Exalting Jesus in Esther

Landon Dowden

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781433648403
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Exalting Jesus in Esther is part of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition presented as sermons and divided into chapters that conclude with a "Reflect & Discuss" section, making this series ideal for small group study, personal devotion, and even sermon preparation. It's not academic but rather presents an easy reading, practical and friendly commentary. The author of Exalting Jesus in Esther is Landon Dowden.

Only God Is Awesome

Esther 1:1-9

Main Idea: No matter how pagan or how powerful a ruler seems to be, he or she can never thwart God’s providence.

I. Exiles Do Not Adore Worldly Arrogance (1:1-4).

II. Exiles Are Not in Awe of Worldly Abundance (1:5-7).

III. Exiles Are Not Afraid of Worldly Authority (1:8-9).

IV. Exiles Are Not Surprised by No Worldly Acknowledgment of God.

V. Exiles Do Not Adopt a Worldly Agenda but Adore the Only Awesome God.

The first verse of the Bible informs us that “God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). The initial verses of Exodus list the names of Jacob’s sons and relate Israel’s great multiplication (Exod 1:1-7). The opening verses of Joshua state that God’s plan to give his people the promised land will move forward through Joshua’s leadership despite Moses’s death (Josh 1:1-2). In the beginning verses of Ezekiel, God reminds his people, who are in exile, of his purpose, provision, and presence in their discipline (Dowden, Exalting Jesus in Ezekiel, 3). There is no indication that Ezekiel was seeking a word from the Lord, but in what seemed like an ordinary day, God did something extraordinary and provided Ezekiel with a breathtaking vision. In these examples we see mentions of God, his people, his plans, and even one of his prophets.

In the opening verses of Esther, however, there is no prophet of the Lord, no extraordinary vision, no mention of God’s people, and maybe most surprising, no mention of God. Instead, 1:1-9 reveals a pompous pagan throwing an extended party to display his wealth and power. The author notes the vast expanse of Ahasuerus’s empire (1:1) and his expensive décor and serving pieces (1:6-7). This pagan is consumed with his own (perceived) greatness and concerned that others acknowledge it (1:4). He’s portrayed as the kind of guy who would ask, “You can see how awesome I am, right?” But what he will learn soon enough and what we need to be constantly reminded of is that only God is awesome.

Several years ago I had the habit of saying many things or situations were awesome. Did you see that game? It was awesome. I saw a raccoon run across the road. That’s awesome! The new toothpaste we bought is awesome. You get the gist. I probably would have continued with such overuse if it had not been for one of our elders. Hearing me respond, “That’s awesome,” to something that was at best mediocre prompted him to say, “No, only God is awesome.” I accepted his reproof and almost as quickly affirmed his conviction. If anything, or more accurately anyone, is the definition of awesome, it is God alone. There are some words that we should use only in reference to him because of his greatness and goodness.

If you were a Jew living in Susa (1:2) during the exile, you may have heard that God is awesome because of what you were taught growing up, but experience might leave you struggling with the concept. Despite not being mentioned in 1:1-9, God’s people are in Susa (see 2:5), and they are a “religious minority living in a dominant culture with completely different views from [them] on almost everything” (Jenkins, “Esther and the Silent Sovereignty of God”).

In our world today, many Christian brothers and sisters face severe persecution as they live under the reign of pagan political leaders. What Esther’s first readers needed to be reminded of, as do many in our day, is no matter how pagan or powerful a ruler seems to be, he or she can never thwart God’s providence. God will ultimately use Ahasuerus’s narcissism to accomplish his plan of preserving his people. As Isaiah exhorts us,

God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland. (Isa 40:22-23)

No matter what time or place we as believers find ourselves in, we should always remember two truths. First, God determines our when and our where. Paul says, “From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live” (Acts 17:26). There was no accident or randomness behind the conception of those who were born during Israel’s exile nor to those who were born this week. God makes no mistakes with people he knits together in their mothers’ wombs (Ps 139:13), in how he knits them together, in when he knits them together, or in where he determines for them to be born and to live.

The second truth we need to remember is this: no matter where we are on this globe, it is not ultimately our home. Despite the issuing country for our passports, Paul reminds Christians that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20). A new heaven and earth are coming with a new Jerusalem that has been prepared “like a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). In the meantime Peter urges us to live as “strangers and exiles” who “abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul” and to “conduct [ourselves] honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander [us] as evildoers, they will observe [our] good works and will glorify God on the day he visits” (1 Pet 2:11-12).

In the opening verses of Esther, God’s people were exiles living under pagan rule. We are exiles as well, and we need not be threatened by worldly pomp, possessions, or power. Nor should we yield to temptations to walk in worldly paths of self-promotion. No matter what circumstances or difficulties we find ourselves in and no matter the practices of those in the culture in which we live, the Lord has tasked us to declare his greatness and not our own. As exiles, let us always adore God, who alone is awesome, and may that worship fuel every step of our obedience. With this in mind, let us now consider Esther 1:1-9.

Exiles Do Not Adore Worldly Arrogance

Esther 1:1-4

In the language of the Old Testament, Esther 1:1-4 is actually one sentence. This lengthy sentence reveals important information about the context of Esther. First, what is recorded in Esther occurs during the reign of Ahasuerus and 1:1-20 takes place during the third year of his rule. Now unless you just dominate your family in the advanced levels of Bible Trivia: Seminary Nerd Edition, then I am guessing you do not know much about Ahasuerus or when he was a blip on the historical map.

So, who was Ahasuerus and when were his days? Ahasuerus, better known by his Greek name Xerxes, reigned from 486 to 465 BC (Baldwin, Esther, 17). He “was the son and successor of Darius I Hystaspes, at the beginning of whose reign the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple took place (Hg. 2:1-9; Zc. 7:1; 8:9)” (Baldwin, Esther, 17). Fox notes that some portrayals of Xerxes show “him as an occasionally sagacious and principled, but more often arbitrary, tyrannical, and brutal despot” (Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther, 15). With regard to what we see of Xerxes in the text, Fox says, “His soul is adequately exposed by simple description of his mental states, which are mostly a collection of impulses” (ibid., 171). He is consumed with being honored and displaying his authority. He often wields his incredible power “with . . . little thought invested in its employment.” Rather, it’s carried out by the whims of one who is “erratic, childish, apathetic, and pliable” (ibid., 175–76). Ah! Just the qualifications one loves to see in his or her political leaders who also have absolute (or so it is perceived) command.

Second, these verses reveal the boundaries of Ahasuerus’s empire. He ruled 127 provinces that stretched from India to Cush (southern Pakistan to northern Sudan on our current maps), which was basically the known world and the “greatest empire ever known” at that time (Firth, The Message of Esther, 38). Strain notes that Ahasuerus was the “supreme ruler of the world superpower of the day” (“The Lord Reigns”). The author could have used satrapies (regions composed of multiple provinces) to describe the realm of Ahasuerus, but that number would have been smaller, and the author clearly wants to introduce readers to this king by using the grandest means possible. Though letters will be sent throughout the vast expanse of his territory, the main focus of events in Esther is the capital city of Susa, where “King Ahasuerus reigned from his royal throne” (1:2).

In addition to the who, when, and where the author of Esther provides about Ahasuerus, verse 4 records an important what. In the third year of his reign, he decided to give a feast for Persia’s political and military elites. This is the first reference to a feast in Esther, but it is far from the last. Dialogue and activities around feasts are found in the beginning, middle, and conclusion of the book. There are almost more references to feasts in Esther than in the rest of the Old Testament combined. At these feasts food and drink would have abounded, as well as time to enjoy both, which is not completely dissimilar from my upbringing in Louisiana (minus the strong-drink part). Few things are better than an unhurried crawfish boil after spending the day on the water at Toledo Bend, but I digress.

Ahasuerus’s party was not just any feast. It was not a feast to thank the political and military leaders for their loyalty or service. It was not a feast to honor them for their sacrifices or to reward specific instances of merit. No, as the CSB translates so well, it was a feast for Xerxes to display “the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness” (1:4). Perhaps the invitations to it said something like this:

Dear Important Person,

Your presence is commanded at the King’s Feast,

To give you an opportunity to bask in his glory and greatness,

And to show you what true extravagance and power look like.

What a privilege this will be for you!

Please drop by the palace between noon and midnight any day over the next six months

Or stay for that entire time.

Also, please do not send your regrets; your absence will be to yo...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Esther
• Only God Is Awesome 1:1-9
• A Drunk King, a Defiant Queen, and a Divine Providence 1:10-22
• Sin, Suffering, and Sovereignty 2:1-18
• Our God Reigns over Lots and Letters 2:19–3:15
• Rejecting Passivity and Risking Perishing 4
• A Tale of Two Plans 5
• Providential Peripety 6
• When What Was Concealed Is Revealed 7
• Pleading on Behalf of Others 8
• Reversal, Relief, and Remembrance 9–10
• Works Cited
• Scripture Index