Esther 1
* King Xerxes throws fancy feasts
* wife doesn’t do what he tells her,
* sent her away to make her an example throughout the kingdom
Esther 2
* Xerxes seeks a replacement
* Esther is chosen
* She was chosen to be taken with the other young women to take part in the contest to become queen. This may not have been something that Esther wanted anything to do with. Maybe the thought of being Xerxes wife was not something she wanted to do at all. Not knowing what Esther’s feelings on this were we know that she obeyed and went where she was asked to go. She may not have understood but she chose to obey. God has a plan for His children and He places them exactly where He wants them so He can use them for His plan.
* Before Esther became Queen. Mordecai told her it was important to not tell anyone that she was a Jew.
* The Bible doesn’t tell us why Mordecai asked this of her, but he did.
* Esther obeyed Mordecai because he was like a father to her and she knew that God would want her to honor and obey the man who was as a father to her.
* One time while he was sitting by the gate he overheard two men planning to kill King Xerxes.
* He passed this information along to Ether and she told the King.
* The two men were put to death and Mordecai’s information about this plot was written down in the King’s history books.
* The king had a helper who was wicked and cruel. He thought he was a very important man because he worked for the king. His name was Haman. King Xerxes promoted Haman to a position higher than the other officials in his kingdom.
* Esther 3:5 One day as he walked by Mordecai he expected to bow down and honor him. Mordecai knew it was against God’s commandments to bow down to anyone but Him. He would not bow down to honor Haman. This angered Haman and caused him to hate Mordecai. He knew that Mordecai was a Jew so that made Haman hate all Jews.
* Because Haman hated all the Jews he went to King Xerxes and asked the king to make a law that all the Jews to be killed.
* said, “There are certain people who live in your land who do not obey the king’s laws. The king listened to Haman and made a law that in the month of Adar all the Jews, men, women, and children would be destroyed. Esther 3:12-14
* Esther 4:1-2 Mordecai found out and told Esther (who still had no reveled that she was a Jew)
* She knew that if she went to the king without being invited she could be killed right on the spot.
* She would go to the king and tell him of this wicked plan to destroy her people. Even if it meant she might die doing it.
* Queen Esther was trusting God to show her what to do so when the King asked her what she wanted, she invited him and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet she invited the king and Haman to attend another banquet the next night.
* Because Esther trusted God and His timing she didn’t rush to tell Xerxes about Haman’s wicked plan. Because she waited and acted only when the time was right, God was able to work in other events that would bring together His plan for this situation.
* the night before Esther’s banquet, the king could not sleep. God is control over all things. It is not an accident that the king could not sleep. Since Xerxes was unable to sleep he asked his servant to bring him a history book for him to read. It wasn’t an accident which history book was brought for him to read. As he read in this book he reads about the account of Mordecai overhearing the plot to have him killed. King Xerxes realized that Mordecai had not been honored and rewarded for saving his life so as he was planning how he could reward Mordecai, Haman is coming to his palace to request that he might be allowed to hang Mordecai on the gallows he has made.
* As Haman enters the King’s presence the king asks him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”
* Pride is an ugly thing. Pride blinds us to the true sinful person that we are. Haman was blinded by pride. He assumed the king wanted to honor him so he came up with the best way he would want to be honored. Imagine his horror when King Xerxes tells him to go and do to Mordecai all that he said about how to be honored!
* It was now time for the banquet.
* Esther knew it was God’s time to tell the King that she and her people were going to be killed. Esther 7:5-8 She told the king that she was a Jew and there was a law that her people were going to be killed. The king was furious! “Who would dare to think about killing you?” The king loved his wife and the thought of her being killed made him angry. Esther pointed at Haman and said the enemy who wants to destroy the Jews is this wicked Haman!”
* Xerxes had Haman put to death on a steak he had made to kill Mordecai with
* Mordecai was placed in a position of power
* Xerxes agreed and made a new law that said on the day that the Jews were to be attacked that they could protect themselves from those who were going to attack them.
Embrace your destiny
At first Esther tried hiding from
King Ahasuerus’s guards to avoid marrying him, but ultimately she couldn’t avoid the inevitable. When she was made queen, Mordechai, the leader of the Jews at the time, understood that “such a thing would not have happened to such a righteous woman unless she was destined to rescue her people [through it].” G‑d places us where we need to be in order to fulfill our mission in life
* Each person has great value to God.
* The purpose for every follower of Jesus is to be used by God and to be a Godly influence in the lives of others.
* God has given His children gifts to help others to see that He exists and He wants them to be a member of His family.
* We are to trust and obey God even when we don’t understand our circumstances.
God is never mentioned in Esther
* God is in control even when it doesn’t seem like he is
Esther bravery saved an entire nation of people
* they were able to have a huge influence in the pagan culture
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