What do you think of when you think of the book of Esther? I guess its the brave heroine bravely going before the king at great personal risk to herself and saving God's people as God maintains his faithfulness to his covenant. And that is the final image of Esther, but surprisingly at the outset of the book Esther is very different and so Mordecai.
Chapters 1-2 are a little bit like the prologue of a novel, setting the scene as we meet the characters: there is Xerxes – the king, his sycophantic adviser's, Vashti the bold ex-queen, Mordecai the Jew, and Esther his cousin.
Then in chapter 2 after the removal of the old queen we see the reality of living in the world.
1. A World of Pressure
(1-4) King Xerxes does not come out of these opening chapters very well, he’s a party animal (ch1) and here ch2 we see he’s into pleasure. His advisers say why not hold a beauty contest and the winner (4) must please the king - there are two criteria beauty and performance in bed (14). It is definitely not X-Factor.
It is then strange to see Esther taken into this competition. It’s not what would you would expect to see or read, especially not when the passage emphasises her Jewishness. It seems that Esther is unwillingly taken to the court (8) but once there she seems to have done what was expected of her.
One of the intriguing things is that she kept her Jewishness secret under Mordecai’s instruction. It is certainly a messy situation which raises lots of questions as Esther is under pressure, as she faces being taken to the kings bed and assessed.
It is a reminder that pressure is natural for the people of God. Aliens and Strangers – that is what the Jewish were scattered throughout Persia. Living in lands and under rulers who did not know or follow God. Esther is not a manual telling us how to do that, how to live in a world which has very different standards and ideas to the Bible. She does not take a stand as Daniel and his friends did? (Is there a deliberate contrast there?) It is not advocating compromise. It is recording the facts.
2. The Sovereign Lord
What we see in the book of Esther is that God works through the muck and mistakes for his glory. Indeed it is one of the OT’s big lessons. (e.g. Gen Jacob and wives and children- is not recommending it is recording it). I think something similar is going on here.
This is not giving us Esther as a template to follow – keep quiet don’t tell anyone you are one of God’s people. Go along with the prevailing morality of the day. But it is showing us that God works through the muck, grim and mistakes to work out his sovereign purposes.
God will use Queen Esther, not because he approves of her actions and Mordecai's secrecy but because he is sovereignly at work. In God’s grace Esther is chosen despite her mistakes and God will use her to save his people and be faithful to his promises.
God places Mordecai where he can overhear and react – so that he will be where God needs him to effect God’s salvation. So God fulfils his promises to Abraham. Because what is at stake is God’s promises.
It poses the question - will I trust God? As a people in exile in a land hostile to God and Christian living will I trust him. Maybe we feel guilt for past mistakes and think that limits our usefulness to God. Esther tells us that God uses failures, in fact that is why Jesus has to come because none of us get it right. But God can use failure who realise they need to stand for him as Esther and Mordecai do in the rest of the book.
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