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STUDIES IN ESTHER
By Glenn Pease
CONTENTS
1. PROVIDENCE IN THE WORLD
Based on Esther 1:1‑9
2.
PROVIDENCE THROUGH WOMEN Based
on Esther 1:10‑22
3. THE PARADOX OF PLEASURE
Based on Esther 2:1‑4
4. FATHER AND DAUGHTER Based on Esther 2:5‑11
5. THE POWER OF BEAUTY Based
on Esther 2:5‑18
6. THE IMPACT OF INFLUENCE Based on Esther 2:15‑23
7. THE PARADOX OF PATRIOTISM
Based on Esther 2:19‑3:6
8. COINCIDENCE OR PROVIDENCE?
Based on Esther 6:1‑11
9. THE HUMOR OF HISTORY Based
on Esther 9:20‑28
10. PROVIDENCE IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Esther 10:1‑3
1. PROVIDENCE IN THE WORLD
Based on Esther 1:1‑9
Time
magazine covered the extravagance of the Shaw Of Iran back in 1971. It was the 2500th year anniversary of the
founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. Nine kings and five queens were there, along with princes and
princesses, and 16 presidents. It was a high class elegant affair that cost
$100,000 dollars. As extravagant as it
was, however, it could not hold a candle to the banquet thrown by his
predecessor many centuries early.
Esther begins with an account of possibly the greatest most plush
banquet of all time. It will probably
never be excelled until the redeemed enter into the marriage supper of the
Lamb.
King
Ahasurus, better known as King Xerxes, had a banquet for all of his princes,
military leaders, and political leaders.
It lasted for 180 days, or one half of a year. Now that is what you call a party, it was a six months smorgasbord. Then he topped that off with a seven day
banquet for all the people in the capital city of Susa. Xerxes, like most absolute rulers, could be
very cruel, but you can be sure of one thing, nobody ever called him a party
pooper. The one thing wealthy people
have in common is a love for parties.
This is their way of revealing their wealth and status. Mrs. Cornelious Vanderbuilt use to spend
three hundred thousand a year on entertainment.
Scholars
are convinced that Xerxes is trying to make a big impression. He has an ambition to conquer the Greeks,
and rule, not just most of the world, but all of the world. This half‑year
banquet was to get all of his leaders together to persuade them to cooperate,
and plan the strategy. Verse 4 stresses
that Xerxes paraded his riches and glory before them, and you get the
impression it is like may day in Russia, when all of the big rockets, tanks,
and other weapons are paraded before the leaders, in order to build the ego,
and say to all, look at how great and powerful we are. You can be sure that everyone was impressed
with the power and glory of Xerxes. He
had wealth beyond our imagination, and we will never see as much gold as he had
until we look down as we walk the streets of the heavenly city.
There is
no point in trying to describe the splendor of his kingdom. The point we need to see is that the story of Esther takes place in an
environment of pleasure and treasure without measure. Almost the entire book takes place in the palace of the
king. It is in the midst of glory that
we see only in fairy tales. Esther, the
Jewish girl, was a mere nobody, and she was exalted into this atmosphere of
elegant royalty. It is a true
Cinderella story. It is important that we see the environment in which the
story takes place. That is the only way
you will be able to grasp why things in this book seem to be acceptable that
would be totally unacceptable in any other context, for both Jews and Christians.
Martin
Luther never could enter into the context of Esther, and see it from the
perspective of ancient Eastern royalty.
The result is, he despised the book of Esther, and felt it was immoral,
and ought not to be in the Bible. You
don't have to like what went on in the palace of king Xerxes, but the fact is
we can learn a lot of relevant truth about God's working in history by taking
advantage of this behind the scenes peek.
We are privileged to get an inside view of what is happening in the
palace that affects the people of the whole world. We get to follow God into the most exclusive setting, and see how
He providentially works behind closed
doors in the decision making centers of world governments. Just to be aware that God works in such ways
is a valuable revelation that can change your world view.
The
first thing the book of Esther does for us is it forces us to broaden our
perspective on the sphere of God's working.
God is not limited to Israel. He
is not limited to His chosen people.
God is the God of the whole world, and His providence works even in the
pagan world. Mal. 1:5 says, "Great
is the Lord, even beyond the borders of Israel." In
verse 11 God says, "My name will be great among
the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun." Esther brings us into a Persian setting,
where we see the whole history of God's people bound up in what happens in
Persia. God did not start working in
Persia just because Esther and the Jews were there. He had been providentially working in and through the Persians
from the start of their kingdom.
Cyrus
the Great conquered the Medes and the united them with the Persians to form the
Medo‑Persian Empire. He was a
master strategist who figured out ways to conquer the unconquerable. Mounted Lydian spearmen blocked the road of
his forward march.
It was like a man with a bebe gun going against a
tank. But he sent his baggage camels in
front of his lines, and the sight of these beasts frightened the Lydian horses,
and they ran off in disorder, and Cyrus marched on to victory.
When
Cyrus marched into Babylon, and made it a part of the Persian Empire in 539
B.C., he had some reason for pride. He
got a bit heavy on the titles, however, when he proclaimed, "I am Cyrus,
king of the universe, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon,
king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the
world." That just about covered
it. He was the richest most powerful
man in the world, and he was a pagan.
So we write him off as of no value to the purpose of God in history‑right? Wrong!
He played a major role in God's plan, and that is the point we want to
stress, for if we limit God in the sphere of His providence in history, we fail
to see Him as the God of all history, and all people, even the pagan people's
of the world. There is only one God,
and He is the God of all, whether they know it or not.
In the
case of Cyrus, the Bible is so clear in its revelation that we cannot miss
it. 22 times the Old Testament refers
to Cyrus the Great, and everyone of them is positive. Some are so positive as
to be shocking. Daniel served under
Cyrus, and his successor, Darius, and
he was greatly blessed. Darius was the
Persian king who had him thrown into the lion's den, and who was so grateful that
Daniel was spared. The Persians played
a major part in God's plan for Israel.
God said of Cyrus the Great in Isa. 44:28, "He is my shepherd and
He shall fulfill all my purpose."
God used this great pagan ruler to get his people back into the promise
land. He sent them back, and he paid
for the rebuilding of God's temple in Jerusalem. He also sent back with them all the treasures that had been
carried away in Babylon.
God used
him like he was an Abraham, Moses, or a Joshua. But the fact is, he did not even know the God of Israel who was
using him. Isa. 45:1 says, "Thus
says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to
subdue nations before him,
and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before
him that gates may not be closed: I
will go before you and level mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of
bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron..." After other promises of guidance, God says, "I call you by
your name, I surname you, though you do not know me."
Now I
don't want to go on studying Cryus, for it could take a full message just to
look at the text dealing with this man's role in God's plan. I share this brief glimpse so we can see the
close interrelationship of Persia and the people of God. They were intertwined from the
beginning. The book of Esther is just
one chapter in the context of their interrelationship. Here again it is the king of Persia who is
the power who will either destroy or deliver the Jews. They will perish or prosper depending upon
his choices. So we see God again
working behind the scenes to lead this king to fulfill His purpose in
history.
Do not
think that God does not work in the pagan governments of the world. Do not put God in a box by thinking that
pagan leaders will never do anything good in the world, and never make
decisions to further the cause of God in the world. This is not only narrow thinking, it is anti‑Biblical. God never did pull out of Persia. When we come to the New Testament, the very
first people to receive the message of the Messiah's birth were the three
wisemen, or the Magi of Persia. John
Chrysostom, the great golden mouthed preacher of the fourth century, wrote,
"The Incarnate Word on coming to the world gave to the Persians, in the
persons of the Magi, the first manifestation of his mercy and light‑so
that the Jews themselves learned from the mouths of Persians of the birth of
their Messiah."
St. Thomas
brought the Gospel to Persia, and there has been a continuous history of Jewish
and Christian influence in Persia. We
cannot cover this whole history, but let me share some highlights, for it
relates to what we see God doing in Esther.
Esther is just a peek into a vast world of God's providence. It cannot all be a part of Scripture, or the
world could not contain the acts of God in history. The point I want to make is that God has been working in Persia
from its beginning, and we will know many people in heaven who came to Christ
in Persia. In the third century many of
the famous doctors of Persia were Christians.
In 485 A.D., the chief advisors to the king of Persia was a Christian.
Some of the kings of Persia married Christian women, and so you have other
stories like this of Esther, where a Jew becomes queen of Persia, married to a
pagan king. Christians were among the
best educated, and so even when the Arabs conquered Persia in 632, the
Christians continued to get the key positions in government and institutions of
higher learning.
In the
1200's when Marco Polo visited Persia he found a flourishing Christians
community. The Christians had become
the favored minority over the Muslim majority. There is much more that is
positive, but we need to look at the negative side also, which explains why
Christianity is not a power in Iran today.
Iran is, of course, the modern name of Persia. God's providence is to give His people a chance to do His
will. He does not force them, and if
they chose to disobey they can lose His blessing.
The
Christians had it made by their wise living, and they could have won the whole
nation. But when Christians refused to
be Christian, the message of the Gospel does not work. The first mistake of Christians in Persia
was their refusal to use the language of the masses. They had their Syriac Bible, but would not use the Arabic, the
language of the people. When the Arabs
took over, and used Arabic, the masses became a part of Islam instead of
Christianity. Today the church goes
into all the world to give people the Bible in their own language. Christians have learned from history, if you
don't give people the Bible in their own tongue, you will not be able to build
on a lasting foundation. Persian
history is a perfect example.
Christians were very well educated.
They were leaders in the land.
Instead of being loving toward the masses, they mocked their ignorance,
and despised their pagan customs, and deliberately drank wine on their holy
days to show their contempt. You don't
have to know much history to know what is the inevitable result of such
folly. In 1369 Tamberlane, a descendant
of Genghiz Khan, came to power in Persia.
He unleashed a reign of terror on Christians. They were rounded up and murdered, and the churches were
destroyed, and Christianity never recovered from this scourge. Yes, there will be many in heaven from
Persia, but the sad fact is, there will be many less than there should be,
because God's providence is not the only force in history.
We need
to see this side also, lest we be superficial and conclude, that sense God is
providentially working in history, we don't have to worry about anything. Not so, for man is still responsible for his
decisions and choices, and what he does can make a big difference in the course
of history. Not everything that is, is
just how God wants it. Man is
constantly making choices that are foolish.
God's people can get a break and then
blow it, and all can be ruined.
Mordecai
made this clear to Esther in 4:14 where he warned her when she toyed with the
idea of not getting involved. He said,
"For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance
will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your fathers house
will perish." In other words,
Esther still had to make a free choice to go along with the providence of
God. She could have said no, and blown
it, and gone down in history as a famous traitor rather than a heroine. In all our study of providence, let us never
lose sight of the full responsibility of man to follow and obey the will of
God. If God opens the door, and I do
not go through it, I will not experience the providence of God, and the
blessing is lost.
Now,
having looked at all this history surrounding and growing out of the book of
Esther, the question is, how is all of this to have an effect on our lives
today? It is to have this effect in us,
that we never write off politics as a sphere where God is not active. No matter how dirty, corrupt, and scandalous
politics can be, it is a key area of life where God is at work to accomplish
His purpose in history. Yes, government
is secular, but that is the point of the book of Esther. God is active in the secular world. God so loved the world, not just the church,
and His own people. God loved the
world, and still does, and He works in the sphere of that secular world He loves. Esther has no reference to God, or anything
religious. It is a secular story from
beginning to end. It is in the Bible to
make it a clear revelation to all people for all time, God is the God of the
secular world as well as the religious world.
Grasping this can change your whole outlook on life, and make all of
life and history more exciting.
Do not
ever assume that a non‑Christian leader or politician cannot be a channel
of God's purpose in history. To do so
is to be blind to the record of God's actual working. God used the pagan rulers
of all the great empires of world to achieve His plan. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and
Romans, everyone of them played a major role in God's plan, and many of them
came to be true believers in each of
these great empires. But whether the leaders did or not become believers, God
used them. He used Caesar Augustus to
make a decree to tax the world. This
fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem. Pagan kings and Centurions were constantly
playing roles in Paul's life and ministry.
When he ended up in Rome, the pagan authorities gave him great freedom
to teach and preach about Jesus.
Without God's providential leading in the lives of pagan authorities,
Paul would not have gotten to share the Gospel in the capital of the world, and
impact all of world history.
We see
it so clearly in Esther, how God used pagans for His purpose, but it was not
new. God has always worked outside of
Israel, for His providence is universal.
Moses was one of the greatest leaders in the history of Israel, but who
had a major influence on his life? It
was Jethro, his father‑in ‑law, who was a priest of Midian. He was not a part of Israel, but Moses
married his daughter, and got to know him well. They became good friends, and it was Jethro that Moses turned to
for advice when the burden of judging Israel too heavy. In Ex. 18 we read of how Jethro told him to
set up many lower courts with good men to judge, and he would then be the
supreme court where the hardest cases would come. Moses gave heed, and this outsider changed the course of Israel's
history.
Melchizedek was such a godly priest in Salem that even though he was a
Gentile outside of the people of Israel, he was chosen of God to be a type of
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
is called a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He was not called a priest after Aaron, or
after Israel's priesthood, but after the Gentile Melchizedek. Abraham, the father of Judaism, even paid
tithes to this Gentile priest. God was
working in a powerful way outside Israel.
We tend
to focus on men, for men have, all through ancient history, been the leaders
and decision makers. Esther has a
balance of male and female cooperation.
It took both Esther and Mordecai to fulfill the plan of God for Israel. God used both female and male
for the Gentile world as well. Vashti by her refusal to do what was
immoral, set the stage for the whole drama that brought Esther to the
throne. God is an equal opportunity employer
in His providential guidance of history.
We will see more of this as we continue our study.
The
queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, and she was so impressed by his wealth
and wisdom, she became a believer. She
took her faith back to her Gentile land, and only eternity will reveal how
God's providence worked through her, but we will know, for Jesus said she will
be in heaven judging those who refuse to see the light Christ brought, which
was even greater than that of Solomon.
We read in Matt. 12:42, "The queen of the South will arise at the
judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon
is here."
It is
hard for us to grasp that God is working in the lives of people outside the
church. It was hard for Peter to comprehend this when in Acts 10 God was
working in the life of Cornelius, and Italian Gentile who had never heard the
Gospel. God had to use a vision, and
speak to Peter directly, to get him to go to Cornelius. But finally, Peter became a believer in
God's providence in the lives of those outside the people of God, and he said
in Acts 10:34‑35, "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality,
but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable
to Him." Peter became aware that
God so loved the world, and so was at work in all the world to seek and to
save.
Jonah
not only could not grasp this truth, he hated it. He expected God to wipe out the pagans of Ninevah. Instead, God used the message He brought to
bring them to repentance, and He had mercy on them. They were a nation of pagans, and yet God loved them and spared
them. Numerous are the examples of God
sparing pagan peoples. There are no
people that God does not care about.
Those who would be truly Christlike must be world conscious people. There must be a love and concern for all
people to truly fulfill the will of God.
Never has this been more true than today when our world has become so
small, that whatever happens to any people can affect all people. We need to be aware of, and be excited about
the fact that God is providentially working in all the world.
2. PROVIDENCE THROUGH WOMEN
Based on Esther 1:10‑22
Paul
Aurandt tells this fascinating true story that deals with the paradox of
positive rebellion. In April of 1847 it
looked as if Mexico was ready to make peace with the United States. President James Polk chose Nicholas Trist to
go as a peace commissioner. On his way
Trist spoke to reporters and told them too much. President Polk was upset, and sent a letter to Trist telling him
to return. Trist read the letter and
responded by saying he did not want to return.
The President was infuriated, and blasted Trist, but he could not stop
his negotiations with the Mexicans.
Today, of course, this could never happen with our speedy
communications, but in 1848 it was a different story. Trist, with no authority to do so, signed a treaty with the
Mexicans, and brought it back to the U. S.
He was immediately banished from government, and his salary was cut off,
and he was forced to go to work for a railroad to feed his family.
The
president and congress accepted the treaty he signed, however, for it was too
good to refuse. It gave the U. S. what
is now all of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, and part of
Wyoming, and Colorado. Not a bad deal
for a guy who was actually fired, and not suppose to even be on the job. It cost him dearly, but his rebellion gained
for the rest of us a large portion of our nation.
You just
never know what blessings are going to come out of what seems to be so
negative. Vashti provides us with
another example of this in the first chapter of Esther. She rebels against the
order of her husband, the king of Persia, the most powerful man on the
planet. It cost her dearly to refuse
him and rebel, but it was a major step on the road to Israel's being saved as a
nation. If she had not rebelled and
lost her place as queen, and likely even her life, there would be no way for
Esther to come to the throne, where she was the key to her people's
deliverance.
Here is
a pagan Persian Queen making a drastic decision that will change the course of
history for God's people. She, of
course, does not even know that she is doing it. Her action has nothing to do with anyone but herself. The question is, why did she do it? The context makes it quite clear that she
was a victim of stag party morality.
While she and the ladies were having their banquet in a separate place,
the king and his leaders were really living it up. Nobody was forced to drink, but verse 10 says the king had his
share and was feeling merry with wine.
The banquet was in its seventh day, and there was only one thing left to
do before it ended. They had seen the
glory of all that men can make, but men still loves most of all to see the
glory that only God can make‑the glory of a beautiful woman.
Vashti
the Queen was a beauty to behold, and the king was determined that the climax
of his six months and one week of banqueting would be the marching of his
lovely wife before this hoard of bleary‑eyed, drunken, and lustful
men. From his perspective at the time,
being full of wine, it sounded like his best idea ever. He later sobered up and regretted his folly,
but by then the damage had been done.
The most
powerful argument for abstaining from alcoholic beverages is the history of
man's fool decisions under its influence.
One of the greatest causes of human sorrow in the world is that the
leaders of the world tend to mix alcohol and government. Prov. 31:4
says, "It is not for kings...to drink wine, or for
rulers to desire strong drink lest they drink and forget what the law decrees,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
Herodotus, the Greek historian writes much about the Persians, and tells
us that it was their custom to get drunk when they deliberated on weighty
matters, but that they then reexamined their decisions the next day when they
were sober. Xerxes did not follow this
rule in our text,
and many have failed to do so throughout history.
Thank
God we do not know how many of the decisions that affect our lives are made by
men whose minds are under the control of booze. What we do know from history is frightening enough. One example should be enough to see the
potential for the kingdom of darkness.
In 1643 Governor Kieft of the New Netherlands had a drunken party with
his council. They decided it was time
to teach the Indians a lesson. In the
dead of night they attacked a sleeping village, and massacred 80 helpless
Indians. This lead to a history of
sorrow and heartache for both whites and Indians that is beyond
calculation. Kieft was the first white
man to offer a reward for Indian scalps, and that is why it became so popular
among the Indians to take white scalps in revenge. That one drunken party led to hell on earth, and hell forever,
for masses of people on both sides.
Satan
can offer no better suggestion on how to improve the evils of leadership than
by mixing alcohol and decision making.
Yet, it has been the way of world all through history. To the shame of
Christian nations, the Islamic nations have seen the folly of it, and have
forbidden alcoholic beverages. Alcohol
reduces inhibitions, and men will do under its influence what they would never
allow when sober. Lot was a righteous
man, but under the influence of alcohol he became incestuous with both of his
daughters. Noah's one day of folly was
due to his getting drunk. Add up the
foolish acts of otherwise sensible men, and you will discover the great
majority of them are made under the influence of alcohol.
Stonewall Jackson was a strict temperance man, and his example cause
many of his officers to be the same. He
was once out in a drenching rain, and a fellow officer insisted that he take a
drink. "No sir, I cannot do
it," he replied. "I tell you
I am more afraid of
King alcohol then of all the bullets of the
enemy." If more men feared it, as
he did, there would be far fewer tragedies in this life. Yet men have the audacity to blame God for
suffering in this world, when a large share of it can be clearly traced to
man's choice to drug his brain with alcohol.
I was
impressed with the story of a boy in Scotland who was slow, and so he was the
butt of many jokes by his village peers.
On one occasion they were teasing him, and trying to entice him to
drinking. Whereupon, this supposed
simpleton responded with true wisdom. He said, "If the Lord Almighty has
given few wits to me, He has at least given me enough sense to keep the little
I have." Unfortunately, Xerxes was
not as wise as this simpleton.
But Vashti was no fool. When she got the order to come over to the men's banquet, she
knew she was being used to satisfy the kings lust for a new thrill, and she
refused. It was either the kings
majesty, or the queens modesty that had to be sacrificed, and so she chose to
defy his request, and, thereby, became the first truly noble person in the book
of Esther. Some even feel she was more noble than Esther.
Morgan,
that prince of expositors, cries out, "Let the name of Vashti be held in
everlasting honor for her refusal."
The majority of commentators agree, but some feel it was her duty to
obey her husband regardless of the circumstances. This view would have some basis if it was an innocent request for
her to come and greet his honored guest.
But we know too much about Persian history, and human nature, to think
that is all it was. Herodotus tells of
how some Greeks made the mistake of bringing some of their wives to a Persian
banquet. The Persians kept making
sexual advances toward them even while their husbands were there.
Vashti
had her banquet for the women in a separate place from the men, not just for
lack of space, but because the women knew what the men were like after they had
been drinking. Sooner or later, and
usually sooner, a group of men would get around to the subject of women, and where alcohol is involved you can
count on it, the subject will turn to the immoral. What all this means is that Vashti was to be the frosting on the
cake at this stag party. She was to
march in, and satisfy the lust of this drunken crowd of men, and she said,
"No! I won't do it!" She is the equivalent of the movie star who
is offered fame and fortune for becoming a centerfold, and she says,
"No!" Vashti was a pagan
woman, but let us not forget, even pagans have moral standards, and here is one
who lived by hers, even at great cost.
She was the wealthiest and most famous woman on earth, but she
sacrificed it all, and became a nobody, rather than humiliate herself.
Xerxes
and Vashti are prime examples of the fact that riches are not the key to a good
marriage. That key is not riches, but
respect. Xerxes could sleep in a golden
bed, and drink from a golden cup, but that did not make him a good husband. He exhibited the common danger of all who
have wealth and power. He treated
people like possessions, and this included his wife. The records reveal that many professional men tend to use their
wives as show pieces. The wives soon
learn they are not loved for themselves, but for the statis they bring to their
husbands, and the marriage collapses because women demand to be treated as
persons. Thus, we see the paradox of
beauty. A beautiful woman is a delight
and a danger. She can be a blessing or a
burden to herself, and to men. Most, if
not all, men, are women watchers, and
this is simply a recognition of the handiwork of God. The problem is that it can be excessive, and go from looking and
appreciating to lusting and aggression.
Faust
sold his soul to the devil for the right to have any wish he desired, and he
requested that Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, be
reincarnated so he could see her. His
request was granted, and he feasted his eyes on the face that launched a
thousand ships. He sold his soul out of
lust for beauty. That is
excessive. We need to keep a sense of balance,
however, lest we knock beauty. Esther
became the Queen, and saved her people because she was unusually beautiful. Beauty can be used for the purposes of God
and good, as well as for the kingdom of darkness and evil. Beauty is good in itself, but like all good,
it can be misused and abused, and become a tool of evil.
Vashti
was Queen because of her beauty, but it was also her beauty that led to her
downfall, for had she not been so beautiful, she never would have been selected
to please the lustful eyes of those
drunken men. The burden of beauty is a paradox that many women have had to
bear. In our culture the beautiful
woman is showered with opportunities.
Beauty contests offer them scholarships, great jobs, much wealth. They can go on to movies, the stage, and
rise to the top. But, the other side is
that they face such pressure to use their beauty for what is immoral. The point is, the story of Vashti is a story
that is repeating itself over and over again all through history. Non‑Christian women are making choices
like she had to everyday. They are
choosing self‑respect and dignity rather than conformity to the lust of
men.
You can
respond by saying, "Big deal!"
There are for every Vashti who says no, hundreds of others to fill in
the gap of their refusal. This is true,
but, nevertheless, the refusal of the few can change the course of history. And that was the case with Vashti.
The few stubborn women who take their stand against
impossible odds are the women who have helped make the women of our day the
most free in history. Vashti was alone against
a government totally dominated by men.
Susan B. Anthony grew up in a society very similar, but she revolted
against it, and made a big difference because of the Christian principles that
forced men to modify their methods.
She was
born in 1820 into a Quaker family where women were treated with respect and
equality. Her father went bankrupt, and
so she and her sisters became teachers.
For 15 years they taught with three dollars a week as their top
salary. Men teachers were receiving
three times that amount. She decided to
draw up a Declaration of Rights for women, and she presented it to the New York
legislature. She got the signatures of
ten thousand women, but the bill was rejected.
She went back to the people and kept gathering signatures, and kept
lecturing across the state. She covered
54 out of 60 counties, and every time she went to the legislature she was
turned down. Six times she went with
her petitions, and six times she was rejected.
Finally, after unbelievable personal sacrifice, she returned the seventh
time, and in 1860 the New York legislature adopted a bill granting women the
right to own property, and the right to the money they earned, plus other
rights.
The next
battle was women's right to vote. She
persuaded 15 other brave women to join her, and they marched into the polling
headquarters in Rochester in 1872. She
told the election inspectors they were there to vote. They told her it was illegal.
She pulled out a copy of the U. S. Constitution and said, "Prove
it!" They couldn't, and so she and
her three sisters, and other women, voted.
The newspapers splashed the incident across their front pages. It was a report of what King Xerxes advisers
told him. These women had to be
punished, or all women would think they had a right to vote. Had Susan B. Anthony lived in Persia, she
would have gotten no further than Vashti, but she lived in America, and had the
freedom to express her views. She
toured the Midwest and drew large crowds to her lecture which was titled, Is It
A Crime For A U. S. Citizen To Vote? We
don't have time to look at her spectacular trial, but she won, and went on as
president of The National Women
Suffrage Association to prepare the way for the 19th amendment that gave women the
right to vote. By her rebellion she
changed the course of history. She did
it, because like Vashti, she had the courage to say no, and refused to submit
to what was not right.
It is
always right for any male or female to resist cooperation with evil, and God
can use that resistance for His purpose of overcoming evil. Vashti said no to immorality, and God used
that, right along with Mordecai's saying no to idolatry. These two personal responses of saying no,
led to the providential yes of redemption.
Never say, never say no, for words like refusal and rebellion in the
proper context, as we see them in Esther, are not vices, but virtues.
Xerxes,
with all his power, found out he could not order his wife to do anything he
pleased, and get his way. What an
enormous embarrassment. He had just
spent 6 months and one week impressing all the leaders of his Empire. He could conquer the Greeks and rule the
world, but then his wife says no to him.
He can't even conquer one woman.
The battle of the sexes is the oldest war on earth, just because it
cannot be won. There can be peace and
reconciliation, but there can be no total victory in this battle, because both
sexes have a higher allegiance than to each other.
Joseph
Parker, the great English preacher wrote, "There is a higher law than even
the will of a king than a husband‑the law that gives a woman the right to
guard her own modesty when those who should guard it for her do not. Vashti obeyed that higher law written by the
Creator....and we can think nothing but good of her in the matter." William Taylor, author of many books, wrote,
"No husband has a right to command his wife to do what is wrong, and
liberty of conscience ought to be as sacred in the home as in the state."
This act
of rebellion by Vashti was a case of civil disobedience to the government, as
well as disobedience to her husband, for he was also the king, and the absolute
law of the land. We see here that what
is true for the authority of a husband and a government are the same. There authority does not allow them to
violate a persons moral dignity. No
earthly authority has the right to command what is contrary to a persons
religious and moral principles. One is
always right to obey God rather than man.
This does not mean one will not suffer consequences for their
stand. The head of the house, or the
head of the state may have power beyond your ability to escape. Such was the case for Vashti, and such is
the experience of millions of Christians.
If you
have dreamed of being a queen, and feel that is the highest goal of life, you
are taking your dreams from fairy tales, and not from history. The average American woman is far more
blest, and richer in true values than most of the queens of history. Narah Lofts in her book, Queens Of England
writes, "I am sure that if all the Queens the world has ever known would
rise from their graves and give a truthful account of their lives, the majority
of their stories would be on the sorrowful side." Even Esther had to endure isolation,
neglect, and fear for her life. I point
this out in order to emphasize the greater power, freedom, and rights that you
have as American women, then the royalty of the ages have enjoyed. Most queens would envy you, and gladly
traded their castle to have what you
have.
The
surprising thing is you have what you have because of the providence of God in
the lives of women like Vashti. She was
used to save Judaism, and this is our heritage as Christians. Before her, God used other pagan women to
keep his program alive. Moses was saved
by an Egyptian princess. She helped make
him the mad God used to change all of history.
When we look at the genealogy of Jesus in Matt. 1, it is surprising that
Jesus was not a pure Jew. Gentile blood
flowed in his veins. This means that
the blood he shed for the sins of the world was both Jewish and Gentile blood. Where did it come from? From pagan women God used to change the
course of history.
One such
woman was Rahab the Caananite, also called the harlot, who aided Israel in
taking Jericho. She became a part of
the blood line to the Messiah. After
her came Ruth the Moabitess. She was
another Gentile who came into the blood line, so that two of the four women in
the genealogy of Jesus were Gentiles, and one of the two books of the Bible
named after women was a Gentile‑Ruth.
When we come to the New Testament we see Jesus dealing with the
Samaritan woman at the well. Samaritans
were hated by Jews, but Jesus loved her and won her, and she became His best
evangelist, and through her many Samaritans were saved.
Jesus
could identify with her, for He too was a mixture of Jewish and Gentile blood,
and He was doing in the flesh what He had been doing all through history, using
women, be they rich or poor, pagan or Jewish, to accomplish His purpose in the
world. What women decide, and what
women do, has been, is, and will be, a vital part of human progress, for
history keeps on confirming what the Bible clearly reveals: God's providence works through women.
3. THE PARADOX OF PLEASURE
Based on Esther 2:1‑4
Alexander Selkirk was one of those men who always had to learn
the hard way. The records of his church
in Scotland show that he was disciplined several times for causing trouble in
the church. In May of 1703 he said
good-bye to all that, and at age 27 went off to sea. He tried to run things on the ship as he did church, and he got
into a furious argument with the Captain.
They were anchored off a small island four hundred miles from Chile.
Alexander got so mad he packed up his possessions and went ashore. "You don't dare sail without me,"
he shouted to the Captain. The Captain
was not impressed with his conviction, and gave the order to sail. Poor Alexander could not believe it. He thought he was indispensable. He was wadeing out up to his arm pits
pleading for the Captain to forgive him, but the Captain was as stubborn as he
was, and he sailed away, never to return.
Fortunately for Alexander the island had been inhabited by Jon
Fernandez two centuries earlier, and he had left some goats on the island. These gave him food and skins. For four years and four months he depended
on them for survival. When he was
finally rescued, he could hardly remember how to talk. When he got back to England he was a
sensation, and several books were written about him. The most famous was fiction, but it used his experience as a
model. The book was Robinson Crusoe.
That was a tough way to learn to keep his mouth shut. It is so hard not to do something, or say
something foolish or destructive when you are angry. Even great men often have to learn the hard way that loss of
temper can be costly. Xerxes was the
ruler of the Persian Empire, he could have anything he pleased, but he lost his
wife, whom he truly treasured, because of his anger. Xerxes had a reputation for losing his temper when he could not
have his own way. He once wanted to
cross the waters of the hellespont, but it was so rough his troops could not
build a bridge. He got so angry he took
chains to the water, and he began to flog it.
Like most temper tantrums, it was not very effective.
It is so hard to play God when nature and others will not
cooperate. The water would not stop for
him, and his wife would not start for him, and he blew his stack. And why shouldn't he? He was the most powerful man in the world,
and why should he not get angry for the same reason the rest of us get
angry? Why do we get angry? Primarily because something or someone has
spoiled our pleasure. We are not
different from King Xerxes. He had his heart set on seeing all his noble
leaders gape in envy as he revealed the beauty of his wife to them. Half the joy of possessing something is in
showing it to those who don't. Vashti
had the audacity to rob him of this pleasure.
He blazed with anger within, because she would not grant his whim.
If you examine your own life, you will discover that most of
your anger is based on the hindrance of your pleasure. You have plans, and somebody does not
cooperate, and the pleasure you hope for is lost, and you are angry. Children cry most often because they can't
have their own way. Somebody is always
hindering them from having their pleasure.
They want to play with the new camera you just bought, and you insist it
is not a toy, and there heart is broken.
They want to run barefoot in a junk infested lot, and you deny them of
their pleasure. On and on goes the list
of pleasures a child desires that are constantly being hindered by parents, who
get no pleasure out of picking up pieces of a two hundred dollar camera, and
rushing to the emergency room for stitches.
What we see then, is that from the beginning, life is a battle
to see whose pleasures are met, and whose are denied. Striving for pleasure is a far more powerful factor in all of our
lives then we realize. Because we do
not examine our lives from the perspective of the pleasure motive, we look on
the events of the book of Esther with some degree of shock.It is scandalous
that every beautiful virgin in the empire was to be made available to the king,
to meet his demand for pleasure. Keep
in mind, he is the most powerful man in the world. The whole book revolves around his pleasure. What pleases him determines the life or
death of every human being of his time.
If he pleases, whole nations are destroyed,and if he pleases, they are
spared. God's providence had to work
through His pleasure motive.