Here at Grace Church we are currently in a 6-week series through the book of Esther that we are calling “Once Upon A time…For Such A Time As This.” Though this book of the Bible never mentions the name of God, a title for God or even a pronoun referring to God, you can definitely see His fingerprints on every single page. This is a book that reminded the Jews back then who had not yet returned from exile, and followers of Jesus today, that God is always at work behind the scenes. We saw that two Sundays a go as we studied through chapter one (you can read my blogs overviewing that chapter that I posted last Thursday and Friday, July 9 and 10) and we saw it again last Sunday as we moved through chapter two and into the first portion of chapter three which I will overview with my next three postings.
The first verse of chapter two begins with the words “after these things” which suggests a four year period in between the close of chapter one and the beginning of chapter two. Remember, that the way you follow the timeline in the book of Esther is to follow what year it is in the reign of the king, which at that time was King Xerxes. In chapter one we see that the story opens in the third year of his reign (1:3). But in 2:16 we now see that it is the seventh year of his reign. What happened during the 4-year gap in between these opening chapters of the book? History would confirm that during this time Xerxes led Persia in an invasion of Greece but was soundly defeated.
As Xerxes returns to his palace he is most likely wanting and needing the solace of a wife. But as we saw in chapter one, Xerxes had Queen Vashti deposed of her position and so he returns to a palace with no queen. Verse one telling us that the king was "remembering Vashti" shows his having second thoughts about the decision he had made regarding her. But because it was a decision written in the law of the Medes and Persians (as seen in 1:19), it could not be over turned. This wasn’t simply a need for sex. Most likely, this king had a harem full of women that could provide that. This was a need for more than that. This was a need for companionship.
You have heard the saying, “If mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Well in that day the saying could have easily been, “If the king ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” And the king was not happy. He had lost the battle. He had no queen. His advisors realize that something must be done. They can’t change the results of the recent lost battle, but they can do something about the king’s need for a queen. As a result, they plan for all the finest young virgins (unmarried women) to be given extensive beauty treatments and then taken before the king so he could pick one as his queen (v2-4).
Beginning in verse five, we are now introduced to Mordecai, a Jew whose family had been brought into captivity under King Nebuchadnezzar (v5-6). Mordecai had raised his younger orphan cousin (v7). Her Hebrew name was Hadassah and her Persian name was Esther, meaning “star”. The Bible is very specific in telling us that she was extremely beautiful (v7) which would make her a candidate for this upcoming beauty contest to see who would be the next queen. In tomorrow's blog posting we will continue the story.
The first verse of chapter two begins with the words “after these things” which suggests a four year period in between the close of chapter one and the beginning of chapter two. Remember, that the way you follow the timeline in the book of Esther is to follow what year it is in the reign of the king, which at that time was King Xerxes. In chapter one we see that the story opens in the third year of his reign (1:3). But in 2:16 we now see that it is the seventh year of his reign. What happened during the 4-year gap in between these opening chapters of the book? History would confirm that during this time Xerxes led Persia in an invasion of Greece but was soundly defeated.
As Xerxes returns to his palace he is most likely wanting and needing the solace of a wife. But as we saw in chapter one, Xerxes had Queen Vashti deposed of her position and so he returns to a palace with no queen. Verse one telling us that the king was "remembering Vashti" shows his having second thoughts about the decision he had made regarding her. But because it was a decision written in the law of the Medes and Persians (as seen in 1:19), it could not be over turned. This wasn’t simply a need for sex. Most likely, this king had a harem full of women that could provide that. This was a need for more than that. This was a need for companionship.
You have heard the saying, “If mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Well in that day the saying could have easily been, “If the king ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” And the king was not happy. He had lost the battle. He had no queen. His advisors realize that something must be done. They can’t change the results of the recent lost battle, but they can do something about the king’s need for a queen. As a result, they plan for all the finest young virgins (unmarried women) to be given extensive beauty treatments and then taken before the king so he could pick one as his queen (v2-4).
Beginning in verse five, we are now introduced to Mordecai, a Jew whose family had been brought into captivity under King Nebuchadnezzar (v5-6). Mordecai had raised his younger orphan cousin (v7). Her Hebrew name was Hadassah and her Persian name was Esther, meaning “star”. The Bible is very specific in telling us that she was extremely beautiful (v7) which would make her a candidate for this upcoming beauty contest to see who would be the next queen. In tomorrow's blog posting we will continue the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting "FOLKS LISTEN"! Once your comment has been approved by the author it will be displayed.