The sermon 'The Making of a Queen' by Jason Dohm focuses on Esther chapter 2, detailing Esther's rise to queenship in the Persian Empire. After King Ahasuerus deposes Queen Vashti for disobedience, he seeks a new queen by gathering beautiful young virgins from across his vast empire. Esther, a Jew raised by her cousin Mordecai, is among those chosen. Her beauty and character win favor, leading to her selection as queen. The sermon contrasts King Ahasuerus's self-serving nature and his treatment of women with the biblical ideal of marriage as a reflection of Christ's self-sacrificing love for the church. It emphasizes the notion of compromise, noting that biblical figures often had 'feet of clay,' and discusses the hope of redemption and life after compromise. The sermon also highlights God's sovereignty, illustrating how He orchestrated events for the eventual deliverance of His people even before they were in peril. Mordecai's discovery of a plot to assassinate the king and his communication of this through Esther is crucial for later events. Ultimately, the sermon encourages believers to recognize God's rightful claim over their lives, contrasting it with the arbitrary power wielded by King Ahasuerus.

Our text this morning is Esther chapter 2 in its entirety. Please follow along. After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's servants who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of the kingdom that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the Citadel, into the women's quarters under the custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, custodian of the women, and let beauty preparations be given them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." This thing pleased the king, and he did so.

In Shushan, the citadel, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives, who had been captured with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

So it was when the king's command and decree were heard that many young women were gathered at Shushan, the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king's palace into the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women. Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor, so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maid servants were provided for her from the king's palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. Esther had not revealed her people or her family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. And every day, Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women's quarters to learn of Esther's welfare and what was happening to her.

Each young woman's turn came to go into King Asuarius after she had completed twelve months' preparation according to the regulations for the women, for Thus were the days of their preparation apportioned. Six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women. Thus prepared, each woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the woman's quarters to the king's palace. In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shehazgaz, the king's eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go into the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.

Now, when the turn came for Esther, daughter of Abahael, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go into the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai, the king's eunuch, custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. So Esther was taken to King Asuarius into his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and She obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. So he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Then the king made a great feast, the feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants, and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king. When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king's gate. Now Esther had not revealed her family and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him. In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, Bighthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Asuarius. So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.

And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows. And it was written in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the King. The title of the sermon this morning is, The Making of a Queen. We have a new queen this week. We had one queen deposed last week because of conduct that the king and his advisors found to be unacceptable.

And we have the selection and installation of a new queen this week. Last week we began our exposition of the Book of Esther, but we didn't meet Esther. We were just given the historical context, and the title of the sermon last week was Life with the King. In chapter 1 we really get a flavor of what it's like to be in or near the inner circle of a king who can bring his officials from maybe 3, 000 miles away. From east to west, this empire is 3, 000 miles.

And he's bringing the leaders from 127 different provinces that he is the king of and he is feasting them for 180 days. So he's taking a half a year to show off. This is really what chapter 1 was about. It's about the king showing off. And he does show off.

He shows off for 180 days and all is well. It goes well. The showing off is great. The showing off continues for another seven days. At the end of 180 days, there's another seven days where he invites the people of the capital city, Shushan.

So the 180 days had been for the mighty. He had only brought really the great from the 127 provinces. The next seven days is different than that. Great and small alike within the capital are invited to come and drink as much wine as they want. And days one through six also go well.

He can show off to the people in the capital as well. And then he wants to show off his wife. He wants to make sure that everybody in the capital knows that his wife is prettier than your wife. And it's just so consistent with everything else in the chapter. Mine is better than yours.

That is what the whole 187 days has been about. And now he is going to prove it of his wife as well. And so he calls his wife out to appear before a drunken crowd of men. Probably that's what you had. It's a feast for men.

The women had a separate feast going. And so it's the men and there's been no constraints on the wine. You didn't have to drink, but There was also no limit to your drinking either. So probably many of the men there are drunk. And he's calling out his queen to appear before these people, and she's having nothing to do with it.

Well the king didn't plan for that. And If it had been in my household, you would have had a household squabble and you could go behind closed doors and have it out. There would be a way forward. But because he's the king and she's the queen, This is not just a household squabble. And the king and his seven closest advisors decide that this is actually a matter of state.

That if they let the rebellion of the Queen stand, the rejection of the Queen stand, then all respect for authority across a 3, 000 mile empire is being compromised and eroded. And so she's told with The law of the Persians and the Medes which can't be changed, and we're going to see later in the book of Esther that not even the king can change it. When the king issues a law to this standard, not even he can go back on it. So there is no repeal and replace to the law of the Persians and the Medes. He says, she can never come into my presence ever again.

She would not come when I summoned her, and so she can never come again. He divorces Vashti. And we ended last week considering how different this royal marriage between Ahasuerus and Vashti is from what marriage is meant to be. Marriage is meant to be a picture of Christ and His self-sacrificing love for His church. So you have polar opposites here.

You have an earthly king and his trophy wife. That's all she was. That's why He wanted her to come out to show that she was Beautiful. In today's vernacular, he was showing off his trophy wife. Well Christ in the church is exactly the opposite of that.

When Jesus comes to sinners, He comes to us when we are most unlovely and then He makes us beautiful through His own sacrifice. Here you have an earthly selfish king who has a trophy wife, and he has an endless list of demands for his trophy wife, which are based on his selfishness. But marriage was meant to be a picture of Jesus Christ who comes to the unlovely and He gives Himself. He is not making demands of her. He is giving Himself to make her beautiful.

It is exactly the opposite. And I introduced us to the ruby rule last week. We know that the golden rule is do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The ruby rule is just made up. It's not in Scripture.

Well, it is in Scripture. It's not in Scripture under that name. It is the ruby rule and it is for Christian husbands. According to Proverbs 31, a godly wife is worth more than rubies. The ruby rule is this, Christian husbands, do unto your wife as the Lord Jesus Christ has done and is doing and forever will do to you.

Husbands, if we followed that rule, I think a lot of the heart burn over male headship in a home would disappear overnight. This week we are introduced in chapter 2 to Esther and Mordecai and we are given a history of how Esther, though she was lowly, in the empire became queen. So as we go to this text, let's go to the Lord and ask him to help us. Our God, you are sovereign Over everything, over every day, hour, minute of our lives, you are the ruler of heaven and earth. Nothing escapes your notice.

You care about everything. I thank you for showing us in the book of Esther how even if your name isn't invoked, you are working in every single circumstance, even the ones that seem significant, for the good of your people and to show yourself as being great. I pray this would be the effect on us. We would see you as the God who is ruling all things for your own glory and for the good of your people. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well here's how I intend to structure our time. First, I'd like to recap the chapter that was just read, chapter 2. And then I'd like to make five observations and ask one question. So that's how we'll end our time, with five observations coming right out of the chapter, and then I'll ask a final question.

Let's recap chapter two. It begins with Ahasuerus feeling the loss of the queen. When you read the early verses, many commentators read all sorts of introspection where he really had an affection for the Queen, and he feels sorry that he put her away, and that he was so reactionary and impulsive and had done this. I don't read any such thing in the early verses of this chapter. All I see is a self-serving king who's missing what he had.

You can make up your own mind, but at the very least he's feeling the loss of the queen, of having a queen. I'm not sure it was feeling the loss of this queen. I think it's feeling the loss of Aqueen. And he remembers Vashti and what she had done. His wrath has subsided, but he remembers what she had done and what was done to her as a consequence of what she had done.

And his servants, his attending servants, propose something. They say, let's seek out women, a group of women, a lot of women, who fit three criteria. They're beautiful, they're young, and they're virgins. We'll bring together a pool of women, and this is what we'll look for. Beautiful young virgins.

The term virgin is used here. And I would like to encourage you to think of this simply as we are looking for unmarried women. It has a more technical sense of course, which has to do with experience with men, and the expectation of an unmarried woman at that time is that she would not have experience with men. And so that would certainly be the expectation. But the thrust here is that we are just looking for young, beautiful, unmarried women, available women.

And we know that is true because when we come to verse 17, it's used in a way that it cannot mean no experience with men. So the thrust of the meaning of this term in Esther chapter 2 is just unmarried, available. Beautiful, young, available. And they suggest that an official be appointed in every province. Well we learned about that in chapter one.

There are 127 provinces across 3, 000 miles from modern day Pakistan to modern day Sudan. So in 127 provinces there's going to be an official whose job is to look for the most beautiful, young, available women. This is a major operation. 127 provinces, you're going to set aside an official for this purpose, for this search. And so a lot of women are brought.

We're not given a total. But if it's just two from every province, you have 254. So I don't know what the number was, but assuming there are a lot of beautiful women across 3, 000 miles, and you just bring two from every province, you get at least 254 women. A lot of women! But we're only given one by name.

None of the others are mentioned by name. Right there in the shadow of the palace, we are looking for beautiful young available women across 3, 000 miles, but right there in the shadow of the palace is a Jew named Mordecai. Mordecai is a Persian name, It's not a Hebrew name. And it's associated with Marduk, who is the principal god of Babylon. So it is a pagan Persian name that is born by a Jewish man.

This man we're told is a fourth generation captive. His great-grandfather Kish was taken into captivity with King Jeconiah, who was the king of Judah at the time. Nebuchadnezzar took them captive in 597 BC. So 114 years earlier, 114 years before Esther chapter 2, because of the sins of the people of God, God sends Nebuchadnezzar to take Judah captive. And Jeconiah is the king, he is taking captive, and the great, the mighty, the nobility are taken captive in that wave of captivity.

Remember, Judah goes into captivity in three waves. This would have been the first wave of captivity. And So King Jeconiah and the nobility and the competent artisans. So the craftsmen and the smiths. This is what we learned in 2 Kings chapter 24.

Not everyone is taken captive in the first wave. It's just the nobility. It's the useful people. It's the educated. It's the ones with means and resources and it's useful craftsmen and smiths are taken into captivity.

Only them, about 10, 000, are taken into captivity with King Jeconiah from Jerusalem. Mordecai's great grandfather, Kish, would have fit this profile, either wealthy and or noble, or a competent craftsman who would be useful to the Babylonians. Remember, they are not Persians yet. This is Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon 114 years earlier. So this would have been Mordecai's great grandfather.

Keep this in mind as we work through and consider Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai was born in captivity. He has never set foot in Israel or Judah. His father was born in captivity, having never set foot in Israel or Judah. That may have been true of his grandfather as well.

We don't know. It depends on whether Kish already had a son when he was taken into captivity. So maybe his grandfather was or wasn't always in captivity. But Mordecai has never known freedom in Judah and neither Has his dad ever known one day of freedom in Judah and maybe his grandfather hasn't and his great-grandfather was taken into captivity And It's been 57 years since the people of God who had been taken into captivity were offered the chance to go back. So turn to Ezra chapter 1.

The timeline is his great grandfather went into captivity 114 years before Esther chapter 2. 57 years in the past, meaning that if Mordecai isn't 57 years old, He wasn't even born when the people of God were offered a chance to go back and rebuild Jerusalem. If he's older than 57, he might have been born, but unless he's a lot older than 57, He really had nothing to do with this. This is Ezra chapter 1. I'll read verses 1-6.

Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing. Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me, and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah, who is among you of all his people. May his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is God which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold with goods and livestock, besides the free will offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things besides all that was willingly offered. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has taken the people of Judah into captivity in three different waves. But now the Babylonians have been overthrown by the Persians. Cyrus is the first king of Persia who conquers Babylon and absorbs Babylon into the Persian Empire.

It becomes the Persian Empire at that point. Cyrus, in the first year of his reign, God stirs him up to let the people of Judah go back. Anyone who wants to go back can go back. And The proclamation is either you go or you help. Either you go back or you give resources to those who go back so that when they get there they have the resources to build the temple.

Mordecai's family didn't go back. Mordecai may or may not have been born at this time, 57 years before Esther chapter 2. But whatever the case, God didn't stir the spirit of the members of this family to go back and build the temple. This Jew Mordecai had an uncle and aunt also with them in captivity who died leaving their little girl Hadassah. He's older than her, significantly older than her, and he brings her up as his own daughter.

But he wants her to use her Persian name. He doesn't want her to use the name Hadassah as her name. She has two names, a Hebrew name, Hadassah, and a Persian name. He wants her to use the Persian one. We're not told why, but it's repeated in this chapter.

It's said twice that he's told her, use Esther as your name. Don't tell them that you're Jewish. He doesn't say lie, he just says, don't tell them that you are Jewish. Hold that back. Now, we are not told why, but here is a data point for you.

In Ezra chapter 4, we get one single verse that is the only mention of the king of Hazu-eris in all of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra chapter 4 verse 6. Here is our one data point that we have. Ezra 4.6. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

We are not told how early in his reign, it just says at the beginning of his reign he receives letters from the enemies of the Lord's people saying bad things about what the Jews are doing, the returned Jews are doing in Jerusalem. Maybe this is why. Maybe. We know he's been getting letters about the Jews. Maybe this is Mordecai's motivation for telling Hadassah.

Don't let them call you Hadassah. Let them call you by your Persian name, Esther. The only thing we learn about her here is that she was lovely and beautiful. The ESV has a better rendering. When you go look at the Hebrew words, it's more literal.

It helps you understand the Hebrew words better the way the ESV renders it. The ESV renders it, had a beautiful figure, and was beautiful to look at. So, the New King James says, lovely and beautiful, and That's fine as far as it goes, but ESV is more literal. It means had a beautiful figure and was beautiful to look at. In other words, she had an attractive, desirable body, and She had a beautiful face.

King James actually renders it beautiful of face and form. And this is what the king is looking for. He is looking for beautiful, young, available women. And here is Esther in the shadow of the palace, beautiful of face and form. And so she's swept up to be a part of the selection process.

And this is exactly how I want you to think of it. She's swept up into it. She does not fill out an application form to be considered. She is beautiful of face and form and that is what the king is looking for and They are aware of her so she enters the process. It's quite an evolved process.

There's at least a full year of beauty treatments. Meaning, it says that All of these women being considered are prepared with beauty treatments for a year, and then they are given a night with the king. But if there are two from every province, there are 254 of them. So it begins after a year. And then it's night and night and night and night.

The treatments are made to make beautiful women more beautiful, and to make them smell great. Perfumes are part of this year of treatments. Did either Mordecai or Esther have any say in whether she would participate in this. In order to answer that question, I want to go somewhere else and look at a very similar circumstance. So turn to Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel chapter 1. Daniel is the last of the major prophets. So you have Isaiah, then Jeremiah, then Ezekiel, and then Daniel is right after Ezekiel. Daniel chapter 1. Just think about how this compares to rounding up the beautiful, young, available women in the empire, and then a year of preparation, and then the king considers and chooses.

Daniel chapter 1, I'm going to read 1-5 and then I'll read 19 and 20 and I'll tell you when I'm jumping. Daniel chapter 1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the articles of the house of God which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God. And he brought the articles into the treasure house of his God.

Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge, and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, in whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. The king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. Now fast forward to verses 19 and 20. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they served before the king.

And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. Now question for you. Did Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah have a say? Did they have a say? Now, they're made eunuchs.

It doesn't say that explicitly, but they're given into the charge of the master of the eunuchs. That means they were made eunuchs. They are physically altered. They will never marry. They will never have children.

They are physically altered in order to be safe in their service to the king. They're not signing up for this. The king gives a command at the beginning, find me some of the nobles who are the best looking, smartest, and bring them into my service. Train them for three years, Feed them at my table, make them ready, and then at the end of the time the king interviews them. He says, these four are smarter than the rest, and they are better than any of my magicians and astrologers.

They will serve me. This is exactly what is happening in Esther chapter 2. We know them by different names. We know them as Daniel, but we really should know his name as Belteshazzar. That's his Persian name.

And what do we know the other three as? Do we know them as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah? No way. We know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by their Persian names. The Persian kings owned them.

The Persian kings renamed them. Here's what Frederick Bush in the World Biblical Commentary says, Both the language and the form used eloquently indicate that the principles just introduced, meaning Mordecai and Esther had no choice whatsoever in what transpired. Their passivity in the matter is affected by the tight series of three passive verbs in verse 8, was proclaimed, were gathered, was taken, which portray an irresistible series of events. Frederick Bush is writing the World Biblical Commentary. It's a commentary that is focused on the original language and helping people like me who don't know Hebrew to understand the nuances that you would recognize if you knew Hebrew really well.

He knows Hebrew really well. So he is telling us that in verse 8, when you see these three passive phrases, was proclaimed, were gathered, was taken, you know that it's meant to communicate. They're not signing up for this. They are swept into this by a king who owns them. We're Americans.

We don't have a frame of context for that. Like the President owned me? Fetch my Constitution. Here's what Ian Dugwood of the Reformed Expository Commentary says, This was not a competition that someone had to apply to enter. Everyone's hat was in the ring simply by virtue of living within the empire.

Since the whole purpose for existence in Persia was to serve the empire, no permission was needed for the empire to draft a young woman into this particular branch of the civil service. Think about it that way. You are just being drafted into civil service. What's the big deal? You are just coming into the service of the king.

That's how they would have thought of it. Civil service. There was nothing sexist about this perspective either. The empire would also happily draft people's sons to serve as the king's eunuchs if it felt there were a need and if they were qualified, Daniel won. The modern slogan, My Body, My Choice, wouldn't translate well in ancient culture.

Here's what Ian Dougwood says a little bit later in the commentary. It wasn't a bad life on the scale of existence within the empire. The woman would receive regular meals. Probably very few would have resisted the royal summons, and many would have regarded it as a wonderful opportunity to have a comfortable, if pointless, existence. For many, it would seem almost like winning the lottery.

You cannot come to Esther chapter 2 with the American mindset and think she's going from great to just terrible circumstances. Almost no women in the Persian Empire would have viewed it that way. They were coming from very difficult circumstances into a lifetime of pampering and ease. Most of them would have welcomed it. I'm not arguing that Esther or Mordecai welcomed it.

I'm just saying you have to be able to put on Persian glasses for this or you'll never understand what's happening in chapter 2. So Esther is swept up into the process and she immediately distinguishes herself. She immediately rises to the top. What we are going to find out in these 10 chapters of Esther is this is Esther. You put her anywhere and she will rise to the top.

Look at verse 9. Now the young woman, Esther, pleased him, Hegai, the eunuch who is in charge of the women, and she obtained his favor. It's an Okay translation, but the ESV and the NIV render it she won his favor and that's better. Because the sense is like she won it. She laid hold of his favor by being who she was and pleased him.

She obtained his favor. So he readily gave beauty preparations to her besides her allowance. Then Seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the King's palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. She is just there, and already he is giving her advantages because of what she is like. Esther is really pleasing to the one who has been given charge over her and he is giving her every advantage.

This is not how all of the other women were treated. Look at verse 15. When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihal the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter to go into the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her." Now look at verse 17. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in the sight more than all the virgins.

So It really doesn't matter where she goes in the narrative. This is what we're going to find out about Esther. She's the most pleasing. The most visually pleasing, but not just visually pleasing, the people who get to know her like her. And this is going to be important in the story.

She knows how to win friends and influence people. Here's how the process works. You're prepared for at least a year, And then you have one night with the king. And it's exactly what it sounds like. And there's no way to wiggle out of that.

It's like, just stop trying. It doesn't have to be that. It has to be that! Make your peace with it. Frederick Bush, who is writing this commentary about the nuances of what you would know if you knew Hebrew well, and he is helping us get that, says that the innuendo is so much stronger in Hebrew.

If you knew Hebrew well, you couldn't miss it. You would never wonder, is this what I think it is? Yes, it's what you think it is. One morning you're living with the virgins, the available women preparing. The next morning you're taken to the house of the concubines.

Period. End of story. You're his concubine. You might become his wife. You might become the queen.

But you'll never be anything other than his concubine or wife or queen. One morning you wake up, you're in the house of preparation with the beautiful, young, available women, and the next morning you're in the house of the concubines. This tells you all we need to know. You may be summoned again, you may never be summoned again. And the Empire sheds no tears over that.

You are the property of the empire. Hard to imagine, isn't it? It makes us want to weep for those women, but probably no Persians would be weeping for them. Probably many of the Persians would say, wow, I wish that was me. Esther's night arrives, and it's the seventh year of the King's reign.

Now In chapter one, we had our first time market. It was the third year of the King's reign. Now it's the seventh year. In the four years that have passed, all the women have been collected up, they've been prepared for a year, and then this parade has started. Night with the King, Night with the King, Night with the King, different women, the King selecting.

The King loves her more than any of the other young, beautiful, available women. I want to encourage you, don't read too much into that. The word is translated love because it means love, but It has a broad range of meaning. It can mean anything from just physical attraction to the kind of love that Isaac had for Rebecca. It's used in all sorts of ways.

Here's one thing we know. This man had no capacity for Christian love for a wife. There is no indication in scripture or in history that this man ever repented of his sins. Never. He was never the Lord's.

He had no capacity for Christian love for a wife. So don't read too much into this. Here's what you should know about this. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. And he inclined the king's heart to Esther.

And the king makes her queen in place of Vashti and he gives a feast. It's actually called the Feast of Esther. Wonder who was the guest of honor at the Feast of Esther. And this is important because he's invited all of his officials and servants to this feast. That is exactly what chapter 1 verse 3 said.

The 180 days was for all of his officials and servants. The exact same words are used there. Here he has the feast of Esther for all of his officials and his servants and he proclaims a holiday and he gives gifts. Friends, this is a replay. The first time was an epic fail.

He summoned Vashti. Vashti said, no. And this is the redo. The feast of Esther is the redo. And He shows you that he has the most beautiful wife in the kingdom.

In the final verses we learn something about Mordecai. He is sitting within the gate. This almost certainly means that Mordecai had an official role of service at the palace. Sitting at the gate is a term that's used all across the Old Testament. It means a place of prominence and an official capacity.

This means that Mordecai had a place of prominence and official capacity. Listen to what Frederick Bush, again of the World Biblical Commentary, says. He says, This is made considerably more probable by the discovery of a monumental gate building comprising almost 13, 000 square feet and situated some 90 yards east of the palace unearthed by the French excavations of the 1970s. Did you get what he's saying here? He's saying in the 1970s, French archaeologists were in Shushan excavating this palace, the palace of the Persian kings there in southwest Iran, and they found, 90 yards away from the palace, they found a gatehouse, an actual complex, the gatehouse.

And it's 13, 000 square feet. And they found it. And here's what he says. He says where, he's referencing a modern historian, has presented evidence from Herodotus and Xenophon. These are ancient historians.

Herodotus is Greek and Xenophon is Roman. He is referencing ancient historians as well as Assyrian and Babylonian royal inscriptions that such buildings house the administrative and supply functions for the royal palace. It would have been the hub for administration of the palace. So Mordecai is part of this. Somehow, there, he becomes aware of a plot to assassinate the king.

That's what it means that these two eunuchs wanted to lay hands on him. And Esther informs the king in Mordecai's name. In other words, Esther informs the king, There is an assassination plot underway, and I know because I heard it from Mordecai your servant." This is going to become very important in the story. The king has been told the information came from Mordecai because the king investigates. It's true, and these two units are hanged on the gallows.

This almost certainly means they were impaled on a long wooden stake. So it's not hung by the neck until dead. It would be impaled on a wooden stake. This goes unrewarded. Nothing is said about any recognition for Mordecai at this time.

Again, this is going to be very important. It's very unusual. You must know how unusual this is. I'm sure this is true of all kings, but many of the commentators that I read this week said that it's especially true of Persian kings, one, that they cannot be in any man's debt. Be in any man's debt.

If you govern from east to west 3, 000 miles and you like the title King of Kings or King of Nations as Ahasuerus did, you are not going to be in one of your servant's debt. If he does something good for you, you're going to do something better to reward him so that he can never say, the king's in my debt. Secondly, You want to reward loyal service. Why? To keep the loyal service coming.

Do you want to know when assassination plot is afoot? If you're the king, you bet. But somehow it escapes the notice of those who would be rewarding. And so nothing happens, there's no recognition. This is chapter two.

Now five observations and questions. Five observations and questions. Number one, is it the world's worst way to pick a spouse. You have now officially seen the world's worst way to select a partner for life. One of the great benefits of Scripture is negative example.

God says before us how not to do things. And here we get it. In 1 Samuel chapter 16, God is speaking to Samuel about the selection of a king. One king has already been selected. He was a head taller and better looking than everyone else.

And the people said, hooray! This is a bad king. Saul was a bad king. And so there is going to be another king to succeed him. And God is speaking to Samuel about the importance of not looking for someone a head taller who is better looking than everyone else.

Here is what God says to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16, For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. It's not a verse about finding a wife or a husband, but it has application. The natural inclination of human beings is to look at outward people. Ladies are looking for a husband who is a head taller and great looking. A smile that dazzles.

That's a terrible way to pick a husband. That is a recipe for misery. And vice versa. In their natural condition, men are just like King Ahasuerus, and they want someone beautiful of form and face. And that will do, really.

Like Young, beautiful, available. Check, check, check. When can we go to the altar? In Genesis chapter 6, does anybody know off the top of their head what Genesis chapter 6 is? It's the flood narrative.

God destroys the whole world. It's the beginning of the narrative of God wiping the face of the earth of all but eight people. Here's how Genesis chapter 6 begins, verses 1 and 2. Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to him, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of all whom they choose. It's downhill from there.

There's an explosive growth of wickedness in the world that comes right on the heels of those two verses. People began to multiply, and the sons of God, believing men, looked at the daughters of men that they were beautiful and they married of whomever they chose. They were just looking at the outward appearance, they were marrying for beauty and there's an explosion of wickedness in the earth. Young people, if you haven't chosen a spouse, Heed the warnings of Scripture. Heed the warnings from cover to cover in the Bible.

In our natural condition we like to look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. If you are picking a spouse, you better not pick like Ahasuerus in Esther chapter 2. You better look at the heart. The knowledge of God can be lost in the blink of an eye. 114 years before Esther chapter 2, the people of God assumed that they would live in the favor of God as they had for hundreds of years.

Even though their sins were increasing, they just assumed that God would continue to be good with them, would never discipline them, would never judge them, and he brought Nebuchadnezzar and he challenged that assumption. Listen to Judges chapter 2 verse 10. This happens Right maybe a decade or two after the death of Joshua who brought the Lord's people into the promised land. Judges chapter 2 verse 10. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel." God brings the people into the promised land.

They either saw and were part of the miracles in Egypt or their parents had. He brings them into the promised land, he gives them cities that they didn't build, vineyards they didn't plant, wells they didn't dig. And within the next generation didn't know God or what he had done. Why do I bring this up here? Mordecai is a fourth generation captive.

His great grandfather was taken into exile. Mordecai didn't live in the United States of America in 2017. He wasn't raising Esther with three dollar Bibles. You can get a Bible anywhere. You can get a Bible for free.

Mordecai didn't grow up in this world. You can't superimpose our world on this history. If the knowledge of God in Judges chapter 2, with those people who had seen those things, was lost in one generation, Just think about Mordecai and what he's coming out of. It can be lost like that. You have to fight to keep the knowledge of God from generation to generation.

Number three. Observation number three. Mordecai and Esther had feet of clay and they aren't alone. Mordecai and Esther had feet of clay and they aren't alone. What does feet of clay mean?

It comes from Daniel chapter 2. In Daniel chapter 2, Daniel has a vision and it's a vision of succeeding empires. Empires that decline one right after another. The head is of gold, and then something is of silver, then a bronze, and then iron, and then the feet are made of clay. And that last empire, because it's made of clay, is smashed to bits.

And so when you hear the phrase, someone has feet made of clay, it means there is a mixture. There are imperfections mixed in with the things that are also good. And This is true of Mordecai and Esther. They had feet of clay, but they're not alone. First, let's do some righteousness comparisons.

Here's what I mean. Just snap decisions based on all that you know from scripture about two options. You won't have time to think this through. I'm just going to give you a little bit of information that will trigger thoughts of what you know from Scripture about two characters and then we'll compare in terms of whether I think this is more righteous or that's more righteous. Okay, are you ready?

Adam, the man who walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day, but plunged our race into sin when he stood by and God's one law was defied. Adam or Esther? Aaron, God's hand-picked high priest, first high priest ever, who made a golden calf for the people to worship. Aaron or Esther? Father Abraham, who was given his wife's maidservant when he became fearful that God wouldn't fulfill his promise.

He brought Hagar into his bed and had Ishmael because of his unbelief. Abraham or Esther? David, king of Israel, mightiest king in Israel's history, Who took another man's wife and then had him murdered to cover it up. David or Esther. Solomon, his son, the wisest man.

1 Kings chapter 11 verse 3 says he had 700 concubines and 300 wives. Now we're even talking in the same categories. Solomon or Esther. Peter, on this rock I will build my church. He denied Jesus three times.

Peter or Esther. The rest of the disciples who argued over who was the greatest. The disciples or Esther. You might be different in one example or another, but my knee-jerk reaction is Esther. I marvel at the commentators who cast dispersions on Mordecai and Esther as if they were somehow different than these other names.

We are going to see them in the book of Esther make sinful compromises. We are. We are also going to see marks of saving faith in both. They had feet of clay. They are not alone.

Adam, Aaron, Father Abraham, David, Solomon, Peter, the disciples. I think Mordecai and Esther should have both said, Over my dead body Will you come and take my adopted daughter into this, over my dead body?" And then either the Lord would have saved them miraculously like He did with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they said, over our dead body? Or they would have been killed faithfully, as many faithful martyrs have been. I think they should have done that. But I'm not sure I would have done that.

Here's what Ian Douguid says. We would hardly coin the slogan, dare to be an Esther at this point in the story. At this point in the story Esther is certainly no Daniel. She would perhaps have objected that she had little choice, but if someone is willing to suffer the consequences, full obedience to God's law is always an option. Amen.

Amen. I wish she had been like Daniel, when the king said, you can't worship anybody but me for the next 30 days. He went home, he flung open his windows so the world could see, and he did his daily prayers. And he went to the lion's den for it. And God saved him.

But the Bible is full of people who didn't do that. What about you? Do you know anything about compromise in your life? You know nothing about compromise? And yet with your advantages, a thousand advantages that Mordecai and Esther never had in their lifetime.

And you with your compromise and me with mine. Which brings me to observation number four. There is life after compromise. There is life after compromise. And this is our only hope.

If there is not life after compromise, Christians don't have any hope. I don't know Christians who don't compromise. Now I'm not saying that we should sin so that grace should abound. No! May it never be!

I'm not saying it doesn't matter. I'm not saying that God is not dishonored And God is not angered when we compromise. I'm not saying that the Gospel universally revokes the law of sowing and reaping. The Gospel does not universally revoke the law of sowing and reaping. The law of sowing and reaping is not expressed explicitly in the Old Testament.

It is expressed explicitly in Galatians 6, the book about grace. What does the book about grace have to say? Whatever a man sows, that he will reap. You sow to the flesh, you'll reap destruction. That's true in the Gospel era.

I am saying that God's people have and will always have compromise in their lives. And they will personalize it if you are in Christ, in our lives. But that does not stop God from being a faithful Father. Praise the Lord. And that does not mean that He will never work in or through us again.

We are called to repent. We are invited to repent when God identifies compromise, when we are aware of compromise in our lives. The solution isn't despair, it's repentance. Turn around. Yes, we can make tremendous progress.

You've seen someone who's really been following the Lord for decades. The Holy Spirit is yielding themselves up to the work of the Spirit in their lives. You see how much progress they make, but they never arrive. This is what we just studied with Paul and Philippians. I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Our only hope is that there is life after compromise. Number five. This is the most glorious one. I just want to send you out with joy. And Then I'm going to ask you a depressing question.

I should have saved this for last. Number five. God has the rescue of his people in motion before they are even in peril. Observation number five. God has the rescue of his people in motion before they are even in peril.

He has raised up Loli Esther, a common Jew in the shadow of the palace and made her queen. Why? To save his people, but they're not even in peril yet. He's already made Mordecai an unrecognized, un recompensed hero. Why?

To save his people. But no one is doing anything against his people in Esther chapter 2. God's playing 3D chess and everyone else is playing checkers. Like he's a thousand moves ahead. God's always a thousand moves ahead.

What comfort would this be to us if we would remember this? God brings hardship into your life. You know what? God set things in motion. Have you never seen this in your life?

I'm just appealing to the ones of you who have been in the Lord for a long time. Have you never seen this in your life? Where hardship is brought into your life and you see like preparations were made for this three years ago when there was no hint of this hardship there was no glimmer of it on the horizon but God was setting things in motion, putting things in place for this hardship three years ago. I've seen that so many times in my life. God is for us.

God is for us. Here's the question. We'll end with this. When I came across it in the commentaries, this is a tease, I'm just going to give you the question, I'm just going to talk about the question. When I came across it in the commentaries, I thought, that is so oddly profound.

I never would have thought this. But we should think this out of Esther chapter 2. Here's the question, did a Hasuerus have more of a claim Did I have you wear us? A man, just a man, just a man, have more of a claim on his subjects than God has on you. You read Esther chapter 2, who is this guy acting like he owns everyone?

He has a claim on where you live. He has a claim on the rest of the years of your life. He'll just take you, make you ready for a year, spend a night with you, and then send you off to the house of the concubines, like he owns you. Makes claims over your location, claims over your vocation, claims over your sexuality, claims over your expenditure of time, claims over your provision. A king who shows himself to be so prone to just do whatever pops into his mind.

Now, there is a king of kings who has bought you with his blood if you are in Christ. And he doesn't operate like that at all. Just like we looked at marriage last week, and how he is sort of the anti-gospel marriage. He is sort of the anti-king to what God is as king. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 20, For you were bought at a price, Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

He has a claim over your time, over where you live, over your sexuality, over your vocation. It's a rightful claim and He will always deal wisely and well with you. And yet, we find Ahasuerus having more claim on his subjects than we willingly yield to God. We make him come get it. We drive a hard bargain with God who sent Christ to bleed and die.

It's not right. It's not right. Father, thank you for the chapter. Thank you for all the richness that is always in your word when we come to it and drink deeply. I pray that you would bless it to us.

God, I pray with respect to the question. God, change our hearts. Don't Let us remain a people driving a hard bargain with you, making you come and claim it inch by inch when you have sent your son to bleed and die to buy us at such a price. Oh God, change us, soften us. In Jesus' name, Amen.