How many of you guys are familiar with Fiddler
on the Roof? Okay, good. This won't be shocking
to you. It is one of my all -time favorite theater
productions. I've seen it multiple times in multiple
places with all kinds of different casts. I've
watched the classic, you ready, 1971 movie. For
you young 'uns, 1971 movie, many times. The music.
The choreography, the humor involved, it just
kills me. The setting, a small Jewish village
in Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century,
and all the real -life themes that are sort of
woven throughout the story. You have challenging
family dynamics. You have generational divides.
You have this effort to try to preserve traditions
in the middle of societal change. And of course,
sort of looming in the background of the story
is the precarious nature of Jewish life in a
world of displacement and a world of heartache.
And if you're like me, I never expected this
to happen, but as I get older, I have begun to
identify with the lead character, Tevye, the
papa. I didn't expect that to happen. Much of
the story revolves around how he navigates the
non -traditional marriages of his daughters,
who, of course, don't value tradition in the
same way that he does. They just want to do their
own thing their own way, and that can be disconcerting
for a papa. So his oldest daughter ignores the
traditional path of using the village matchmaker,
and she makes her own match and marries her childhood
sweetheart, who is a very poor tailor. Then the
second daughter moves even further from tradition
when without asking permission at all from the
papa, she chooses to marry a young Jewish man
who is a radical revolutionary who is destined
for trouble. And finally, his third daughter
does the unthinkable. She falls in love with
a Gentile and runs away with him, a complete
violation of everything that Tevye stands for.
And it's at that important turning point in the
production that his sort of lighthearted, funny
nature begins to shift towards despair. And that
leads me to why I'm sharing that this morning.
Early in the play, there's a scene where the
family gathers around the Shabbat table, and
as Tevye's wife lights the candle, she sings
a prayer over her daughters. And here's how it
sounds. It says, may you be like Ruth and like
Esther. May you be deserving of praise. Strengthen
them, O Lord. Here it is. And keep them from
the stranger's ways. May you be like Ruth and
like Esther. That's the surprising part of this
prayer. Which, by the way, further research found
out that is not the traditional Shabbat prayer
in most Jewish homes. But in the play, they name...
Ruth and Esther, which is ironic because both
of those women married outside of their ethnic
identity. Ruth, a Moabite woman, marries Boaz,
an Israelite, and Esther, a Jew, marries Xerxes,
a pagan king. Now you might excuse Ruth because
at least she converts to Judaism, right? But
how do you explain Esther? Is this a prayer that
you would pray over your daughter? May you be
like Esther. I'm not so sure. So let's find out.
Grab your Bibles. Let's go to Esther chapter
2. By the way, do you guys need any more historical
context on this book? That's a joke. You now
have two 55 -minute sermons worth of historical
context from the last two Sundays. And by the
way, if you missed either one of those, you should
catch up and listen to them. It's important for
the rest of the series. You can listen to them
on Spotify or YouTube. Also, I posted the slides,
the visual slides that go with those two sermons.
which will be super helpful as you listen, and
those are on the All Church group in the Resources
tab. That will help a great deal. So I'm not
going to rehash any of those details this morning.
I promised I wouldn't go back into it. We should
all be up to speed at this point about who the
characters are in this drama and why they are
in Susa, why they are there, the royal capital
of Persia, circa 480 B .C. That's what's going
on. So we're going to focus our attention on
verses 8 through 18 this morning. But I want
to go back up to verse 1. Let's read this whole
thing in context so that we're getting the flow
of the narrative. So verse 1, after these things,
and that is after the events of chapter 1, and
after Xerxes' failed invasion of Greece, after
these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus
had subsided, he remembered Vashti. and what
she had done and what had been decreed against
her. So I mentioned this last week after returning
from Greece and hearing that his forces had been
defeated on the field at the Battle of Plataea.
With that humiliation now weighing heavily on
Xerxes, he is looking for a way to cheer himself
up. And in this depressed state, how many guys
have ever been depressed and you thought about
an old flame? I mean, it happens, right? In this
depressed place, he begins to remember his beloved
former queen, Vashti. But remember, she had publicly
defied him years earlier. But you get a sense
here that he's longing for her and maybe longing
for better times in the past. So you can almost
picture him sitting on his golden throne in this
massive, glorious palace, but still feeling very
much alone. feeling the sting of defeat on the
battlefield and now a sense of loneliness too.
But he can't go back on time. Remember, upon
the counsel of his princes, he had passed legislation
that could not be retracted. Vashti was a former
queen and nothing was going to change that. And
so with his spirits in the dumps, his servants
come to him with a plan to cheer him up. Verse
2. And the king's attendants who served him said,
let beautiful young virgins be sought for the
king. So there you go. Does this not give us
some insight? These servants know the king and
they know this is going to cheer him up. But
how do you go about finding these women? Verse
three, let the king appoint overseers in all
the provinces of his kingdom. Remember, there
were 127 provinces. This is a big search. all
the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather
every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of
Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hege,
the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women,
and let their cosmetics be given to them. So
that's the plan. All these officials are going
to find all the most beautiful women in their
particular province and make sure they get handed
over to the chief eunuch who will help them get
prepared for meeting the king. Verse 4, then
let the young lady who pleases the king be queen
in place of Vashti. And the matter pleased the
king. And he did accordingly. Now, what's interesting
about this is we know historically how ancient
Near East kings chose their wives. And it's a
time -honored tradition across all cultures and
all periods of time. You go out and you seek
a wife who is going to strengthen your rule.
And the best way to do that is to marry, pick
the daughter of a noble family in the kingdom
in order to build an alliance. That strengthens
your power. So the fact that Xerxes doesn't consider
this, but goes straight to the bottom with this,
he listens to his servants when they suggest
this kind of Miss Persia pageant show, and he
agrees to that, it tells you about his ego. And
it tells you about his lack of wisdom and probably
something about his lustful desires as well.
By the way, something I should point out historically,
I wondered if I should talk about this, but we're
gonna pass over this multiple times, so I might
as well just get it out there. What is a eunuch?
I may have assumed that people know that historically,
but that may not be the case. So without getting
graphic or going too deep into the details, a
eunuch was a castrated male servant. Most units
in the ancient world were foreign men who would
be captured in war and taken as slaves, and then
they would set aside the most trustworthy of
these men, castrate them, and then train them
for service in the king's palace. And so there's
an obvious benefit to this, right? Their condition
made them perfect for supervising the king's
harem. and for guarding, being the gatekeepers
of the royal bedrooms. And generally, eunuchs
were involved in all the most private affairs
of the king and his family. And it's interesting,
even though these men were most often foreigners,
history is replete with stories of eunuchs who
became very powerful, very influential, because
they're on the inside of all the palace intrigue
that happened in that kind of a culture. And
this guy, Hege, is... is clearly the chief eunuch
for the king. So he's a powerful man, and you
have to know that going into the story. So verse
five, now there was at the citadel in Susa a
Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Yair,
the son of Shemi, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem
with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah,
king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king
of Babylon, had exiled. Now that's a reference
back to his great -grandfather Kish. Kish was
the one taken out of Babylon, and now we're several
generations down the line with Mordecai. So let's
talk about Mordecai. And once again, I came up
with some AI images for you guys. Because I like
having faces. Get a face so that you can sort
of picture what this looks like. Yes, I have
an Esther. It's coming up. So just take a deep
breath. All right. So notice how he is called
in verse 5, a Jew. And this is what he's going
to be called throughout the story of Esther,
which is... Most Israelites, most Jews are called
by the father or son of so -and -so. But all
throughout this book, he's going to be called
Mordecai the Jew, which means he's being described
as a member of the diaspora. That's really important
to know. And listen, this is a unique identification
to this period of Old Testament history. Maybe
you've noticed this before. Maybe not. Maybe
you've read right past it. But this particular
ethnic group, this chosen nation that God picks,
they're called different things throughout the
Bible. Have you noticed this? At first they're
called Hebrews, named after the language that
they speak. And then in Genesis 32, Jacob, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Jacob is renamed what? Yisrael.
And from that point forward, this same people
group who were Hebrews are now called Yisraelites,
right? But now when we get to this period, the
period of the exile and the return, they're called
Jews. Now why? It's simply a shorthand for Judeans,
people that come from the land of Judah. Now,
you may never have thought of that before. Like,
why are people called Jews today? Because they
come from Judah. Remember, the 10 tribes of the
north had been conquered and scattered and ethnically
cleansed out of existence. All that remained
were the two tribes in the south from the land
of Judah. So anybody from this ethnic people
group today are referred to as Jews. So that's
Mordecai. His family had been taken from Jerusalem
into exile in Babylon, and as part of the people
of Judah, some had gone back to the land, but
Mordecai had not. Okay, so that's just a little,
I can't help it. A little more historical context
for you. Okay, now I mentioned this in passing
last Sunday. We're gonna find out that Mordecai.
held some kind of official position there at
the citadel in Susa. We're not told exactly what
he does, but it's said that he is sitting at
the king's gate, and that's important. In ancient
Near East cities, men who sat at the gate were
the most respected men of the land. That is where...
Commercial transactions took place. At the gate
is where judicial matters were often settled.
So scholars have suggested that Mordecai might
have been somehow involved in the judicial system
of Persia in some way. So he's an important man.
You should know that. Now look at verse 7. He
was bringing up Hadassah. That is Esther, his
uncle's daughter, or as I love how you guys reasoned
with me together in the sermon, that's a cousin,
right? An older cousin, probably a solid, you
know, almost generation above Esther. So his
uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother.
Now the young lady was beautiful of form and
face, and when her father and her mother died,
Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So let's
talk about Hadassah, her Hebrew name. which means
myrtle. And so this beautiful flowering shrub
that grows in the Middle East and up in Galilee
and even into Iran where the story takes place,
that is what she is named for. Her Persian name,
Esther, mentioned this last Sunday, probably
comes from the root word Ishtar, which is connected
with the Mesopotamian fertility goddess or goddess
of beauty, Ishtar, which is so interesting. Now,
this is so funny. After church last Sunday, I
went to talk to our resident expert on Orthodox
Judaism, Yael. And she hates when I do this to
her, but thank you for letting me do this. And
she mentioned something to me I'd never heard
before. She said, as I was growing up in an Orthodox
Jewish home, we were told that Esther's name,
even though it's a Persian name, has a crossover
meaning into Hebrew. And so I looked it up. I
did the research this week, and she's not wrong.
That shouldn't be a surprise. She's not wrong.
There is a crossover meaning in Hebrew. There
is a Hebrew tradition that says the name Esther,
though it's Persian, is linked to the Hebrew
word sather, which means, you ready, to hide
or to conceal. And it's a word you'll find 82
times in the Old Testament. And if you look at
the two, The two words and listen to them, you
may be able to see and hear the connection, Sather
and Esther. Remember, biblical Hebrew is a language
of consonants. And so both words are built upon
the same consonants, S -T -R, Samech, Tav, Resh.
The only difference is you have Esther gets an
Aleph at the front of that. But they appear to
have the same root. Now, here's the interesting
connection in all this. Sather means hide or
conceal, and that's exactly what Esther does
throughout most of this story. She hides her
Jewish identity. And not only that, as we've
already talked about, this book is famous for
not explicitly mentioning God's name, suggesting
that his presence is also. hidden or concealed
from the reader. So there's all kinds of interesting
connections here, both in Persian and in Hebrew.
So who was Esther? What do we know about her?
Well, first of all, everybody likes to speculate
about her age, but we don't know. We don't know
how old she was at this time. Is it possible
she was a teenager? Culturally, yes, it is possible
that she was a teenager at this point. But if
you look at Talmudic tradition, they like to
talk about her being quite a bit older, even
up to the age of 40. So we just don't know for
sure. But one thing we are told is that she was
an orphan. We're not told how, but both of her
parents died. There's no mention of siblings,
so she's left in the care of this older cousin,
which, by the way, was incredibly important to
her life because in the ancient Near East, young
women without male protection are not going to
survive for long. They are going to end up in
a very bad place. So it's important that Mordecai
comes to her rescue. So here's a girl, young
girl, who we can assume has gone through a measure
of suffering. And as we know by our own lives,
sometimes suffering is what shapes us. It shapes
our personalities and our character, and I think
it did with Esther. One gift that we're also
told about is that she was given by God physical
beauty. But we shouldn't limit her attractiveness
just to what we see on the outside. What we're
going to see as we work through this story is
that Esther has this ability to earn the favor
of everybody she comes into contact with. It's
very interesting. We'll see it over and over
again. So the best way to understand it, I think,
is she has a measure of humility and submissiveness
that sets her apart from other women. And by
the way, these are the things that God often
uses in his people to accomplish his purposes,
right? Both suffering and what comes out of suffering.
Be that humility, submissiveness, whatever it
might be. These are the things that God often
uses. So the story goes on in verse 8. So it
came about when the command and decree of the
king were heard and many young ladies were gathered
to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hege,
that Esther was taken to the king's palace into
the custody of Hege, who was in charge of the
women. So we're getting this reinforced idea
that this guy who takes charge of the women is
very important and very powerful. So officials
from every one of the provinces of this vast
Persian empire scoured the land for beautiful
and fitting young women, and they escort them
to the capital of Susa for inspection. And here's
where we have to consider one of the most controversial
questions in the entire book of Esther. Look
at the language here in verse 8. Many young ladies
were gathered to Susa. What does it mean? Does
it mean they were captured? Does it mean that
they were forced against their will to come to
Susa? Could it mean that they volunteered to
be part of this pageant? Or is it a mixed bag?
Maybe some volunteered, but others were actually
grabbed and taken away against their will. And
this obviously matters because Esther is a Jewish
woman. And being gathered into this pageant is
going to require her to violate a whole number
of Torah commandments, which we'll get to in
just a moment. Now, I explained this last week.
I'll say it again. Historical narratives often
don't give us all the details we really want
to have, right? Because why? Because the details
aren't the important part of the story. But this
one seems pretty important because it goes to
Esther's character. So I'm going to give you
my opinion on this without being dogmatic. And
I could be wrong on this. There are scholars
on both sides of the debate. But to me, the language
here leans toward the idea that Esther was chosen.
Not that she volunteered because she had some,
you know, her sights set on becoming queen, that
she was chosen and taken. I don't think she's
a social climber that really has said, hey, that's
where I want to be in the citadel at Susa. And
I say that because the Hebrew verb here used
for gathered, kavatz, has a whole range of meaning.
Yes, it can mean gathered, it can mean assembled,
but it can also mean to be grasped or to be collected.
even taken away. So there's a range of meaning
here. In the Greek Septuagint, which is helpful
for people like me because I'm better at Greek
than Hebrew, the translators use the verb sunago
and it's written in the passive form. What that
tells me is the author is subtly trying to indicate
this was a royal command that had to be obeyed.
She didn't have a choice. At least some of the
women that were gathered to Susa and maybe Esther.
Did not have a choice. They were simply collected
and brought to the city. Again, there's different
opinions on this. Now, I still have questions.
The more I read this this week, the more questions
came to my mind. And a lot of them about Mordecai.
I hold him more responsible than I do Esther
because he's the guardian. He's the man. And
he's going to have more power in this situation.
He's an official of the kingdom. So was Mordecai
involved in Esther being discovered and selected?
Is it possible that he actually approved of that,
knowing how beautiful she was? Or as her guardian,
did he hide her? I mean, right? Think about it.
Dads, dads, you have a beautiful young daughter,
and the knock on the door comes. Do you hide
your daughter? Do you protect her in that moment?
Did Mordecai try to do that? We're just not told.
But if Mordecai has any love for God's word,
he would have tried to prevent Esther from being
gathered into this pageant. On the other hand,
if you take the negative view, and some scholars
do, that Mordecai is a social climber, he was
the one saying, hey, I've got a beautiful adopted
daughter. You should consider her for this. But
that's something that we just don't know. But
I have questions. No question about it. Here's
the thing. Consider the criteria for the new
queen. How is she gonna be chosen? This is not
like Miss America where the women come out in
formal gowns and then swimsuits and they do an
interview in front of a panel of judges. This
one is much, much different, right? The criteria
for this pageant is pleasing just one man, the
king, and to please him in every way. We'll get
to this later, but that includes sexually. So
that's coming, just so that you know. Look at
verse nine. Look at how Esther now deals with
the king's eunuch. Now the young lady pleased
him, that's Haggai, and found favor with him.
So he quickly provided her with cosmetics and
food, gave her seven choice maids from the king's
palace, and transferred her and her maids to
the best place in the harem. Now, as you read
that word harem, don't be confused. The Hebrew
word there is just the standard word for house.
So what they're talking about when they say harem
are the women's apartments, the women's residences
there within the palace structure. But this verse
gives us insight into Esther's character. By
the way, again, there's a range of opinions on
the reason behind why she built this relationship
with Hege. Those who prefer to see her in a negative
light say, okay, see, here she was. She's a conniving
woman who's aiming to become queen, so she took
it upon herself to sort of manipulate this eunuch,
this man, in order to get an advantage. But I
think that is way over the top. I don't see that
at all. I think that reads far too much into
the text. Esther just seems to have an effect
on people. including, we'll find out, on the
king. Everywhere she goes, she finds favor with
people. And listen, this isn't just outside beauty.
Do we not know beautiful women who are completely
unlikable? Yes, we do. So this is not just about
physical beauty. There's more going on here.
That is not Esther. She seems to combine physical
attractiveness with this sort of gracious, demure
demeanor that draws people to her. That's not
to suggest that it's out of the question that
she would develop a strategy to make friends
with Hege so that using her charm and her demeanor
in order to sort of get an advantage over the
other women, that's possible. And I'm gonna give
you a controversial take on this. Think about
this. If you've been gathered into this pageant
and you've chosen to submit to it without resisting,
would it not be the wisest thing to win? The
pageant rather than lose? Now, hold that thought
because as we go along, you might agree with
that. But if you've chosen to be gathered and
you're like, I'm not going to push back against
this. I'm going to go through the process. It
probably makes more sense to win than to lose.
Hold that thought. Ultimately, what we can say
is that this favor that Esther won from this
eunuch. Comes from the sovereign hand of God.
He is at work behind the scenes, right? I know
he's hidden, concealed, whatever you want to
say, but he is at work even in building that
relationship between Esther and the eunuch. And
yes, Esther now has an advantage, right? Think
about that. She's just been given the best apartment
in the complex. She's been given all the food
and all the cosmetics she needs. And she's been
given seven assistants to help her in that process.
That's pretty incredible. Now, I'm going to read
verses 10 and 11, but I'm going to save my commentary
for the end because this is very controversial
as well. Look at verse 10. Esther did not make
known her people or her kindred. She did not
disclose her Jewishness, for Mordecai had instructed
her that she should not make them known. So it's
Mordecai's decision. Every day Mordecai walked
back and forth in front of the court of the harem
to learn how Esther was and how she fared. Now,
back to the harem, verse 12, we get insight into
the pageant process. Verse 12, now when the turn
of each lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus,
after the end of her 12 months under the regulations
for women, For the days of their beautification
were completed as follows. You ready? Six months
with oil of myrrh and six months with spices
and the cosmetics for women. This is the ultimate
spa treatment, right? This is a full year of
doing nothing but making yourself more beautiful
just for one night with the king. Incredible.
But don't read past what appears to be, it looks
like a simple phrase, but it's loaded with meaning.
It says, when each young lady went into the king's
chambers. That is exactly what the language infers.
And that's important. And here's how they would
go in. Verse 13, the young lady would go into
the king in this way. Anything that she desired
was given her to take with her from the harem
to the king's palace. So catch this now. She
goes through a year's worth of beautification.
And then at the end of that, her name gets called
and she can choose any clothing to wear. She
can choose any jewelry she wants, any perfume
she wants, anything that she thinks might help
her win the prize, she can take into the king's
chambers. And the goal was that Xerxes would
remember her name in the morning. That's the
goal. Verse 14, in the evening she would go in
and in the morning she would return to what?
The second harem, hold that thought. To the custody
of Shah Ashgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in
charge of what? The concubines. She would not
again go into the king unless the king delighted
in her and she was summoned by name. So there's
the catch. There's the catch. If any of you ladies
were thinking, a year of a spa treatment. I could
get used to that. I want you to see the bad news
here. What is the consequence of not winning
the pageant? You get one night with the king
and in the morning you're sent away, never to
return unless he wants to see you again. That
would put you in the second harem. That is the
other women's quarters. So the women being prepared
and the women who have spent a night with the
king and are now shoved off into the concubine
quarters. Now what is a concubine? Well, legally,
a concubine is considered a wife of the king,
but of a lesser rank, meaning she had to be available
to the king upon his request, but she has zero
power whatsoever and zero say or share in the
household. The worst part was this. These women
were basically made widows. You don't get a husband
of your own. You don't get to go back home. To
where you came from and you don't get a husband
of your own. You stay in the concubine's quarters
until the king calls upon you or not. Sad. So
this entire scene, everything that we've read
so far, the banquets in chapter one, this pageant
in chapter two, this is a disgusting, sordid
spectacle. It is an outflow of the fall of the
garden. A sad tale of how ancient cultures operated
where men are measured by wealth and power and
women by their beauty and their sexuality. It's
all on display here in these two chapters. Now,
with that context, how is Esther gonna handle
the situation when her name gets called? Verse
15 tells us. Now, when the turn of Esther, the
daughter of Avahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who
had taken her as his daughter, came to go in
to the king, Listen now, she did not request
anything except what Haggai, the king's eunuch,
who was in charge of the women, advised. And
Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw
her. Okay, there's that same statement reiterated
for us. That's the author making sure you understand
she's getting more favor from those who see her.
Now again, depending on who you ask, the choice
that Esther makes here either proves that she
is just clever, she did whatever it took to win
the pageant, or In my opinion, she just shows
a sense of humility and wisdom here. This is
just plain smart, isn't it? Right? As she's deciding
about how to present herself to the king, she
has a choice. She could rely on her own opinion,
her own wisdom, and do what makes sense to her,
or she could go to this man, Haggai, and say,
you tell me what I should do. After all, who
knows the king better than the chief eunuch?
exactly what he likes, exactly what he wants.
And so she asks him and does what he says. And
I'll say it again. If you've chosen to submit
to the pageant and not resist with the consequences
being as bad as they are of losing, would it
not be the wisest thing to go ahead and try to
win? Okay. Verse 16. This is complex, isn't it?
There's a lot going on. Verse 16. So Esther was
taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in
the 10th month, which is the month of Teveth,
in the seventh year of his reign. I know that
the author here is not giving us the gory details.
It's sort of sanitized for the reader, but make
no mistake, as adults, we know what's going on
here. She sleeps with the king. Now, my bride
this morning. Bless her heart. She's like, is
it possible that she didn't sleep with the king?
Right, yeah, she's like, is it possible that
nothing happened in the chambers because God
protected Esther? And look, all things are possible
with God, amen? But it's unlikely. We'll just
leave it at that. Love you, sweetie. Verse 17,
the king loved Esther more than all the women.
And here's the same language again. She found
favor and kindness with him. This brutal king,
based on who she was, she found favor and kindness
with him more than all the virgins so that he
set the royal crown on her head and made her
queen instead of Vashti. We'll stop there. The
Jewish, Orphan becomes queen of the greatest
empire of that day. What a turn of events. And
that's just the first of many. So the stage is
now really set for the rest of the story. As
we close here, let me just analyze a few key
issues and we'll draw some parallels in our lives.
Let's come back to that verse I sort of skipped
over. Mordecai's motives and choices. Back to
verse 10. Why does he... carefully instruct Esther
not to disclose her ethnic and religious identity?
Such an important question, and it's frustrating
that the author doesn't give us the reason, right?
It forces us to kind of speculate a bit. Again,
we can't be dogmatic because we just can't know,
but there's some things that we can consider.
First of all, were the Jews a minority people
living under the thumb of Persia? Yes. Yes, they
were. Were they potentially at risk of being
persecuted if those in power found out that they
were Jewish? Maybe. We can't say for sure. Again,
the Persian kings were very good to the Jewish
people, but it's possible, right? And listen,
going back to Fiddler on the Roof, Jewish people
have always struggled and suffered in the diaspora,
in persecution. In every time period, everywhere
they've gone, there has been hardship and persecution.
So it's almost like you can't say, well, Mordecai
just is clueless here. He's not naive to the
fact that that could be true. He's on the inside
of the Persian empire. But we simply don't know
what effect Esther's Jewishness would have had
on her chances of being gathered into the harem
or whether it would have made a difference between
her winning or losing the pageant. We just don't
know. But it does seem clear based on the text
that Mordecai's at least concerned enough about
her Jewishness to say, you know what, let's keep
this on the down low. At least for now, let's
keep this on the down low. And I do think it's
possible also that Esther's Jewish identity being
discovered might force his identity to come to
light. And that could be a problem. Remember,
he's an official in the palace. So if they find
out she's Jewish, they make that connection that
he's Jewish, is that somehow going to affect
his job? So is he thinking about himself? as
he's thinking about Esther, possibly. But all
of this is another example of what we talked
about last Sunday. As descendants of the exiles
who chose not to return to Jerusalem when they
could have, you've got Esther and Mordecai living
in two different kingdoms at the same time, and
that is an uncomfortable place to be. And this
is for us as well, as strangers and pilgrims
in this world that we live in, when we live with
a foot in both kingdoms, God's kingdom and the
world's, it's an uncomfortable place to be, right?
They had one foot in the empire of Persia. They're
trying to find their place in that world, but
they've got the other foot in Yahweh's kingdom,
remembering that they are children of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, a people called to be a light
to all the other nations. But they've got feet
in both worlds. And when the interests of two
kingdoms clash, you've got to make a choice.
Where do your loyalties lie? Which kingdom is
going to prevail? And friends, you and I face
these things all the time. Think about this.
In your life, you face this all the time. You
may not realize it all the time, but you do.
Paraphrasing Joshua, we choose this day whom
we will serve. Either we serve the Lord or we
serve the gods of this world. And you will be
confronted with those choices all the time in
your life. Where do your loyalties lie? Mordecai
and Esther had established themselves in successful
diaspora living, much as we tend to sort of meld
into our communities and our world and try to
become a success in the world that we live in.
But at what cost? We have to constantly be asking
ourselves that question. At what cost am I melting
into the population here in America? Mordecai
seems to be more than willing to comply with
the empire's commands rather than resist assimilation,
to stand for Torah. The question is, are you
and I doing any better than he was in the lives
that we're living? That's an important question
for us. I had to meditate on it a lot myself
this week. as I was challenged with it. Am I
melting into the population, or am I being a
light? Now, having questioned all that, I don't
think we should doubt Mordecai's love and care
for Esther. We see the text makes it clear. He's
sort of pacing all around the palace. He's looking
into the courtyard, trying to maybe catch just
a glimpse of Esther to make sure that she's okay,
that she's being cared for. Again, dads, imagine
if your daughter were Esther, if she were in
a situation like this, how hard would that be
to know that she's in there in this harem and
this is what she's facing and you've been cut
off? Even as her guardian, Mordecai couldn't
just go racing into the harem to see Esther.
It must have been incredibly difficult for him.
So I have more questions about Mordecai than
I do about Esther because, again, he's in a more
powerful place. She's in a more helpless place.
But, guys, she's not. She's not without accountability
in this. We need to be careful not to make her
such a passive agent that she didn't have a choice.
She's accountable. But before we get to the problems,
let's revisit the good qualities. Esther is a
mixed bag. She's a mixed bag like so many of
us, right? Being honest, she's a mixed bag. First
of all, there's some great things. She listens
to her guardian's advice. She respects Mordecai's
instructions. She listens to the advice of Hege,
respecting his knowledge and his insight. In
both of those cases, as she is faced with these
difficult choices in the midst of highly complex
circumstances, she welcomes counsel from those
who are leading her. Let me say that again. She
welcomes counsel from those who are leading her.
Rather than raising a fist and saying, no, I'll
do it my way. I know exactly what I should do.
I'll do it. What does she say? She complies.
She says, okay, I'll trust your leadership. And
as a result, she finds success and favor with
everybody she runs into. I think there's something
there for us to learn, right? Now the ugly parts.
I've literally read some opinions about Esther,
and here's how it generally goes. Okay, do you
really blame her for working the system? The
answer is yes. The answer is yes. Even as we
remember that, guys, the biblical character,
how many biblical characters are sin free? They're
all sinners in need of grace, right? What do
we sometimes, what expectations do we lay on
biblical characters? She's a mixed bag. She needs
a savior. And there are multiple violations of
Torah here. starting with the basic step of receiving
and eating the empire's food, unclean food, then
undergoing the empire's beautification treatment,
indulging in all that, and for what purpose?
To be able to sleep with the king. Deuteronomy
7 is clear that no Israelite should enter into
marriage with a pagan Gentile, which Esther does.
And it should be obvious that God's word prohibits
having a sexual relationship outside of marriage,
which Esther submits to. And in the ultimate
sense, what she does is she violates God's command
for his people Israel to be a holy and distinct
people set apart from all these pagan practices
that the nations involve themselves in. By the
way, this is why we had Adam read from Daniel
chapter one today. It gives us a contrast. between
Daniel and Esther, right? Listen again to the
words. Daniel made up his mind, committed himself
to do what? That he would not defile himself
with the king's choice food or with the wine
which he drank. So he sought permission from
the commander of the officials that he might
not defile himself. He took a stand. He said,
I'm not going to do it. And what was the result?
It says God granted Daniel favor, there's that
word, and compassion in the sight of the commander
of the officials. Now, let me be clear, standing
up for truth and resisting the enemies of God
does not guarantee that everything will work
out okay. Doesn't guarantee safety and security.
In fact, when you stand up for truth, you might
suffer for it. But that's where our truest loyalties
get tested, right? In the fires of persecution.
And we would love to see Esther at some point
in this chapter stand up and say, no, I'm not
going to do it. You'll have to kill me first.
Because that's what Daniel was saying. You'll
have to kill me first. I will not defile myself.
We'd love for Esther to be a Daniel, but she
never does that. Now I know Daniel is a high
standard, right? You can find all kinds of...
Daniel is one of those biblical characters where
you're looking for cracks. He is an amazing standard.
But Esther isn't a Daniel. She's a mixed bag.
Instead of trusting in the God she can't see,
Esther submits to the lesser gods that she can
see, and she submits to the empire's agenda without
really pushing back, as far as we can tell. It
would have been better for Esther to marry the
poorest Jewish man in Persia than to enter into
the chambers of the king. It would have been
better for her to resist the demands of the pageant
and suffer for it, even if it meant death, because
even in death, she would have honored the Lord
and received her reward in heaven. Now, that's
the question for you and I, right? Would you
or I have done any better than Esther? What are
you willing to endure for the sake of truth,
for the sake of your witness for Christ? Death?
I pray that we'll never have to make that choice,
you or I, but it's an interesting question. Could
I do it? Would I be Esther or would I be Daniel?
There's a reason last Sunday I made the observation
that both Mordecai and Esther seem to be, I call
them cultural Jews, probably non -practicing.
But that makes them very similar to many professing
Christians in America today. Let's be honest,
there are lots of folks in churches even this
morning who have caved under far less pressure
than what Esther faced. How many of us are guilty
of hiding our identity as Christians in the workplace
or in our neighborhoods? Going along with the
world system out of fear or going along with
the world system even worse for our own personal
advancement? If the day comes when we have to
make a hard choice like the one Esther faced,
I pray that we'll have the courage to be a Daniel
and glorify the Lord regardless of the consequences.
Amen? So I'll wrap up with this. Last week I
closed with a reminder that neither Mordecai
nor Esther are actually the main characters of
the book. God's always the main character. Today
I'll close with this. The big idea behind the
book of Esther really isn't to condemn. our choices
in morally difficult situations, the big idea
is how God sovereignly operates behind the scenes
in spite of our choices, in spite of us. It's
very good news that salvation doesn't ultimately
depend on our faithfulness, but on his. Because
we're all tempted to cave when the pressure comes.
Now, that doesn't excuse blatant sin on our part.
We should always be careful not to fall into
the trap of knowingly violating God's law and
then presuming upon God's grace. But at the same
time, let it be a comfort to you that God can
and does work through our poor choices, that
he can and does work through our compromises
for two purposes, to complete his work in us
and to accomplish his eternal purposes. That's
good news, isn't it? Know that while Mordecai
and Esther were sinfully positioning themselves
in the palace of Susa, God was sovereignly planning
to use Esther in that same palace to save his
people. He's at work. He might be hidden, he
might be concealed, but he is always at work.
So more on that next Sunday. Let's bow our heads.
Lord, you are a great God that sometimes we look
at the pages of scripture and it does look like
you're hidden, but we know better. We know the
truth about how you work in this world in ways
that sometimes we can completely see and completely
sense in other ways and other times when we're
just not sure. And so we trust what your word
says about your goodness and about your love
for your people. And we just say, Lord, thank
you that you are a gracious God who sees our
failures and sees our compromises at times, but
you don't give up on us. You continue to bless
us and do your work in us to complete this process
that you've started. So we're grateful, Lord,
for that grace. We're grateful people today,
even as you challenge us with this text in our
minds to consider hard decisions that we might
face in the future. Could we stand for truth,
Lord? Help us to process through that question,
even in the coming days, and to take that to
you and to say, Lord, strengthen me to be a Daniel.
I pray that you'd do that in my life, Lord. Thank
you for our time together this morning. We pray
in our Savior's name, Jesus Christ, amen.