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When Chauvinism Confronts the Domino Theory SCRIPTURE: Esther 1 SPEAKER: Michael P

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When Chauvinism Confronts the Domino Theory SCRIPTURE: Esther 1 SPEAKER: Michael P 1 SERIES: God Incognito, as Seen in the Book of Esther SERMON: When Chauvinism Confronts the Domino Theory SCRIPTURE: Esther 1 SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus DATE: June 20, 2010 Today we are beginning a new series on a much-neglected book of the Bible, the Book of Esther. There are reasons why it has been neglected (which I will enumerate in a few moments), but no excuses. Many evangelical preachers and commentators never touch it. I regret to say that during my 40 years of preaching and teaching, this is the first time I have tackled Esther with any thoroughness. I think I did something with it on Sunday nights for a few weeks back in the 70's, but it wasn’t anything that deserved to be called “preaching.” But over the past few months that I have been studying Esther, I have come to see it in a whole new light. I am actually quite excited about this study. I must warn you that I am going to share with you some conclusions that may well challenge what you learned in Sunday School or have always thought. For example, I do not believe Esther and Mordecai, the principal characters in the story, are great heroes of the faith or shining examples of godliness. They are heroes in the story, but not of the faith. Esther is no Daniel (or even a Ruth), and Mordecai is no Shadrach, Meshach or Obednego. Rather I see both Esther and Mordecai as secret, compromising believers who have barely maintained their cultural Jewish faith, much less a strong commitment to God. They show courage but they are not particularly courageous for God. Yet God uses them anyway to accomplish His purposes. Introduction and background Two women, two books . Two weeks ago we completed a month-long journey through The Book of Ruth. As we noted, Ruth is the story of a Gentile girl who was taken in by the Jews and married a Jew. Esther, on the other hand, is the story of a Jewish girl who was taken in by the Gentiles and married a Gentile. But neither of these stories is really about their respective heroines. Rather both are ultimately about the Bible’s larger story line of God’s covenant to protect and redeem His people despite their sin and disobedience. Specifically the purpose of Esther is to show how hundreds of thousands of Jews, living in exile in the Persian Empire, were saved from extermination by the hand of God, and to motivate the Jewish people to remember God’s providence perpetually through a feast known as Purim. If Ruth is a story in which the providence of God is often hidden behind the ordinary events of life, how much more is that true of Esther! God’s name is not mentioned even once in the ten chapters of Esther! i That is why I came up with the title for this series: God Incognito: As Seen in the Book of Esther . There’s an intentional play on words there. He is incognito in one sense, yet clearly seen in another. There is no mention of Him, yet His providence and grace and mercy are prominently on display. His fingerprints are everywhere. 2 Both Ruth and Esther point us to Christ as the One in whom God’s grace and mercy ultimately comes to aliens and exiles, allowing them to become members of His family, a family which He will go to any lengths to protect. (By the way, I so appreciated Josh’s powerful message on adoption last Sunday, and find it interesting that both Ruth and Esther were adopted–Ruth unofficially by her mother-in-law, and Esther officially by her cousin Mordecai after the death of her parents). Authorship, date, and location. The Author of the book of Esther is unknown, but the best guess of scholars is that perhaps Ezra or Nehemiah, contemporaries of Esther, wrote it. The time of writing is also unknown, but the time of the events recorded in the book is clear. They fit chronologically between the 6 th and 7 th chapters of Ezra, covering a period of ten years, from 483 to 473 B.C. Xerxes (called Ahasuerus in some versions) was the king of Persia during this entire period. He had an extensive empire, with 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. The location is present-day Iran. Unusual facts about the Book of Esther : 1. Esther is one of only two biblical books named after a woman. 2. There is no mention of God in the Book of Esther, and also no mention of the Law of Moses, sacrifices, worship, Jerusalem, the temple, or prayer. 3. The New Testament does not quote or allude to Esther. The only other books of which this is true are Ezra, Nehemiah, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. 4. Esther is the only OT book not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of the 40,000 inscribed fragments discovered, some 500 books have been reconstructed, but nothing from Esther. 5. For the first seven centuries of the Christian church, not one commentary was produced on Esther. Neither Luther nor Calvin wrote a commentary on it (and it is the only biblical book they ignored). In fact, Martin Luther actually denounced the book, saying, “I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees (an apocryphal book), and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all, for they have too many heathen unnaturalities.” ii 6. With the exception of Xerxes, no other person in the book has been historically verified. Now my reason for mentioning these rather surprising facts is not to create doubt in your minds as to whether Esther belongs in the Bible. Rather it is to be honest with the facts and to help explain why the book has, by-and-large, been neglected. But the fact is, some neglected things are very valuable, and Esther is one of those. I’m convinced that Martin Luther must have had a bad case of indigestion the day he made his observations about the Book of Esther. We won’t even meet the two principal characters of our story today–that will have to wait until 3 next week. But we are going to lay the groundwork for their introduction. The title of my sermon this morning is original. (I might as well admit it, because no one else would claim it). I hope its meaning becomes clear as we read the first chapter of The Book of Esther. This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush: At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present. For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king's palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest, who were in the citadel of Susa. The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king's liberality. By the king's command each guest was allowed to drink in his own way, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished. Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes. On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas–to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. But when the attendants delivered the king's command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger. Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times and were closest to the king—Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom. "According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?" he asked. "She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her." Then Memucan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, "Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, 'King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.' This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen's conduct will respond to all the king's nobles in the same way.
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