Things Written Aforetime For Our Learning - The Story Of Esther

by N.D.W.Miller | Category: For Young Believers | Sept 1933

CHAPTERS 1. AND 2.

The Story opens with a scene of great magnificence.

"It came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces;) that in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants ; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him." Ahasuerus means Excellency, or, the Lion King.

Space, for one thing, forbids any attempt to describe adequately the scene portrayed; but, to say the least, it is one of oriental splendour. The king dispensed his royal bounty with lavish prodigality. Shushan was a royal city of the Medo-Persian Empire where Ahasuerus reigned over his vast domain.

Scattered throughout his realm were many Jews-children of the stock of Abraham who had been exiled from the land of their fathers as the sad consequence of sin against God.

During those days of the king's pleasure, Queen Vashti also "made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus." And on the seventh day the king commanded "to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the peoples and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment." Vashti means beauty.

Much has been made of this, and Vashti has been sympathised with, and even applauded by some, because she held her head high, and refused to satisfy what is looked upon as the mere caprice of a man inflamed by his wine, and the empty applause of his courtiers. But is that so Whatever the status that women had in the East in that day, was the king not within his royal province, when, in shewing "the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty," he should desire, as a crowning act of favour, to introduce officially the queen, wearing the crown royal? What is the statute that was placed upon the Statute Book of Media as the result of Vashti's pride and defiance? "That every man should bear rule in his own house." Is this not just what should be? Both Old and New Testaments answer-Yes Esther's meekness and implicit obedience, even when she became queen is in marked contrast with the conduct of Vashti, for we read that "Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him." Disobedience, and the flouting of authority, must ever be condemned. The disobeying of authority is only permissible when the circumstance is in agreement with Acts 5. 29.

The refusal to obey led to the dethroning of Vashti. So Vashti was no longer queen. She was dethroned, apparently, in the third year of the reign of Ahasuerus (chapter 1. 3). Her successor was not chosen until the seventh year of his reign (chapter 2. 16).

The maxim that "time is a healer," may be true, for we read that "when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what he had

done, and what was decreed against her." But whatever may have been his thoughts-" the law of the Medes and Persians altereth not" (Daniel 6.), and it had been decreed-" let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she." Out of his vast realm an opportunity will be provided the king of choosing a royal Consort to share his throne. "Let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti and he did so."

Now "there was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives which had been carried away with Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away."

Mordecai-which means little man-who "sat in the king's gate," had been ruthlessly carried away from his home and country (Note below). How much of anguish and sorrow this had meant to him we can only conjecture.

"And he brought up (or nourished) Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter." Hadassah means Myrtle (to spring or grow rapidly), and the myrtle is described as a beautiful, fragrant evergreen. Esther means Star.

That she was all, and more, than the two names imply, is abundantly proved by the wondrous narrative of her young wife. How sad! How pathetic! and yet how sweet, is this introduction to Hadassah. "The maiden was fair and beautiful." And we may be well assured, there was not only beauty of face-there was beauty of grace: a loveliness of character which throughout was conspicuously void of pride and selfseeking.

An orphan girl, in humble circumstances (so we think) and young in years, she had already passed through the terrifying experience of exile (please see and compare footnote), and had been called upon to mourn the visitation of the pitiless hand of death. Father dead: mother dead: home and country ----all gone! How peculiarly drawn to Mordecai she must have felt. Forlorn, and perhaps heartbroken, "Mordecai took her for his own daughter." His action was one of love, and not

NOTE.-Esther 2. 5, 6, refers to Mordecai in connection with the "captives which had been carried away with Jeconiah" (In 2 Kings 24. 6, and 2 Chronicles 36. Jehoiachin). This carrying away occurred, according to the "Received" (or generally accepted) Bible chronology, some 80-90 years before the events recorded in the early chapters of the book of Esther. We do not, however, assert that the "Received" chronology is necessarily correct. We know of one system of chronology, at any rate, which immensely reduces the period in question, and if this system is correct, the events recorded in the early chapters of Esther could well have happened 20 or so years after the Jehoiachin captivity.

We mention these things because some readers might observe an apparent discrepancy between what is stated by the author of the article, and the dates given in most reference editions of our English Bible

It is well, therefore, to remember that the subject of Scripture chronology is a very intricate one, and authorities-including many men of great learning and ability, are by no means agreed in the results arrived at, even after years of painstaking study and labour.

merely of pity. To Esther he was both "father" and "mother" - not only because of being years older, but because of his devoted care for her. Mordecai brought her up-he nourished her. And she, doubtless, kept house for him. What sunshine must Hadassah have imparted to the home of Mordecai amidst the everyday things of life. And, like the myrtle, how fragrant was that young life in the eyes of her father by adoption. Hadassah was a beautiful evergreen indeed.

Mordecai, deep down in his heart, "sought the good of his people," and no doubt longed many, and many a time, to help them in their exile. But how could he become a saviour to his Nation ?

Was not Gideon's family "the poorest in Manasseh," and he himself" the least in his father's house ? " Did not Amram and Jochebed set their hearts upon the treasure God had given them, when they placed the tiny "ark" in the brink of the river? Were such things unknown to Mordecai? "As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so arc the children of youth" (Psalm 127. 4). This is a wonderful simile. And you, my young reader, may have little idea what the future has in store for you. How impossible must things have seemed to Mordecai. What could he do? What did he do? He concentrated his all upon Esther. He could impart to Esther by his own life, an example of faith in the God of their fathers, although never daring, as far as the record shews, to take upon his lips the glorious and fearful Name of Jehovah their God (Deuteronomy 28. 58). This frail and tender orphan maid, like the arrow, would one day find liner way, under God's providential hand, to the heart of the great king, and bring a glorious deliverance to her threatened race in dark days that lay ahead. So Mordecai nourished her, and shielded her, we may be sure, from every wind of harm. "Train up a child," and so forth-Proverbs 22. 6 was not written in vain, and for Mordecai the day will declare how his training of Esther stood the test of fiery trial, and ended in an oft-recounted triumph.

Since the dethroning of Vashti weary months dragged on-"the trivial round, the common task." And when it came at last to the combing of the king's realm for all that was "fair," the dwelling of Mordecai did not escape notice.

"So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king's house."

To most, if not all, of the maidens, it was doubtless like the fulfilment of life's ambitious dream. What ~' castles in the air" must such an opportunity have presented? They would all no doubt flatter themselves by entertaining high hopes of success and of future grandeur. And how eagerly too did each one avail herself of all the outward adornments possible to catch the eye of the great Ahasuerus. But there was one exception.

When the king's commandment was being put into execution, what fears and forebodings must have filled the heart of Mordecai. Even to think of the possibility of losing Esther was enough to fill him with dismay, for she was the very sunshine of his life- the "myrtle " and "star " of his home.

From the human standpoint, whether successful or not, it meant a life-long separation. And, apart from her beauty, Esther was at a distinct disadvantage, for though, up to that time, it had not been disclosed-she belonged to a despised race.

But there was no escaping the king's command. She was summoned, and she must obey. So the day came when the palace courtiers arrived at the door of the dwelling of Mordecai, and "Esther was taken." What a parting that must have been! After years of patient training and nourishing Mordecai must now place his frail little vessel upon the wide and tempestuous sea of trial and temptation. The palace, of all places! It was a big wrench; but Esther must say good-bye! What a change! Unknown and alone she went out from under the roof, and from under the tender care of her dearly loved fosterfather, to enter the sumptuous surroundings of the king's house.

"And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to knowhow Esther did, and what should become of her."

Such was his anxiety.It was one of two things-success or failure.

N.D.W.Miller | Sept 1933
For Young Believers