AP

Esther 1:1   This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush:

Thus begins the only book in the Bible that makes no direct mention of God by any of his names.  This is interesting because the whole story of the book makes no sense unless we see, undergirding the narrative and working through the events, the sovereign hand of the LORD, the God of Israel, caring for and protecting his Covenant People.

So, God is at work – even when he is not acknowledged as existing!  Xerxes inherited the dominant Medo-Persian Empire from his father Darius, and ruled it from 486 to 465BC.  He was in an extremely powerful and influential position, as the events described throughout Chapter 1 show.  Take the time to read the whole chapter, especially in the light of comments I want to make below.  What he didn’t know is that there IS a much more powerful King in heaven who, although rarely acknowledged by earthly kings, is patiently and persistently working out his sovereign purposes in human history for his glory and the benefit of all those who belong to him – the ‘citizens of heaven’.

Xerxes was not shy to demonstrate his might and wealth far and wide, nor to exercise absolute control over all his subjects, including his beautiful wife!  It is interesting to reflect on the current desperate plight of women in modern-day Persia (Iran) in the light of Xerxes’ behaviour in Chapter 1!  But even as he planned and processed Queen Vashti’s replacement, assuming this also was under his own personal control, he was carrying out God’s Plan in every detail!

It is good for us, as we grapple with our own place in history and observe the attitudes and actions of the leaders of the various nations, including our own, to remember Paul’s words: that “there is no authority except that which GOD has established.  The authorities that exist have been established BY GOD” (Romans 13:1b).  It is encouraging to learn from the key role Esther played in the outworking of God’s Plan, that he can use even us, in spite of all our weaknesses and humble beginnings.

– Bruce Christian