In Esther, we find a God who refuses to act with boldness and brashness. But we also find a king who does not. Esther reveals how, when God plays behind the scenes, others will try to steal the scene.
Chapter one opens with two of the ten feasts featured in the book. The first gala goes six months. It is thrown by the king of Persia–Ahasuerus.
…in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. (Est. 1:3-4 ESV)
A non-biblical historian named Herodotus gives us insight regarding this feast. During this period the Persian king was rallying support within his kingdom in order to go to war against Greece. This feast was part of his scheme to persuade his fighters and financiers to support the plan to take Greece. He was wining and dining them.
That’s why he gets so upset when his Queen Vashti refuses to display herself before his guests.
On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. (Est. 1:10-12 ESV)
This isn’t the frustration of a seething spouse. This is the fury of a despairing despot. Queen Vashti was meant to be the climax of the display of this king’s wealth. If any fighter or financier was still on the fence about supporting the king’s quest to take Greece, one look at the queen should have persuaded him that this king was worth backing.
Susa is so secular the king throws a party for six months to influence his fighters and financiers to support his bid to rule over more of the world. Where Christians have been taught to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth,” Esther’s world is ruled by a king who wants his kingdom to come, his will to be done. In Esther, the entire world is this king’s kingdom. And if God won’t act front and center, the king will. He will take the place of God.
Hallowed be My Name
The first kingdom-wide feast culminates in a second feast which is held solely for those in the capital of Susa. It lasts seven days.
And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones. (Est. 1:5-6 ESV)
Old Testament scholar Karen Jobes notes the language used here sounds very much like the language used in two other places in the Bible: the description of the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem. Susa is so secular the palace of this king is described in terms that make it sound like the temple of God. Why? Because in Esther’s world, the role of God is attempted to be played by the king.
Old Testament scholar Samuel Wells writes this:
“Ashasuerus is God. That is how the book of Esther begins. There is much speculation over the presence or absence of God in this book of Esther. But the book begins with the one who is in charge of all the events and circumstances and arrangements and threats that affect the Jews. He holds the whole world in his hands…”
Christians are taught to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” But Esther’s world the only named being hallowed is the king’s. In Esther, the king is God.
Give Me this day My Daily Bread
And this king now moves from kingdom building to homemaking. Chapter 1 opens up with a roundup of all the influential men so the king can make war. Chapter 2 opens up with a roundup of all the beautiful women so the king can make a queen.
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so. (Est. 2:1-4 ESV)
Esther is caught up in this dragnet of young virgins. She and countless other women are forced by the king into a contest to see which of them will become his new queen. There are two criteria for the new queen. The first is beauty. The virgins are given an entire year to meet this requirement. They are given six months of one type of beauty treatment and six months of another.
This is preparation for the second criteria: sex. The virgins are given one night to meet this requirement. They are given one night to please the king and gain the crown.
Just as Queen Vashti was a possession used by the king to try to impress his subjects, so these young women like Esther were merely property. That’s how disenchanted Susa was.
Christians are taught to turn to God and ask God to supply what is needed for their basic hunger. But Esther’s world is ruled by a king who turns to his own people and uses them in order to satisfy his every hunger. In Esther, people like Esther are treated as goods by a king who sees himself as God. We will see this theme played out in even more tragic ways throughout the book.
Esther is written to empower us in those times when God’s hiddenness emboldens others to live like they are God. Esther encourages us to believe in a God who is still at work in unseen ways even when our world sees the rise of others who work in ungodly ways. The book dares us to believe that life may still be enchanted, filled with God’s divine presence, even when it seems its most disenchanted, void of God’s divine presence and filled with the profane and power-hungry plans of others.
