There will be no end of disrespect and discord. 9 Oct 2011. Yet, when our search is ended we are invariably astounded to discover that it wasn't we who were seeking -- it was God who found us! But he found it could not be done. So the human spirit became dark and unresponsive and no choice of man can alter that fact. (AD) Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. Ahasuerus is not his name, it is his title, like the word "Czar" or "Shah" or "Pharaoh." Esther 2:1-23. (1-4) A search is made for a replacement for Queen Vashti. Esther becomes queen, but we learn that she doesnât tell anyone she is Jewish. The body of man is his kingdom, and a marvelously intricate and complex kingdom it is. Are you getting the most out of Bible Gateway? What is there on top of Mount Everest that people must organize expeditions, lay out small fortunes, and risk their lives in order to see it? (3 pts).a Vashti, What she had done, and what had been decreed against her..q According to Esther 2:2 Fill in the blanks. Some commentators take that position with regard to the book of Esther. There is no mention of heaven or hell. Verses 3-9 In those days, many ki⦠Chapters 1 and 2 of the book of Esther sets the stage for us, and introduces the action of the story. Right here, you could write the entire story of human life without God. 7 Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality. Well, it's simply the nature of sin. As we trace the character of Mordecai through this story it is easy to recognize him as the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, whose task it is to exalt the One who came to redeem man, and whose specific work it is to restore man to the fellowship with God which he had lost. Esther chapter 2 KJV (King James Version) 1 After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.. 2 Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:. There is a great deal of confirmation from secular history that these things did indeed happen. Week 2, Chapter 1. Can you see Godâs hand shaping and molding you? (Esther 2:1-4 RSV). Subject to permissions policy, all rights reserved. 6 The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. Chapter 2 is the story of redeeming grace. Life begins anew! If, as we read this story through, we hold it up as a mirror, we can see ourselves, because every person is just such a kingdom ruled by such a king as we have presented here. 2 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided,(W) he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. And Esther won the favor(AL) of everyone who saw her. 21 The king and his nobles were pleased with this advice, so the king did as Memukan proposed. Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. 1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, [] the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush []: 2 At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3 and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. Most commentators on the book of Esther take it as revealing the strange providences of God; that is, how God works behind the scenes. Throughout the kingdom there is an immediate effect -- there is a lifting of the burdens of taxation and a distribution of royal gifts with liberality. This is the story of man. She was personally chosen by the King. During this period, Xerxes fought the Grecian war. He recognized in this lovely girl the answer to the empty restlessness of his life, and he set the sign of royalty upon her head, granted her authority in his kingdom, and thus found the beginning of a new life. Make us to understand and grasp it. Esther 1 - NIV: This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush : At that time King Xerxes reigned from his ⦠ע ×ְעֶשְ×רִ×× ×Ö¼×Öµ×Ö¸×, ×Ö°×Ö´×× Ö¸×. Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. Now, we have a strange thing introduced at this point of the story. You can see how beautifully this describes the most intimate, most essential activity of man's nature; that is, what takes place deep in the recesses of his spirit. Or, in the case of the wife, if things haven't gone well in the home during the day, when the husband comes home at night, she scolds him as soon as he comes in the door. (10-22) Commentary on Esther 1:1-9 (Read Esther 1:1-9). 10 On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits(K) from wine,(L) he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona,(M) Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas— 11 to bring(N) before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty(O) to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. It's to the queen that the king goes for comfort and refreshing counsel -- she is the place of his communion. Complete Concise Chapter Contents. Book of Esther Chapter 2. Previous Next . It's the spirit which does not perish, like his soul would if it were alone (like an animal's soul) but continues on eternally. For as the party goes on, he seems to feel that the glory and majesty was of his own making. 10 On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas- 11 to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. Esther 2 â Esther Is Chosen Queen A. Figuratively, it's what is referred to in the book of Romans as the law of sin and death -- unchangeable. Book of Esther, a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament which is one of the five Scrolls in the Hebrew Bible and belongs to the third section of the Judaic canon, called as the Ketuvim, or âWritings.â It's about the story of a Hebrew Woman named Hadassah, known as Esther, who becomes the queen of Persia and prevent a genocide of her people. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan. The book of Esther, the book of Ruth, and the Song of Solomon are all about women. At the point the story opens, we find the kingdom lying at peace -- the king is holding a feast which lasts for a hundred and eighty days. It's a delightful story of human love and palace intrigue. In counseling with men and women, I have found this is the case -- when we begin to act in pride, the first thing we do is take it out on our loved ones. Nothing! Esther 1 and Vashti's removal as queen. The pomp and drunken revelry of the first scene has died down. She was taken into the king's harem and was chosen as queen. We know thou hast hidden things here that are deep and difficult for us to grasp, and yet we sense, Lord, something of expectation and hope in what is contained in these pages. 18 This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen's conduct will respond to all the king's nobles in the same way. What did he realize about the whole thing, after he thought about it? 2. This is the philosophy which has captured the imagination of millions of people around the earth. The whole point of this is given to us in Verse 4, where we read the king "showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days, ...". 10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. He told Esther, who told the king, and the perpetrators were executed. Now, if you think this reveals a misspent youth, wasting my time at a poker table, you're wrong! But, perhaps, when you read it, you will wonder why it is in the Bible. Mordecai's name means "Little Man," that is, humbled man, and that immediately suggests the One who humbled himself and became man, who laid aside his glory and entered human life, becoming one of us, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8). How would you compare the person you were with the person you are? Working Text for Esther Ch. It reveals that there was no threat to this kingdom from the outside -- it was a time of peace and blessing, fullness and fruitfulness. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. (Colossians 2:13-15 RSV). When we become offended by something that has taken place in the office, we go home and snap at our wives and children. (Esther 1:15 RSV). I don't think this can be established. The name of this king is never given to us. We have known the restlessness of living without God. In Verse 13 it says: Then the king said to the wise men who know the times -- for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, (Esther 1:13 RSV), "According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed by the eunuchs?" Introduction to Esther: Chapters 1 & 2. Start studying Esther Chapter 1, 2. Mordecai saves the king. (AR), 21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana[d] and Teresh, two of the king’s officers(AS) who guarded the doorway, became angry(AT) and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. We wonder what it is that motivates men to climb to the top of Mount Everest. She was a Jewess, and yet here she is in this foreign land, and, by the sovereign, overruling grace of God, is placed in the line of the king's search; and when he finds her he knows that this is the one for whom his heart longs. Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus. You know that the body acts only upon responses which come from the mind, the emotions, and the will of man. There is no moral obligation to treat him any different way. 16 Then Memucan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, "Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. Then the king became furious and burned with anger. (Esther 2:15-18 RSV). And in properly governing himself and the earth, which is his domain, he would be displaying the majesty and the glory and the power of the God who indwelt him. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17)? Her Persian name is usually taken to mean "Star," but Gesenius, one of the great Hebrew authorities, says that it is taken from the word "to hide."