Please read your Bible text: Esther 1:1-22
‘On the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was half drunk with wine, he told…’1:10
While some 50,000 people returned under Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, many more were reluctant to leave their adopted Persian home. It was against this backdrop, the story of Esther took place. You will not find God’s name anywhere in the book of Esther; yet God’s fingers are everywhere in Esther, as He placed Esther in the Persian palace and her cousin, Mordecai in the Persian chronicles just “for such a time as this”. God was weaving a beautiful lesson on sovereignty from the threads in their lives, showing that in their days –as in ours—God is in control. This book is a striking record of the divine providence. It tells us how God’s people who remained still in exile, scattered throughout the pagan world, were marvelously preserved.
It is a real-life drama of a beautiful Jewish girl named Esther, who was taken and prepared to be the king’s harem. Selected as queen, she rose to be a heroine who pitted against a hateful villain who plotted to exterminate the entire Jewish exile. Esther bravely stood before the king uninvited (a serious offense punishable by death unless the king himself relented), to plead on behalf of her people and in a dramatic twist of events, God used the casting of lots (Purim) and the sleeplessness of the king to save the day and preserved His people; of course through Esther’s prayerful spirit and her witty intercessory stand before the Persian king!
The story began with a royal feast…from it, two lessons for our devotional thought…
Learn from King Xerxes’ Moral Weakness – vv.1-11
He who ruled over 127 provinces, stretching from India to Ethiopia (v.1) could not rule even his own spirit. That’s the weakness of king Xerxes. The royal feast lasted 6 months and finished with a banquet that lasted 7 days – his court was given up to revelry and excess (vs.7-8). Whenever men are overcome with wine, there is a grave peril for the women. Coarseness, indelicacy and impurity troop in at the door, which has been unlocked by the excess of wine (v.8). How many wives and even children were beaten because their husbands and fathers came home, drunk! For half a year, the king put on a big show, displaying his egoism in his wealth and achievement. To top it all, in his drunken stupor (v.10), he decided to display his wife, Queen Vashti, as an exhibit. This was a disgrace to the queen rather than an honor. It was to satisfy the selfish egoism of the king. Also, the king had an inherent weakness to depend on his advisors (especially Memucan) who were flatterers and parasites and who held the king by their whims and lust.
The ability to seek good advisors is a good strength but blindly follow anyhow of advice without the ability of one’s own judgment is weakness indeed.
Learn from Queen Vashti’s Noble Strength – vv.12-22
Queen Vashti made a noble refusal to the King’s order. She refused her husband’s order to become an erotic exhibit. Here is a glimpse of a noblewoman who respected herself enough not to yield to the king’s demand. Queen Vashti stood up for her own honor even at the risk of humiliating and angering the king.
I know the putting down of Queen Vashti is good so that Queen Esther, our heroine could arise but for the moment let’s appreciate the noble character of Vashti. She is a strong woman of nobility who would not violate her principle, even if it means to defy the king!
THINK: Don’t shortchange your principle even if it means to defy a higher authority. Stand up for what is right!
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, give me the strength to obey what is right and noble even if it means to defy any comprise, even it is with my immediate authority. Amen.
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