PT-2-4 "The Choice of Ester" (Ester 2:8-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2011 8:07:53 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT. 2-3 “The choice of Ester”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                            Reference:  Ester 2:8-11

 

            Message of the verses:  “8 So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. 9 Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. 11 Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.”

 

            I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that there are four sub-points to this second main point that Dr. Wiersbe uses in his commentary.  I am looking at the second and third sub-points in today’s SD.  It must be remembered that the theme of this second chapter is how the hand of God is at work in the affairs of people and in the case of this second main point in the life of Ester.

 

            “The encouragement of Hegai” is the title of this second sub point and it covers verses eight and nine of the second chapter of Ester.

           

            It is not difficult to see the hand of God in this section, for here we have a Persian man whose job was to please the king and so just as in the case of Daniel and also Joseph God brings a man or men into their lives to work out His plans for His people.  One can only imagine how often this is going on in different parts of the world even today that God is working in the hearts of even unbelievers to bring about what He wants accomplished and to also take care of His children.  I want to give a couple of verses here that show how the Lord will take care of His own:  “Mt 24:22  "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” 1Pe 2:9  But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

           

            “The nationality of Ester” is the third sup-point and it covers verses ten and eleven.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “It would appear that the two cousins’ silence about their nationality was directed by God because He had a special work for them to accomplish.  There was plenty of anti-Semitism in the Gentile world, and Mordecai’s motive was probably their own personal safety, but God had something greater in mind.”  He goes on to say “Mordecai and Ester wanted to live in peace, but God used them to keep the Jewish people alive.”  Here again we see the hand of God working for the affairs of His own.

 

            “The approval of the king” is the fourth sub-point under this second main point and it covers Ester 2:12-18, and although I had not planned to do this one today it has worked out for me to do so.

             

             “12 Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women-for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women- 13 the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her 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, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not again go in to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him 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 banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.

 

            Acts 15:18 reads as follows “"Known to God from eternity are all His works (NKJV).”   This section of Scripture surely is one of the works of God.  We are told that Ester was beautiful in form and features in Ester 2:7 and so this must have been what attracted her to Hegai and who gave her such special treatment, for he knew what the king desired in a woman and therefore she was made ready for the king.  I am sure that this would have been a feather in his cap to prepare Ester for the king.

           

            We now see the forth banquet that is seen in the book of Ester, for after the king had chosen Ester he was so happy that he decided to give a banquet in her honor and then he declared a holiday for all of Persia, that could be something like the “year of Jubilee.”

           

            Ester was now put in place to accomplish something great for the children of Israel and this is why she was there at this time in history to save the Jews from destruction. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I don’t know if when we get to heaven that we will be able to see things like this explained to us, but I hope that is the case.  I would suppose that the Lord uses us to accomplish things that at times we don’t even realize it.  I just really like so much stories like this when I can see the hand of the Lord working and from time to time I have had the privilege of seeing it in my own life when I meet people who are very open to hear the plan of salvation and then accept that into their lives and have the chance to see them begin to blossom for the Lord.  These are days and times that really bring about the most joy in my life.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Be open and ready for those divine connections that God had prepared for me.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Pray that my IBS will not affect what I have to do this morning.

 

9/23/2011 8:59:47 AM   

 

           

PT-1 "The Choice of Ester" (Ester 2:5-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2011 8:09:07 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus: PT-1 “The Choice of Ester”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ester 2:5-7

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.”

 

            Today’s SD begins the second evidence of the hand of God working in the affairs of the people as we are introduced to two of the main characters in this drama, Mordecai and Hadassah (who is Ester).  There are three sub-points under this second main point and today’s SD will deal with the first sub-point. 

           

            Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin the same tribe that King Saul came from, and it was Saul who was given a task from the Lord to kill all of those who were Amalek.  These were the people who attacked the children of Israel when they were traveling through the wilderness and Joshua fought against them at that time.  Moses had to go up on the hill top and hold his hands up in order to ensure the victory for the children of Israel.  The tribe of Amalek began with the grand-son of Esau who was the brother of Jacob, so the history of Israel and the people of Amalek goes back a long way and it was not a good relationship from the beginning.  Haman who will be introduced as the third main character in this drama is from that people of Amalek and so this bad blood between the children of Israel and Amalek will continue.  The ironic thing is that if Saul who was from the tribe of Benjamin would have followed his instructions from the Lord then this dram would have never taken place for Haman would not have been born. 

 

            As mentioned Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin and his ancestor, Kish was deported from Israel to Babylon in the second deporting that took place in 597 BC.  In 539 after the Persians took over Babylon and Cyrus offered to the Jews a chance to go back to Jerusalem, but Mordecai did not go.  He was raising his cousin Ester (her Persian name) and worked for the government of Persia.  Hadassah means “myrtle” and Ester means star.  The myrtle tree produces flowers that look like a star.  It was because of her beauty that she would be taken into the king’s harem.  An English proverb says “Beauty may have fair leaves, yet bitter fruit,” and it could be that there were many beautiful women in the kingdom of Persia at that time who were exercising the truth of that proverb. 

           

            It is key to remember is the fact that these two key players who were Jews did not reveal that they were Jews at the beginning of this story.  Mordecai reveals it first and then Ester when it becomes important for the king to know it. In keeping this truth away from the Persians could present itself as a problem to some, yet no one had asked them if they were Jews and so they did not lie about it. Dr. Wiersbe quotes Matthew Henry to help explain this “All truths are not to be spoken at all times, though an untruth is not to be spoken at any time.” 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe brings up another point here and that is that it seems that either Ester or Mordecia were living a kosher life and this would mean that they were breaking that law.  He asks “Why would God overlook the unfaithfulness of Mordecia and Ester and still use them to accomplish His purposes? 

           

            There are other problems that come up and that is that Ester was chosen by the king to go into his harem and this surely was against the law along with being married to a non Jew.  I think back to the story of Ruth who was from Moab and yet married Boaz who was a Jew and we find Ruth in the bloodline of Christ along with another Gentile woman who was a prostitute, Rahab.  Paul writes that the grace of God is more powerful than sin and in the case of these three ladies we can surely see that the grace of God is seen in a mighty way. 

           

            When you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah you find that there was trouble when the Jews were marrying gentiles and they were disciplined for that, but in the cases of these three women the situation is different for there was purpose in their marriages.  Again we need to look at the grace of God. 

 

            In his introduction to the book of Ester John MacArthur writes about these issues.  “The following observations help to shed some light on these issues.  First, this short book does not record everything.  Perhaps Mordecai and Ester actually possessed a deeper faith than becomes apparent here (cf. 4:16).  Second, even godly Nehemiah did not mention his God when talking to King Artaxerxes (Ne. 2:1-8).  Third, the Jewish festivals which provided structure for worship had been lost long before Ester, e.g., Passover (2Ki. 23:22) and Booths (Ne. 8:17).  Fourth, possibly the anti-Jewish letter written by the Samaritans to Ahasuerus several years earlier had frightened them (ca. 486 B. C.; Ezr. 4:6).  Fifth, the evil intentions of Haman did not just first surface when Mordecai refused to bow down (3:12).  Most likely they were long before shared by others which would have intimidated the Jewish population.  Sixth, Ester did identify with her Jewish heritage at the most appropriate time (7:3, 4).  And yet, the nagging question of why Ester and Mordecai did not seem to have the same kind of open devotion to God as did Daniel remains.  Further, Nehemiah’s prayer (Ne. 1:5-11, esp. v. 7) seems to indicate a spiritual lethargy among the Jewish exiles in Susa.  So this issue must ultimately be resolved by God since He alone knows human hearts.”   I think that that is the best place to leave it.  Paul writes that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and so again we must look at the grace of God, for without the grace of God all would have to deal with the judgment of God.  I for one am thankful for the courage of both Mordecai and Ester for without their courage the entire Jewish race may have been wiped out and then how would the Savior been born??

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The quote from Matthew Henry seems to have hit home with me as I did the SD.  I suppose that there are times when I do not follow that quote and it gets me into trouble that could be avoided.  I surely make it a practice never to lie and as I look at Ester she was not lying when she did not divulge that she was a Jew.  This is the kind of thing I am talking about. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to word on a better prayer life.

2.     Continue to learn to be content.

 

9/22/2011 9:28:10 AM

           

"The Agreement of the King" (Ester 2:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/21/2011 10:29:51 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  The Agreement of the King

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ester 2:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3 "Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them. 4 “Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti." And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.”

 

`           I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that the author chose not to write about the wars that were going on between Persia and Greece at the time of this writing of Ester.  Dr. Wiersbe points out that after the king was drunk at the seven day party he went off to war to battle the Greeks and was soundly defeated by them and so the king came back to Babylon and was now ready to do something about the situation with the Queen, and that is where we pick up the story in today’s SD.

 

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles this second chapter of his commentary on Ester “The New Queen” and writes this at the beginning of the chapter “(In which Ester becomes the king’s wife, and Mordecai gets no reward for saving the king’s life).”  He then goes on to write what can be expected in this chapter of Ester as we study it:  As you read this chapter, you will see at least three evidences of the hand of God at work in the affairs of the people.”  The first evidence is what is written in the focus portion of this SD.

 

            Before I go into the commentary on this section I want to bring to this SD a quote from John MacArthur’s Study Bible that he wrote at the beginning of the book of Ester:  “Ester could be compared to a chess game.  God and Satan (as invisible players) moved real kings, queens, and nobles.  When Satan put Haman into place, it was as if he announced ‘Check.’  God then positioned Ester and Mordecai in order to put Satan into ‘Checkmate!’”  This is surely an interesting way of summarizing the book of Ester.

 

            You can see the hand of God in what is happening here and this brings up a point that I have been mulling over in my mind for a long time and this portion of Scripture gives me the opportunity to write about what it is that I have been thinking about.  I will begin with a quotation from Dr. Wiersbe that will help explain what I have been wrestling with:  “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes’ (Prov. 21:1 NKJV).’  This doesn’t mean that God forced Ahasuerus to accept the plan, or that God approved of the king’s harems or of his sensual abuse of women.  It simply means that, without being the author of their sin, God so directed the people in this situation that decisions were made that accomplished God’s purposes.”  Here we have the heart of what has been going on in my mind for a very long time and that is that there is a difference between the will of God and the plans of God.  I believe that there are many examples of this found in the Scriptures, but understanding this is at best difficult.  As I think about the different attributes that God possesses like, love, justice, wisdom, all powerful, all knowing, is at all places at all times, and I am sure that there are others that I have missed.  The point is that all of God’s attributes bring Him glory.  John MacArthur has said that all of the attributes of God were present at the cross, and so the cross brought glory to the Lord.  Did what happened to Vashti bring glory to God?  In my opinion I do not believe that it did.  However I do believe that this was what God used to bring about his plan, and that plan was to save the Jews from total destruction, something that would have stopped the Messiah from being born. 

           

            I am not saying that I totally have understanding of all this and probably never will, but what I do understand about it helps me to make more sense of the Bible and also of life here on planet earth, and there is one thing that I do know that God is on His Throne and He rules in the affairs of men and with that I can be very thankful for, and it also helps me in my quest of learning contentment.  A good Scripture showing that God is in total control is found in Daniel 4:35, “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No-one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look around at this world and see all of the trouble that is out there I can say that I am thankful beyond belief that I am a child of God, and that God is on His Throne bringing about His will and His plan for those on planet earth.  Knowing this does help me to be content with who I am and what God has planned for me to accomplish in this life to bring honor to Him.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to seek a better prayer life.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

9/21/2011 11:47:25 AM

  

"His Vindictiveness" (Ester 1:13-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/20/2011 8:49:27 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “His Vindictiveness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ester 1:13-22

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times-for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice 14  and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king’s presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom- 15 "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?" 16 In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 "For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, ’King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.’ 18 “This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s conduct will speak in the same way to all the king’s princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger. 19  "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. 20  "When the king’s edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small." 21 This word pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. 22 So he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.”

 

Toward the end of his commentary on this first chapter of Ester Warren Wiersbe writes the following:  “The more you know about Ahasuerus and his philosophy of life, the more you detest him.”  It is not hard to disagree with that quote after reading how he handled the situation with Queen Vashti.  We have here a drunk, prideful king who wants to save face after making a ridiculous statement.  It reminds me of Herod who had John the Baptist killed after making a ridiculous statement about watching his wife’s daughter dance before him and his guests. Both of these events involved wine, women and lustful men, and the three together will likely cause trouble as it did here.

 

Queen Vashti was nobler than the king and if the king would have taken time to get sober and think about what he did then it would have probably blown over, but he had to solve this “problem” right away and so he called his “experts” in to discuss this pressing issue.  These were probably men who looked at the stars for all of the answers, something like is seen in the book of Daniel.  They had to flatter the king so that they could keep their jobs and as it has been discussed before the king was gullible and trusted these men too much, something we will see later in this drama.

One might wonder what happened to Vashti, for the Bible does not say anything about her after this incident.  Many Bible scholars believe that she was pregnant at this time and that was another reason that she did not want to parade before a lot of drunken men.  Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “Many biblical scholars believe she was Amestris, the mother of Artaxerxes who ruled from 464 to 425 B. C. It’s likely that Ester was either out of favor or dead; for Amestris exercised great influence as the queen mother during her son’s reign.”    

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that what I can learn from this situation is to stop and think about what needs to be done on a certain situation rather than rush into it without thinking like the king did.  He was angry and he was drunk and he made the wrong decision because he did not stop and let his anger and drunkenness settle down before acting.  Proverbs 12:16 reads as follows, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”  Good advice. 

 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Continue to work on a more productive prayer time.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

9/20/2011 10:52:55 AM

 

The King was Drunk (Ester 1:10-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/19/2011 8:20 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “His Drunkenness”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ester 1:10-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.”

 

            The second evidence of King Ahasuerus’ pride is seen in today’s SD, and that evidence is drunkenness. 

           

            It is good to know what the purpose of the author of the book of Ester is, and that would be to show how Ester became queen and so he does not go into the military reasons for this seven day party.  I mentioned in yesterday’s SD that God is not mentioned in the book of Ester, but the moving of God is very apparent. 

           

            Looking at verse twelve we find that the king is very drunk and that the queen’s response brought about a triple offense on her part.  She was a woman, who was challenging the authority of a man, and she was a wife challenging the authority of her husband, and she was a subject challenging the authority of the king.  The result was a very mad, drunk, prideful king not good for the queen.

           

            While going through the book of Ester we will see this king controlling everything but himself, something that the Scriptures address and we will look at soon.  But first we must look at some of the flaws in the character of this king.  We know that he was prideful, and that he was a drunk, and will later learn of his vindictiveness, and all of these are flaws in his character.  We will see that he listens to others without really thinking about what they are saying to him.  These people will use flattery when they speak to him in order to get what they want.  He became very angry without thinking something that probably happened at this time because of his drunkenness.  “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city,” (Proverbs 16:32).  “Pr 28:23 He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor Than he who flatters with the tongue. Pr 29:5 A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe takes time while writing on this section to write about the problems of drunkenness and anger and what the Scriptures have to say about these two subjects.  I have read what he has to say about these two great problems that surface in our society today and agree with them.  He writes that the Bible does command total abstinence, but it does emphasize it.  Many people point to Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding and then say that it is okay to drink socially.  The wine that was used during that period was a very weak wine and mostly used because the water was not really good.  The Bible does command that we are not to be drunk, and it also commands that when we are angry we are to sin not.  Many point out that Jesus was angry, yet his anger was justified because it was against sin, and we too are to be angry at sin, yet we cannot take that as a reason to sin, which it can turn into.  As we look at these verses for today’s SD we can see that King Ahasuerus acted very foolishly and that the queen certainly did right in her actions.  We see here something that was totally wrong being used to bring about something that will be good, and that is the saving of the people of Israel.  God has promised to take care of the nation of Israel and He is still doing that even today.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  If I can be totally honest at this point I will say that I have problems with anger from time to time and it is something that I as a believer realize and need to work on and to be in prayer about so that the Lord will begin to work in my life so that I only am angry about sinfulness and then not let the sun to go down on my anger.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Be angry and sin not.

2.     Don’t let the sun go down on my anger.

3.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

9/19/2011 9:11:59 AM