the Book of Esther extend over a decade:
- From 483 b.c., Xerxes’ 3rd year; Esther 1:3
- to 473 b.c., the end of Xerxes’ 12th year; Esther 3:7
The events in this book occurred between those recorded in Ezra 6 & 7.

Festival of Purim
We are going to learn about the origins of the festival of Purim. Purim is a celebration of deliverance. In contrast to Hanukkah, another festival of deliverance in which the achievement of religious liberty is celebrated, and the preservation of Israel is remembered. Purim commemorates the preservation of the Jewish people.
Outline
I. Affairs in the court and the Dethronement of Vashti - Chapter 1
II. The search for the new Queen - Chapter 2
III. The feud between Haman and Mordecai - Chapter 3
IV. Mordecai’s plan - Chapter 4
V. Pride goes before the fall - Chapter 5
VI. Haman’s humiliation - Chapter 6
VII. Haman’s downfall - Chapter 7
VIII. Esther’s petition - Chapter 8
IX. The day of vengeance - Chapter 9
X. The observance of Purim - Chapter 10

READ (All) Esther 1:13-22

A QUEEN IS DEPOSED
King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) holds a grand feast.
1) (Esther 1:13-22) The banishment of Vashti.

[13] Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times (for this was the king’s manner toward all who knew law and justice,
a) The king said to the wise men: These were probably astrologers, expert practitioners of the ancient pagan art of forecasting the future by the positions and motions of the starts (The Magi).

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (NKJV), “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.”
a) Wise men: That Ahasuerus would go to for counsel.
Proverbs 15:22 (NKJV), “Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.”
i) Do you have several people that you can go to get good Godly counsel? What makes their counsel good?

[14-15] those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who had access to the king’s presence, and who ranked highest in the kingdom): “What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs?”
b) Seven princes: These are the highest-ranking men in the kingdom.

c) What shall we do to Queen Vashti: Perhaps it was on the mind of the king to show her compassion? But the “court” had in their mind to protect the reputation of the “government” and under the cover of the “law” they would come up with a consequence.

Proverbs 11:13 (NLT), “A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.”
i) Gossip: For a gossip, secrets are a form of power that they use for their own advancement.
ii) Trustworthy: A man or a woman of wisdom knows there is an appropriate time to keep confidence.
iii) Examining yourself, have you ever used confidential information to your own advantage?
[16-18] And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: “Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.’ This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king’s officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be excessive contempt and wrath.

d) For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women: So the concern of the court/men, is that the disobedient behavior of the queen will cause all the women of the empire to despise their husbands and cause contempt and wrath, in both the husband and the wife.
e) Memucan answered: It is as if the seven counselors had forgotten the drunken request of the king (husband) to have the queen (wife) “show her beauty” (vs. 11) to the other drunken men.
i) What would be your response if you were one of the parties in this kind of situation? Consider all parties (the king, the queen, the attenders of the party, the women that were at the queen’s party).
Ephesians 5:33 (NKJV), “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
[19] If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

f) That Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she: The queen is dethroned. So, the King listened to Memucan (7th meant the youngest) and shows himself to be unreasonable and wrong. The King should have honored the dignity of his queen. He is being loveless.
1 John 4:8 (NKJV), “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
i) Name ways that you can honor each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Why is this important?
[20-21] When the king’s decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for it is great), all wives will honor their husbands, both great and small.” And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan.

g) All wives will honor their husbands: The decree of a man will not force an act of love from one person to another.
John 15:12-13 (NKJV), “this is My commandment, that love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
i) We are not sent out into the world to compete, quarrel or rule over one another. We are to seek unity and the good of others.
ii) Why do people try to rule over each other? (James 4:1-4)
[22] Then he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people.

h) To every people in their own language: There is a pragmatic thought to this since there were 127 providences with a variety of languages.
i) That each man should be master in his own house: This harsh treatment of Vashti was intended to reinforce the idea of man’s leadership in the home, but it is coming from a dictatorial position of a king.
Qualities of a Sound Church
Titus 2:1-5 (NKJV), “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate [self-control], sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent [God honoring] in behavior, not slanderers, not give too much wine, teachers of good things – that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
j) The goal presented here was admirable and speaks to the need within every man to sense respect and honor from his wife. Paul’s instruction to wives was summed up like this: let the wife see that she respects her husband and let the husband love his wife (Ephesians 5:33). A wife’s respect and a husband’s love is the most precious gift they can give each other.

i) Why is it such a precious gift for a wife to respect her husband and for a husband to love his wife?