Esther – Part 2

Introduction

Today, we’re going to continue our character study on Esther.

Esther Story Summary

• The Jewish people in exile
• Some returned, but some stayed in Persia
• Minorities in a strange land
• Esther’s people faced a backlash
• God raised up Esther to be a deliverer

Review From Last Week

Last week, we looked closely at the opening of Esther, which describes a party thrown by King Ahasuerus, the king of Persia, that lasts 6 months. 

The king’s endgame is to display his military might and show that he has the wealth to finance more wars to conquer more territories and expand his kingdom.

The Queen’s World

• Required that a woman continually prove her worth
• Her chief role was to complement the king’s swag with her charm, style, beauty, and grace.
• Her royal status was perpetually in the balance. 

The Royal Hustle

The king and queen were still in this hustle for money, power, beauty, attention, and status.

• The king knew that he could be displaced at any time by another country who amasses more power.
• The queen knew that she could be displaced at any time by another woman who fancies the king’s interests more. 

Hustling As a Modern Way of Life

When “Best” Becomes an Antidote to Unfair

• Here’s how some people think: The way you respond to a world that is unfair is to be the best so that no one can deny you.
• Being the best—at whatever it is—won’t always be enough.

Queen Vashti’s Unexpected Challenge 

• Esther 1:10–12 (ESV):10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and 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 show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this, the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.
• “Harems… were usually sequestered [to the point where if the women traveled in public, they had to ride] in closed carriages since the law forbade anyone from gazing on a woman’s face in royal charge.” –Donna Snow, Chosen: A Study of Esther, p. 43 
• “Some scholars have speculated if what is reported was true, then Vashti’s impertinence would stem from her objection to being humiliated by appearing in such a public place to be gazed on by the multitudes. And as queen, such an appearance was far beneath her royal station. What woman of substance longs to merely be an ornamental object?” (Snow 43)–Donna Snow, Chosen: A Study of Esther, p. 43

Queen Vashti’s Unforeseen Consequences

• Esther 1:19 (ESV):19 If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

Queen Vashti’s Motives

• What was Vashti thinking?

The King Was Easily Influenced by Those Around Him 

• Esther 1:12 (ESV): 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this, the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. 
• Esther 1:13 (ESV): 13 Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king’s procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, 
• Esther 1:14 (ESV): 14 the men next to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom): 
• Esther 1:15 (ESV):15 “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”

Queen Vashti Overplayed Her Hand

When the Best is Not Enough

Comparing Vashti and Esther 

The Power of Covenant

• Esther 1:13 (ESV):13 Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king’s procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, 
• Esther 1:15 (ESV):15 “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”
• James 2:10 (ESV):10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
• Esther 2:17 (ESV):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.

References

Dowden, Landon. Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Esther. Holman: Brentwood, 2019. 

Snow, Donna. Chosen: A Study of Esther. Concordia: St. Louis, 2021.