Title: The Star of Persia
Bible Book: Esther 4 : 14
Author: John S. Connell
Subject: Women; Mother's Day; Courage
Objective:
Introduction
The hard-bitten commander of an infantry company in Vietnam was frustrated in his efforts to make a soldier out of one particular PFC. The young man lagged behind on patrols, feigned illness, and managed to spend most of his time at headquarters. One day, though, he changes his ways. When someone questioned the commander as to why the difference, he replied: “Threats and punishment didn’t work, so I had to use the ultimate weapon: I wrote his mother.”i
Without a doubt, mothers possess a significant measure of power. Indeed all women possess power in abundance – much more than most of them know. Leo Tolstoy, in The Lion and the Honeycomb wrote: “Women who fulfill their vocation hold power even over powerful men; such women should mold public opinion and prepare future generations. And so it is they who hold the power to save people from all our present and impending evils. Yes, women, mothers, in your hands more than in those of anyone else lies the salvation of the world.”ii
Today, I want to introduce to you a woman named Esther; a woman who, when she had her moment in the spotlight, did not waste that moment. Rather, as a sportscaster might say: “She stepped up to the plate, swung the bat, and drove in the winning run.”
Esther’s time in history was played out in the ancient world of the Medo-Parisian Empire, some 450 to 500 years before the birth of Christ. I realize that most of us have little interest in rummaging through the dusty archives of the far gone past. Yet, when we start digging around in Esther’s slice of chronology, we discover a tempestuous world of sex, politics, power and intrigue.
The story opens in Susa, one of three capitol cities in a massive empire that spread from Pakistan in the east to Ethiopia in the west. Xerxes, by his Greek name, or Ahasuerus, by his Hebrew name, sat on the throne of this colossal political-military conglomerate. He has been called one of the “most illustrious monarchs of the ancient world.”iii Yet, he had also been referred to as a “boisterous man of emotional extremes, whose actions were often strange and contradictory.”iv Here, we encounter the tail-end of a six-month long display of royal riches, regal glory, and splendor-like majesty.
I. The Royal Party
At the conclusion of that 180 day festival, Ahasuerus decided to throw a seven-day party. Of course, everybody who was anybody was there, and everybody who wasn’t anybody and would never be anybody was also there. See Esther 1:5-7.
On the last day of this seven-day party, King Ahasuerus gave orders that beautiful Queen Vashti be summoned to the banquet hall for the purpose of exhibiting her good looks to all the guests. According to chapter 1: 9-12, the queen had been off having her own party and she refused to come.
There are those who look to Queen Vashti as a model of feminist philosophy as she refused to be pushed around by her chauvinist husband. I wish that I could giver her that much credit, but I can’t. The ancient world was a man’s world, and especially, it was a king’s world. In the king’s world, the king’s word was law. Even for the queen to refuse his request meant that she would be dethroned, divorced, or beheaded – or perhaps all three. There is no question that Queen Vashti knew the rules, and I personally think that she didn’t show up for the fold-out section of the pin-up session because she was too drunk to walk, talk or care.
As you can imagine, Vashti’s refusal put something of a damper on what would have been, up to that moment, a wild and crazy ride. Let’s pick up with the last phrase of verse 12 and read through the conclusion of chapter one. (Read verses 12-22.)
II. The Royal Crisis
With Vashti ousted from the throne, who would now be queen? How would that queen be found? The king’s advisers decided to have a contest in which the most beautiful women throughout the kingdom would be brought to Susa for review by Ahasuerus. According to Chapter 2, Ahasuerus had at least four requirements for the new queen: 1) be a virgin, 2) be beautiful, 3) demonstrate prudence and 4) she must have the ability to carry on an interesting conversation.
At this juncture, the story takes an unexpected turn. A man by the name of Mordecai conceives the radical idea of placing Esther, his adopted daughter, into the contest. The idea was radical because Mordecai was a Jew whose predecessors had been deported from Jerusalem to Babylon more than a century earlier under the siege of Nebuchadnezzar. As a Jew, Mordecai would not likely hold sympathy in his heart for the politics or lifestyle of the Medes and the Persians. He would not likely subject his family members to the brutality and superficiality of them any more than was absolutely necessary. Mordecai, as the story goes, was neither a man hungry for power, nor did he fear those who were in power. Yet, here he is dropping Esther off at the palace gate for a look by the king.
Some say that Mordecai merely wanted to pawn her off, but I don’t think so. Esther was actually the daughter of Mordecai’s uncle. Somewhere along the line, perhaps while Esther was a young child, her mother and father died leaving her as an orphan. Mordecai took her in and raised her as if she were his own daughter. Throughout the narrative, Mordecai and Esther demonstrate an extremely close relationship. Now, he was not trying to pawn her off; indeed, something much deeper is taking place in Mordecai’s out-of- the-ordinary action, as we shall see.
Three extraordinary things take place in chapter 2: 1) Mordecai put Esther in the beauty contest, 2) Esther becomes queen of a superpower, and 3) Mordecai gets wind of a plot to kill Ahasuerus, conveys the plot to Queen Esther. Esther then tells the king and gives Mordecai the credit.
III. The Royal Promotion
Act III opens and Ahasuerus promotes a man named Haman to the number two position in the entire kingdom. We should notice two things about Haman: 1) he not only loved power but he loved to flaunt his power and 2) Haman hated Jews, and he especially hated Jews who refused to acknowledge his position.
Note Chapter 3:2: “All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage”.
According to verses 5 & 6, Haman’s resulting rage was such that he plotted a Hitler-like extermination of the Jews throughout the empire, and he even secured the approval of the king.
IV. The Royal Plea
As the curtains rises on Act IV, we see Jews in every province weeping and wailing at the news of Haman’s plan. Mordecai sends a copy of the edict to Esther, requesting that she implore the favor of the king and plead for the life of her people. Read 4:11-14 to see Esther’s reply to Mordecai.
Three days later, Esther goes to see the king, knowing that her life was on the line. As the story proceeds, she finds a favorable reception and invites the king and Haman to a private banquet she had already prepared. Esther 5:8 records her invitation: “My petition and request is: May the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them…tomorrow.” Not only was her invitation accepted, but verse 9 says that Haman left the Queen’s quarters “glad and pleased of heart”.
However, Haman’s gladness of heart was soon interrupted as he returned to the palace. Verse 9b states: “When Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai”. After telling his wife and friends about his disdain for Mordecai, they advised Haman to have a gallows built for the purpose of hanging Mordecai the next morning. After the hanging, Haman could then go “joyfully” to Esther’s banquet with the king.
The climax of the story is soon reached. Read 6:1-12, all of chapter 7, as well as 8:1-8, 16&17. What a powerful, heart-moving, soul stirring story! Yet, this is not a story merely for the sake of our entertainment. There are numerous truths that come to us, and some of those truths relate directly to women of today. In fact, someone has written: “Esther casts a long shadow into the (modern world).v
V. The Royal Example
A. Excel Anyway
What does Esther have to say to women? First, Esther teaches women that when life is not fair, excel anyway.
Esther was an orphan. It’s one thing never to know your blood parents, but it is something else to know them and to lose them. Esther knew them and lost them. She grew up with a foster father, so to speak, and perhaps had to compete with him for affection and attention. What’s more, Esther had to face the cruelty of living in a man’s world. If Esther were living today, our society would not only encourage her to lose herself in pity, but also lavish upon her every possible reason for failure. Yet, Esther made no excuses. She simply got things done with the resources that she had.
B. Offer Yourself
Esther also teaches women that the greatest gift they have to offer the world is themselves as individuals. Esther never sought to make herself a replica of someone else or a cheap imitation of something else. In chapter 2, Esther stood before the king with no pretense, no hidden agenda and no façade. Yes, she had physical beauty and she was well- groomed. However, her truest beauty sprang from her heart.
Haven’t you met pretty faces that, when you got to know what was behind them, they weren’t so pretty anymore? At the same time, haven’t you known those who, on first impression, appeared rather average in looks but later became quite attractive? The difficulty for many women today is not that they are insufficient, but that advertisers keep telling them that they are insufficient.
C. Listen to Sound Advice
Thirdly, Esther teaches women that listening to sound advice can be more profitable than independence. Esther had beauty and brains, and having the brains meant knowing when she needed help and where to get it. She learned the wisdom of listening to a godly father growing up, and she did not forsake it as an adult.
D. Be Courageous
Fourthly, Esther teaches women that women can be as courageous as men when it comes to operating in positions of broad exposure and high risk. However, Esther is quick to underscore that position is not nearly as important as motive and calling are. That is, why are you there and what does God want you to do with your life?
Women can lead, and lead well; that has been amply proven by women such as Margaret Thatcher and Jean Kirkpatrick. They have led their respective countries with dignity and honor. Yet, I find the following quote by Barbara Bush very interesting. In an address to a graduating class, she said: “At the end of life, you’ll never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing on more deal. You will regret the times not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent”.
E. Have Faith
Finally, Esther teaches women that faith in God is their greatest asset. In Esther 4:16 we read “Fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast in the same way. And thus I will go to the king”. What did she mean? She was saying “I need the help of God, and I will cast my life and its outcome into His hands.”
i Thomas A Stave, Humor in Uniform, Reader’s Digest, November 1988, p. 48
ii See Reflections: Classic and Contemporary Excerpts, Christianity Today, June 24, 1991, p. 42
iii Jeanne W. Hendricks, A Woman for All Seasons (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), p.120
iv The Open Bible: Expanded Edition (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1985) p.482
v Hendricks, p. 133
