The Story of Esther Part 1: Faith Requires Courage
Shared on July 14, 2024
The story of Esther is a story of courage – faith requires courage. Join Pastor McCrary for this week’s lesson as he covers Esther initial hesitation and who gave her the courage to move by faith.
Introduction
Our lesson this week takes us to one of the most unique books that we find in scripture – The Book of Esther. What do you know about Esther? If you don’t know much, that’s OK because that is what Sunday School is for. The thought behind this week’s lesson is going to take a look at not being reluctant to move in faith. Faith requires one to have the courage to move forward.
The Book of Esther
So, before we dive into the scripture of our lesson this week, I want to discuss the setting of this book. Of course, the Book of Esther covers Esther. The time period of events takes place during the days where Judah’s exile to Babylon was slowly coming to an end. How do we know this bit of information?
Esther 1:1 sets the settings during the reign of “Ahasuerus”, also known as “Xerxes I”. Ahasuerus was a Persian king that ruled well after the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian king that conquered and carried away Judah in exile.
The Babylonians were eventually conquered by the Persians while the Jews were still in their captivity. It was Cyrus the Great that rose up and led the Persians to defeat the Babylonians which was prophesied in the prophecy of Isaiah 45:1-7. In Ezra 1:1 it is recorded that Cyrus made a proclamation throughout the land to end Judah’s captivity.
However, the end of the captivity was not so swift nor was it peaceful. By the time of Ahasuerus’ reign, only one group of Jews had returned to Jerusalem. It wouldn’t be until after the reign of Ahasuerus that more of the exiled Jews would return back to Jerusalem. So, until those later returns, those Jews still living in the lands of Babylon had their fair share of struggles as we’ll see in this lesson.
Haman’s Hatred of the Jews
Our lesson this week opens with all but one of the king’s servants bowing and paying homage to a man named Haman (Esth. 3:2). Who was Haman and why were men bowing to him? Haman was a man that had just been promoted by Ahasuerus to a position above all princes (Esth. 3:1). So, he was a man that didn’t really have any equals in the land except for the king being over him.
Having such a position within the kingdom came with a certain amount of honor and respect being given, right? Well, the man named Mordecai didn’t feel that way as he refused to pay homage. The king’s servants would ask him why he transgressed the king’s command (Esth. 3:3). It had become a daily thing for Mordecai not to pay homage to Haman.
So, scripture tells us that the king’s servants told Haman about Mordecai’s disobedience which angered the man (Esth. 3:4-5). Those servants would go on to tell Haman who Mordecai’s people were as well. Rather than taking his anger out on Mordecai, Haman desired to go the more maniacal route. Scripture tells us that Haman wanted to destroy all of Mordecai’s people – the Jews (Esth. 3:6).
Sounds like genocide, right? Today, it would be said that Haman’s thoughts where “antisemitic”.
Now, up to that point in time, Egypt had enslaved the children of Israel. As shown throughout Judges, there were several other times when the children of Israel lived under great oppressors. During those times, nobody expressed the desire to completely wipe them out as we see kings would much rather rule over people.
So, Haman, was on another level of evil, which sadly, we have seen repeat itself throughout history and even to now. Haman wanted to destroy the Jews because one man didn’t salute him. To me, this shows us a how small and insecure a man he was. Yet, he was supposedly a man of “power”.
Standing Against Haman
The selection of scripture for today’s lesson skips over some important information that I want to share with you. Haman went to Ahasuerus with his desire to destroy the Jews (Esth. 3:8). After hearing Haman’s desire, Ahasuerus made a decree and sealed the destruction of the Jews with his signet (Esth. 3:10-11).
So, this small nad pathetic man had now become a very serious threat against the Jews. It is scary to think what men who think they have power will do with their “power”. I preached about this week ago, but men who think themselves to be gods have done nothing but create great peril in the world. Such men have caused nothing but suffering because of their own selfish ambition. This is why it’s of great importance that we remain vigilant when it comes to those that think themselves to be a god.
So, the question that comes up in all of this is this: Does the Lord have a defense built to protect His people from such evil? What do you think?
Needing help from the queen
The selection of scripture for our lesson now moves to Esther 4:7-16. We will see that the man named Mordecai was in dire need of help as with the rest of the Jews in the land. Mordecai is telling a man about all that happened to him and Haman’s desire to destroy the Jews (Esth. 4:7). Mordecai also gives this man a copy of Ahasuerus’ decree to give to Esther (Esth. 4:8). Mordecai is hoping that Esther will be able to plead on behalf of her people, the Jews.
So, who was Mordecai and who was Esther? It is now at this point in the lesson where we need more background information.
We must go back to Esther 1:9 where we are introduced to Queen Vashti – the first queen of Ahasuerus. On the occasion recorded in scripture, the king desired to show off her beauty at his banquet, but Vashti chose to disregard his desire (Esth. 1:10-12). There are some that suggest that the king wanted her to present herself naked before all at the banquet. So, this leads many to seeing Vashti as a heroine.
Scripture doesn’t have much else to say about Vashti aside from her being dethroned because she disregarded the king. In fact, we aren’t told whether or not she was executed or banned from the kingdom. That being said, her removal led to a wide search of virgins to become the Ahasuerus’ next queen (Esth. 2:1-4).
This is where scripture introdcues us to Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai was of a family that had been carried away from Jerusalem in exile (Esth. 2:5-6). Mordecai had a young cousin that he had raised as his daugther because she had lost both of her parents. We are told that the beautfil young woman was named Hadassah (Esth. 2:7).
We know Hadassah by her Babylonian/Persian name – Esther. Esther ended up being one of the many young virgins that was selected to vie for being the new queen (Esth. 2:8). Now, Mordecai had instructed Esther not to reveal her heritage of being a Jew before all of this had happened (Esth. 2:10). I imagine that he Mordecai had probably instructed her to do that from the time he began to raise her.
After a year of preparation and vying to be queen, Esther eventually beat out other virgins to become Ahasuerus’ queen. Scripture tells us that Ahasuerus “loved” her more than the other women as she obtained his grace (Esth. 2:17). So, when Mordecai is sending a message to Esther, he’s sending a message to the queen who happened to be his cousin.
Esther’s hesitation
Hathach, the eunuch that Esther sent to Mordecai returned to her with all tha Mordecai had shared (Esth. 4:9). So, Esther was put in a very precarious position because her people were in serious trouble. She had a choice to make: to help her people or to stand by.
Esther’s initial response was one of hesitation. Why was she hesitant? In the response she sent back to Mordecai, she also feared for her life. As we saw with Vashti, Ahasuerus was a man who would not tolerate any disobedience. She feared that if she tried to go before the king at a time not permitted, there could be serious consequences (Esth. 4:11-12).
You often hear me speak about the spirit of fear and how detrimental it can be to believers. Yes, there are times where fear can motivate us to try to improve and do better. However, the more frightening part about fear is that it can paralyze one in doubt. Doubt is what keeps people from pushing forward in faith. Rather than fear or doubt, courage is needed for you to move in faith.
Gaining confidence to move
So, Mordecai moved to encourage and strengthen Esther to move in faith. He first warned that she wouldn’t be able to hide from who she was, even in the king’s palace (Esth. 4:13).
Mordecai had also seen her being a queen as a blessing from the Lord and he did not want her to miss her calling. Was it true that Esther was ordained by the Lord to be the queen to a Babylonian king? Well, as Daniel put it, God changes the times and season, He removes and raises up kings (Dan. 2:20-21). The Lord even ordained for Cyrus, another Persian king, to free the children of Israel from Babylonian captivity (Is. 45:1-13).
So, Mordecai encouraged Esther not to remain silent in her calling. He said that if she remained silent, relief and deliverance would still come but from another place (Esth. 4:14). This is Mordecai pointing out that there is no stopping the divine will of God! As shown in Leviticus 5:1, remaining silent in the sight of evil is a sin. So, on that note, Mordecai pointed out that if Esther stood by silently, her father’s house would also perish.
Lastly, Mordecai states with a question, “who knows whether you come to the kingdom for such a time (Esth. 2:14)?” Again, Mordecai recognized a divine purpose in Esther being a queen in Babylon. However, Esther needed to recognize her selection as queen as part of God’s plan. There are some that don’t think God is present in the Book of Esther but He was clearly at work.
These were words that stuck with Esther because she recognized her calling. She sent word back to Mordecai that she was ready to move. She said to Mordecai, “gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan.” She called on the people to fast for her as she was now ready to stand before the king! If it meant she’d lose her life for her people, Esther was willing to fulfill her calling (Esth. 2:16).
Faith calls on us to be courageous – we must be willing to take those first steps when we are most terrified. We cannot be afraid to take those steps and do you know why? God is with us!
God has set the course for us and it is one of victory. No matter what we face in life, ultimately our story ends in victory. We must have faith that our story is one of victory that has been assured to us by God.