Amen. We are in the book of Esther. The book of Esther. We started that a few weeks ago, and because of different things, we haven't been able to get back to it. I'd like to hopefully finish the first chapter this evening. The book of Esther. I wanted to open this. A couple things to reference there in that book. We talked about the anti-Semitism that we see being propelled into our society all of a sudden. It's been under the surface for a long time. And I think we're going to see more and more of that as we get closer to the coming of Christ, to the rapture. I believe that It's something that has been for many years and will continue to be until Jesus Christ in his millennial kingdom Elevates the Jewish people and fulfills all of the promises that are made to them and and so one of the evidences of his grace one of the evidences of his protection is this whole story of god's protection of the jewish people using uh... hadassah and her persian name being esther and we from this we talked about how that uh... jewish people uh... they have the feast of purim and they read the book of esther and every time esther's name or more to ki's name is mentioned they cheer and they're happy and every time that uh... hayman's name is mentioned they spit on the ground and they stomp And it's almost a theatrical production that's done every year. And we talked about even just the significance of who this is and just a little bit of history. So let me jump in, and we're going to pick up in verse 7 is where we're going to start this evening. But let me go through where we were. It's been a few weeks. And just touch a few things in just introduction here, and then we will We will get into the passages that we have, and let's start with a word of prayer. Father, I pray that you guide our hearts and thoughts, and Father, that you teach us this evening, help us to understand the significance of this book. and the valuable lessons we can learn from it. Lord, help us to be able to apply it in this day. Lord, I feel like what we're seeing unfold, even in our country, the immorality of our hearts in this country has led us here to this threshold of where your people are being hated. And I pray, Father, that you would help us as Christians to have a biblical worldview or that we would see your people through the lens of your word, and that we would make sure that we are on the right side of history. Lord, we love you. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We talked about Julius Stryker, Hitler's minister of propaganda. He was sentenced to be hanged as a war criminal. As he ascended the stairs to the gallows, he was heard saying Purim, 1946. Purim, 1946. What was he saying? He was saying this, that if you decide to go against the Jewish people and your laws, and you try to eradicate them, God will protect them. And that's exactly what took place here in the Persian Empire. Now, what's the significance historically? We talked about a number of things. 536 BC, the Jews returned to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel's leadership. And 516, 20 years later, the temple is completed. And 485 BC, Ahasuerus begins to rule for the next 20 years. 483 BC, the events of Esther chapter 1 take place in the third year of Ahasuerus' reign, who is also known in his Greek name as Xerxes. Now, what's the significance of this? Xerxes' dad is Darius I, right? His grandfather is Cyrus the Great. Cyrus is prophesied. over a hundred years before he even steps foot into this world he's prophesied that he's going to be the one that makes the edict that the children of Israel should go home and that they should be freed and that they should rebuild the temple and so God in his sovereignty allows Isaiah to pin these things just proving that our God is God above all gods and knows all things and his plan is Taking place on this earth. And so we see this succession of rulers So from Cyrus to Darius now to has you errors who's known as Xerxes his son is known as art as Xerxes fascinating tidbit We believe that Vashti here in this first chapter is actually pregnant with art as Xerxes you see What's the significance of some of the history here? And I love it when you could take the Bible and plug it into what's happening in the world All right At that time. So what do we know? Well Darius had in in not in 490 BC Xerxes father Darius the great led 600 ships and 60,000 Calvary and foot soldiers to capture Athens. He was defeated on the small plains of Marathon, right? Right. So then what happens? Well, Darius wants revenge. However, Darius is never able to return to Greece and actually wage war and seek revenge. But Xerxes, his son, wants to avenge his father. So this is Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus wants to defend the honor of his father, Darius the Great. So he holds this feast that we've already talked about. And the reason that they did this, according to Josephus and Herodotus, was to show that they could finance the war that they were selling to the nobles of the country. Alright? And so here's the Hajuaries, he has them all in for six months. They have this party. For six months, they feast. Six months, this banquet goes on. And Ahasuerus is saying, hey, listen, I can afford this war. I can afford to avenge my father. And so what happens is that's exactly what takes place. He gets the support he needs, and he considers war with Greece in 483 BC. He goes on and it says this, when they landed at Greece, alright, it says, the Xerxes did attack Greece in the months ahead. The results were catastrophic for him and Persia. And this is the fascinating aspect. When they landed at Greece, his mighty warriors had their hands full at a mountain pass called Thermopylae. For an entire day, a Greek captain named Leonidas and 300 Spartans held back the entire invasion and force of Persia, inflicting serious losses. So when you think of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae and Leonidas, it's Ahasuerus that's fighting them. It's his kingdom, his army, trying to Avenge his father's honor that was defeated by the by the Greeks now what happens during that period of time Leonidas dies there in that epic battle. However, he gives Athens enough time to retreat to Salmonis Athens falls because there's really no one there to defend it everyone now has fled to Salamis and there the Greeks had they the Persians incredibly underestimated the power of the of the Greek Navy and when they sent their boats out there the Grecian boats were more maneuverable and smaller and they had perfected the art of ramming and Ahasuerus watches while many the majority of his forces literally die in that battle and they suffer losses that eventually Was it was the beginning of the end for the Persian Empire and they would be defeated Ahasuerus would be assassinated right and and then we would move on to his son Artaxerxes and under his son you would have Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem and So you have Darius, which is Zerubbabel, is when the beginning of it takes place. Then you have Ahasuerus with Esther, which is Xerxes, and then you have his son Artaxerxes. Vashti is reinstated in her honor as the queen mother. We don't know if Esther has died at this point. However, I believe personally that the influence that Mordecai and Esther has had on the Persian Empire is seen in the fact that Nehemiah, a Jew, is the cupbearer to Artaxerxes. And so we see these Jews having an influence in the Persian Empire and it's fascinating to me to think about all that's coming together here. And so that is the snippet of history here, if you will, that's taking place when we look at this book, the book of Esther. We talked about the might of Ahasuerus, how large his kingdom was. We talked about his reign, this is the third year of his reign. We talked about the provinces that were before him, the nobles and the princes, they come together. Verses four through six. It was a glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent man magic many days even a hundred and four score days So a hundred and eighty days he puts on this feast When these days were expired the king made a feast and all the people that were present in Shushan the palace so now it is he give a Feast to these nobles who come to imagine going to a party for half a year I mean, that's crazy. I mean, but that's what they did. And then when that was done, he said, you know what, we're going to give a party to the whole city of Shushan, which was the palace city. And and he talks about the palace here, which was elevated. I think it was one hundred and twenty feet above the city because the king was supposed to reside in an elevated place. And it is described here where there are white, green, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings of pillars of marble. And the beds were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble. And what's fascinating to the Persians, the Persians really valued wealth. And so, Even even the warriors the Kings would would weave jewels and precious gems into their beards The immortals which was the the bodyguards of the Persian King which had to remain at 10,000 if someone died they immediately replaced that that soldier with another one they were known because they wore armor that was almost pure gold or it was very and highly decorated. If it wasn't gold, it was with gems. The thrones of the Persian empires have been known over history to be just opulent with jewels. I mean, encrusted with diamonds. It was one of these things that when the Greeks or when anyone fought against the Persians, if they were to defeat them, they made out on the battlefield because the warriors valued themselves by how many jewels were on their armor. how much gold they had in their armor and even in their beards as they fought. So it was a very, very rich empire. Ahasuerus was probably the richest king on the earth at that time. At least one reference that I saw said that. And he wanted more. In fact, they characterized him as a very passionate man, both in his temper in his weaknesses. He was not known to be a man of integrity, but a man of a temper. One of the descriptions was that he was prone to impulsive. He was greedy, impulsive, prone to temper tantrums, easily flattered and swayed. Historians label him as a man who is controlled by his wise men, or controlled by his eunuchs, if you will. that he was easily swayed. He bought his brother off. When it came to his being the king, he was able to persuade his brother not to be king and bought him off. And this was the way of the Persians. So money moved him. And he knew that if he could defeat the Grecians, if he could defeat Greek, the Greeks he would be able to Expand his kingdom and enlarge his wealth. And so this is the man and his and his Testimony, if you will his character as we go into verse number seven So we see the meeting house of a hazardous versus 787 and they gave them drinking vessels of gold the vessels being diverse one from another Royal wine and abundance according to the state of the king the drinking was according to the law none didn't compel For so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure So there were vessels of gold never want every one of them was unique. We talked about this again last week touched in on this a little bit And you say, well, what's the significance of that? Well, the significance of that is that each one was custom made and spoke to his wealth. So, we imagine that each of these gold vessels, right, probably had gems on them or were ornate in some way, and they weren't mass produced, right? Even today, Do we not value the idea of something that's custom, right? Big thing right now is custom boats, right? If you're looking at boats. Especially the aluminum ones, right? And so one of these boats that I watched some of the videos on, the new ones that they, these guys will come in and order these boats, the prodigy boats is the name of them. And man, they are just decked out however you want them. They've got it now where they can laser engrave these, It's like a cushioned flooring. And so you can put your own logo in your own boat. It's amazing. All right. It's amazing. And that's a lot of money to get a custom anything. Right. And that's where we are today. But even back in the day of the Hagiwara, they saw the value of custom, custom vessels. All right. And so then also wine and abundance, according to the state of the king. And he was drinking. Now, what was the law of the Persians? Well, the law of the Persians was this. No one could force you to drink. That's fascinating to me, right? Just because the king was drinking, you didn't have to. However, though that was the law, that was not the custom. The custom, according to Herodotus, was that he stated the custom was to drink whenever the king drank. So if the king was drunk, so were the others. And so it was this is not a moral setting. It was not a moral climate. We're gonna see that even in how Esther is Recruited if you will to be the Queen this was not a moral society and so we look at what is taking place and we realize this that the Persians were drinking in abundance and and even though there was Even though there was a law concerning the drinking, the custom, according to Herodotus, was that everyone drink. Then the next thing we see in verses 9-11 is the moral decadence of Ahasuerus. The moral decadence. What takes place here now in verses 9-11? It says, Also Vashti, the queen, made a feast to the women in the royal house, which belonged to king Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was married with wine, he commanded Mehun, and Biztha, and Harbena, and Bigtha, and Abagtha, and Zithar, and Karkis, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti the queen before the king, with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look upon. Now, when we think about what was taking place, Vashti has her own feast for the women. And this was common because in Persian culture, men and women did not attend the same feast together. Women at that time were to be silent and not to be looked upon by other men. The nobles had many wives, but to even speak of a wife in public in the presence of other men was considered a very great shame. And this is according to Josephus as well as Herodotus. And so he goes on, he says, for these reasons, women covered themselves with a large blue cape and wore linen veils with eye holes on their face. The head of the women were not bare, so you couldn't tell who the person was underneath the veil. Relationships were very strict. Between husband and wife, the couples did not even address each other by name, went alone because their voices were not to be heard in the street." It talks about how that these parties for these ladies that were exclusive for the ladies, ladies would paint their faces with a red substance, and their eyebrows and eyelashes would be blackened. Toenails and fingernails were painted red for the party and and the women also according to history would Delight themselves in smoking pipes eating well and drinking and talking right and so this was the known Custom of the Persian Empire So what we have here is this we have Vashti and all the women of the nobles and all their wives having their own separate Party and we have the men there with a hazardous having his party as well And so what takes place in the seventh day when the heart of the king was married with wine now again, you know It's very it's it's easy. If you look at the scriptures you take it for face value, right? When common sense when the plain sense of the scripture makes common sense, I believe a hazardous is drunk in this moment, right? His heart is married with wine And he does something that's against the culture. He does something that's impulsive, impetuous. He does something that would not have been looked upon as favorable. And I believe that when we look at this scenario, I take Vashti's side personally. You know, there's some that have, I had a professor who took Ahasuerus aside. I disagree with him, alright? I really do. I believe that when we look at history and we look at the way, who the man was, we look at his insane decision to invade Greece, we look at his you know, just luxurious mindset to try to win over, buy over these nobles so that they can do this war. We see a man that's tethered to his father's honor instead of using wisdom. We now see him just putting on this feast that's just above and beyond. It's extravagant, right? And then the scripture just clearly says that they have this drinking and that his heart is merry with this wine. And so in a drunken stupor, this man just asked his wife to come parade herself in all of her royal garb, would be one interpretation. Josephus doesn't believe that. Josephus says that in the Aramaic, that Ahasuerus is actually asking his wife to parade herself in a very immodest way. And so either way, it would have been a violation of propriety, whether it was in her royal garb or in something that was immodest. It was something that was not done. And he chooses to do this in a drunken stupor, if you will. And so she refuses. She refuses. And we see this. In the mutiny of Ahasuerus, there in verse 12, it says, Now what's fascinating about this is someone says, well, how come the king just didn't have her killed? Well, here's why. In the Persian Empire, every single citizen in the Persian Empire was considered a servant or slave of the king, except for the queen. She was the only living person who was a free citizen. So she held a very honored position as the queen. And so some of the perspectives of historians and commentaries that I read was this is the reason why he didn't just have her killed. He had her removed from being this, removed from this honorable position. And she, what does she do? She doesn't come. The reason is stated before concerning the protocol for women, which we just looked at. And according to the Jewish historian, as we talked about, Josephus, the Aramaic here, would have been that he was asking her to do something that was immoral. Vashi was believed to be pregnant with Artaxerxes, even at the moment. And so there's a number of things happening here, and she says no. She says no. You say, well, what is that application? I just want to stop here and make an application. I believe this. that men, we can, if we're not careful, In our pride, in our foolishness, we can cause conflict in our marriages, right? When we demand of our wives something that would be sinful or wrong or not wise, right? Not wise. Even if he was just asking her to parade in a modest way in her royal garb, he was making this decision after he was drunk. And it doesn't bode well for his marriage. In fact, it destroys his marriage. And what do we see? We see the mandate of Ahasuerus. So verses 13 through 22 is really the crux of this passage and what takes place. It says, then the king said to his wise men, which knew the times, for so was the king's manner toward all, that knew law and judgment. And the next unto him, verse number 14 there, it says, and the next unto him, was Karsina and Shethar and Admetha and Tarshish and Merez and Marcina and Mimucan and the seven princes of Persia and Media which saw the king's face which sat the first in the kingdom. What shall we do unto the queen vastly according to the law because she had not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the Chamberlains? And Mamucan answered before the king of the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king of Hajuares. So what we have here is Hajuares all of a sudden has a big problem, right? He's trying to sell this idea that he can manage this war with Greece and it's gonna be okay And he can't even manage his own wife All right And so here he is trying to put on the dog for all of these nobles of his kingdom and sell this on them on this idea He makes this commandment his wife says nope Not doing it and all of it and he's Roth right again. We see his intemperance, right? And he's Roth with her and all of these nobles are watching them and he calls his wise men together says what we're gonna do Right. How do we how do we save this? this situation verse number 17 it continues and It says for this deed of the Queen shall come abroad unto all women So they shall despise their husbands in their eyes when it shall be reported the King of Hagiwara's command of Ashley the Queen to be brought in before him But she came night not came not likewise shall the ladies of Persian media Say this day unto all the Kings princes which have heard of the deed of the Queen thus shall there arise Too much contempt and wrath and so the wiser like looks listen. This is bigger than you think this isn't just you these nobles and you not being able to sell this war idea but when this gets out all the women of the whole kingdom are gonna be like well if Vashti said no I'm saying no right and they're like this is gonna be a epidemic this is gonna be a pandemic of rebellion among the wives to their husbands and they're like this is a bad situation They continue on in verse 19 if it pleased the king let there go a royal commandment from him and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes that it be not altered that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus and let the king give her royal state unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree, which he shall make, shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great, all the wives shall give to their husband honor, both to great and small. And the same pleased the king and the princes. And the king did according to the word of Mamucan. For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language. that every man should bear rule in his own house, and it should be published according to the language of every people." Now, when we think about this law, first of all, it's unnecessary, right? It was unnecessary. You say, why? Well, because you cannot command obedience. That's the essence of it. When it comes to the marital relationship, which we're right in the middle of a marriage series, right? Your wife's decision to reverence and to respect you and to submit to your leadership is something that is earned. It's a gift that is given. It's not something that's demanded right now. I know we're talking about a pagan society right that no doubt Did not approach marriage in the way the New Testament Christians should approach marriage however What we should learn from this is the foolishness of Ahasuerus, to try to command something that cannot necessarily be commanded. You cannot command someone's respect. You cannot command them to offer to you the gift that only they can give when they're walking in the Spirit of God, right? And so, it's an unnecessary law. By the way, it was an unchangeable law. The laws of the Medes and Persians once made could not be reversed. Now, they could be altered with another law. So why? Why was it the law of the Medes and Persians couldn't be reversed? Here's why. Because they looked at their kings as a god. And so if they had to reverse the law, it meant their god made a mistake. Right? And so therefore, they could not do that. So they could alter the law once given, but they could not rescind the law. And so now this law is unchangeable. But lastly, it's unenforceable. Right? What was he going to do? Was he going to put all the wives in the whole kingdom in prison? Was he going to remove all the wives of all the husbands in the kingdom as he had done to Vashti? No. And so it was unenforceable. But the fascinating thing to me is this, is that Vashti makes this decision. I believe she was in the right. Vashti has more character than King Ahasuerus in this moment. And she is disgraced, if you will. She's removed from this position of honor. However, when her son takes the throne, Artaxerxes, we see her rise back up to prominence. And I just believe this, I believe that God honors righteous decisions, right? We don't know if she was a believer in Yahweh. We don't know that at all. But we do know this, that righteousness is right, no matter who you are. And she made a righteous decision, I believe, not to come before the king and to defile herself in this drunken command. And so I think it is just fascinating that we see Vashti reinstated as the queen mother. We don't know where Esther goes in the future. She may have passed away, right? We don't know. Or she may have just no longer was her husband the king. And so she may have faded back into what would have been just the royal court without a significant position anymore. But this is the backdrop that this drama unfolds. against this is the this is the drama that's taking place right this is what is this is what is before us as we're gonna see God raise up this woman named Esther to make a significant difference in the history of the children of Israel what's fascinating about Esther and more to Ki is this they're not perfect they're not perfect I would even say this they're out of the will of God They should have gone back with the children of Israel. It's irrevocable. And it doesn't seem like they're living in a way that would have been according to the Old Testament law. They seem to have assimilated into the Persian society. However, God still uses them. And I think that's an encouragement to us. It's not an excuse to live any way we want. But it makes me thankful that God is looking for people who are willing. God's looking for people who are willing. And sometimes I think in our minds we think, well, God will never use me because I'm not perfect. God doesn't use perfect people. He uses perfectible people because there aren't any perfect people, right? And God uses Esther and Mordecai in a great way. And we ought to find the essence of their surrender, if you will, their willingness to be used and mimic that, not necessarily their backslidden condition. But it's a wonderful story of God's protection of the children of Israel. And I think it's important for our day and age. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for the opportunity to open your word. Lord, we thank You for this story. Lord, these historic events, we thank You for the backdrop that we're going to build upon as we work through this narrative. I pray that You would use it in our hearts and lives and teach us some valuable lessons through it and the characters of it. We love You. We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.