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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
1 Peter 3:6, gives perhaps the best example of submission by a wife to her husband when the verse said Sarah called Abraham “Lord”
Certainly if Sarah was the queen of submission then Ruth has to be the princess of submission because Ruth in similar fashion called Boaz “Lord” (Ruth 2:13) and even bowed to him (Ruth 2:10).
Some might say that Ruth was not in subjection but rebellious when Ruth did not follow Naomi’s advice to stay in Moab and in her mother’s home and when Ruth did not follow Naomi’s exact instruction on how to woo Boaz.
That would be a mistake.
Submission does not mean you disengage your brain and become a mindless robot repeating memorized words.
Ruth did not stay with her biological family in Moab because she would have been violating God’s Law on helping widows and especially widows in your own family. She was in subjection to Naomi but obeying and subjecting herself to a higher law.
Like wise when wooing Boaz, Ruth obeyed the scheme of Naomi’s plan but also recognized that it had been a long time since Naomi had wooed Elimilech and used her own words… not Naomi’s.
Boaz did not tell Ruth what to do… Ruth told Boaz what to do.
Personally speaking the last thing I would want in a wife would be drone-like and robotic submission… merely a reflection of my own self. I value independence and admonishment from time to time and that in no way diminishes subjection.
Even Sarah had to tell Abraham how the “cow ate the corn” from time to time.
There was an employer here in Corpus Christi who brought three of his employees into his office and handed them the keys to three identical !951 Chevy pickup trucks all painted jet black and retrofitted with Chevy 350 short block engines.
He gave all three a credit card and said come back in one year and report back to me.
When they got back the first guy stepped up and said…
I set out in my truck and headed to the east coast and traveled up the coast to Boston and parked on the beach and slept in the bed and watched the sun come up in the morning. Then I headed to the west coast to San Francisco and parked on the beach and watched the sunset. I met a beautiful young woman I bought her a wedding ring and we drove to Las Vegas and got married. I want you to meet her.
The second guy said. That truck you gave me was beautiful. I parked it in the garage so it would be protected it and occasionally I would take it to car shows sometimes as far away as San Antonio. I kept it cleaned and polished so I could return it to you in good shape.
The third guy said, it was a great truck but I used your credit card to improve it. I lowered the suspension, made some modifications on the engine and painted it Candy Apple Red with flame accents.
The employer told the first guy… this truck is now yours and I’m putting you in charge of my business. Let me see that wedding ring you bought on my credit card and congratulations on your new wife.
The employer told the second guy. You took really good care of my truck. Thank you. He took the keys and put the guy in charge of maintenance.
The employer told the third guy. You really fitted that truck to suit your own tastes. I suggest you find a job in that profession I don’t need you here.
Then the employer gave the keys to the head of maintenance and told him to change the truck back the way it was.
The employer is God. The truck is the Gospel and the employees are Christians.
The first guy took the Gospel all over the country and experienced the blessings associated with it. He had experiences that were of incalculable value.
The second guy was a caretaker of the Gospel. He loved it but only used it to associate with other people who loved it.
The third guy changed the Gospel and its message to suit his own tastes. He was not worthy of it.
I hope when Jesus comes that you all have put 100,000 miles on the Gospel message and it shows the signs of wear and use and your spiritual growth that comes from making the Gospel a part of your life.
When Boaz was considering taking Ruth as his wife he understood that their was a closer relative who scripturally had the right/obligation to take Ruth as a wife.
The un-named relative said he could not because it would “ruin his own inheritance” So Boaz took Ruth as his wife.
To find out how the un-named relative’s (Let’s call him Barney) inheritance might be impacted lets go back and look at the other example of Levirate obligation… Judah and Tamar.
After God killed Er (Tamar’s husband) Judah instructed his brother Onan to couple with his sister-in-law so that his deceased brother Er would have an offspring.
Onan refused to and God killed him as well. The reason Onan didn’t want to provide an heir for Er was because Er’s son’s inheritance would be greater than his own but if Er did not have a first born then Onan would receive the greater inheritance.
Onan’s greed trumped his righteousness and God killed him for it and he inherited… zero.
So how does that apply to Barney? If Barney took Ruth to be his wife it would somehow impact the inheritance of his existing children. Perhaps Barney only had daughters and if Barney had a son with Ruth the girls inheritance would be diminished. Who knows exactly?
Here’s what we do know exactly… Barney’s self interest trumped his spiritual obligation.
Barney was the real loser in this scenario because Ruth was the “Pearl of Great Price” and Barney, if his spiritual eye sight had been focused, should have been able to see that.
Boaz and Ruth were a marriage made in Heaven.
I’m in a discussion group with others who also proclaim Jesus Christ as their savior and I was surprised and even shocked at the response of several to something I had written. They said things like the Gospel should be so simple that a child could understand it and that we can’t really trust English words that were translated thousands of years ago from then original language.
These folks are leaders in their congregations (I don’t know where they attend). My feeling is that as a leader (myself) in a congregation that I am obligated to study and understand as much of God’s word as I can so I can help guide the flock in an intelligent manner.
I am dismayed that so many are content to suckle on the breast of spiritual naivety instead of partaking and dining with the family of Jesus Christ on a Thanksgiving feast provisioned by God himself.
Don’t be satisfied with leaders who only want to feed you with spiritual pablum. You deserve better.
