YouTube video sermon

Esther 2:1-23

Well, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Esther 2. We’re going to do something a little unusual this morning. We’re going to read the entire second chapter. Now listen, the temptation for you is going to be to zone out, to just stare out the window, to think about lunch or afternoon plans or something, and so I want to encourage you to actively follow along. That is, I want to encourage you to engage your imagination and try to see everything that’s taking place, as we’re introduced to Mordecai and Esther. Up to this point, we’ve only been introduced to King Ahasuerus (a.k.a. Xerxes) and his now deposed queen – Queen Vashti. So, follow along.

1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9 And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. 11 And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.

12 Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women – 13 when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

15 When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, 17 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

19 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

“And now, Father, with our Bibles open before us, we humbly look to You, that we might – in studying the Bible – not read into it anything that isn’t there, nor fail to see what is so clearly there. For we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Years ago, Frank Sinatra made popular a song titled “My Way.” As many of you know, it’s something of an ode to 20th century man – a declaration of self-sufficiency and autonomy. Part way through the song, after line upon line of self-centeredness, Sinatra croons, “Regrets, I’ve had a few.” An admission of weakness. An entry point for humility. But, in fact, it’s only a pause, because he brushes away the thought by singing “I did it my way.”

(In fairness to Sinatra, according to his daughter, Tina, he hated the song. In an interview with the BBC in October 2000 she said, “He didn’t like it. That song stuck and he couldn’t get it off his shoe. He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent.” So, for those of us that are fans, perhaps there’s a bit of a reprieve.)

But not so for Xerxes. He devoted month after month to self-glorification. And if there was a refrain to each new indulgence, it was “I did it my way.” Every gift given and every decree issued was done for him and by him. And when his inexcusable sexual demand to parade his queen before his drunken buddies was soundly rejected, he was enraged.

Now, if you’re in the habit of marking in your Bible, you might want to make a notation at the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2 that a period of approximately 3-4 years has elapsed. Historically speaking, there’s about 3 years of activity that takes place between
what we read in chapter 1 and these verses in chapter 2.

Xerxes and his Persian army cross the Dardanelles, also known as the Hellespont, and the first thing he encounters is Leonidas and the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. I mentioned that last week, I think. He eventually overcomes there, and then proceeds to Athens where he levels the acropolis and the first Parthenon. If you’ve ever been to Athens and visited the Parthenon, that’s actually the second one. The one that Xerxes destroyed was still under construction.

Then, as they’re proceeding down the isthmus to get to Corinth and the Peloponnese – that larger portion of Greece that’s cut off by the Corinthian Canal – he receives word that the Persian navy has been defeated by Themistocles at the Battle of Salamis. As Xerxes and his Persian army turn around and begin to retreat back to Persia, they’re met by 100,000 Greek soldiers. Mardonius, one of Xerxes’ generals, misinterprets the movements of the Greek forces and orders the Persians to give chase and the Greeks finally defeat the Persians – there at the Battle of Plataea. Xerxes barely escapes and gets the remainder of his army back to Susa – that’s verse 1.

Nobody is there to greet him. Ladies, is there anything worse than your husband coming home defeated at the end of the day? There he is – defeated. He got whipped by the Greeks the same way his father, Darius got whipped. And he walks back into the palace there, in Susa, and there’s nobody there to hug him. Nobody there to greet him. Nobody there to say, “Come on, now. It’s not all that bad. You’ll recover.” And so, we read, “After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.” You see that word “remembered?” It’s the Hebrew word zakar. It’s a nostalgic term. “She used to be here. She used to meet me at the door. She used to care for me.”

Isn’t it a sad reality, in life, that we don’t appreciate something until it’s gone? She’s gone. She’s not there. He has nobody. He’s lonely. He’s hurting. He’s depressed. And as his friends and advisors watch him they come up with the very first TV show: The Bachelor. We’ll have this big bachelor party and bring all these young women in, and whoever pleases the king will be the new queen. And that’s where we see the first of our two points.

Living In Compromise Causes You To Walk Between Two Worlds

That’s where we find Esther, Mordecai, and the Jews. They’re walking in compromise. They’re walking between two worlds – part of it Jewish and the other part the pagan culture of the Persians. It’s exactly where the Church and the majority of those who profess to be Christians are living today. It’s where we walk.

You say, “Now pastor, where do you get that?” Look with me at verses 5-6. See if you don’t hear a word repeat over and over and over again, “Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.” Did you hear it? Did you see it?

The ESV translates it as “carried away.” It’s the Hebrew word galah, and it means “exile.” So, here’s a rough translation of verses 5-6 directly from the Hebrew text, “A certain Jew there was in Sushan the citadel and whose name was Mordecai son of Jair the son of Shimei the son of Kish a Benjamite had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exiles who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah whom had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.” Exiled, exiled, exiled, exiled. Do you know what that says? That says, “You don’t belong here. You don’t belong here. You don’t belong here.”

Folks, when you’re reading the Bible and you come across a word that’s repeated again and again and again, especially in the same verse, the Holy Spirit is trying to say something. He’s trying to get us to hear a particular message. And the concept here is this is not your home, this is not your home, this is not your home. And yet, Mordecai and Esther are there along with the overwhelming majority of the Jews.

Fifty years earlier, Xerxes grandfather, Cyrus, released the Jews from Babylonian captivity when he defeated Nebuchadnezzar. And he released them to go back to Jerusalem, and even gave them the money to rebuild the temple, and just a handful of Jews went back with Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild the temple and inhabit the holy city. The Jew was not supposed to be in Babylon or Susa or any other place besides Jerusalem. They were tied to the land. You can never get away from this one thing in the Old Testament. God has given His people (the Jews) a land – known as the Promised Land – the land of Israel. And the Jew is to be there. And yet, Mordecai and Esther are living in compromise.

But this compromise goes a step further. Look at verses 10 and 20, “Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. [E]sther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.” In other words, she never told anybody that she was Jewish.

Now let me tell you something. When you say the word “American,” a lot of things come to mind. You think of democracy. You think of capitalism. You think of independence – not just our national independence, but individual independence. You think about a lot of things, but you almost never immediately associate America with an Evangelical. You don’t do that with Brits. You don’t automatically hear United Kingdom and think they’re all Anglican. Because they aren’t. When you think of Ireland, you might think Catholic, but they’re not all Catholic. When you think of the Russians you don’t think Russian orthodox. When you think of the Greeks you don’t think Greek orthodox. But when you say the word “Jew,” what do you think? Covenant people of God. That’s what differentiated them from everybody else. Out of everybody in the entire world, when you say “Jew” you think Child of Abraham. What does that mean? Chosen of God. And yet, Esther is going to hide her very identity.

Listen to me: that’s the struggle of the Christian today! “I’m just going to cover up. I don’t have to go out there and broadcast this. I don’t have to tell people I’m a Christ-follower. I’m going to cover up the fact that I’ve trusted in Jesus.” We see this in our teenagers in high school. We definitely see it on our college campuses. We experience it in the workplace. And we’re guilty of it in our retirement communities, too. “I may not be invited to the next party. I might get overlooked for the next golf grouping. I may not get into Kappa Alpha or Sigma Chi or Oozma Kappa or this thing or that thing.” And so, we walk this line, this tightrope, between revealing our identity in Jesus and hiding our faith. And Lord knows we don’t want people to know that we’re pro-life.

The Word of God is tough to take (sometimes) folks. I’m just showing you what’s between the lines. Let’s go to our final point, and that is:

Living Out Godly Character Enables You To Stand Out From The Crowd

Now, I’m going to be upfront with you. Some of the things I’m getting ready to highlight could be argued to be speculative, but I believe we will see Esther in heaven. We see nothing of God in this book, and yet I believe this young Jewish girl knew the LORD. That is, she knew Yahweh, she knew God. She would’ve known, as every Jew did, Deuteronomy 6:4 (the Shema), “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Those would’ve been the first words to come out of her mouth. Maybe not literally, but you know what I mean. She would’ve learned this prayer from her earliest days.

She would’ve heard of Abraham and Sarah. She would’ve heard how God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac on the altar. She would’ve known about Moses and Aaron and Miriam, and Passover, and the crossing of the Red Sea, and the wilderness wandering. She would’ve heard all of these things. And because of that knowledge, it impacts who she is on the inside.

Look at verse 9, “And the young woman (that’s Esther) pleased him (that’s Hegai) and won his favor.” Now, there’s nothing sexual in that. This guy is a eunuch. We’re introduced to Hegai in verse 3 and we’re told that he was in charge of all the women. Remember, we’re talking about a king who had a harem. That was Hegai’s job – to be in charge of all the women. Ladies, you’re lovely, but I can’t fathom having to be in charge of a harem 24/7. Talk about fighting over the bathroom and keeping track of all the outfits and cosmetics. It’s not hard to imagine that this guy is constantly operating on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

So, when it says that Esther pleased him, I imagine that she was one of those women that was naturally beautiful. She didn’t need a ton of makeup to look good. She was easy to work with. She didn’t need the most seductive outfits to turn heads. Perhaps, she was one of the few that understood modesty – when worn correctly – can actually increase sexuality and desirability. She made this guy’s job a delight, and I can imagine that he really looked forward to attending to her. In fact, that’s what the rest of verse 9 says, “And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem.”

But it wasn’t just Hegai that Esther was nice to. It wasn’t just men that Esther exhibited grace to. Look at the end of verse 15, “Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her.” She was kind and gracious and encouraging and winsome to everybody: men, women, boys, girls, old, young. Her character was proving to be an asset. And you’ve got to remember that she – like all the others – was taken. They were drafted. They were gathered under direction of a royal edict. These women wouldn’t be allowed to marry if they didn’t win this contest. No, they would’ve joined the king’s harem. On the surface this might seem like something you’d want to be a part of but, in reality, 99% of these ladies wouldn’t have the joy of having their own families or freedom. There was plenty of reason to be bitter and depressed and discouraged, and yet Esther never let that show. She was gracious in every situation. That’s one of the reasons we’re drawn to the book.

But it wasn’t just that she was gracious. She was also humble. Verses 12-14 describe the process whereby these girls would go in to spend the night with the king, and verse 13 says, “when the young woman went into the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.” It wasn’t Victoria’s Secret. It was Vashti’s Secret. The women could ask for whatever they wanted. But notice what Esther does when it’s her turn. Verse 15 says, “When the turn came for Esther [to] go into the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised.” She didn’t make demands. She humbly took whatever Hegai advised.

Now, you might say, “That’s not humble, that’s just being smart.” Here’s a guy who’s in charge of the king’s harem – a guy that knew everything the king liked – who better to take advice from. Right? Well, that may be true, but remember, she’d been given special treatment (v. 9). Hegai had given her seven of the most chosen attendants in the palace and escorted her to the best place in the palace. She might have been tempted to let that kind of thing go to her head. “I’m special. I’m getting the total package. I’ve got the presidential suite. All the other girls have twin beds in the big room. I have seven maids; everybody else is on their own.” Yet that doesn’t seem to be what happened. She didn’t make demands. She was humble.

And what did that get her? Look at verse 17, “[T]he king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.” Listen, he was smitten. He was captivated by her. He was puttie in her hands. Guys, you remember that experience when you just fell head over heels for your wife? That intoxicating feeling of love – the king loved Esther more than all the women. And notice that she won grace and favor in his sight. His previous queen was banished. Vashti hadn’t won any grace or favor in Xerxes’ eyes. Something about Esther had a dramatic influence in him. So much so, that the game is over when she comes to stay with him. Think about how big that is. Herodotus estimates that there were as many as 400 women in this competition. We have no idea when Esther’s turn came. Was she at the beginning or was she at the end? We have no clue, but if she wasn’t last then that means that there were a lot of ladies that didn’t even get a shot. There’s something about Esther, beyond her physical beauty, and I believe it’s her godly character.

Now, I need to be fair here. Esther isn’t perfect. None of us are perfect. Esther is a sinner. From everything we’ve read in this chapter, I can say with some degree of certainty that she’s not following the dietary laws that were prescribed for Jews. She’s not following the law of Moses. She’s not following the Torah. I haven’t read anything in this entire book that indicates she observes the Sabbath. And beyond all of that, although we aren’t told explicitly in the text that she had premarital sex with Xerxes when she spent the night with him, that’s certainly what seems to be implied in this chapter. Here she is: compromised. Literally, living outside of God’s will (in sin) and the question is this: Can God/will God step into the midst of your compromise with His grace?

Let me close with this. Former Baptist pastor, seminary president and author, Gordon MacDonald tells the following story. There was an English pub and outside there was a raging storm, and the worse the storm got the more people came in for shelter and, of course, they got to drinking and eating. It was pretty wild that night. In the midst of all the melee of people moving around and laughing and gesturing, there was a waitress who came along with a tray, holding it high with mugs of ale and cups of coffee and tea. Someone in the crowd didn’t see her coming and jostled her rather dramatically and the tea and the coffee and the ale went flying.

It splashed all over a newly painted wall. In a nanosecond the wall was splotched with all of this liquid running down. The crowd got quiet to see how the owner would react. The humiliated waitress stood there wondering what would happen next. In the silence, all of a sudden, from the corner of the tavern, a man spoke out. He said, “If you’ll permit me, perhaps I can do something about that.” And he stepped forward and he opened a little case. People saw that in the case were a lot of artist’s brushes and paints. The man went to work on this wetly stained wall. He sketched with charcoal. He painted in a background. He used small brushes on details.

As the moments went by the crowd grew stiller and stiller, and quieter and quieter, and 45 minutes later, a wall of ugly mess, was a beautiful stag standing in a forest. It was absolutely magnificent. The crowd gasped together in the beauty of what they were seeing. Then the artist took a piece of charcoal and signed his name in the lower left-hand corner. Quickly he wrapped up the tools of his artistry and went out the door into the storm. When the people looked at the name, they realized they had been watching one of England’s greatest artists at work.

Let me tell you something. That’s nothing in comparison to how God, in His great grace, reaches down and dabs in the blood of His Son, Jesus, at Calvary and paints over the stain of sin in your life and mine.

“Father, in these moments, I pray that every one of us would walk out of here understanding and knowing, in a personal way, the grace that comes from God through Jesus Christ, for it’s in His name that we pray. Amen.”