I thought I created a new service didn't you sir? Alright, starting a new lesson or starting into the lesson. We started it last week. We didn't get into any of the points but it's the unseen director. Did everybody get an outline this morning? Everybody got an outline? Right up here brother. She's got it. All right. So we're not going to read all these verses. We're going to be lessons on Esther chapter 2, 1 through 17. Now I would say it would be a good idea, and I ask you to read the book of Esther before we started this lesson on Esther. Go back and read chapter 2. We'll read the verses as we come to them, as we're talking about them. But I did want to say, and we have to realize this to really get everything that's going on in the book of Esther. And I didn't know this until I started studying it. Because if you just read Esther through, you say, well, that's a lot happened right there in just those few chapters. But verse 17 of chapter 2 says, And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set a royal crown upon her head. I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong verse. I wanted to read verse 1, not the first verse, not the last verse. Chapter 2 verse 1 says, 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. We need to pay attention to that, after these things. So that's the first words in chapter 2, so that means after chapter 1. Now, it wasn't a day between chapter 1 and chapter 2. It was actually about 3 years between chapter 1 and chapter 2. If you remember, I said something about some historians think that the reason he was having the big party to start with was because he was going to tell them that they were going into war against Greece. Well, they did go to war against Greece and they lost. They were winning, but when the Grecian Navy got to them, they defeated them and they come back home in defeat. So there's about a three year gap between the two chapters. Now the entire book of Esther actually covers nine to ten years. A lot of the books of the Bible are that way. If you read Daniel, the book of Daniel, all you read about Daniel, That covers many years, 40, 50, maybe even 60 years or more. He was young when he started, maybe a teenager, and he was an old man at the end of the book. So it helps us to realize that there's some time passing by as we're studying the book of Esther. So with that in mind, we will get into this first section of a difficult defeat. We're talking about a defeated king and then a difficult defeat. Again, we said about the campaign against Greece and he was trying to expand his territory. And if you look there, the purple there, what I call purple, is the Persian Empire. And if you look to the left, you see Greece. So, of course, they were trying to expand the empire on into Greece. It looked like they did have some persuasion there already in Greece, but they were trying to take over Greece and they were defeated and sent back home. And so we see that he probably come back to Shushan discouraged, defeated, fearful of how the governors of the provinces and the rulers of his land would take the defeat. But again, it says, after these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti. We'll say he got rid of his queen and now he's missing his queen. So, when you just read through, it sounds like he got rid of Ashti and then the next day he went and got Esther. Actually, it was three years time before he started looking for another queen. And then it was over a year after that before Esther was chosen because all the women that were brought in had to be purified for a year. So there was a lot of time passed by between the two kings. But between the two queens, once again, once the law was passed, he could not change it. So she had been taken, the queen had been taken out of her place, she could not be put back in. So usually what they did to make up for one dumb law, you might be used to this here, They make another dumb law. That's usually what happens in government. And it's still going on today. This one dumb law covers up another dumb law. So that's what he did. So they made a law that a new queen would be found. And the way that it was done was to bring women in. We said already that at least You can look at one virgin from each province. 127 provinces. Some historians say there were probably about 400 young girls, young women brought in for him to choose a queen from. But we're reminded that we often regret decisions we make when we're angry. He made a decision to get rid of Vashti in Proverbs 14, 29. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit exalts to folly. Many times when we just do the first thing that comes to our mind when we are in anger, it's the wrong thing. Most of the time it's going to be the wrong thing. We can't trust ourselves when we're angry to immediately make the right decision. In Proverbs 29 and 20, seest thou a man that is hasty in his words, there is more hope of a fool than him. You're worse than a fool if you just make a decision right off the top of your mind when you're angry. Now, sometimes we're taken off guard in our anger, not prepared to control it. You know, there have probably been situations in your life that you may get into or you've been into and you're easily angered. Times of emotional intensity, we need to guard our spirit. There's some things that we know in life that make us Hastily get angry. We need to guard against those times and be prepared that we don't make hasty decisions when they come up. We need to guard our spirit and not give to angry outbursts. We'll say something, we wish we hadn't said it. Most of the time, you're better off to swallow it without saying it than to have to eat it after you say it. How many times have we said something, however you want to put it, live with it or read it. You can't take words back. You can apologize but don't say it hastily out of anger and that will save you a lot of that. So next is a devised plan. So again, they had a crazy idea to get rid of the queen. Now they got a crazy idea of how to get a new queen. He turned to his counselors, the same people that gave him what he wanted. Now they're going to give him what he wants again, but they're not going to go a good way about getting it. The Lord can use wicked men to accomplish his ultimate plan. We can look at all down through time. We've already used the example of Pharaoh, how God used Pharaoh to do exactly, to bring about exactly what he wanted to be brought about. And he does it. He's always, he's done all down through time and he still does it today to cause things that his ultimate plan to be brought around. Proverbs 16, four. The Lord has made all things for himself, yet even the wicked for the day of evil. They don't take God by surprise. We hear politicians say things and we think, you know, they can't say anything dumber or anything worse, but then they do. And we're somewhat surprised about it, somewhat not surprised, but we're somewhat surprised about it. But God's not surprised at all by what they say or by what they do. So these prideful men devised a plan to collect young women of the kingdom and bring them for a harem before the king for his pleasure in choosing. Esther two, two and three. Then said the king's servants that ministered it to him, let there be fair virgins brought salt for the king. And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegi, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, and let their things for purification be given them. So now y'all know where Hegi comes from around here, right? I don't guess it's the same family. The only qualification is for the women to be fair. And a lot of young men make that mistake today still. They just want a good looking woman. Don't care what kind of lifestyle she lives, don't care what kind of person she is. All the different things that God says a man should choose in a woman, they don't pay attention to. All they use is their sight. They just want a pretty woman to look at. The Hebrew word here for fair means desirable to the senses. In this case, desirable to the sight. That's a single qualification, no concern for the women's character. King's counselors were only concerned with outward beauty. So these men searched again the entire 127 provinces. Again, Josephus tells us that there were 400 women brought to the palace. Now then, as this is being done, of course, this took some time doing. They didn't go out one day and come back the next with 400, but they were searching the land and all the provinces. Now then, imagine the parents of these young women. They know the law's been sent out. They know what they're doing. They don't want, now remember this is the king of Persia, the 127 provinces, 126 of them is not Persia. So they're not too fond of the king of Persia because they conquered their land and now he's coming in and taking their daughters. So you see the position that they're in. Think about these young women as they're being chosen against their will. Probably many of them went out and got married so they wouldn't have to go marry the king, so they wouldn't be pulled into his harem. So the situation was, it was a bad situation that these young women and their families were in. Once the women were selected, they were put through a process of physical purification. That's what Persia thought, that the body need to be purified and cleaned. Esther 2, 4 and 12. And let the maiden which pleases the king be queen instead of Ashti. And the thing pleased the king and he did so. Now when every maid's turn was come to go into King Ahasuerus. So here again you see a length of time that's taking place. One at a time they go in to the king. Now we don't know how many he went through before he got to Esther. But it says, after that she had been twelve months according to the manner of the women For so were the days of their purifications accomplished. To wit, six months both oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odors and with other things for the purifying of the women. This purification process was degrading and perverse, forcing these women to do this. If the king liked her, she would be sent to the harem to be one of the women available at any time at his call. Once in that harem, there was no possible way that she would ever marry. That was her position in life. One would be queen, the rest of them were just in his harem. There was no escape. I think about So if it was 400, 399 were added to the harem that he already had. And there is another young lady in the Bible that I thought about when I studied that, 2 Samuel 13 and 20. And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? But hold now thy peace, my sister, he is thy brother, regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house. It's a terrible thing to waste the life of a young woman like that. But they're treated like that all around the world still today. But this is what the king was doing to these women. Those women were the permanent property of the king. But we have to remember all this bad stuff is happening. It's not catching God by surprise. His ultimate goal in the book of Esther is to save the people of Israel. That's always Not the singular goal, but it's always one thing that God has in mind through the Old Testament is saving Israel from destruction. And we see time after time where Satan wants to destroy Israel, but God's not going to let him do that. It's still that way today. Satan still wants to destroy Israel. There are people in the United States that want to destroy Israel. Most of them don't even know what they're talking about. They just get caught up in it. And they think that Israel is so bad, they completely forget about what Israel has had done to them. So, we talked about a defeated king. And next we'll talk about a promoted orphan. That's not a promoted Oprah, that's a promoted orphan. So God again directed a defeated, prideful king to promote an orphaned Jewish girl. Now even at this point where she becomes queen, it doesn't look like she would have the power to save Israel because if she just comes into the king when he don't call her, he can have her put to death right then. She doesn't have power as a queen, she just has a little influence with the king. Psalm 76 and 10, Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Here we are introduced to two cast members who will play important roles in this drama. So until this point, we haven't seen Mordecai and Esther yet, but we see them now. in these scriptures. And Mordecai had been carried from Jerusalem and brought into captivity many years earlier. So Mordecai was brought out of Israel, went into captivity, and sometime after that, Esther was born already in captivity. And her parents passed away, her parents died, and Mordecai, her cousin, raised her. Esther 2, 5, and 6. Now in Shushan the palace, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jer, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity, which hath been carried away with Deconia, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away. Mordecai was acquainted with hardship. He understood what it meant to be a foreigner and a captive. But he did hold an actual position of leadership as he sat in the king's gate. So he did have some position after the years of being there. He was in the king's gate. And then we see B, Esther, Mordecai in the palace. We should have put that Mordecai in the palace. And then Esther and the family, B. Again, Mordecai had adopted her. The Bible says in verse 7, he brought Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. Even when Esther was just an orphan, Mordecai lovingly took her as his own. It's a beautiful picture of what Christ did for us when he made us his own. We were lost and undone without hope, but he took us in anyway. Then when Mordecai adopted Esther, he had no way of knowing what the Lord was going to do. But he was simply doing the right thing. That's why it's important for us to live right and do right. So when God has something for us to do, we're able to do that. What if he had said, taking her in is going to decrease my food supply. It's gonna cost me money. I'm gonna have to spend so much of my attention on her, I just can't do it. No, he did the right thing. He took his family member in and raised her. Whatever the right thing is, whatever we're in the position to do the right thing, that's what we need to do. So we need to make sure we're right with God so we can make that decision to do the right thing. And then when we're in the position to do what God would have us to do, we'll be ready to do it. He simply loved her and showed that love by caring for her. So here is Esther, an orphan Jew, living an obscure life, sheltered in a godly home. Probably wouldn't have, if you've seen Esther before, he was, the king had decided to call all these virgins in. You probably never thought that Esther would be the queen of Persia. But God brought Esther from obscurity to prominence. Nothing's too hard for God to do. We see things and again we've tried to work things out in our lives and the way we think they ought to be. But God always knows the best way for things to work out. God is the one who allows promotion and demotion. Psalm 75, 6 and 7. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge, he putteth down one, and setteth up another. Sometimes Christians, and especially when we're younger, we're afraid about our futures, afraid what direction to go, the hardships we may face. But God does care for us. And we're not excluded from high places and high positions just because we're Christians. God is able to lead us to do exactly, be in exactly the positions that He wants us to be in. And we're going to stop right there because my voice is going to give out before I get this next section done. So do read, go ahead and Reread chapter 2 of the book of Esther. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the stage you've given us. We thank you, Lord, for all your many blessings. And Lord, we pray, Lord, that we would live close to you, Lord, that we would be able to hear the Holy Spirit talk to us, Lord, when he tells us what he would have us to do. In Jesus' name we pray.