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The book of Esther opens with a banquet being given by King Ahasuerus of the Persian Empire that lasted 180 days for all the nobles of the 127 provinces of Persia. Presumably this gathering was to get all the nobles on board for the upcoming Persian invasion of Greece.
After the Greco-Persian War, King Ahasuerus came back home and Haman offered to pay 10,000 talents of silver for the privilege of killing and plundering (for one day) the Jewish population of the Persian Empire. Keep in mind in todays dollars that would be about 450 Billion US dollars.
Now, I really don’t think Haman had 450 Billion dollars. I think he expected to plunder the wealthy Jews of the empire to swell the coffers of King Ahasuerus. It’s surprising that King Ahasuerus would agree to this unless the Greco-Persian war had left him with a cash shortage. Wars are not cheap.
It also brings to the forefront why Mordecai cautioned Esther not to reveal that she was a Jew. The obvious answer was that a significant part of the population hated the Jews. After all Mordecai engineered the deaths of some 75,000 enemies of the Jews across the Persian Empire.
Which begs the question, why were the Jews a hated people? Certainly as in the case of Haman there was ancestral hatred for the Jews. God had ordained the decimation of King Agag and the Amalekites. But in addition, God had caused his people Israel to prosper in the Persian Empire and there can be jealousy and hatred for those who are doing better than you are, especially if a people like Israel carried themselves with a sort of spiritual arrogance as we know that Mordecai did.
Of course we know the end of the story. Mordecai becomes second in command of the great Persian Empire and Esther is Queen.
Like with Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylonia and now Mordecai/Esther in Persia God’s people… like cream… rise to the top.
The Book of Esther introduces Esther as a young jewish virgin from one of the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire. She has had some tragedy in her life… both her parents have died and she is being raised by a cousin.
She has been chosen as the most beautiful young woman of her province and immediately with all the other young girls became concubines of King Ahasuerus and a candidate for being Queen of the Persian Empire.
Of course these young women would be political capital for their provinces and could influence the King for political favors… especially if as a young woman you became Queen.
The story of Esther starts off with her being in subjection to her father Mordecai and to Hegai the chief Eunuch of the Harem. She listens to them and follows their advice.
But then a plot against the Jews is revealed and Mordecai has to convince Esther to approach her Husband/King at the risk of her life. She agrees to Mordecai’s demands but then the “worm turns” so to speak… and she tells Mordecai what she wants to happen. A three day fast for all the Jews, etc.
She devices a plan to approach her King and and defeat Haman the enemy of the Jews.
After the death of Haman the role between Esther and Ahasuerus changes. She can come to him unbidden. He continually asks her… what more can I do for you Queen Esther? And she is not reluctant to let him know.
Esther has transformed from being a naive young jewish girl with limited experience with men to becoming Queen of the Persian Empire with all its political intrigues.
It helps when God is on your side and God still has the power to transform his people.
There’s an interesting thing that occurs in the Genesis account of creation. After creating every kind of life on earth God decides to create something “in his own image”… man… he made them male and female. Genesis 1:28
Now… I’m not sure I understand everything about God creating man in his own image and all that implies, but what I do understand is that God gave man dominion over all the other life on this planet earth. God gave man responsibility over the animal world.
Adam and Eve were like God because God had dominion over his whole creation and he shared that power with Adam and Eve.
There’s another way that Adam and Eve were like God. In Genesis 2:24 God said that Adam and Eve would become “one flesh”.
The account in Ephesians 5:22-33, when comparing the relationship between Jesus and the church with the relationship between a husband and a wife, states that “the two shall become one flesh” and that it was a “great mystery”.
Some say man and woman become one flesh just by engaging in sex.
Sorry… that’s not a great mystery.
In my opinion, becoming one flesh with a woman is progressive and involves the close relationship that comes with experiencing life together with all its successes and failures.
And following the recipe for becoming “one flesh” found in Ephesians through love and subjection to each other.
Adam and Eve were created in the image of God because their becoming “one flesh together” mimicked the spiritual oneness that we see in the relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Here’s a question… can a man and woman living with each other in a sexual relationship without having made vows to each other or vows to God and having not invited God into their relationship be of “one flesh”?
Let me answer this question with another question… can a Bull and a Cow be “one flesh”?
Do you want to be like cattle or do you want to be like God? Follow God’s plan and you can reap the full benefits of being made in his image rather than following and becoming the image of Satan.
Get married and quit sinning
