Monthly Archives: September 2015

Xerxes: “I’m kind of a big deal!” (Esther 1:1-9)

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It is easy for people in positions of power to think that they are really something special. To put it in the famous words of Anchorman Ron Burgundy, “I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal.”

I had a friend who was elected to state government at a very, very young age. I knew him in later years — years after he had gone through some very difficult life adventures that humbled and broke him and brought him to Christ. But he told me about his first days in the State House. He said, “One day I was walking through the corridors and into the senate chamber where George Washington resigned his command of the Continental Army before the Congress, I could hear my footsteps echoing off the marble floors and walls and said within myself, ‘Man, you have really made it, you are big (expletive deleted).’”

Xerxes probably said this, and not just to himself! It is what most rulers of size and import say to themselves, if not to others either by their words, action or attitudes. This is what it looked like in Persia in 483 B.C. …

1:1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush: 2 At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3 and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.

1:4 – For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. 

Perhaps your Bible version says Ahasuerus rather than Xerxes, Ahasuerus being the Jewish name for the same person. His empire stretched from India in the east (modern West Pakistan) to Cush (which would be the entire Nile region of northeast Africa). Susa was a sort of second capital city, a summer hangout just to the north of the Persian Gulf (which today would be in southern Iran).

The 180 days was likely a six-month planning time of all his military brass as they prepared for a war effort against the newest big boys on the block — the Greeks — who had beaten the Persians (and Xerxes’ father) at the battle of Marathon. Xerxes’ huge fleet would win the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, but lose two other decisive land battles, retreating back to Persia while suffering the loss of a vast portion of his forces to sickness and disease. All of this was right before Esther became queen in 479 BC. But back to the immediate text …

5 When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of Susa.

6 The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. 7 Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality. 8 By the king’s command each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished.

9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

The second banquet listed that went on for seven days was a total drink-fest for the entire population, so you know nothing good was going to come of that! Queen Vashti also had her own banquet going on for the women. I don’t know what they were exactly doing and drinking, but I’m guessing it was more than a quaint tea party.

Reading the portrayals of the palace setting with descriptions of the gardens, furnishing, goblets, etc… Don’t act like you’re not impressed! (more Ron Burgundy).

Being impressed, putting on a big frontal display. It is the way the world works, and it is not a good thing. And that leads to a first point to be made about our study at the beginning of Esther…

There is nothing about the kingdoms and systems of power in this world that naturally orient them toward goodness and justice.

Do I need to argue this point to prove it?  We need not look far—either at the people in power or those seeking to gain it—that self-aggrandizement and bluster and power-mongering yields success. Jesus recognized this human gravitation and said to the disciples that his followers should be different …

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We sometimes hear the term “American Exceptionalism” used, and this is something different than the surface idea that many apply to this—a picture of the big #1 foam finger that essentially chants “USA, USA!” … a bragging that we are the best. Rather, it refers to how our founding fathers, among all the peoples and governments ever established, did put forward the best and most biblically-oriented (though admittedly still flawed) system of governance that gave consideration to this principle (recognizing God / understanding the nature of man), and founding it upon God-given rights while limiting and restraining the powers of government. This was done by dividing authority into branches of accountability and checks and balances, understanding the proclivities toward centralization and expansion of power. And hence American democracy is “exceptional” (unique) among systems devised. But it is still flawed and draws to itself an inordinate number off self-serving ideologues.

So even at its best, earthly government is often a mess, and that is why we look to a greater kingdom, inevitably putting us between two worlds.

Background of Esther in Jewish History (Esther)

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A study of ancient world history—of the two thousand years before the time of Christ—is not a great deal different from the study of Jewish history. They overlap continuously.

As a second day of giving background for the story of Esther, let’s focus in a bit more on the specifically Jewish background.

Picking up after the time when the kingdom divided after Solomon into the northern 10 tribes and southern 2 tribes (which you know from memorizing the dates from yesterday’s post was 931 BC), it was a time of largely spiritual declension in Israel and Judah.

Not a single one of the kings that ruled in the north (Israel, sometimes a.k.a. “Ephraim”) was a good king who served God; and because of their idolatry, God gave them over to being conquered by the Assyrians. Out of this intermingling of peoples came those known as Samaritans in the time of Christ.

The southern kingdom had a number of good kings, though a larger percentage did not follow the Lord in their lives or leadership. And so God gave Judah over to the Babylonians, with the famous King Nebuchadnezzar coming on three occasions to besiege Jerusalem (605, 597, 586 BC). The captivity in Babylon was to last for 70 years, with the clock beginning in 606-605 BC … 70 years because for 490 years the Jewish people had failed to observe sabbatical years. Every seventh year they were to leave the ground fallow, and God promised to provide enough in the sixth year to cover for their needs. But they did not obey, and God is so faithful to his word that God gives justice to the dirt of the earth!

After the 70 years were up and the Babylonian Empire had been overtaken by the Medes and Persians, the faithful amongst the Jewish people were to understand that they should return to the promised land of God’s covenant blessing. The opportunity came right away with the first Medo-Persian king: Cyrus …

2 Chronicles 36:23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”

The total number of those who returned was around 42,360, in addition to 7,337 slaves and 200 singers (Ezra 2:64-65).  It should be noted that many Jews chose to remain in Babylon, but those loyal to Yahweh’s purposes chose to return to Jerusalem following Cyrus’ decree.

The first return was with Zerubbabel in 539 B.C.  The second return was with Ezra in 458 B.C.  The book of Esther is situated between these two returns.

(from Chris Wiles’ notes …)

Was it a sin for the people of Israel to remain in Persia? 

We should first note that the roughly 50,000 that had already returned was only a small percentage returned to Jerusalem.  Just how many remained behind is uncertain, but we know from the subsequent return under Ezra that many had stayed behind. And, in Nehemiah, we meet a man who remained behind as “cupbearer to the king,” who only returned once the city came under dire need.

It’s easy to imagine that those who stayed behind did so because they had become engrossed in the opulence of Persian culture, and a return to the land would represent an unwanted—and for some, seemingly unnecessary—hardship.  But we find several texts that illumine the explicit commands of God to return:

Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.” (Isaiah 48:20)

Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock. (Jeremiah 50:8)

Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
It is time for the Lord’s vengeance; he will repay her what she deserves. (Jeremiah 51:6)

Further, Deuteronomy 28 chronicles the coming judgment of God in the scattering of His people during exile. The scattering would represent a “curse.” Therefore, in every biblical sense, the people had grown comfortable living in cursed circumstances.

Said another way, God’s program with Israel to this point had centered on blessings associated with geography. He had taken Abraham to the land, He had fiercely ensured that Moses and the Israelites returned to the land. So if you were reading the OT to this point, it would seem quite strange for anyone to remain outside the land that God had been so gracious in blessing His people with, and had been so ferocious in ensuring they found security in.

So while we can’t point to an explicit text that labels these people as explicitly sinful, they are certainly living outside of obedience and adherence to God’s program. Note that the name Mordecai comes from the Babylonian god Marduk, and similarly, Esther is a derivative of the god Ishtar. We might see this as indicative of some form of covenantal nominalism—abiding in Persia in both body and spirit.

But what is encouraging to us is that, even if they were not God’s all-stars of obedience, they allowed God to use them in a critical time of history. And God is willing to accomplish great things through any of his people who yield their lives to him.

Background of Esther in World History (Esther)

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Before we get into our five full weeks of looking into the Book of Esther, we should take a couple of days to review where this story fits within both world history (today) and Jewish history (tomorrow). Now don’t just go turning this off with plans to come back on Wednesday when it gets interesting again!

The reason you should stick with us and understand these contexts is related to the overall purpose of the book of Esther being written and included in the inspired Word of God. It is to serve as an encouragement to the Jewish people about God’s sovereign care of the nation in preserving them in the midst of powerful world empires that threatened to eliminate them. In fact, later in this devotional series will be a day dedicated to how Satan and the kingdom of darkness worked to eliminate the Jews, and thereby also eliminate a redeemer to come.

The story of Esther is late in the Old Testament account, less than a century before the so-called 400 silent years leading from Malachi to the coming of Christ. But let’s review the world empires leading up to the time of Esther.

When you think of Old Testament history, you can get a big jump on understanding it if you recall these three numbers (roughly): 2000 BC = Abraham, 1500 BC = Moses, 1000 BC = David.

After David’s son Solomon, the Jewish United Kingdom divided into 10 northern tribes called “Israel” and 2 southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin) called “Judah.”  This division happened in 931 BC.

The northern kingdom lasted until 721 BC when they were taken captive and conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom remained intact for an addition 100+ years before being defeated and taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, beginning in 605 BC.

The Babylonian Empire was taken over by the Medo-Persian Empire in 539 BC — this is the account of Daniel and the hand that wrote on the wall.

So the story of Esther happens during this Persian Empire, during the reign of a king named Xerxes — who ruled from 485-465 BC.  As we will see later this week, during this time the next empire is rising up and giving a series of battles with the Persians, and that is the Greek Empire. And of course, following the Greeks is the Roman Empire which takes us to the time of Christ and the early centuries of the Christian Church.

Through all of this there remained a distinct Jewish people, often a remnant who were faithful to God and returned to Him to re-establish life under the promises of The Covenant. And that is amazing. Think of all of the other peoples of antiquity … all of the “-ites and -mites.”  What happened to them; where are they? They’re gone — wiped out or absorbed into the conglomerate masses of humanity over the centuries. But God has preserved His original covenant people. That’s impressive.

It is also a point of application for us as the bride of Christ — that God will be faithful to His people of the New Covenant and will keep his promises and his word, even though (like in Esther’s day) the times often look grim.

Christ and Culture: Living as Dual Citizens (Esther 1-12)

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As a part of this season of the year, we at TSF offer for you a number of classes and small groups to join. At 11:00 each Sunday morning (following the 9:30 service), we offer a handful of different electives.

Along with choices on walking through end of life issues and a class on parenting, there is an elective to discuss the morning sermon theme in greater detail and application. Over the next six weeks, Chris Wiles will be doing this. Here are some leading questions about what will be discussed.

Chris writes:

Christ’s followers find themselves living as citizens of two cities: the city of God and the city of man.  Yet these two cities seem to be further apart than ever before.  How can we learn to apply the gospel to the issues of our culture?

Sept 13: A Tale of Two Cities: What is Culture?

  • What do we mean by “culture?”
  • Are we involved in a “culture war?”
  • How can Christians be citizens of this world while hoping in the next?

Sept 20: What has IKEA to do with Jerusalem?  The Social Construction of Reality

  • Why does the world look so different from a generation ago?
  • How do ideas shape our society?
  • Are there such things as “absolutes?”

Sept 27: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that:” The possibility of ethics in the late modern world

  • Is anything wrong with anything?
  • Are morals based on facts or opinions?
  • Can a non-Christian world practice Christian virtues?

Oct 4: Arts and entertainment: Worship in the gallery, the theater, and the stadium

  • How do the arts shape our culture’s values?
  • What is the Christian attitude toward arts and entertainment?
  • What does “The Big Game” reveal about our heart’s desires?

Oct 11: Religion: Can’t we all just coexist?

  • Is religion shaped by culture, or is culture shaped by religion?
  • What’s the difference between “spiritual” and “religious?”
  • Why is Christianity no longer a powerful social force?

Oct 18: Redeeming tolerance: Gracious speech in an age of offendedness

  • What is the Christian story?
  • Isn’t it wrong to impose our views on others?
  • Can free speech coexist with political correctness? 

A Strange Time in a Strange Land (Esther 1-10)

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We live in a strange time where the foundations seen to be undone. The news around the world is totally alarming, and we feel far from at home even in our own land. As Christians, the growing sense is that we are becoming a rather despised minority in many circles.

But we are not the first to feel this way. Our parents and grandparents lived through world wars, as have generations before them in tumultuous times. We never really should feel totally comfortable in this world; it is not our home ultimately.

But this is where we are right now. Does social comfort lead to spiritual apathy?  Can the church remain a clear voice in today’s society?  Is God in control?  Is He even there at all?

These questions weave their way through the story of Esther, an unlikely young woman who became Queen of Persia.  Yet her destiny would not be shaped by politics as much as the power of God. One of the most unusual features of Esther’s story is that God is never mentioned.  But He’s there—working behind the scenes, turning the wheels of history toward His glorious future.

Like Esther, you and I live as strangers in a strange land—a world in which the powers of man seem to outweigh the power of God.  How can we learn to practice faithful presence when God seems absent?   .   How do we learn to see God at work?  How does the story of Queen Esther point us to King Jesus?

I am going to guess that many of you are not deeply acquainted with the story of Esther. So in preparation for this six-week series, why not find a time this weekend where you read through it in one sitting. It will only take you about 15 minutes.

HEY, LET THOSE CHILDREN COME HERE! (Luke 18)

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As many of you know, I do occasional tour groups at the Antietam Battlefield (where I am sitting and writing this final devotional of the summer series). I talk with guests about how the Confederates under A.P. Hill marched 17 miles in 7 hours to arrive on the field just in time to save Robert E. Lee from total disaster.

For them to have done this, it also included wading across the Potomac River at a ford just downstream several hundred yards from where the bridge now is that crosses into Shepherdstown.

And when there are kids in the group, I will say to them, “Hey, it is a shallow place and we could probably go down there now and do the same thing; do you want to do that?”

And invariably the kids will answer, “Yes, that would be so cool; let’s go do it!”

And invariably the parents will say, “No, we’re not going to be doing that!”

Kids are great because they are completely trusting when they sense they are in the care of someone who genuinely loves them and cares for them. They fully believe that those adults will only do those things that will help them, not hurt them.

Another example — a toddler is only about one-quarter the size of a typical grown up. So, imagine if a 24-foot tall giant was to come along, pick you up under the armpits and throw you up and down 40 feet into the air, would you welcome that activity and giggle all the way through it like a little child does?

Didn’t think so!

In today’s reading we see how people were bringing their little ones to Jesus to be blessed and to meet this great teacher in whom they had come to have great respect and faith.

The Little Children and Jesus

Luke 18:15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

This passage is included also in both Matthew and Mark. And when we take the three accounts together, there are three things I would really like to emphasize from it …

First, the words used for children here are not limited to babies or tiny infants, but rather refer to children up to about 12 or 13 years old. The people were bringing families — don’t think of this as an infant dedication service of newborns. Yet at the same time, it is similar in one respect — that it involved the faith of parents in the person of Jesus and their desire for their children to be intimately connected to him.

Secondly, when Jesus rebukes the disciples for forbidding and discouraging this (they thinking that they were protecting Jesus from being bothered), the English translations do not capture the original text’s intensity. His words to them were very sharp, intense, pointed, and filled with emotion. He greatly desired them to come.

And finally, the picture is profoundly accurate to portray both the simple and humble faith of those who come genuinely to God, as well as the desire of God for them to come to him in full trust for salvation and life eternal in His Kingdom.

FINAL NOTE >> It has been a good summer series in the Parables. We next turn to six weeks of study in the book of Esther, and we will be back in less than two weeks with an accompanying devotionals series for that.