The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: Hadassah (Esther 2:1-10)

HadassahSunday, December 22nd, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 2:1-10After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them: And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women. Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.
Prayer
O God we thank you for Your Word, which is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path. Open our eyes, that we might behold wondrous things from Your law, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Last week we were introduced to the man Mordecai, and in order to better understand this wonderful story of Esther that God has given us, we have been trying get inside the minds of each character and see the world from their perspective. We did this first with King Ahasuerus, then with Vashti, then with Mordecai, and this morning we are going to begin to do something similar with our heroine, Esther. So this will be a kind of biographical sermon on Who Esther is, and then once we are all familiar with the main characters of this drama, we can then pick up the pace and get into the actual narrative and the many questions it provokes.
So our focus this morning will just be on verse 7, where Esther is introduced, so let me read that verse again for us.
Verse 7
7And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
So we are first introduced to this fair and beautiful maiden as a woman who has two names. And these two names, Hadassah and Esther, suggest a kind of double identity. And it is this question of, “Who is Esther?” that shall play a decisive role in whether the King has favor upon her and her people, or whether they are destroyed.
One of the hinges upon which this whole story turns is whether Esther has the courage to embrace and reveal her Jewish identity, or whether from shame or fear or some other motive, continues to hide that identity.
And so to understand the conflict within this young woman, we need to consider the meaning of her two names Haddassah and Esther.
#1 – Hadassah (הֲדַסָּה)
This name Hadassah is the feminine form of the Hebrew word for myrtle or myrtle tree.
And I have included on the back of your bulletin a picture of the myrtle tree and flower, along with the 4 other instances where the myrtle is mentioned in Scripture.
And if you look at those four instances, you will notice that they are all describing the Era of Restoration after Exile in which this Esther/Hadassah is living.
In Isaiah 41, the context is God encouraging His faithful remnant to not be discouraged or afraid when their enemies attack them.
Earlier in Isaiah 40:17-18 it says, “All nations before him are as nothing; And they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him?”
So for the Jews in exile, who feel like a small disgraced minority scattered amongst the nations, dispersed amongst those 127 provinces of the great Persian Empire, God’s Word to them is, “those nations are as nothing, even less than nothing, compared to Me.”
For Esther and the Jews in the Era of Restoration, God’s Word to them is “consider My incomparable greatness, not the seeming and very fleeting greatness of the nations in power.” God is the one who shakes the world, so that His Kingdom which cannot be shaken shall remain. Empires can fall as quickly as a person falls, and it is God who determines those times and places.
And so with God’s greatness firmly established, he then makes many gracious promises to them.
He says in Isaiah 41:10-13, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: They shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, Saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
So that is God’s promise of help, but what will that help look like in their day? Well Isaiah goes on to describe this help using the image of trees planted in the wilderness.
He says in Isaiah 41:18-20, “I will open rivers in high places, And fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, That the hand of the Lord hath done this, And the Holy One of Israel hath created it.”
So God likens His people to different kinds of trees that He will plant, He will water, and He will nourish, even in the wilderness, and one such tree that is added for the very first time in Israel’s history is the myrtle. The הֲדַס.
Isaiah says further of this hadas, this myrtle tree in Isaiah 55:11-13, “My word shall not return unto me void, But it shall accomplish that which I please, And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, And be led forth with peace: The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
So God’s effectual Word is going to plant this myrtle tree, and when it blossoms (when it is brought up), it shall be to the Lord for a name and an everlasting sign that shall never be cut off. The fir tree and the myrtle tree are evergreens, and they are intended to signify the everlasting promises of God’s salvation.
So when you look at your Christmas tree, or the many great evergreen forests we have here in the Northwest, you ought to remember this verse in Isaiah. God planted those trees and ordained that they might signify His evergreen promises which climax in Christ. If the trees are clapping their hands with joy, how much more should we His saints?
So who is Hadassah? She is this myrtle tree, whom Mordecai brought up in the wilderness of exile, who has become fair and beautiful. And although her father and mother have died, she is not abandoned, God has looked after her. God has made her lovely. He has watered her from rivers in the high places, just like He promised through the prophet Isaiah.
So in her name Hadassah, Esther embodies the faithful and sweet-smelling remnant, who by their very existence within the Persian Empire testify to God’s everlasting promise to save. And the question Esther will have to face in this book is: Will she trust those promises? Will she be true or false to her identity as Hadassah?
So that is her first name, her Hebrew name, Hadassah, the myrtle tree. What about this second name, Esther?
#2 – Esther (אֶסְתֵּר)
This name Esther, kind of like the name Mordecai, has both a Persian meaning and a Hebrew meaning.
Recall that Mordecai’s name means either “man/servant of Marduk,” or it can be read in Hebrew as “my rebellion,” or “bitter oppression.”
Likewise, Esther according to its Persian origin means “star.” You can even hear it still in our English words for both Esther and star.
So her Persian name and identity is Star. And in both biblical and pagan cosmology, stars are powers or rulers that govern the night.
It says in Psalm 136:9, [God made] “The moon and stars to rule by night: For his mercy endureth for ever.”
Likewise, God had said to Daniel just a generation before Esther, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan. 12:3).
So stars signify rulers, and Esther will certainly live up to this Persian name in becoming the new Queen of Persia. Vashti rebelled; she is a fallen star. And now the King needs a new Queen to help him rule the night.
So while star is a good and fitting name for Esther, it means something else in Hebrew which also describes her actions in this story.
In Hebrew the verb סתר (satar) means “to hide” or “conceal,” or “to keep secret.”
The Hebrew noun סָֽתֶר (sater) means “hiding place,” or “covering,” or “protection.”
And so if you read Esther’s name according to its Hebrew etymology (אֶסְתֵּר), it means something like “I am hidden/concealed.”
So in Persian, Esther is the star in the sky, the Queen that everyone sees, but in Hebrew she is the hidden one, whose identity she has concealed and will continue to conceal even from her husband, until God forces her hand.
Now next week, we will take up the question, “Why did Mordecai command Esther to conceal her identity?” But for now let us just consider one further aspect of this idea of concealment/hiding as it relates to Esther.
The Hiding Place
When God made His marriage covenant with Israel in the wilderness, He told them that if they rebelled and committed idolatry, then He would punish them, exile them, and hide/conceal (satar) His face from them.
It says in Deuteronomy 31:16-18, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.”
So Mordecai was amongst those men who lived through this “hiding of God’s face.” He witnessed Daughter Jerusalem divorced and made desolate by Babylon, but he had also heard the promise of God through the prophet Ezekiel, that after a time of shame, God would turn His people (like we read in Psalm 80, “turn us again O God), and His face would shine upon them again.
It says in Ezekiel 39:24-29, “According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.”
So Esther is living in the time that Ezekiel prophesied about. And while some Jews had returned, and some progress had been made in rebuilding the temple, still the fullness of these promises were yet unfulfilled.
And so what marks the turning point for God’s people in this Era of Restoration? When does God’s face shine upon them again? The book of Esther is given to show us that turning point. For it is behind the dark clouds of Haman’s wicked plot, that God’s favor shines forth and delivers them.
Recall Esther is that one book where God’s name is never mentioned on the letters of the page. If ever there was a story where God seems to be absent, seems to hide his face, but in the end turns out to have been present all along shining through, this is that story.
Now from a human perspective, what is the turning point in this book that begins to reverse all the harm intended against the Jews?
Surprise surprise, it is repentance and faith.
It is Mordecai repenting in sackcloth and ashes. It is Mordecai telling Esther, you need reveal to your husband and king who you really are. It is Esther calling for all the Jews in Shushan to fast and pray for three days, so that she can go before the king, see his face, and live.
And so what happens when Esther makes God her hiding place instead of hiding who God made her to be? What happens when Esther faces down her own fears and through faith says, “If I perish, I perish?”
It turns out, her worst fears were unfounded, and the King is far more favorable to her than she could have ever imagined. Three times the King says to her, “What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
When Esther tells the king who she is, her husband executes justice for her. He promotes Mordecai. He gives them his signet ring and says decree whatever you want in my name. He gives Esther the house of Haman. He gives her everything she asks for. And by the end of story in chapter 9, the King is saying to her, “what is thy request further, and it shall be done” (Esther 9:12).
Isn’t this what God says to us?
Jesus says in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Esther was a myrtle tree. And Jesus is the vine. And if you live inside of Him, if your soul marries God, and if you are not ashamed to call him Lord, then His favor will be abundant towards you.
Your Lord and Your King is far more good and kind and loving than you presently think He is. The goodness of God is infinite, His ways past finding out. And we can scarcely comprehend a fraction of that Divine Goodness.
Jesus says in Luke 11:9-12, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Conclusion
God is ready and willing to give you Himself. To give you eternal life. To make His face shine upon you. It says in Proverbs 11:13, “He who conceals his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
You tell God who you are, and then He will tell you who you are in Christ. He will make you brand new.
May God grant you to receive such a name as it was written in heaven before the foundation of the world. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Mordecai (Esther 2:1-7)

MordecaiSunday, December 15th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 2:1-7After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them: And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
Prayer
O Father, we thank You for the Lord Jesus, who is the eternally begotten Word, and from whose mouth proceeds a perfect word, a sharp two-edged sword that distinguishes between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, temporal and eternal. Make us to live by every word that proceeds from his mouth, for we ask this in Christ’s name, Amen.
Introduction
I begin with a question this morning. Who would you say has been the most influential person (or persons) in your life?Who has most formed you and shaped you and taught you, (for good or ill) so that you are who you are today? I think all of us would have to include on our list of most influential people, our parents.
Who gave us our last name? Our father.
Whose likeness and image do we bear? Our parents and grandparents.
Where did we get our mannerisms, our ways of walking and talking, our bearing, our micro-expressions, our temperament, our looks? In some mysterious way, we got those in large part from the people who begot us, the people who raised us, and the people who taught us. From both nature and from nurture, we become who we are.
Jesus puts it this way in Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher.”
The Apostle Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1, Phil. 3:17).
God has so arranged the world that we become like our parents, like our teachers, like our friends, like our heroes, for good or ill.
It says in Proverbs 17:6, “Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.”
Solomon says there is a kind of shared glory, or shame, that is transmitted across the generations.
He says a few verses later in Proverbs 17:25, “A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to his mother.”
And earlier in Proverbs 10:1, “A wise son maketh a glad father: But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.”
And so because wisdom is justified/vindicated by her children (as Jesus says in Luke 7:35), our wisdom, or lack thereof, our virtues, or our vices, either give glory to God and our fathers, or brings shame to the family name.
So what kind of reputation are you giving to your fathers, both heavenly and earthly? It says in Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.” And so are you winning a good name for those who bore you, begot you, taught you, and trained you? Or are you by your folly bringing shame to yourself and to them?
This morning, we are introduced to the man Mordecai. And the way that God introduces Mordecai is by giving us some names from his family history, specifically tribal names and the names of his fathers. And Mordecai, like most of us in this room, has a complicated family background.
The very etymology of Mordecai’s name (מָרְדֳּכַ֛י) is suggestive of this complicated identity.
In Persian, the name Mordecai means something like “man/servant of Marduk.” And Marduk is the name for the highest of the Babylonian gods, so this could refer to YHWH, or it could be refer to an idol, just like our English words “God/Lord” can refer to the true God or false gods.
However, in Hebrew, Mordecai’s name has at least two possible derivations.
1. If Mordecai comes from the two Hebrew words mar and dach, it would mean something like “bitter oppression.”
2. However, if it comes from the Hebrew word marad/mered, together with the possessive form, it would mean something like “my rebellion.”
So the very makeup of this name Mordecai is a puzzle in itself, and yet given Mordecai’s ancestry, and the actions of this book, this name if very fitting.
Mordecai has some good fathers and some bad fathers. Mordecai has some fathers who really shouldn’t be imitated and some who should. Mordecai, like all of us has imperfect and sinful earthly fathers. And the question that hangs over Mordecai in the story of Esther is, What kind of man and father is he going to be? Will he follow in the footsteps of his sinful fathers, or will he cover their shame and win glory for God?
That is the question before Mordecai and the question before all of us. Whose example are you going to follow? Christ or the devil? God, or the world? The righteous or the wicked?
And so as we consider Mordecai’s lineage, his complicated past, I want you to also consider your own. And ask the Lord, what parallels, what contrasts, might be made, and are you repeating the sins of the past? Or are you walking the paths of the righteous?
Division of the Text
Our text divides into two sections.
In verses 1-4, we have The King’s Search For A New Queen.
In verses 5-7, we have An Introduction to Mordecai and Esther.
Next week we’ll consider the King’s Search and Esther’s lineage, but this morning we will just focus on verses 5-6 which describe Mordecai’s background.
Verses 5-6
5Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; 6Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
Many names, places, and relations are listed here. So let us make us an orderly list and then consider the importance and meaning of each.
Geographic Locations
We’ll start with locations. Where is Mordecai from, where has he been, where is he now? For those of you have done much traveling, you know that living or just being in a foreign place has the power to change your perspective. And Mordecai is a man who has indeed traveled the ancient world.
1. First, we are told in verse 5 that Mordecai is presently living in Shushan the palace. And we saw in chapter 1 of Esther that Shushan is the capital of the Persian empire, a great city and center of political influence from which laws and decrees are made.
Shushan is kind of like if we combined New York City and Washington D.C. together, but without any modern technology. That is where Mordecai is now.
2. Second, we are told in verse 6 that when Mordecai was younger, perhaps a baby or a young man, he was “carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.”
This event is recorded in at least 4 other places in Scripture: 2 Kings 24, 2 Chr. 36:9-10, Jeremiah 24, and Jeremiah 52. And so let me read you just a sample of what God says about this event, because it has direct relevance and application for Mordecai’s life.
The year is 597 BC, about 10 years before Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. And about 5 years after Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and was elevated to be prime minister of Babylon (Dan. 2:48-49).
So at this moment in history, if you are a faithful man of God, the place you want to be is Babylon, not Jerusalem. And God communicates this message to His people in Jeremiah 24.
Jeremiah 24:1-7 says, “The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.”
So notice that when Jeconiah is taken into Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar also takes “the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths.” In 2 Kings 24:15-16 we are given more details when it says, “And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.”
And so Mordecai was amongst the Jewish nobility, and in the words of Jeremiah, he is either a good fig that is very good, or a bad fig that is very bad. And since Mordecai is someone who lives to return to Jerusalem (as Ezra-Nehemiah record), we can conclude that God has shown favor to him. God has given Mordecai a heart to know the Lord, even while living in exile in Babylon.
So for 60 years of Mordecai’s life (from 597-537 BC), he is amongst the exiles in Babylon.His job for that portion of his life is to obey Jeremiah 29, seek the peace of Babylon, get married, settle down, have children, build a house. And then when Cyrus of Persia comes to power, and decrees that the Jews may return to Jerusalem and rebuild God’s House, Mordecai is amongst those Jews who return.
It says in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 that Mordecai amongst “the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city. Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai.”
So to summarize Mordecai’s life and locations:
His life begins in Jerusalem as the son of the nobility, but he is taken to Babylon by God’s merciful providence.
For 60 years he lives in Babylon, and during those years he watches Jerusalem fall, then Babylon fall, and then Persia rise to power.
During those 60 years in Babylon, he has Ezekiel as his pastor (priest of the exiles), Jeremiah is the senior prophet writing letters to them from Jerusalem, Daniel is the prime minister in the province of Babylon. He knows of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fire. And he is rubbing shoulders with Zerubbabel the future prince of the Jews, Ezra the scribe, and Nehemiah the future cupbearer to Ahasuerus.
Mordecai is amongst all the movers and shakers of this period in Israel’s history.
So he is at least 60 years old when he returns to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, but when the work stalls out due to opposition, he chooses for some reason (we are not told) to relocate to Shushan the capital of Persia, and that brings us to the year 519 BC, when the book of Esther begins.
Mordecai is at least 78 years old (perhaps older); we are never told whether he got married, or has a wife, or other children, all we are told that somewhere along the way (in all his travels), he adopted Esther and raised her as his own daughter.
So that’s the times and places of Mordecai. What about his people? His fathers? His lineage?
There are Five Fathers listed in relation to Mordecai.
They are Judah, Benjamin, Jair, Shimei, and Kish.
In verse 5 it says, “Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.”
So Mordecai is from the tribe of Benjamin, that is his tribal identity. But because he was a citizen of the kingdom of Judah, after the exile, regardless of what tribal identity you had, all Israelites were called Judahites/Jews. That is the spiritual-political identify of God’s people as they await the Messiah, who would come from the line of Judah.
So Mordecai is a Benjamite by blood, but a Judahite by covenantal allegiance. And then within the Benjamite bloodline, Mordecai is explicitly called a son of three men, Jair, Shimei, and Kish. Who are these fathers of Mordecai?
While it is possible that these are just the previous three generations of Mordecai, so Kish is his father, Shimei his grandfather, and Jair his great grandfather, what is far more likely is that the author has selected these three names because he wants us to remember these three important figures from Israel’s history and then compare and contrast them with Mordecai.
For example, God says to Moses, “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” even though those men were Moses distant ancestors. That is probably what is going on here. Jair, Kish, and Shimei are Mordecai’s distant ancestors who have some relevance to the story of Esther. In either case, God as the ultimate author of this book thought it was important to include them to introduce Mordecai.
So who were these men, and what shadow or glory do they cast over Mordecai?
#1 – Jair
The name Jair means “he enlightens” or “one giving light.” And so Mordecai is introduced more literally as “the son of one who gives light.” When we survey the Old Testament, we find at least 3 men named Jair.
In Number 32 and Deuteronomy 3 we read of a Jair the son of Manasseh who conquered land on this side of the Jordan before Israel crossed over.
In Judges 10, we read of Jair, a Gileadite, who judged Israel for 22 years.
But I think the Jair we are intended to call to mind is the Jair of 1 Chronicles 20:5, where the context is war with the Philistines under David the Judahite. It says, “Again there was war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”
So here in 1 Chronicles 20, we have a son of Jair who kills Goliath’s brother. And so if you are called a “Son of Jair,” you are not only the son of one who enlightens, you are also a giant killer.
Will Mordecai live up to this name? Will he be a Jair to Esther? Will he enlighten her? Will he (or she) kill any giants in this book? We shall see.
#2 – Shimei
The name Shimei means, “one who harkens/listens.” And there are many Shimei’s in the Bible from various tribes, some good and some bad. But the most famous Shimei is the one who like Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin, and from the House of Saul, who came out and cursed David when David was exiled from Jerusalem during Absolom’s coup. However, when David is brough back to Jerusalem, Shimei goes out to David and pleads for mercy.
We read in 2 Samuel 19:15-23, “Then the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to escort the king across the Jordan. And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over the Jordan before the king. Then a ferryboat went across to carry over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Now Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had crossed the Jordan. Then he said to the king, “Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember what wrong your servant did on the day that my lord the king left Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart. For I, your servant, know that I have sinned. Therefore here I am, the first to come today of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.” But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?” And David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For do I not know that today I am king over Israel?” Therefore the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore to him.”
So this Shimei is one of Mordecai’s actual tribal relatives, and he sins and curses King David, but then he repents and his life is spared.
However, when King Solomon comes to power, Solomon calls for Shimei and says to him in 1 Kings 3:37-38, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.” And Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.”
Now three years go by, and two of Shimei’s servants run away. And Shimei breaks the King’s law, he leaves Jerusalem, and as result, Solomon puts him to death when he returns.
So the life of Shimei has many parallels to the life of Mordecai.
Both are from the royal tribe of Benjamin and connected to King Saul.
Both live in Jerusalem for a time, but both eventually leave.
Both transgress the king’s commandment and suffer the consequences. Shimei is executed, Mordecai escapes execution.
Both men struggle to submit to civil authorities that they don’t like. For Shimei it is David. For Mordecai it is Haman.
So the question for Mordecai is, will his end by the same sad and rebellious end as Shimei. Or will he hearken and listen to God, will he succeed where Shimei faltered?
#3 – Kish
The name Kish has an uncertain etymology, and so some say his name means “gift,” while others derive it from the verb, “to ensnare.” So whichever
is correct, the most important thing about Kish is that he was the father of King Saul.
We read in 1 Samuel 9:1-2, “Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power (hayil). And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and handsome/goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.”
And so to call Mordecai a “son of Kish,” is to place him in the position of Saul. It is to cast the long shadow of King Saul’s life, his rebellion, and his failures over the life of Mordecai.
This will become even more explicit later in the book when we are told that Haman is a descendant of Agag. Agag, the king of the Amalekites was the occasion for King Saul’s rebellion and fall from grace. King Saul had obeyed God and executed Agag and destroyed all the Amalekites, there would not ever be a Haman in the first place.
So the book of Esther is calling us back to an ancient war between Israel and Amalek.
Amalek was the nation that attacked Israel right after God brought them out of Egypt. And because of this attack, God says in Deuteronomy 25:17-19, ““Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.”
Now because Israel failed to remember Amalek and blot him out, especially King Saul, it is left to Mordecai, son of Kish, to finish the job.
So will Mordecai win a good name for his fathers? What kind of Benjamite will he be? A giant slayer or a rebel? A faithless Saul or a loyal Jonathan?
Conclusion
This same question before all of us. Who are your fathers? Your natural fathers, your spiritual fathers, your civil fathers? For all of us it is probably a mixed bag. Some good figs, some very bad figs. Many we don’t know. So I want to leave you with an exhortation as you ponder who you are and where you are in the great story that God is telling. And that is:
Remember the 5th commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
None of us got to choose who are father and mother would be. God chose for us. And so whether you had or have a great father and mother, or a terrible father and mother, the promise of the gospel is that God will adopt you as His child, and will be a perfect and everlasting Father to you.
And what your Father in Heaven commands of you in this life, if you want to live and prosper, is to honor His choice in giving you the parents He gave you. Put another way, don’t tell God that you can do a better job than He can at running the world. Honor God, by honoring the father and mother he gave you. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Who are you O man to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why has thou made me thus?” Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Rom. 9:20-21).
If God permitted you to be born into a house of shame, a house of slavery, a house of unbelief, well welcome to the human race where all of us are born children of Adam and Eve. All of us are born sinners deserving God’s wrath and the punishment of death.
And so if you find it hard to forgive your fathers, to honor the authorities God has placed over you, then consider the example of Jesus, the perfect son.
Jesus is the one person who chose to be born into this world. The Eternal Son of God could have chosen to just stay in heaven, never suffer, never die, never experience the pain and mortality we all feel. But for love, he chose to come down, and to make our fathers, his fathers, our sins, his sins, so that His Father, could become our Father, and His perfection, our perfection.
That is what God freely chose to do because He loves you.
It says of Christ in Philippians 2:6-8, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Remember the two genealogies we are given for Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3? Who does Jesus choose to make himself a son of?
He has Mary as his natural mother, Joseph as his adopted father.
And through them he makes himself a son of many unruly, sinful, and wicked men. In the line of the Messiah men who committed idolatry, polygamy, incest, child sacrifice, adultery, and murder. Jesus makes himself a descendent of many shameful men and women whose lives are not worthy of imitation.
Ultimately, he makes himself together with all of us, a son of Adam. As Paul says in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
So imitate the perfect Son, who honored His Father in heaven by covering your sins, your shame, and winning for you who do not deserve it, a good name, even a name written in heaven, that shall never be blotted out.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Vashti's Rebellion - Part 2 (Esther 1:9-22)

Vashti’s Rebellion – Part 2Sunday, December 8th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:9-22Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment: And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king’s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;) What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
Prayer
O Father heaven is your throne, and the earth your footstool, and yet we desire that your house would be built in us, your people, and so we cling to the promise of Isaiah 66:2, where you say, “to this man will I look, Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, And trembleth at my word.” Make us to rejoice at Your Word, with all fear and trembling, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
When the first King of Israel, King Saul, disobeyed God’s commandment, God sent the Prophet Samuel to confront him. We read in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Last week we considered the rebellion of Queen Vashti against her husband and king’s command. And this morning we are going to consider the consequences of that rebellion which has many parallels and connections with the story of King Saul and the rise of David.
One such connection we shall look at next week is that Mordecai is from the tribe of Benjamin (like Saul), and Haman is a descendent of Agag, the Amalekite, who Saul refused to execute in accord with God’s commandment. Saul’s rebellion was sparing the king of the Amalekites and laying his hand on the spoils that belonged to God.
What were the consequences of King Saul’s rebellion? It says in 1 Samuel 15:28, “The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.” Who is that neighbor better than Saul, it is the young shepherd boy David who shall be anointed as king.
In a similar way, we will see that the consequences of Vashti’s rebellion are that she loses her royal office and status as Queen, and as it says in verse 19 of our text, “That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.”
This is the pattern when people rebel against God’s authority. Whether they are a King or Queen or a lowly citizen in the realm, the consequences of rebellion are usually the loss or curse of whatever authority and privileges we formerly had.
This is of course exactly what happened to all of us at the fall. Because of Adam’s sin, we were rejected by God, our soul was divorced from Him (we experienced spiritual death), and we were exiled from the Garden. We read in Genesis 3:24, “So [the LORD God] drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims [angelic gatekeepers], and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
So because of our rebellion against God in our first parents, the only way back into the Garden, back into God’s House and Royal Presence, is through death. It is only through the flaming sword of a worthy sacrifice that man can experience atonement and be reconciled/resurrected to the God he has offended.
This is what the entire sacrificial system at the Tabernacle and Temple signified, it was an ongoing ritual enactment, a living prophesy, of how Christ would come and offer himself as a once and for all atonement for sin.
In Adam, we are born rebels and exiles. But in Christ, we are reborn as sons and daughters and citizens of his heavenly kingdom. And this is what the book of Esther is ultimately about.
We will see this more in future sermons, but Jesus is the more perfect and righteous Ahasuerus (the true “Chief Among Kings”). Jesus is the royal scepter you must touch to approach the throne of God. Jesus is the more submissive and obedient Queen Vashti who says to the Father, “not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus is the more shrewd and loyal counsellor Mordecai, who has the sevenfold spirit of wisdom. And Jesus is the more courageous and faithful Esther who says, “If I perish, I perish.” And perish for us he does.
So if we do not find Jesus in this book, we are reading it wrong. And where we find shortcomings, sins, and flaws in our characters, we see the need for Christ’s perfection. And when we see the shining moments of virtue and glory in our heroes, we see still only a dim shadow of the fullness of grace and virtue that Christ possesses, and which He shall give to us at the resurrection.
So I want to remind us as we continue through this book that God intended for us to find Him here. Esther (whose name means “I am hidden/concealed”), unlike any other book of the Bible, never mentions God on the letters of the page. And yet God is not absent. God is not distant. Even when God seems to hide his face, his mercy and wisdom is still orchestrating all things for the good of those who love Him. As it says in the constant refrain of Psalm 136, “His mercy endures forever.”
So as we come to our text this morning, there are just two question I want us to consider as we work through this text, and those two questions are:
1. What is the king’s response to Vashti’s disobedience?
2. What does this response teach us about our relationship to God?
Verse 12
12But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.
So recall that Vashti’s sin was a refusal to come wearing the royal crown when the King commanded. And to judge whether this was right or wrong we searched the Scriptures and concluded that according to God’s law at Creation (Natural Law), and according to the law of Moses, and according to the law of the New Testament under Christ, Vashti is guilty of rebellion on two counts:
1. She is guilty of disobeying her husband, who is her head of household.
2. She is guilty of disobeying her king, who is her head of state.
So how does King Ahasuerus, who is trying to bring peace and unity to all these 127 different provinces, respond to his wife and queen’s rebellion?
First, we are told that He responds with a great and burning anger. And the question for us is then, is that anger a proper and righteous response?
The answer is: it all depends on what Ahasuerus does with that anger. Anger in its most proper definition is the desire for vengeance, or the appetite for justice.
It says in James 1:20, “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
But it also says in Ephesians 4:26 (quoting Psalm 4:4), “Be angry, and do not sin.”
So anger as an emotion, a bodily passion, is something we ought to feel when confronted with certain great evils and injustice. When the faults are small we can overlook them, we can cover them in love, and that is how we practice being “slow to anger.” However, there are times when anger is appropriate as Christ Himself shows us in the gospels.
Even the Lord Jesus, who never sinned in any way, is said to be angry multiple times in the gospels.
In John 2, it says Jesus was consumed with zeal as he drove out the money changers from the temple and overthrew the tables.
In Mark 3:5, when Jesus was being accused of sabbath breaking it says, “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
So the example of Jesus proves that the passion/emotion of anger is not inherently sinful, and is in fact the proper response when God’s law and God’s honor is violated. We ought to desire justice and vengeance when we see evil and suffering in the world. But as Paul says in Romans 12:19, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
So what helps us to be slow to anger and to not take vengeance into our own hands, is that God Himself is going to punish and uphold justice in the world.
And how does God do that? He will do this perfectly on the last day at the Final Judgment, but in the meantime, he does this through governing authorities, the civil magistrate. That is what Romans 13 goes on to describe.
Paul says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake” (Rom. 13:1-5).
So Ahasuerus is the wrath of God against evil. He is God’s minister of justice. His job as king is to punish the wicked and protect the righteous. And when he does this, God’s wrath is being manifest.
It says in Psalm 21:9, “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.”
Likewise in Psalm 7:11, “God judgeth the righteous, And God is angry with the wicked every day.”
So what does Ahasuerus do with all this wrath and anger?
We read in the next verses that he consults his wise men.
Verses 13-15
13Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment: 14And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king’s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;) 15What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
Now if Ahasuerus was drunk when this happened, like many commentators claim He was, then Ahasuerus is a surprisingly restrained and wise drunk. Notice there is no outburst of words, or a rash decree, there is no “off with her head, bring it here on a platter.” No, this is a king whose anger and wrath is governed by reason. This is a king with a more sober mind than most of us would be in the same situation.
How restrained are you when someone disobeys your direct command? Do you take a breath, pray about it, call the wisest people you know, and hear their advice? Or are you tempted to just take vengeance right then and there.
It says in Proverbs 25:28, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit Is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
And in Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”
Ahasuerus is acting wisely in that he is ruling his anger and seeking counsel before making any decree.
Notice also who the king calls for counsel. He calls the wise men who knew the times. Remember our very first sermon on Esther. We said that this book is given to teach us prudence. To teach us to become like the “Sons of Issachar who knew the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chr. 12:32).
The King has seven such sons of Issachar in his cabinet, and it says in the parentheses, “for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment.” Meaning, it was customary for Ahasuerus in any case of difficulty to consult the opinion and advice of those who were experts in the law. Recall that Daniel was one such counsellor earlier in the Persian dynasty (Dan. 6:28).
So again, this is another piece of evidence that contradicts the common notion that Ahasuerus was some drunken angry tyrant. The text explicitly describes him as a man who consults and appreciates “all that knew law and judgment.”
So the King calls this counsel and asks them, “What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains.”
Notice the King desires to do what is right according to the law, not according to his whims or personal preference. And this is the great difference between the righteous use of God’s governing authority, and the abuse of that power.
A king who fears God executes justice according to the law. But a wicked king is a law to himself, he is governed by his carnal passions.
So what is the advice from the king’s counsel?
It comes in two sections:
In verses 16-18, Memucan summarizes the Queen’s crime and the potential consequences of letting it go unpunished.
And then in verses 19-22, he recommends a decree intended to counterbalance Vashti’s rebellion.
Verses 16-18
16And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. 17For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. 18Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.
Now this might be hard for us to understand because we live in a culture that fancies individualism, and free choice, and personal autonomy. And so some commentators have said this is a comic exaggeration of what Vashti’s refusal might do to Persia. But a moment’s reflection on human nature should tell us this is exactly what would happen because it still happens today.
People imitate whoever they look up to. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good morals.”
We all become like the people we hang out with, and we all imitate whoever we esteem, admire, and look up.
If you look up to some popstar, or musician, or athlete, or YouTuber, you start to adopt their ways of speaking, or acting, or doing whatever they do. This is just how God made us. We are always following and imitating someone. We are all someone’s disciple, it might be Christ, or it might be the devil.
And so I do not think this an exaggeration for Memucan to say that Vashti’s disobedience of her husband and king, is going to encourage similar disobedience throughout the Empire.
Remember the context. Who is at this feast? Everyone of power, importance, and influence. The princes and rulers, the powers of Persia and Media are before the king, and where are the wives? They are with Vashti.
It says in verse 9, “Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.”
So you can imagine Vashti at her feast, with all the important women eating and drinking, and these seven chamberlains come to the Queen, and deliver this command that she is to come, wearing the royal crown, to display her beauty for all Persia to see. Your husband is calling you, what are you going to do?
In that moment, Vashti has enormous power. The eyes of the empire are upon her. And her actions can either honor the king and unite the Empire in submitting to his rule, or she can dishonor him and challenge his authority.
You can see that this is not merely a domestic conflict between husband and wife. Whether Vashti intends this or not (and I think she does), this is political powerplay. If the King’s own wife won’t obey him, why should these princes and provinces thousands of miles away. Perhaps the princes are starting to whisper, does Vashti know something about Ahasuerus that we don’t know?
So Vashti uses that decisive moment of influence, not to honor the king, but to stir up a war between the sexes. And whether she intended to or not (and I think she did), she has placed the king in an almost impossible position. This is Ahasuerus King Solomon moment. Two mothers, one child, who gets the baby? Bring me a sword.
If the King just lets this go, and does not punish her, what will happen? It will encourage more insubordination throughout the realm. He will be seen as a weak and impotent ruler and can expect more challenges to his power throughout the realm. So do nothing and say goodbye to your hopes for unity and peace.
However, if the King is too heavy handed, and just executes her then and there, he will be like that guy who gets in a wrestling match with a woman. Can he win? No. It is a lose-lose scenario. If she pins him, he’s a weakling. If he pins her, woopty woo you’re stronger than a girl. In either outcome, the King looks pretty weak.
So the King is walking a tightrope and now all the eyes are on him. What is he going to do?
In verses 19-22, Memucan offers a solution to this predicament.
Verses 19-22
19If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. 20And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. 21And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: 22For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
This is an amazingly shrewd decree. What is Vashti’s punishment? Her punishment is that she gets what she wants.
1. She did not want to come before the king, and so she’s no longer allowed to come before the king.
2. She refused to come as Queen, wearing the royal crown, and so her royal crown and estate shall be given to someone else better.
This is quite the chess match between Ahasuerus and Vashti. And the outcome is that the King decrees what is both merciful and just. Nobody can say the King overreacted, and no one can say the if you disobey the king, noting will happen to you.
Moreover, the decree that, “every man should bear rule in his own house,” is just a restatement of the natural law. It’s like decreeing that the sun is hot, or that the husband is the head of the wife. No law of nature can be annulled, but it can be promoted and restated to remind people of God’s created order. And that is what Ahasuerus does, he simply upholds the law of God and encourages obedience to it.
Conclusion
Now last week we said that Vashti is a type and symbol of rebellious Israel, who was divorced and deposed by God for her rebellion. And we also said that Vashti signifies every rebellious soul that refuses to come to King Jesus. The proclamation of the gospel is an invitation to a feast. Listen to how Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven in Luke 14:16-24:
He says, “A certain man gave a great feast and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’”
Notice that the punishment for those who make excuses, for those who refuse to come when the Master calls is that they, like Vashti, get what they want. They don’t get to taste the Master’s supper. They don’t get to experience the glory of the king’s presence, or ever see his face.
It says in Proverbs 16:15, “In the light of the king’s countenance (Heb. Is literally “face) is life; And his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.”
David puts it this way in Psalm 36:9, “For with thee is the fountain of life: In thy light shall we see light.”
What is the very absolute and highest good that you can attain to? It is to see God and live. It is to see the King’s face, to know the divine essence, and to be united forever to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul describes this beatific vision in 1 Corinthians 13:12, when he says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Imagine knowing God, like God knows you. Imagine being on such intimate terms with your Creator, Lord and King, so that every sin is pardoned, every shameful act forgotten, every physical ailment healed, every sorrow turned to joy, every tear wiped away, and only perfect peace and an ever-increasing happiness remains.
That is what God has in store for those who love him, and who are willing to come to Him wearing the royal crown. That royal crown is the grace of Christ, it is the beauty of the Holy Spirit, it is the love of Your Heavenly Father. And so do not rebel against His Word, do not decline the Master’s invitation, for “rebellion is as the sin of sorcery, And stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Sermon: Vashti's Rebellion - Part 1 (Esther 1:9-22)

Vashti’s Rebellion – Part 1Sunday, December 1st, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:9-22
Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment: And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king’s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;) What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
Prayer
O Father, every word that you speak is pure, and therefore we shall not add, nor shall we remove from the Holy Scriptures, lest you reprove us and we be found liars. We like Isaiah are a people of unclean lips, who live amongst a people of perverse and lying tongues, and so we ask for the coal of your heavenly altar to be placed upon our mouths, so that only pure words and holy truth might proceed from it. We ask for all of this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Introduction
Last week we began our study of King Ahasuerus and the kind of king that he is. And we said that contrary to many modern commentators, who mis-identify this king, we said that this Ahasuerus is none other than Darius the Great, the same King Darius who decreed that the temple in Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, and all in accord with the original decree of Cyrus his predecessor.
To give you a sample of the kind of decree that Ahasuerus made early on in his reign, listen to his words in Ezra 6:7-12, Ahasuerus (“chief among kings”) says, “Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expences be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail: That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius (“upholder of the good”) have made a decree; let it be done with speed.”
So if you study the chronology of Ezra-Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah, you discover that this decree from Ahasuerus/Darius must have been in motion around the same time that the book of Esther begins (around 519 BC).
The book of Esther we are told begins in the third year of Ahasuerus, with a 180-day feast, and then a seven-day feast to top it off. And we said that these two feasts are Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Ahasuerus’ plan for uniting the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire.
Phase 1 is the six-month long feast for all the nobles, princes, and influential leaders of the land.
Phase 2 is a seven-day feast for the general population of Shushan (“great and small”), who are all invited to live like royalty for a week. They are invited to recline on the king’s furniture, to drink from the king’s gold vessels, to enjoy the king’s garden palace environment.
And we said that all this feasting is a type and shadow of the eternal feast that Christ, the True Ahasuerus, the True Chief Among Kings, invites the whole world to attend.
In the book of Esther, King Ahasuerus is a type and symbol of God. That is how the earliest and best of Christian commentators have interpreted this book.
It is noteworthy that just a few months before these two great feasts in Shushan, God sent Haggai the prophet to the Jews in Jerusalem. And guess what the name Haggai means? It means “my feast.”
And what is the message of God’s prophet whose name is “My Feast?” It is “get back to work so we can feast again in my house!” Rebuild the house of prayer for all nations, so that the sacrificial offerings and the festal gatherings can begin again. The 70 years of exile and fasting are over. Return and rebuild. And when you return, return with a whole heart. That is the message of Haggai “My Feast.”
The whole drama of the book of Esther (as we shall see) revolves around feasting and fasting. And the two prophets God sends to his people during this era, Haggai and Zechariah, give rebuke and instruction on the kinds of feasting and fasting that God desires.
Haggai’s message is essentially, if you are holy, God will want to dine with you. If you are holy food, a living sacrifice, then God will incorporate you into His Everlasting Body.
Zechariah’s message is that the righteous shall have their fasting and mourning turned into feasting and gladness. He says in Zechariah 8:16-19, “These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord. And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.”
And so God’s message for Israel in this Era of Restoration isreturn to me with all your whole heart. And the response God wants from His people is summed up by David in Psalm 51 when he says, “O Lord, open thou my lips; And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.”
So those were the marching orders for Mordecai and Esther, and all Israel in this era. And yet for whatever reason, we are not told, Mordecai and Esther are not in Jerusalem, they are instead, 1,000 miles away, in Shushan the capital of Persia. And it is there that this great drama of feasting and fasting will unfold.
The title of our sermon this morning is Vashti’s Rebellion – Part 1, and there are two big questions we will try to answer from this text.
1. What is the King’s Command and how does it fit with his plans to unite the Empire?
2. What should we think of Vashti’s refusal to obey the King’s command?
So let me give you the outline of our text.
Outline of the Text
In verses 9-11 we have The King’s Command.
In verse 12a we have The Queen’s Rebellion.
And then in verses 12b-22 we have The King’s Judgment.
This morning we will focus primarily on verses 9-12, and next week we’ll look at the rest.
Q1 – What is the King’s Command, and how do this fit with his plans to unite the Empire?
Verses 9-11
9Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.
10On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,
11To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.
Note first that the king is not said to be drunk, he is said to be “merry with wine.” In Hebrew it is more literally, “good in heart.” We would say, “he’s in good spirits.”
To be merry with wine, especially on the seventh day is to imitate God’s joy and rest from His work of Creation. And this joy is what God intended for those who know how to use his gifts without abusing them. It says in Psalm 104:14-15, that God “causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine that makes glad the heart of man.”
What does God command the church to do in the New Covenant on the Christian Sabbath? Eat bread, and drink wine together in His presence. Our worship service is a royal feast that we gather for every seven days.
We see other examples of such righteous merriment in that great man of virtue and valor, Boaz. It says of him in Ruth 3:7, “And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and Ruth came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.”
Remember that Ruth is identified as a Proverbs 31 woman, a woman of hayil, and notice the contrast and parallels between Ruth and Vashti, Boaz and Ahasuerus. Boaz and Ahasuerus are both great men with authority who are merry in heart, and when they are merry in heart, Ruth approaches Boaz softly and without being asked, whereas Vashti refuses to come even when the King commands.
Now what exactly is the King’s Command and how is this Phase 3 of his plans for unity?
The King’s command is that his wife, Queen Vashti, come into his presence, wearing the royal crown, and show forth her beauty.
Contrary to some Rabbinic interpretations, there is nothing here to suggest she must come in naked, or wearing nothing but the crown, or that this is any way a degradation of the queen. Quite the contrary!
This is the climax and main event of all this long feasting. This is a kind of coronation and celebration of the Queen as the crown of Persia’s beauty. It is a covenant renewal between the King and his Bride.
The closest modern-day example would be something like Inauguration Day for the President at the capital. All eyes are on the President, and when he swears his oath of office, he raises his right hand, he places his left hand on the Bible. And who usually holds that Bible? The President’s Wife. Even Joe Biden kept that tradition.
So imagine the scandal, the headlines, if President Trump is about to take his oath of office, and Melania refuses to come and hold the Bible. That is the kind of scene we have here in Esther.
Now how is this calling of Vashti, Phase 3 of the king’s plan to unify the Empire?
Unity only exists where there is a shared love and loyalty for the common good. And without such a principle of unity, war and schism are inevitable. So how are you going to unite 127 different provinces in the ancient world? The King himself is part of that uniting principle, in that He establishes law, order, and justice. But the other half of that principle is the king’s wife. The queen. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, “the head of the woman is the man…[but] woman is the glory of the man.”
And so together, King and Queen are the uniting principle of the empire. Ahasuerus is Civil Father, and Vashti Civil Mother.
When God describes the relationship between the civil government and the church, it is described in these same terms. God says in Isaiah 49:23, “Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, And their queens thy nursing mothers.”
So Vashti, as Queen is not only the king’s wife, she is also Mother Persia. Vashti is the stars and stripes, she is the Statue of Liberty. She is by her very office, is the empire personified. And so it belongs to the “First Lady,” to be a model of virtue, obedience, and submission to the King, because he is her head in two senses. Ahasuerus is Head of State and her supreme civil ruler, and he is also Head of their marriage and household, and her supreme domestic ruler.
So Queen Vashti has a double debt of obedience to Ahasuerus as both her husband and king. And yet despite this duty, we read in verse 12a.
Verse 12a
12But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains:
Q2 – What should we think about Vashti’s refusal to obey the King’s command?
To answer this question correctly, we need the straight line of Scripture to help us judge. And we especially need this straight line in our day because our land, our culture, our churches are crooked and perverse. We are a nation that has tried to abolish the family, redefine marriage, invent new genders, and overthrow any kind of God-given hierarchy. So we might be a little biased.
This is evident in just how many Christian commentaries on this book, praise Vashti as a proto feminist. For them, Vashti is the modern woman with “enlightened values” caught up in the machinery of an oppressive patriarchal culture.
So while the Bible presents Vashti as a cautionary tale for rebellion, we have biblical scholars and Christian preachers, praising her as a martyr for the cause of women’s rights. That is what happens when you listen to the devil. Before he gives you a lie he whispers in your ear, “Did God really say?”
And so to bolster ourselves against such lies and deception, we must know what God really says in His Word. Only then can we judge Vashti’s actions aright.
On the opening pages of Scripture we learn that it is the nature of sin to subvert God’s created order.
We know from Genesis 1 and 2 that God created man first, and then woman from his side to be his helper, and together they were to rule creation. Adam was to obey God and teach his wife. Eve was to obey Adam and submit to his teaching. And the animals were to obey mankind. But when we get to Genesis 3 what do we see? That whole order of authority gets reversed. Eve submits to the serpent. Adam heeds his wife. And everyone is guilty of saying with the devil by their actions, “Hath God really said?”
So to reject male headship is to reenact the Fall all over again. It is the height of pride to think you know better than God how to do marriage, how to do government, how to do male and female roles. But God is not mocked, a land reaps what is sows.
Death, pain, and suffering all entered the world because of this sin of rebellion against authority. You cannot rebel against God’s hierarchy and live. As it says in Proverbs 8:36, “He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: All they that hate me love death.”
Now just in case we missed the moral lessons of Genesis 1-3, God gives us many other passages to warn us about fiddling with His created order.
God says in Isaiah 3:12 to Israel in her rebellion, “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.”
When God gives the laws for civil rulers and kings in Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 1, and Deuteronomy 17, the office is exclusively male.
In Numbers 30, God decrees how a father can annul the vow of a young daughter in his house, and how a husband can annul the vow of his wife when he first hears it. It says in Numbers 30:13, “Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.”
And lest we think that was just an Old Testament principle abolished by Christ, consider the words of the Apostles Paul and Peter.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:11-14, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
He says likewise in 1 Corinthians 14, in regards to public preaching, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law [What law? The natural law.]. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church [that is in formal public worship service].”
Perhaps the most relevant text as it relates to Queen Vashti is 1 Peter 2 and 3, where he addresses submission first to our civil heads and then to our domestic heads. So as I read this, consider how Vashti measures up.
God says in 1 Peter 2:13-18, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward [harsh].”
So even if Ahasuerus was a bad man, and not gentle, and a hard and unreasonable ruler, God still requires that Vashti obey him. It was certainly no sin to come before the king wearing the royal crown, indeed it would have been a great honor.
The Apostle Peter then addresses the conduct of wives saying, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear…For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.”
So again, even if Ahasuerus was a bad husband, Vashti was to win him without a word, by her chaste conduct and reverence. She was to be as Sarah, whose name means The Princess, the mother of kings and rulers, and call her husband, “Lord.”
That was the duty Vashti had before God, and it was a great rebellion, it was treason, to not come when the king called.
This sin of Vashti is the same sin that Israel had committed against God, refusing to come when He called.
God says in Isaiah 66:4, “I also will choose their delusions, And will bring their fears upon them; Because when I called, none did answer; When I spake, they did not hear: But they did evil before mine eyes.
In Ezekiel 16, God likens Jerusalem to a woman that He redeemed and loved and married and made beautiful (she was His Queen!), but then her beauty went to her head, and she became obstinate, rebellious, a disobedient wife, more wicked than her sisters Samaria and Sodom.
In the spiritual allegory of this book, Vashti signifies the rebellious Jews. God, like Ahasuerus, intended for Jerusalem to be his glorious bride, the jewel in his crown and the desire of the nations. But because Israel was faithless, God divorces her.
The book of Lamentations begins with a cry for her saying, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces Has become a slave!” And then a few verses later it says, “The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.”
Conclusion
Vashti is a symbol of rebellious Israel. And she is also the symbol of every rebellious soul. To rebel against King Jesus, is to divorce yourself from God. The insanity of Vashti’s rebellion is that she refuses to come and wear the royal crown. She chooses shame instead of the glory and honor the king wants to bestow.
The great deception of sin is to make God appear less good than He is. That was the serpent’s lie in the garden, and it is where all pride begins. If you think that you know better than God, your end will be the same as Vashti. You will not be permitted to see the King’s face. You will not attain to that beatific vision of the Divine Essence, which is the highest of all goods, and the good that Christ died to give you.
So keep before your eyes the love and goodness of God. Inscribe upon your soul the promises of His Word.
It says in Psalm 37:4, Delight thyself in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
It says in Psalm 84:11, “The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
God withholds nothing that is good for us, and He knows better than us, what goods we need. That takes supernatural faith to believe!
So say to your soul what God tells you to say in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”
May God make give you that desire and make it increase forever. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Sermon: The King's Feast (Esther 1:1-8)

The King’s FeastSunday, November 24th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:1-8Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace; Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.
Prayer
O Father, we thank you for the mystery of Christ’s kingship, that is concealed in the Old Testament and revealed in the New. Teach us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, for the justice of your throne, so that the glory of our land might be brought into your heavenly kingdom. For we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Well for the last two weeks we have been studying the historical context in which the book of Esther takes place. And this morning we begin our exposition of these opening 8 verses.
By way of review, recall that this story takes place in Shushan/Susa which was the royal capital of the Persian Empire. And we said that the When of this story is a ten year span from 519-509 BC, which is within the broader Era of Restoration in the history of Israel. So while the books of Ezra-Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah describe the Jews rebuilding in Jerusalem, Esther describes the simultaneous happenings of the Jews living in Shushan, 1,000 miles away. So we said that in order to rightly interpret and understand Esther, we need to understand those other books as well, and so we’ll continue to bring in material from those other books whenever it has relevance or bearing on our passage.
Now our text this morning focuses on King Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes, or Darius the Great). And there are three questions I want to ask of these 8 verses which will be crucial for understanding who Ahasuerus is and why he does what he does throughout this book. Those three questions are:
What is the king’s biggest problem?
What is the king’s solution to that problem?
What do these opening verses reveal about the king’s character?
So our focus this morning will be on assessing the character of Ahasuerus as Scripture presents him.
By the way, if you look at the back of your bulletin, you can see a famous carving of this Ahasuerus in what is known as the “Behistun Inscription.” This is a cuneiform carving authored by Ahasuerus, written in three languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian.
If you look closely at the image, you can see Ahasuerus with his foot on the neck of rival king Gaumata, and behind him nine other kings and/or pretenders to the throne, that he conquered all in a single year.
Later I’ll read you some of the contents of this inscription, but it is amazing that in God’s providence we have an actual carved image and words authored by Ahasuerus so we know (kinda) what he looked like, and more importantly, what he thought about himself as king of the world at this time.
I will post in my sermon notes a link to the full translation of the inscription if you want to read it for yourself: https://www.livius.org/articles/place/behistun/behistun-3/
So there is your illustration for this week, let’s now consider our first question.
Q1 – What is the king’s biggest problem?
The answer to this question is found in verse 1. Let’s read it again and see if you can spot the king’s problem.
Verse 1
1Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
Put yourself in Ahasuerus’ shoes. If you are Ahasuerus, your biggest problem is that you are king of 127 different provinces that span 3,000 miles from India to Ethiopia, amongst whom are diverse peoples speaking different languages who have their own local customs and ways of living.
And what’s more, you live in an age without cars, without airplanes, without drones or satellites, there are no cellphones, no internet, no television, no radio, you don’t even have newspapers yet. The fastest way of communicating your laws and wishes is by a handwritten decree that gets sent on horseback. And it will take weeks and in some cases months, for such a decree to travel from your capital in Shushan to the borders of your empire.
So that is the world you live in and somehow, you have to maintain law and order and unite in your empire. How are you going to do that?
So the king’s biggest problem is how to unite and make peace amongst so many different peoples, nations, languages, and customs, who are geographically spread out with (in some instances) thousands of miles between them. How do you make peace and unity in such a sprawling diverse empire?
In modern day terms we might ask, how do you make peace between Democrats and Republicans, between upper class and lower class and everyone in between. How do you make laws that are just and righteous so that both the city mouse and the country mouse can get along? The problem of empire is diversity, and the big question for whoever rules that empire is: What is going to be my principle of unity? Diversity is only good insofar as each member makes some contribution to the one body-politic. The king as head of the state must find a way to assimilate all its members so that they serve the common good.
This is the great problem Ahasuerus must deal with. And we find the first stage of his solution in verses 2-4.
Q2 – What is the king’s solution to this problem of unifying his empire?
Verses 2-4
2That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, 3In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: 4When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.
The first stage of the king’s solution is to throw a great feast for all the governing officials beneath him: his princes, his servants, the nobility, all the movers and shakers of those 127 provinces. The invitations go out, and all the important and respected leaders of those provinces are invited to attend.
And this is not just a weekend party, it is a six-month, 180-day all-inclusive festival, so you have plenty of time to travel there, see the sights, and enjoy the luxuries of Shushan.
You can imagine the king is inviting all the important celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, senators, judges, CEOs, and so forth to this great party. This is the greatest feast the world has ever seen, and everyone who has influence in the kingdom is invited. This is the kind of party that everyone would want an invitation to, because everyone important is going to be there, not to mention the free food and drink.
So what is the intended effect of this 180 day feast?
The text tells us in verse 4, it is to show forth and display the glory, riches, and majesty of the king and his kingdom. More practically this would mean giving the leaders of those 127 provinces ample time to mingle and celebrate and feel like they are part of this great empire. The King’s glory is their glory. The king’s riches are their riches. The King’s majesty is their majesty.
This is how Ahasuerus intends to unite competing and conflicting interests. He wants to gather them under one glorious banner and give them a banqueting table to feast around.
Ahasuerus understands Proverbs 14:28, “In the multitude of people is the king’s honour: But in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.”
What makes a king truly glorious is not mere gold, silver, and precious stones, but rather it is to have a multitude of virtuous people (men and women of hayil) who love his rule, who wish his reign lasts forever, who toast to his health and say, “long live the king, may his years endure.”
This is what Psalm 72 foretells of God’s messiah, “In his days shall the righteous flourish; And abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; And his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: All nations shall serve him…His name shall endure for ever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun: And men shall be blessed in him: All nations shall call him blessed.”
Remember that at this stage in Israel’s history, Ahasuerus is God’s appointed king of the world empire (oikumene). He is successor to the Cyrus of whom Isaiah 45 prophesied saying, “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, Whose right hand I have holden, To subdue nations before him; And I will loose the loins of kings, To open before him the two leaved gates; And the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, And make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, And cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, And hidden riches of secret places, That thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”
So in this Era of Restoration, when no Son of David sits in Zion, God ordained that these gentile kings would govern his people until the time that Jesus Christ comes. This is what Daniel explains to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. Four kingdoms shall arise: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. And in the days of Rome a stone from heaven, cut without human hands, would crush and consume all those kingdoms. And that is the kingdom of Christ and His saints (the age in which we now live).
So what I want you to notice as we consider Ahasuerus’ and his reign, is that He is both a forerunner and type of the King Jesus who is to come, and he is at this stage in history the actual divinely appointed ruler of the world. God had given him supernatural help and victory over his enemies, and Ahasuerus knew and acknowledged that.
If you read that Behistun Inscription, you will discover that Ahasuerus gives all glory to the Creator God on High. And while not a Jew himself, He is a gentile God-fearer who worships the Most-High God.
I’ll read you a sample of how he summarizes his position as king: “This is what I have done. By the grace of Ahuramazda have I always acted. After I became king, I fought nineteen battles in a single year and by the grace of Ahuramazda I overthrew nine kings and I made them captive. [Then he lists the nine kings and why he conquered them.]
Who is this Ahuramazda, he speaks of? Ahura is the Persian word for Lord, and Mazda is the Persian word for Wisdom. So he is literally the Lord of Wisdom.
Recall that Daniel served in Cyrus’s court and was the 2nd highest in command (everyone knew who Daniel was. And so it is possible that Ahasuerus learned about this Creator God and Lord of Wisdom from Daniel himself. If you study the timeline and the ages of these men, Ahasuerus (born in 550 BC) would have been in his mid-late teens when Daniel was still active. And if you read the full inscription, it essentially describes the biblical religious cosmology just in Gentile/Persian terms.
To read you a few more lines from that inscription:
[iv.53] These nine kings did I capture in these wars.
[iv.54] As to these provinces which revolted, lies made them revolt, so that they deceived the people. Then Ahuramazda delivered them into my hand; and I did unto them according to my will.
This is what I have done in one single year; by the grace of Ahuramazda have I always acted. Ahuramazda brought me help, and the other gods [likely referring to the angelic beings which we see in Daniel], all that there are. On this account Ahuramazda brought me help, and all the other gods, all that there are, because I was not wicked, nor was I a liar, nor was I a despot, neither I nor any of my family. I have ruled according to righteousness. Neither to the weak nor to the powerful did I do wrong. Whosoever helped my house, him I favored; he who was hostile, him I destroyed.
[And then finally he describes a rebellion he put down in the 2nd and 3rd year of his reign, right before this great feast we read about in Esther.]
“Those Elamites were faithless and Ahuramazda was not worshipped by them. I worshipped Ahuramazda; by the grace of Ahuramazda I did unto them according to my will.       
[v.73] King Darius says: Whoso shall worship Ahuramazda, divine blessing will be upon him, both while living and when dead.”
So that is a first-hand account, written by Darius/Ahasuerus as to how he conceived of his rule and position as king. Over and over again he gives glory to the Lord of Wisdom, worships this Lord of Wisdom, and acknowledges that he rules because of the grace of this Lord of Wisdom. He knows the Lord of Wisdom blesses in this life and the life to come.
Now that does not mean the king was morally blameless, but it harmonizes with everything we learn about Ahasuerus in the book of Esther.
So hopefully that historical rabbit trail helps you understand that this problem of unity was indeed a big and live problem, it was fresh in his mind, and Ahasuerus had that inscription written also on parchment and sent to all the province to be read. And so the book of Esther opens in the third year of his reign with hopes of peace on the king’s mind.
How do you create the kind of love, loyalty, and righteous dominion of Psalm 72, if you are Ahasuerus?
Well Phase 1 is a 180 day feast, where he tries to win over all those who might be tempted to envy the king, or subvert his authority, or rebel against him. What Ahasuerus must do is get all those subordinate rulers and provinces to have an aligned and vested interest in the king’s success. If they feel like the king’s glory is their glory, the king’s riches are their riches, they will want to keep that good thing going.
There is famous maxim in economics that, “when goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.” In other words, when there is not mutual trade and some shared benefit between nations, war is inevitable. And so you want as many positive and shared interests within the empire to strengthen the common good.
That is the purpose of this long feast. It is vision casting for a golden age of Persian rule (a feast that never ends). It is a chance for networking, wining and dining, and bringing together the most influential people in the world.
Now if that is Phase 1 of Ahasuerus’ plan for unification, Phase 2 goes a step further. We read in verses 5-8…
Verses 5-8
5And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace; 6Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble. 7And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. 8And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.
So after the king has thrown this long feast for the elites in the empire, He tops it off with a 7 day feast for everyone who is Shushan, great and small, rich and poor, masters and servants, doesn’t matter who you are, all are welcome.
And what are they allowed to do? They are essentially allowed to live like the king for a week.
They get to walk in the king’s palace. They get to stand in his court. They get to smell the flowers of his personal garden. They get to recline on his gold and silver couches, and drink from his golden cups, as much or as little as they want.
Ahasuerus is not just benevolent to the princes and nobility, he shows favor to the poor. This is a king who invites the lowliest in Shushan to experience living like royalty for seven days.
And so this brings to our third and final question…
Q3 – What does all this reveal about the king’s character?
In almost every modern commentary that I have read, Ahasuerus is presented as a drunken, proud, and angry fool. This is in large part because they identify him wrongly as a later Persian King who was conquered by Alexander the Great, and that is why you have to be careful to not let extra-biblical sources cloud your reading of the biblical and inspired text.
There is nothing in these opening verses to insinuate the king is proud or boastful or foolish. If anything, it shows us the exact opposite.
Given the position the king is in, a great feast for all the nobility is about the wisest and most prudent action he could take. I cannot think of a better way of uniting a vast empire than this. Can you?
And then a second feast for everyone else shows that this king desires to share his glory with everyone alike, great and small. Although the king is rich and glorious and majestic, he is also humble and generous.
Ahasuerus is heeding the words of Christ in Luke 14:13-14, “But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”
If we take a snapshot of this seven-day feast, we see that it signifies in many ways the eternal feast that Christ speaks of in the gospel.
The number 7 is of course the number of fullness, rest, and completion. And like Ahasuerus, Jesus invites to his eternal feast everyone great and small.
He says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
What is the yoke and burden that Jesus offers? It is submission to his reign as King. It is the grace of faith through which you freely enter his kingdom.
Recall that the context of this offer of rest comes right after Jesus is accused of being too festive, too much of a party animal. He says in Matthew 11:19, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”
It is ironic that Jesus, like Ahasuerus, is accused of being too extravagant, too lavish, a glutton and a drunkard. The commentators and historians read 180-day feast. “No way.” And then a seven-day feast for everyone in the city. “Not historically accurate.” But this says more about the commentators than the actual king.
What was Jesus’ first miracle? Turning water into wine at a wedding.
What does Jesus say the kingdom of heaven is like? He says in Matthew 22, it is like a certain king who makes a great wedding feast for his son and invites everyone to come to it.
The scandal of the gospel is that it is over the top. It is too much. It is too universal. Everyone is invited. How can both great and small live like kings? How they can drink from his golden cups, and recline on the palace furniture? This is not fitting, this is not right, says the Pharisee.
But that is the feast that King Jesus offers to the world.
Like Ahasuerus, Jesus welcomes us all into his garden palace, His new Eden, a new heavens and new earth. And what is the only law at this feast? Esther 1:8 says, “And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.”
This is the king’s festal law: Drink until you are satisfied. In the words of the Apostle Paul, do not be drunk with wine, but rather be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Do as Psalm 116:13 says and, “take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord.”
Much more could be said about the parallels between this feast and Jesus’ feast. But let me close with the words of Christ, and the invitation he leaves us at the very end of Scripture.
Conclusion
It says in Revelation 22:12-17
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Sermon: Three Truths To Live By (Esther 1:1-4)

Three Truths To Live BySunday, November 17th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:1-4
1Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) 2That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, 3In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: 4When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.
Prayer
O Father, we thank you that to Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. We thank you also that we live in an age where the kingdom of heaven has come, and is coming, and shall one day come in all its glory. Teach us to live as faithful ambassadors of your kingdom in our day, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This morning, we are continuing to introduce the book of Esther. Last week we tried to situate this story within the broader biblical timeline, and so before we get into some new material, let’s briefly review the ground we covered so far.
There were two main questions we asked and answered last week:
The first question was, “Where does the story of Esther take place?” And we said it takes placed in Shushan/Susa, which was the capital of the Persian empire.
As promised, I included on the back of your bulletin two maps. The map on the top shows the extent of the Persian Empire, “from India to Ethiopia.”And then the map on the bottom shows you the modern-day names for these places. And I also included the walking distance between Jerusalem and Susa, which is a journey that some Jews like Mordecai and Nehemiah would have had to make.So it was roughly 1,000 miles journey between Jerusalem and Shushan, which we said is about the distance between Centralia and Las Vegas.
So that’s the Where of the book of Esther. What about the When?
When did the story of Esther take place?
Contrary to most modern commentators who (I think) rely far too much on external extra-biblical sources (like Herodotus), rather than the biblical text as written, my view is that Esther takes place in the years c. 519-509 BC, and that the King who is called Ahasuerus is the same as King Darius I.
Ahasuerus is a throne name kind of like Pharoah or President, and it means “Chief/Hero Among Kings.” And just as there are multiple Pharaohs in the Bible, so also are there multiple Ahasuerus’s in the Bible (see Dan. 9:1, Ezra 4:6-7).
If you were to study the way these different throne names (Darius, Xerxes/Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes) are used in Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel, and Esther, the best conclusion is that Darius the Great, who renewed the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, is the same as the Ahasuerus who is described here in Esther and in Nehemiah.
This question of When Esther takes place, and the identity of the Ahasuerus she marries, is of major consequence to how you interpret the book. If you get this question wrong, it can warp your view of King Ahasuerus’ actions, Esther’s actions, and so forth, and unfortunately that is the case for most modern commentaries on Esther that are in print today.
To go back to our theme last week of becoming prudent “Sons of Issachar, who understand the times,” it is doing this hard chronological work to harmonize the Scriptures, and understand the context, that shall reap great fruit in interpreting the text, as you shall see in future sermons.
Now this morning, I want to give you a little sample of that fruit by looking at the prophets and the sermons that God gave to his people during this Era of Restoration.
Recall from last week that we divided the history of Israel into 5 Eras:
1. The Era of Moses begins around 1,500 BC.
2. The Era of Judges runs for about 500 years.
3. The Era of Kings begins around 1,000 BC.
4. The Era of Exile begins around 600 BC and runs for about 70 years.
During this time Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel are all active. Jeremiah in Jerusalem, Daniel and Ezekiel in Babylon. And Daniel lives to see the end of Exile, when in 537 BC, God raises up King Cyrus of Persia (also known as Darius the Mede), to decree that the Jews should return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
5. So in 537 BC, the Era of Restoration officially begins, and we said that amongst those Jews who return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel (the Governor), are Nehemiah and Mordecai.
We are told in Esther 2:6-7 that in 597 BC, Mordecai was taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, and now 60 years later, a 60 year-old (or older) Mordecai makes the long journey back home.
However, we also said that this “Build Back Better” project stalls out, and that sometime during the next 16 years, Mordecai relocates to Shushan. And by the time the book of Esther opens in 519 BC, a 76 year old (or older) Mordecai is there with his adopted daughter and cousin Esther.
So our purpose in the rest of this sermon is to answer the question: What were God’s standing orders for His people during this Era of Restoration?
We know from Jeremiah 29, that God gave very specific instructions to the Jews for the Era of Exile. In short, they were to get married, have children, build houses, and seek the peace of Babylon, for God says, “and pray to the Lord for that city; for in its peace you will have peace” (Jer. 29:7).
So during this 70 years of discipline for their rebellion against God and His appointed rulers, the Jews are to learn obedience through the things they suffered. They are to learn the lessons that Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel taught them, and teach those truths to their children, so that when the Era of Exile ends, they know how to live and not repeat the same mistakes.
So to help us get inside the mind of Mordecai, Esther, and the Jews of this era, I want to highlight three prophetic truths that these Jews were to live by. And we will draw these truths from the various prophecies of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, but especially the prophets Haggai and Zechariah who were alive when the book of Esther is unfolding.
Three Prophetic Truths for The Era of Restoration
Truth #1 – Seek First the Kingdom of God
We learn from the prophet Haggai, who was preaching in 520 BC, just one year before the book of Esther begins, that the Jews in Jerusalem had their priorities out of order.
It says in Haggai 1:3-7, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
So for 16 years, the people have been making excuses for why the building up of their own homes is a higher priority than building up God’s Temple.
To put it another way, the Jews in Jerusalem are still living like they are back in Babylon. They are living like the exile is still going, and that Cyrus’ decree to rebuild God’s House, is somehow not applicable anymore.
Given the opposition they faced from their local enemies, and the disfavor of the Emperor who ruled after Cyrus died (Cambyses II), a good legal case could be made for them not working. It was legally ambiguous whether Cyrus decree was still in force. But God, who sees into the heart of man, knows when we are making excuses. God who sees into the intents and desires of our heart, knows whether the kingdom of God is our first and highest priority, or if it is just an accessory to our own personal pursuits.
This was the great sin of the Jews in Jerusalem. Seeking first their own private earthly kingdoms over the Kingdom of Heaven. So God sends Haggai the prophet to rebuke them and ask, “How is that working out for you?” (Consider your ways!) Are you prospering? Are you happy? Are your storehouses full?
Having left off God’s house to focus on your own, why are you still struggling to make ends meet? “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat and You drink, but you are not satisfied. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
When God’s people stop seeking first the kingdom of heaven, He often withholds His blessings so that we’ll stop and consider our ways. Remember the terms of God’s covenant, if you keep faith and love God and serve Him, He will bless you (all things work for good). But if you break faith and disobey His commands, the curse of the covenant will find you. Taxes increase, your car breaks down, jobs fall through, things fall apart.
In the words of Psalm 106:13-15 referring to Israel in the wilderness it says, “They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.”
So if your soul feels hallow, lean, lacking in joy and peace and love, perhaps you need to stop and consider your ways. Consider whether God really is the highest priority, or if you are simply using Him as a means to your own ends.
And if that is you, consider it a great grace and gift from God to love you enough to show you the unhappiness of a disordered life.
Remember the full context in which Jesus gives the command to seek first the kingdom of heaven. He says in Matthew 6:24-34, “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Jesus is like Haggai, preaching to us where true prosperity and blessing can be found. It is not in the love of money, or the building up of our own private kingdoms, it is rather in the ordering of all our affairs towards the kingdom of heaven (remember the Proverbs 31 woman and her priorities). That is what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.Build up the church. Give yourself to right worship in spirit and in truth. Do justice in all your affairs and be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful to you.
That was the truth Mordecai and Esther were to live by according to Haggai the prophet: Seek first the kingdom of God.
The second truth comes from the prophet Zechariah and is a word of encouragement for those building God’s Temple.
Truth #2 – If God is For You, Who Can Be Against You?
It says in Zechariah 1:14-16, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: For I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, And a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.”
And then a few verses later it says, “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls For the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, And will be the glory in the midst of her.” (Zech. 2:4-5)
This is the promise for those who trust God and build even in adversity, “I will be a wall of fire around you, and the glory within you.” God will be your invisible shield, and He will be the source of light and heat when the world feels dark and cold.
There were many enemies of the Jews who did not want the temple rebuilt, who did not want the walls rebuilt, and who were ready to play dirty to stop them. We read in Ezra and Nehemiah that they used tactics of intimidation, assassination threats, false accusations, and hired false prophets against them.
It says in Nehemiah 6:1-3, “Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”
Nehemiah had set his face like flint to accomplish God’s purpose, and that conviction gave him courage to say, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”
The enemies of the church will try to get us off course. They will conjure up false accusations again our leaders, they will try to trap us and discourage us, but we must expect this opposition and be unmoved by it.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:11 about the necessity of forgiving one another, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
Likewise he exhorts in Ephesians 6:16, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
We see that another scheme of the devil in Nehemiah’s day was to hire a prophetess named Noadiah, along with some others prophets to report that Nehemiah was planning to make himself King, and he was entering the holy place, against God’s command.
It says in Nehemiah 6:6-7, the Sanballat wrote an open letter saying, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together.” And when that bait does not work, they try another scheme.
Nehemiah 6:10-13 says, “Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.”
So the enemies of the saints have many devices, many schemes and ploys to run against us. And so as the church is built up, and the walls of Christendom start to get repaired, we should expect to see these same moves run against the Ezras and Nehemiahs of our day. Ezra was a priest and scribe. Nehemiah was a civil ruler. The enemy focuses his attack on the leaders in the church, and the Christian leaders in civil government. Wherever Christians are in places of influence, the devil schemes against us.
To translate this to modern day, there are powerful special interest groups and political factions, that have a vested interest in opposing the kingdom of Christ. And so they will use scare tactics, they will run smear campaigns, they will fund Jezebel’s prophets to run interference on our building projects.
And so we must learn from Nehemiah to not take the bait. To see through their lies and accusations, and say to them, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”
Where do we get that kind of boldness and fortitude? It comes  from loving what God loves and hating what God hates; that is when we have the fire of the Holy Spirit around us and within us.
We are told in Titus 2:14, that “Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Likewise Jesus says in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
God wants the fire of His love to burn within us. That is the zeal He desires in the church. And when you have that supernatural love of God, then Romans 8:31 feels true in our soul, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Now whenever the enemies of God’s people cannot stop us from the outside, they try to corrupt us from within. And so the third truth God reminds His people to live by in the Era of Restoration is.
Truth #3 – Do not intermarry with unbelievers.
We read in the book of Numbers, that Balak, King of the Moabites, hired Balaam the prophet to curse Israel. But because God was a fire around them, and the glory within, God turned those attempted curses into blessings. However, Balaam gave the Moabites counsel that the best way to conquer Israel, is to just get them to sin so that God will punish them.
So we read in Numbers 25, right after Balaam and Balak go their separate ways it says, “And the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.”
This same sin is committed by the Jews in Jerusalem under both Ezra and Nehemiah, and it persisted until the days of Malachi when the OT Canon closed. And so it is this sin of intermarriage with idolaters that looms large in the background of Esther’s marriage to Ahasuerus. Was that marriage biblically lawful or not? That is a question we will have to take up in a future sermon.
It is significant that Scripture tells us, “In the tenth month, in the seventh years of his reign” (Esther 2:16),Esther is in Shushan marrying Ahasuerus. And in that very same month and year, Ezra is back in Jerusalem dealing with all the Jews who had married pagan wives.
We read in Ezra 9, that right after the temple is finished, a report comes that they have already broken God’s covenant.
It says, “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.” And then Ezra goes on to offer a prayer of repentance and intercession for this great sin.
So the great temptation for God’s people when they are scattered throughout the empire, is to intermarry with unbelievers, and to adopt their idolatrous customs, their morality, and their religious and political views.
How did our nation go from having Protestant Christianity and even established churches in the states at our founding, to transgender story hour at your publicly funded library?
How did we go from having God’s law as the infallible foundation for our civil laws, to the legalization and celebration of abortion, sodomy, adultery and the like. In just 300 years, we have gone from punishing with the death penalty what God calls abominations, to open celebration of these manifold perversions?
The answer is: We intermarried with unbelievers. We did this both literally and figuratively.
One of the reasons there is so much injustice, oppression, murder, rape, sexual abuse, and child trafficking in our land, is because the church yoked itself to unbelievers. The church committed grave injustices, abandoned God’s standards for its leaders, stopped disciplining its members, stopped defining sin by God’s standards, and started mimicking the world. It is obvious that the church intermarried with the world when our Sunday worship services became little more than a rock concert and a ted talk with a few Bible verses attached.
As one of my fellow pastors in the CREC likes to say, “Before we had clown world, we had clown church.”
Before we had abortion on demand, we had no fault divorce in the church. Before we had women in the military, we had women in our pulpits and seminaries. When the church yokes itself to Baal of Peor, there is only one way out: the zeal of Phinehas.
How does God discipline and reform His adulterous people?
Hear Numbers 25:3-13, “And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.”
The only way out of idolatry is through the atoning blood of Jesus. If you live like a Canaanite, your end will be like the Canaanites, devoted to destruction.
And so the church must recover (at bare minimum) these three prophetic truths, if we want to see justice restored, and peace in our cities, as we build God’s House in age of empires. The king’s heart is still in the hands of Christ, He turns whithersoever he will.
And so:
1. Seek first the kingdom of God.
2. Stir up God’s spirit of love within you.
3. Do not intermarry with this idolatrous world.
May God make you as zealous as Phinehas, so that with javelin in hand, you thrust through the world, the flesh, and the devil. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon: In the Days of Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1)

In the Days of AhasuerusSunday, November 10th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:1Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
Prayer
Father, we thank you that there is no power except from You. You are the one who appoints rulers, and You cast them down. You are the one who opposes the proud, but gives grace to the lowly. And so we ask now for you to hear the prayers of the righteous, the cries of the humble, and make us to see how You work all things for the good of those who love you, and who are called according to your purpose. We ask for all this in the name of Jesus, and Amen.
Introduction
In 1 Chronicles 12, God gives us a description of the mighty men of valor/hayil who gathered around David to make him king over all Israel. It says in 1 Chronicles 12:22-23, “For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God. And these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war, and came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord.” And then the text goes on to describe how many men from each tribe came out and joined David’s army.
6,800 from Judah,
7,100 from Simeon,
4,600 from Levi,
3,000 from Benjamin,
20,800 from Ephraim,
18,000 from Manasseh,
But then when it gets to the tribe of Issachar, it says in verse 32, “of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command.”
Notice the Sons of Issachar had a special gift: “understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” What do we call this ability? This gift of understanding that leads to right actions. In the Christian tradition, we call this the virtue of prudence.
Prudence in its most basic definition is right reason about human actions. To put it another way, Prudence is knowing both 1) the correct destination, and 2) the best road to get there. Prudence is the habit of acquiring an aerial eye view of the situation on the ground, considering all possible paths, and then judging which path is the best of all.
Prudence is the virtue that perfects our mind, our intellect, and without out, we make bad decisions.
It says in Proverbs 8:12, “I wisdom dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge of witty inventions.”
It says of Christ in Ephesians 1:8-7, that “he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.”
God gave to us in Christ, the knowledge of the highest good, which is God Himself. And so to receive prudence from Jesus is to know that God is the highest destination for humanity, and the best and only possible path to God is through Jesus Christ, who calls himself in John 14:6, “the way, the truth, and the life.”
So prudence first understands what the highest good is, namely God, and the surest path to Him, namely Christ. And then from that knowledge of the highest good, and as someone who is seeking first that good (the kingdom of God), our Heavenly Father intends for us to learn and practice prudence also in lesser things, in politics, in government, in family matters, in parenting, in business ventures, in personal decisions about our finances, or what career to pursue, or what person to marry, or what house to buy, or what city to live in. These are all prudential questions that God wants us to answer using the principles of His Word.
Now why all this talk about Prudence?
Because Prudence is a major theme of the book of Esther. And to teach us prudence, is one of the primary purposes for God inspiring this book and giving it to the church.
It says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
And so as we study this book now and for many months to come, I want you to study it with an eye to growing in this virtue of prudence. My hope for us as a church, and for you as individuals, is that you become like the sons of Issachar:
You understand the times you are living in from God’s perspective.
You understand the story arc of biblical history and where you are in that story.
You understand the motives and actions for each character in this book, and are then able to identify the motives of your own heart and where they need to change.
My hope is that our immersion in the world of Esther will help us internalize God’s truth, so that we can become the characters God wants us to be in the story He is telling in our day. So that in the books of heaven we might be numbered as sons and daughters of Issachar, who understood the times of God’s kingdom, and what we ourselves ought to do.
Now I only read one verse for us this morning (verse 1), and that is because if you want to understand Esther, you need to understand the times and the places wherein this story takes place. Because without that context, you can easily miss the whole point of the story, and you will likely mis-judge the actions of the different characters within the story, whether Ahasuerus, or Vashti, or Haman, or Mordecai, or Esther.
In order for us to rightly judge their actions, or to argue for what they should have done, we need to first understand the times they were living in and enter into that world with them.
So there are just two questions I am going to ask and answer in this sermon:
1. Where did this story take place?
2. When did it happen?
Question 1 – Where did the story of Esther take place?
The answer to this first question about location is the much easier of the two. We are told explicitly in Esther 1:5, “the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace.” “Other translations might read, “in the citadel of Susa.”
Shushan/Susa was the capital of the Persian empire at this time, and if you were to look for it on a map, it would be in modern day Shush, Iran.
Next week I will try to include a map of the Persian empire so you can get a better visual for where this is.
As far as the Jews were concerned, Shushan was about 1,000 miles away from their home in Jerusalem. And to give you some perspective, it’s about 1,000 miles from here in Centralia to Las Vegas, Nevada. So if you were to walk in the ancient world, from Shushan to Jerusalem, it would take you about 44 days if you walked non-stop for 8 hours a day.
We have in various museums some physical artifacts from Shushan during this time period, one of which is a clay tablet that describes the construction of this palace by King Darius. It reads, “This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another [part] 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed.”
We read in Esther 1:6 that in this palace there were, “pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.”
So the Bible gives us a description of the precious stones and materials used in this palace, and this fits with what Darius himself describes in this artifact saying, “from afar its ornamentation was brought.”
So what is today just ruins and a tourist attraction in Iran, used to be the center of imperial power that extended from India in the East, to Egypt and the Mediterranean in the West.
When it says in verse 1, “this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia,” the Hebrew word beneath Ethiopia is Cush, which was a land just south of Egypt in modern day Sudan.
So this was a vast empire, and Shushan was a convenient middle point between the Eastern and Western borders.
We learn from the book of Daniel that Daniel himself had a vision that placed him in Shushan, and this was about 12 years before Babylon fell to the kingdom of Persia. So while Daniel is serving in the Babylonian capital, God takes him in a vision to where the new capital shall be.
It says in Daniel 8:1-2, “In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.” And then God shows to Daniel the future wherein a ram with two horns arises and conquers. And an angel tells Daniel, “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia” (verse 20). And then after this ram, comes a goat which refers to Alexander the Great, the king of Greece.
And so God shows to Daniel while in Babylon, and through him to all the faithful, what shall take place in the years ahead. And this brings us to the more important and more difficult question of when exactly the story of Esther takes place?
Question 2 – When do the events of Esther happen in the biblical timeline?
The short answer is that Esther spans the years c. 519-509 BC, after the exile and return from Babylon, but before the walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt under Nehemiah. So while prophets like Malachi are still to come, Esther is the final story in the Old Testament that describes Israel outside of Jerusalem. And so both Jews and Christians have consistently looked to Esther as a kind of guide for living in an age of empires, especially empires that can be at times very hostile to Christians, and at other times very favorable.
Now because this time period in biblical history is one of the most confusing and unfamiliar for many Christians, I want to situate Esther within the broader biblical timeline. And because Esther stands as the culmination of many Old Testament plotlines, to study Esther is also to study many stories that came before. The book of Esther is consciously trying to resolve certain storylines and tensions that began way back in Genesis and Exodus.
So let us get the big picture of the Old Testament fresh in our heads.
For mnemonic purposes, we can divide the history of Israel into 5 basic eras.
1. The Era of Moses, which begins around 1,500 BC with the Exodus from Egypt and the birth of Israel as a nation. After Moses dies, Joshua takes the people into the promised land, and this leads to the second era…
2. The Era of Judges. During this eraIsrael tries to settle down in the promised land under various tribal rulers (12 Judges from Othniel to Samson). This time period, according to the Apostle Paul in Acts 13:20, runs for about 450 years. However, as we know from the book of Judges, this was a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes, and the result of this moral environment was in many cases lawlessness and a lack of unity amongst the twelve tribes. This created a desire amongst the populace for a king “like the nations” to rule over them. We read about this populace demand in 1 Samuel 8, “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” And thus, Saul is anointed and we began a third era…
3. The Era of Kings. By now it is about 1,000 years before the birth Christ, and 500 years after the death of Moses. We witness the height of Israel’s monarchy under David and Solomon and the building of God’s temple around 943 BC, but that glory is short-lived when Solomon commits idolatry and polygamy and this sets the table for civil war under his son Rehoboam, and from that point on, Israel and Judah become two separate kingdoms. The capital of Israel becomes Samaria and is ruled primarily by the tribe of Ephraim, while the capital of Judah (and part of Benjamin) remains in Jerusalem. So you have Israel in the north and Judah in the south, with two separate kings reigning over them.
If we look at the northern kingdom of Israel, we see that is was exclusively ruled by wicked and idolatrous kings (with Jehu being short reprieve), and so they are eventually conquered by Assyria in 722 BC. And thus, the northern kingdom only lasts for about 200 years.
The southern kingdom of Judah on the other hand fairs a bit better. That kingdom will run for another 100 years or so after their Northern brethren fall. And this was because there are at least 6 good kings who reign after Solomon’s death, but despite their various attempts at reform, the people are so wicked and the leadership so compromised, that they are eventually conquered by Babylon, taken into exile, and the temple at Jerusalem is burned to the ground around 586 BC. This is key and crucial date to remember: Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon around 586 BC.
And this begins the fourth era…
4. The Era of Exile.
It is during this time period that Jeremiah functions as a senior prophet working in Jerusalem. Two of his young seminary students are Ezekiel and Daniel (who were both born around the same time). And it is these two men that God sends ahead of his people into Babylon, to prepare a place for them.
So even prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Daniel has already been serving in the Babylonian court for 17 years. And Ezekiel has been seeing visions and teaching some of the captives in Babylon for 10 years.
And guess who else was amongst these early exiles to Babylon? We are told in Esther 2:6-7, that Mordecai was amongst this group, “Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.”
If we do the math and compare this with Jeremiah 52:29, we learn that this was around 597 BC. So Mordecai was likely a baby or a very young man at this stage.
So during this Era of Exile, you have Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, teaching the people how to live, survive, and even thrive under Babylonian rule.
Jeremiah is in the palace at Jerusalem. Daniel is in the palace at Babylon. And Ezekiel is amongst the captives at Babylon, and they are God’s threefold cord of prophets during this era.
Now if you were an Israelite living in this time period, what would faithfulness look like? What would prudence look like in an age of exile?
Well God tells them very explicitly what they are to do:
In Jeremiah 29 (written in 597 BC) it says, “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon…[Daniel and Ezekiel are recipients of this letter]. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace…For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” (Jer. 29:1, 4-7, 10-14)
So for the next 70 years, Jerusalem will lie in ruins taking its sabbath rest. And during that time, they are to build houses, get married, seek the peace of Babylon, and pray to God for Babylon. And then when those years are up, God is going to regather those who have been scattered. And this brings us to the days of Esther, and the fifth era of Israel’s history…
5. The Era of Restoration.
The Restoration Era begins with Cyrus’ decree in 537 BC, for the Jews to arise and return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple there.
The book of 2 Chronicles ends the same way the book of Ezra begins, with this royal decree: “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:2-4).
So the marching orders for Israel changes in this era under Persian rule. God’s people are called by Cyrus to rebuild the temple, restore Jerusalem, and return to the Lord with a whole heart.
God gave Israel 70 years of “timeout discipline” to think about their sins, to think about their apostasy, and to learn from Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, how they are to live when God ushers in this new era of restoration.
And this brings us to 537 BC, when the first wave of exiles returns to Jerusalem. And again we see that a now grown Mordecai is amongst them. He is at least 60 years old now.
It says in Ezra 2:1-2, “Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city; Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai…”
And so by now, Mordecai is an elder, a ruler, and he is amongst those governing officials of the Jews who heed Cyrus decree to go and rebuild the temple.
How does that reconstruction project go?
We learn from the book of Ezra that this work begins, but opposition arises, and so they stop building. They get the sacrificial altar built, and the foundation laid, but that’s about it.
Meanwhile, Daniel is almost 90 years old, and he has his final vision of what will take place between then and the time that Christ is born. And as these prophets from the Era of Exile are now old or dead (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel), there is a need for new prophets to arise.
And so in 520 BC, 16 years after the work stalled out in Jerusalem, God raises up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to get the Jews back to work.
Now sometime during that 16-year construction stall, Mordecai goes back to Persia. He returns to Shushan. The Bible never tells us exactly when or why he went back, all we know for sure is that when Esther becomes queen, there is Mordecai “in Shushan the palace.”
So here’s your first test of prudence, Why do you think Mordecai went back? What would be a good reason for doing? And what would be a bad or sinful reason for doing so?
There is no one right answer to this question since the Bible does not tell us, but it’s a good question to begin to enter the story and exercise your intellectual powers on.
Conclusion
To summarize the answers to our two questions, Where and When does Esther take place?
Esther takes place in Shushan the capital of Persia in the years 519-509 BC.
And more importantly, it takes place during the Era of Restoration, when the prophets Haggai and Zechariah are active in Jerusalem, and when the visions of Daniel and Ezekiel are starting to be fulfilled.
So as you seek to become a son or daughter of Issachar, remember that Jesus Christ is the font of all prudence, and as it says in Colossians 2:3 in Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
So give yourself wholly to Christ, and He shall make blessed. As it says in Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, And that seek him with the whole heart.”
May God seal this word within you. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Sermon: The Virtuous Church (Proverbs 31)

The Virtuous ChurchSunday, November 3rd, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Proverbs 31:10-31
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.
15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms.
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: Her candle goeth not out by night.
19She layeth her hands to the spindle, And her hands hold the distaff.
20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; Her clothing is silk and purple.
23Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27She looketh well to the ways of her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness.
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.
30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
Prayer
Father, please open our eyes to behold wondrous things from your law. We ask for the illumination of your Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Introduction
In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul says that marriage is a great mystery. And he says specifically that the one-flesh union of Husband and Wife, is a mystery that refers to Christ’s spiritual union with the Church. And therefore, just as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, so also husbands are to love their wives. And just as the church is commanded to submit to Christ as our Head, so also wives are commanded to submit to their husbands as head. Marriage is a great mystery that speaks of Christ and the Church.
Now for the last three weeks, we have been studying Proverbs 31 in its original historical context. And that means we have been emphasizing what a young King/Prince Lemuel ought to look for in a potential spouse. And so we said that this poem is in the very first instance, advice from a godly mother to her son.
“Do not give your strength to women,” she says in verse 3, and then in verses 10-31 she gives him a comprehensive vision for what a woman of virtue looks like.
So we’ve had three full sermons studying this poem verse by verse, and yet we would be neglecting the full Divine intention of this passage if we stopped here, and did not go further on to apply this passage to the most important wife that shall ever exist. And who is that wife? It is the Bride of Jesus Christ, namely, the Church.
The Bible begins with the marriage of Adam and Eve. And how does the Bible end? With the marriage of the Last Adam to the New Eve.
For as we heard in Revelation 21:2 it says, “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
This is how human history ends, with the Bride of Christ, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26), descending from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.
So the bride of Christ, the Christian Church, is the most important wife, because she is eternal. She is heavenly. She is God the Father’s chosen daughter. She is the one that Christ shed His blood to redeem and purchase for Himself. She is the temple the Holy Spirit indwells.
And so to treat Proverbs 31 as merely a portrait of exemplary Christian womanhood is to aim too low. Because if as Paul says, marriage is a great mystery that refers to Christ and the Church, then this model of the virtuous wife is also the model for what the one holy catholic and apostolic church shall be, and therefore we, as the church, should aspire to become this in the present.
So that is the approach we are going to take in this sermon. We are going to consider the spiritual or mystical sense of this poem as it refers to Christ’s Bride. And while we cannot give the full spiritual sense of every single verse (or else we would have 4 more sermons!), I am going to draw out a few examples of the spiritual sense, and then leave you to work on some of the sections I pass over.
Recall again the outline of this poem, but this time with the Church in mind:
Verses 10-12 describe the church’s value.
Verses 13-27 describe the church’s actions.
Verses 28-31 describe the church’s praiseworthiness.
So starting in verse 10…
Verse 10
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
We might restate this question as, “Who can find a virtuous church?” Where are the solid churches at in America? Who can find a virtuous body of believers who love what God loves and hate what God hates?
In the sea of idolatry that is these United States, how valuable is a faithful church in this apostate land?
The answer is, “far above rubies.”
Imagine the poverty of your own soul if all the faithful churches in America suddenly vanished.How much darker would our society become if all our lights were extinguished?
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone because there were not found 10 righteous men in that city. What then would be the fate of our nation, our cities and suburbs, if all the virtuous churches were removed?
It is easy to forget how blessed we are by the existence of not only our own particular church, but the many other virtuous churches in our region. Yes, we might have some doctrinal differences with some churches (even strong differences), but to find a church where the Word is taught, God is worshipped in spirit and in truth, and the people love one another as Christ commanded, that is a precious and invaluable treasure.
This question, “Who can find a virtuous church?” is essentially the same question that the Prophet Elijah once asked of God when he was being hunted down by wicked Jezebel.
Elijah says in 1 Kings 19:10, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
And what is God’s response? After a storm and wind and earthquake and fire, God speaks in a still small voice and says, “Anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king over Isael, and Elisha to be prophet after you…[and also] I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”
In other words, although Elijah felt like he was all alone in serving God, although he felt like the ungodly were in control and the righteous were going extinct, there were actually 7,000 other faithful men in Israel, and it was God who was still appointing the rulers of the nations.
Ahab and Jezebel were the wicked rulers Israel deserved, they were the King and Queen that God ordained to discipline his rebellious people, and as soon as the righteous cry out and the people repent, God is ready to send in a Jehu to destroy Jezebel.
When the righteous intercede and pray like Elijah, and the nation humbles itself in repentance, God isready to raise up reformers like Josiah to purify the land of idolatry and restore right worship in the land.
So while it may feel like there are no virtuous churches, and it may feel like the wicked are in control and have all the power, it is actually Jesus Christ who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and He still holds the hearts of the president, and the governor, and the judges, and the legislature in his hands like a stream, and he can turn them whithersoever he will (Pr. 21:1).
So what is your job as a member of the church, when the land is full of idolatry? What is within your control and your responsibility?
For starters, heed the words of 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” That’s the bare minimum.
It says further in Jude 1:20-23, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
So especially in days of national judgment, such as we are living in, when as it says in Romans 1, God gives people over to their sins, the church is to 1) keep herself pure, 2) pray fervently as Elijah did, and look for opportunities to show mercy and compassion by pulling people out of the fire.
And as we do this, we must not become proud as if we are the only faithful people or church around. No, there are far more than 7,000 virtuous saints and churches in the land. You might not know who they are, or where they are, but Christ will not suffer his bride to go extinct. Jesus promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her.
So yes, a virtuous church can be hard to find, but that is no excuse to complain or grumble. Instead, we must get to work. We must become the virtuous church that God desires. So how do we do this? The answer is given in the rest of this poem.
Verse 11-12
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
Who is the husband of the church? Jesus Christ. Can Jesus trust us to obey him? Can Jesus say about our church, “Christ Covenant has done me only good and no evil all the days of her life”? “Christ Covenant has faithfully represented me to the people of Centralia.”
The answer to that question can be objectively measured by what God’s Word says the church is supposed to do and be.
Are we loving one another?
Are we speaking the truth with kindness and seeking to build one another up and not tear one another down?
James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” Are we confessing our sins of envy and pride? Or are we haughty and ignorant of how ignoble our minds are?
Are we offering to God our bodies as living sacrifices unto Him?
Are we taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ?
Are we stewarding our gifts and not squandering them?
Are we living the Blessed life that Jesus speaks about in his sermon on the mount?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, the righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and so forth.
In sum, are we fulfilling our part of the Great Commission where Jesus says, we need to “observe/obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
If we wanted to take further inventory as a church of how we are doing, we could also read the seven letters that Jesus writes to the pastors and churches in Revelation 2-3 and then compare ourselves to what we find there.
We want to live in such a way that Christ can say of us, “My Bride is trustworthy, I have no fear of spoil. Christ Covenant does me good and not evil all the days of her life.”
Remember that when you were baptized, your last name became Christian, and therefore whatever you do, whether good or ill, reflects upon Christ.
Does your life make Jesus look as good and glorious as He is? Or are we giving people just cause to not follow Jesus, because our lives are just as unhappy and disordered as the rest of the world?
In Romans 2, the Apostle Paul rebukes those who boast in God’s law and yet break it saying, “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles” because of you.
The only offense we want to give to unbelievers, is the offense of the gospel, the offense that is Christ crucified and salvation by faith in His name and none other. It ought to be the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only true God that offends our neighbors, and not our bad living.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul rebukes the Corinthian Church for tolerating sins that would make the Gentiles blush. He says in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.”
And so one of the essential marks of a healthy church is that there is both government and discipline. A church that refuses to practice discipline is like a body without an immune system.
And so if we would be a chaste and holy bride for Jesus Christ, we must become chaste and holy in our personal conduct. That is the high and glorious calling that God wills for us. For chastity and holiness are also the surest path to experiencing true joy and true peace in the Holy Spirit.
To Summarize: we see in this opening section of Proverbs 31 that what makes the church valuable is that she is faithful, she is trustworthy, she is chaste and discrete, and she is all these things because she adores Christ her savior.
To be madly in love with God is the surest way to a holy and happy life. Psalm 112 says, “Happy is the man that fears the Lord and delights greatly in His commandments.”
So that is what makes the church valuable, what about the church’s actions?
And here I am going to pick up the pace a bit.
Verses 13-15
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
The Church is a busy place. And just as the virtuous wife clothes and feeds her household, so also the Apostle James says we are to do the same, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” (James 2:15-16).
And so for this reason God ordained that there be Deacons in the church who oversee this service. And it is not just the deacons who do this, but many others who work with willing hands to alleviate the physical needs both in the church and outside of it.
Recall Paul’s image in 1 Corinthians 12 of the church as a body with many different body parts. Who are the “willing hands” of the church?
They are you who seek out the wool and flax, the new and needy sheep, the raw materials that God wants to turn into something more glorious.
Some of you are more oriented towards serving those within the body. Building community. Tending to our own. Whereas some of you are more like the merchant’s ships. You want to bring in those from afar. You want some new spice in the church and so you invite your neighbors over for dinner, you like minister to unbelievers. You want to serve the broader community that does not yet know Christ.
All of these are good and important works, and we should thank God for all the different members and the gifts they bring. God has given us these diverse gifts to build up the whole body.
Problems arise in the church when we start to think that everyone is called to the exact same ministry. But that would be to abolish the body and to turn everyone into a hand, or a foot, which would just look silly.
Now if the Deacons are the ordained hands of the body, we might say that the Ruling Elders are God’s ordained eyes, and the Pastor is God’s ordained mouth.
In 1 Timothy 3 elders are called Bishops/Overseers, which translates the Greek ἐπισκοπή, that is one who looks from above.
And so the elders have embedded in their very name this special duty of oversight, of planning, of looking ahead, of taking inventory. We must look at our internal needs and health and also look at external threats and opportunities.
And so while the deacons are ministering to the physical needs of the Church, the elders have the special task of providing spiritual food and spiritual clothing to your souls.
This of course is what the Lord Jesus told the Apostle Peter to do in John 21, “Feed my sheep” x3!
And so my job as your pastor is to feed you the bread of heaven, the truth, to nourish you on the pure milk of the word.
To do as Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
What is this work of teaching but imitating the virtuous woman in verse 15, “She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.”
Our first and most important job as elders is to feed you God’s Word, and to cover you with prayer. That is the food and clothing the elders arise early to offer.
Verse 16
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
What is this work of the church but planting new churches/vineyards with the fruit of our hands.
Just as the virtuous wife considers a field and then buys it, so also the church weighs out whether we have enough resources to buy property, to invest in new ministries, to start new works in new places with the people who have blossomed here.
Notice the organic nature of her planting efforts. She uses good fruit that she already has to plant this new vineyard. We likewise want to plant churches with the healthy and good fruit we already have growing.
And just as the virtuous wife would have had to save and plan and consider a field long before she could buy it, so also our church must save and plan and consider now what fields God wants us to cultivate in the future.
We want to imitate the virtuous wife by planting vineyards in our own day that our great great grandchildren can drink the wine of.
Continuing in verses 17-25, the major theme is clothing and the making of various garments and coverings. And if we were to study out each of these details we would see that her work and materials are the same as what we find described in the construction of the tabernacle.
For example, it says in Exodus 26:1, “Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.”
And then in Exodus 28 it says of the priestly garments, “And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.”
So we have here portrayed the virtuous church adorning herself as a place for God to dwell and be exalted.
These same colors and fabrics get picked up in the Book of Revelation to describe God divorcing the Harlot of the Old Jerusalem and marrying the faithful New Jerusalem.
In Revelation 18:16-17 it says, “Alas, alas, that great city, That was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, And decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.”
And then we read in the following chapter, in Revelation 19:7-8, a description of the New Jerusalem, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
And so the story of Israel’s history is actually summed up by verse 30 which says, “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”
God betrothed Jerusalem to Himself and made her beautiful and prosperous, but she became proud and vain in her own beauty, she fell in love with herself, and then used that external beauty (the Temple, the priesthood, etc.) to deceive and seduce other nations to sin. She becomes a harlot.
And all the while, within that system of the Old Jerusalem, there were true saints. There were saints who actually feared the Lord and served Him, and it is that faithful remnant of Israel that God unites to the Gentiles in the Gospel era, and together they become the bride we see in Revelation 19. A New Jerusalem composed of Jews and Gentiles, arrayed in the fine linen of righteous deeds.
So fine linen and colored garments signify the beauty of worship at God’s sanctuary, the adornment of his house. And how is God worshipped and glorified? 1 Peter 3:4 tells us it is by the “hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”
So (to run through some of these verses) the virtuous church girds her loins with strength, she makes good merchandise, she extends her hands to the poor and needy, her candle does not go out at night, her heart is always awake to God, she is not afraid of the snow of persecution that tries to cool her love for God, and that is because all her household are clothed in scarlet, the blood of Christ, and as it says in Revelation 12:11, “they overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
This is how the church adorns her husband who sits as an elder in the gates. And not only is he an elder, he is Ancient of Days, He is Himself the gateway through which the righteous enter.
When the church opens her mouth, wisdom comes forth, the law of kindness is on her lips. She speaks peace to her children, and peace to the world, because she is married to the one who is the Prince of Peace, and as it says in Isaiah 9:7, “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”
And then finally, on the last day, God praises and rewards His faithful bride.
Verses 28-31
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a [church] that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
It says in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
To be a part of the church is to participate in a life of grace. The Christian life begins in grace, continues in grace, and ends with God graciously crowning us with glory for the things we did by His grace.
Where sin abounds in the church, grace abounds much more. And that is why there is no excuse for us to be an ugly church, a lazy church, an unfaithful church. Grace upon grace has been given to us by Christ, and if we use that grace well, we shall bear fruit for God, fruit that remains, works of love that God will praise us for in the gates of heaven.
May God present us to himself a glorious church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any blemish. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.