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ESTHER, QUEEN OF PERSIA. ESTHER MOTHER’S DAY 2022.
2 Kings 2:15-18 [New King James Version]
15 Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him. 16 Then they said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send anyone.” 17 But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send them!” Therefore they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him. 18 And when they came back to him, for he had stayed in Jericho, he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”
1. Esther becomes queen
a. Esther has no choice but to obey summons to be
taken as King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) to be placed in his harem (a maiden’s destiny was not her own)
a1. Esther must make the best of her situation
a2. God had obviously chosen her for this task
b. God choses women to serve him is various tasks
c. Several aspects not ideal: (1) king was divorced (2) polygamy (3) king intimate with Esther and other women before marriage (4) king = not a believer
d. Esther and others prepared for a year before met king
e. God moved king to pick Esther
a1. Esther did not reveal that she was a Jew
a2. 1 Peter 3:1-6 – Esther was lovely and gracious
2. Mordecai and Haman
a. Mordecai, Esther’s uncle and surrogate father, overheard a plot to kill the king, so he told Esther
b. Haman, a prince (not 1 of inner 7), sought to advance (enormous ambition)
c. Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman
a1. Haman manipulates to king into signing a decree to kill the Jews
a2. He builds gallows to hang Mordecai
d. Haman is forced to honor Mordecai, who had saved the king, by leading the royal horse with Mordecai on it in royal robes throughout the city
3. A time such as this
a. Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes to grieve
b. Esther sent a servant to find out why Mordecai Mourned for she did not know about the decree
c. Esther had not been called before the king for a month
a1. To go unbidden earned execution
a2. Only if the king held his scepter = spared
d. Esther tells Mordecai that it is illegal for her to go to king
e. Mordecai tells Esther that she would not be safe if all the Jews perished and another will rise up to save Jews
f. Esther states that she will go, but the Jews must fast
a1. Her bravery is typical of godly women protecting their families
a2. The courage of godly women is inspiring
4. Clever to save
a. Esther hatched a daring plot
b. Esther reveals that Haman plotted to kill her and Jews
a1. In a fury, the king has Haman hanged
a2. The Jews were allowed to defend selves
c. Jews killed many enemies and Esther Feast of Purim
Key verse: 1 Peter 3:1-61 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. 3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be 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. 5 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.