Compromise | Esther 2:8-18

How many of you guys are familiar with Fiddler

on the Roof? Okay, good. This won't be shocking

to you. It is one of my all -time favorite theater

productions. I've seen it multiple times in multiple

places with all kinds of different casts. I've

watched the classic, you ready, 1971 movie. For

you young 'uns, 1971 movie, many times. The music.

The choreography, the humor involved, it just

kills me. The setting, a small Jewish village

in Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century,

and all the real -life themes that are sort of

woven throughout the story. You have challenging

family dynamics. You have generational divides.

You have this effort to try to preserve traditions

in the middle of societal change. And of course,

sort of looming in the background of the story

is the precarious nature of Jewish life in a

world of displacement and a world of heartache.

And if you're like me, I never expected this

to happen, but as I get older, I have begun to

identify with the lead character, Tevye, the

papa. I didn't expect that to happen. Much of

the story revolves around how he navigates the

non -traditional marriages of his daughters,

who, of course, don't value tradition in the

same way that he does. They just want to do their

own thing their own way, and that can be disconcerting

for a papa. So his oldest daughter ignores the

traditional path of using the village matchmaker,

and she makes her own match and marries her childhood

sweetheart, who is a very poor tailor. Then the

second daughter moves even further from tradition

when without asking permission at all from the

papa, she chooses to marry a young Jewish man

who is a radical revolutionary who is destined

for trouble. And finally, his third daughter

does the unthinkable. She falls in love with

a Gentile and runs away with him, a complete

violation of everything that Tevye stands for.

And it's at that important turning point in the

production that his sort of lighthearted, funny

nature begins to shift towards despair. And that

leads me to why I'm sharing that this morning.

Early in the play, there's a scene where the

family gathers around the Shabbat table, and

as Tevye's wife lights the candle, she sings

a prayer over her daughters. And here's how it

sounds. It says, may you be like Ruth and like

Esther. May you be deserving of praise. Strengthen

them, O Lord. Here it is. And keep them from

the stranger's ways. May you be like Ruth and

like Esther. That's the surprising part of this

prayer. Which, by the way, further research found

out that is not the traditional Shabbat prayer

in most Jewish homes. But in the play, they name...

Ruth and Esther, which is ironic because both

of those women married outside of their ethnic

identity. Ruth, a Moabite woman, marries Boaz,

an Israelite, and Esther, a Jew, marries Xerxes,

a pagan king. Now you might excuse Ruth because

at least she converts to Judaism, right? But

how do you explain Esther? Is this a prayer that

you would pray over your daughter? May you be

like Esther. I'm not so sure. So let's find out.

Grab your Bibles. Let's go to Esther chapter

Esther 2 · chapter mention

2. By the way, do you guys need any more historical

context on this book? That's a joke. You now

have two 55 -minute sermons worth of historical

context from the last two Sundays. And by the

way, if you missed either one of those, you should

catch up and listen to them. It's important for

the rest of the series. You can listen to them

on Spotify or YouTube. Also, I posted the slides,

the visual slides that go with those two sermons.

which will be super helpful as you listen, and

those are on the All Church group in the Resources

tab. That will help a great deal. So I'm not

going to rehash any of those details this morning.

I promised I wouldn't go back into it. We should

all be up to speed at this point about who the

characters are in this drama and why they are

in Susa, why they are there, the royal capital

of Persia, circa 480 B .C. That's what's going

on. So we're going to focus our attention on

verses 8 through 18 this morning. But I want

to go back up to verse 1. Let's read this whole

thing in context so that we're getting the flow

of the narrative. So verse 1, after these things,

and that is after the events of chapter 1, and

after Xerxes' failed invasion of Greece, after

these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus

had subsided, he remembered Vashti. and what

she had done and what had been decreed against

her. So I mentioned this last week after returning

from Greece and hearing that his forces had been

defeated on the field at the Battle of Plataea.

With that humiliation now weighing heavily on

Xerxes, he is looking for a way to cheer himself

up. And in this depressed state, how many guys

have ever been depressed and you thought about

an old flame? I mean, it happens, right? In this

depressed place, he begins to remember his beloved

former queen, Vashti. But remember, she had publicly

defied him years earlier. But you get a sense

here that he's longing for her and maybe longing

for better times in the past. So you can almost

picture him sitting on his golden throne in this

massive, glorious palace, but still feeling very

much alone. feeling the sting of defeat on the

battlefield and now a sense of loneliness too.

But he can't go back on time. Remember, upon

the counsel of his princes, he had passed legislation

that could not be retracted. Vashti was a former

queen and nothing was going to change that. And

so with his spirits in the dumps, his servants

come to him with a plan to cheer him up. Verse

2. And the king's attendants who served him said,

let beautiful young virgins be sought for the

king. So there you go. Does this not give us

some insight? These servants know the king and

they know this is going to cheer him up. But

how do you go about finding these women? Verse

three, let the king appoint overseers in all

the provinces of his kingdom. Remember, there

were 127 provinces. This is a big search. all

the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather

every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of

Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hege,

the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women,

and let their cosmetics be given to them. So

that's the plan. All these officials are going

to find all the most beautiful women in their

particular province and make sure they get handed

over to the chief eunuch who will help them get

prepared for meeting the king. Verse 4, then

let the young lady who pleases the king be queen

in place of Vashti. And the matter pleased the

king. And he did accordingly. Now, what's interesting

about this is we know historically how ancient

Near East kings chose their wives. And it's a

time -honored tradition across all cultures and

all periods of time. You go out and you seek

a wife who is going to strengthen your rule.

And the best way to do that is to marry, pick

the daughter of a noble family in the kingdom

in order to build an alliance. That strengthens

your power. So the fact that Xerxes doesn't consider

this, but goes straight to the bottom with this,

he listens to his servants when they suggest

this kind of Miss Persia pageant show, and he

agrees to that, it tells you about his ego. And

it tells you about his lack of wisdom and probably

something about his lustful desires as well.

By the way, something I should point out historically,

I wondered if I should talk about this, but we're

gonna pass over this multiple times, so I might

as well just get it out there. What is a eunuch?

I may have assumed that people know that historically,

but that may not be the case. So without getting

graphic or going too deep into the details, a

eunuch was a castrated male servant. Most units

in the ancient world were foreign men who would

be captured in war and taken as slaves, and then

they would set aside the most trustworthy of

these men, castrate them, and then train them

for service in the king's palace. And so there's

an obvious benefit to this, right? Their condition

made them perfect for supervising the king's

harem. and for guarding, being the gatekeepers

of the royal bedrooms. And generally, eunuchs

were involved in all the most private affairs

of the king and his family. And it's interesting,

even though these men were most often foreigners,

history is replete with stories of eunuchs who

became very powerful, very influential, because

they're on the inside of all the palace intrigue

that happened in that kind of a culture. And

this guy, Hege, is... is clearly the chief eunuch

for the king. So he's a powerful man, and you

have to know that going into the story. So verse

five, now there was at the citadel in Susa a

Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Yair,

the son of Shemi, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.

who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem

with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah,

king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king

of Babylon, had exiled. Now that's a reference

back to his great -grandfather Kish. Kish was

the one taken out of Babylon, and now we're several

generations down the line with Mordecai. So let's

talk about Mordecai. And once again, I came up

with some AI images for you guys. Because I like

having faces. Get a face so that you can sort

of picture what this looks like. Yes, I have

an Esther. It's coming up. So just take a deep

breath. All right. So notice how he is called

in verse 5, a Jew. And this is what he's going

to be called throughout the story of Esther,

which is... Most Israelites, most Jews are called

by the father or son of so -and -so. But all

throughout this book, he's going to be called

Mordecai the Jew, which means he's being described

as a member of the diaspora. That's really important

to know. And listen, this is a unique identification

to this period of Old Testament history. Maybe

you've noticed this before. Maybe not. Maybe

you've read right past it. But this particular

ethnic group, this chosen nation that God picks,

they're called different things throughout the

Bible. Have you noticed this? At first they're

called Hebrews, named after the language that

they speak. And then in Genesis 32, Jacob, Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob, Jacob is renamed what? Yisrael.

And from that point forward, this same people

group who were Hebrews are now called Yisraelites,

right? But now when we get to this period, the

period of the exile and the return, they're called

Jews. Now why? It's simply a shorthand for Judeans,

people that come from the land of Judah. Now,

you may never have thought of that before. Like,

why are people called Jews today? Because they

come from Judah. Remember, the 10 tribes of the

north had been conquered and scattered and ethnically

cleansed out of existence. All that remained

were the two tribes in the south from the land

of Judah. So anybody from this ethnic people

group today are referred to as Jews. So that's

Mordecai. His family had been taken from Jerusalem

into exile in Babylon, and as part of the people

of Judah, some had gone back to the land, but

Mordecai had not. Okay, so that's just a little,

I can't help it. A little more historical context

for you. Okay, now I mentioned this in passing

last Sunday. We're gonna find out that Mordecai.

held some kind of official position there at

the citadel in Susa. We're not told exactly what

he does, but it's said that he is sitting at

the king's gate, and that's important. In ancient

Near East cities, men who sat at the gate were

the most respected men of the land. That is where...

Commercial transactions took place. At the gate

is where judicial matters were often settled.

So scholars have suggested that Mordecai might

have been somehow involved in the judicial system

of Persia in some way. So he's an important man.

You should know that. Now look at verse 7. He

was bringing up Hadassah. That is Esther, his

uncle's daughter, or as I love how you guys reasoned

with me together in the sermon, that's a cousin,

right? An older cousin, probably a solid, you

know, almost generation above Esther. So his

uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother.

Now the young lady was beautiful of form and

face, and when her father and her mother died,

Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So let's

talk about Hadassah, her Hebrew name. which means

myrtle. And so this beautiful flowering shrub

that grows in the Middle East and up in Galilee

and even into Iran where the story takes place,

that is what she is named for. Her Persian name,

Esther, mentioned this last Sunday, probably

comes from the root word Ishtar, which is connected

with the Mesopotamian fertility goddess or goddess

of beauty, Ishtar, which is so interesting. Now,

this is so funny. After church last Sunday, I

went to talk to our resident expert on Orthodox

Judaism, Yael. And she hates when I do this to

her, but thank you for letting me do this. And

she mentioned something to me I'd never heard

before. She said, as I was growing up in an Orthodox

Jewish home, we were told that Esther's name,

even though it's a Persian name, has a crossover

meaning into Hebrew. And so I looked it up. I

did the research this week, and she's not wrong.

That shouldn't be a surprise. She's not wrong.

There is a crossover meaning in Hebrew. There

is a Hebrew tradition that says the name Esther,

though it's Persian, is linked to the Hebrew

word sather, which means, you ready, to hide

or to conceal. And it's a word you'll find 82

times in the Old Testament. And if you look at

the two, The two words and listen to them, you

may be able to see and hear the connection, Sather

and Esther. Remember, biblical Hebrew is a language

of consonants. And so both words are built upon

the same consonants, S -T -R, Samech, Tav, Resh.

The only difference is you have Esther gets an

Aleph at the front of that. But they appear to

have the same root. Now, here's the interesting

connection in all this. Sather means hide or

conceal, and that's exactly what Esther does

throughout most of this story. She hides her

Jewish identity. And not only that, as we've

already talked about, this book is famous for

not explicitly mentioning God's name, suggesting

that his presence is also. hidden or concealed

from the reader. So there's all kinds of interesting

connections here, both in Persian and in Hebrew.

So who was Esther? What do we know about her?

Well, first of all, everybody likes to speculate

about her age, but we don't know. We don't know

how old she was at this time. Is it possible

she was a teenager? Culturally, yes, it is possible

that she was a teenager at this point. But if

you look at Talmudic tradition, they like to

talk about her being quite a bit older, even

up to the age of 40. So we just don't know for

sure. But one thing we are told is that she was

an orphan. We're not told how, but both of her

parents died. There's no mention of siblings,

so she's left in the care of this older cousin,

which, by the way, was incredibly important to

her life because in the ancient Near East, young

women without male protection are not going to

survive for long. They are going to end up in

a very bad place. So it's important that Mordecai

comes to her rescue. So here's a girl, young

girl, who we can assume has gone through a measure

of suffering. And as we know by our own lives,

sometimes suffering is what shapes us. It shapes

our personalities and our character, and I think

it did with Esther. One gift that we're also

told about is that she was given by God physical

beauty. But we shouldn't limit her attractiveness

just to what we see on the outside. What we're

going to see as we work through this story is

that Esther has this ability to earn the favor

of everybody she comes into contact with. It's

very interesting. We'll see it over and over

again. So the best way to understand it, I think,

is she has a measure of humility and submissiveness

that sets her apart from other women. And by

the way, these are the things that God often

uses in his people to accomplish his purposes,

right? Both suffering and what comes out of suffering.

Be that humility, submissiveness, whatever it

might be. These are the things that God often

uses. So the story goes on in verse 8. So it

came about when the command and decree of the

king were heard and many young ladies were gathered

to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hege,

that Esther was taken to the king's palace into

the custody of Hege, who was in charge of the

women. So we're getting this reinforced idea

that this guy who takes charge of the women is

very important and very powerful. So officials

from every one of the provinces of this vast

Persian empire scoured the land for beautiful

and fitting young women, and they escort them

to the capital of Susa for inspection. And here's

where we have to consider one of the most controversial

questions in the entire book of Esther. Look

at the language here in verse 8. Many young ladies

were gathered to Susa. What does it mean? Does

it mean they were captured? Does it mean that

they were forced against their will to come to

Susa? Could it mean that they volunteered to

be part of this pageant? Or is it a mixed bag?

Maybe some volunteered, but others were actually

grabbed and taken away against their will. And

this obviously matters because Esther is a Jewish

woman. And being gathered into this pageant is

going to require her to violate a whole number

of Torah commandments, which we'll get to in

just a moment. Now, I explained this last week.

I'll say it again. Historical narratives often

don't give us all the details we really want

to have, right? Because why? Because the details

aren't the important part of the story. But this

one seems pretty important because it goes to

Esther's character. So I'm going to give you

my opinion on this without being dogmatic. And

I could be wrong on this. There are scholars

on both sides of the debate. But to me, the language

here leans toward the idea that Esther was chosen.

Not that she volunteered because she had some,

you know, her sights set on becoming queen, that

she was chosen and taken. I don't think she's

a social climber that really has said, hey, that's

where I want to be in the citadel at Susa. And

I say that because the Hebrew verb here used

for gathered, kavatz, has a whole range of meaning.

Yes, it can mean gathered, it can mean assembled,

but it can also mean to be grasped or to be collected.

even taken away. So there's a range of meaning

here. In the Greek Septuagint, which is helpful

for people like me because I'm better at Greek

than Hebrew, the translators use the verb sunago

and it's written in the passive form. What that

tells me is the author is subtly trying to indicate

this was a royal command that had to be obeyed.

She didn't have a choice. At least some of the

women that were gathered to Susa and maybe Esther.

Did not have a choice. They were simply collected

and brought to the city. Again, there's different

opinions on this. Now, I still have questions.

The more I read this this week, the more questions

came to my mind. And a lot of them about Mordecai.

I hold him more responsible than I do Esther

because he's the guardian. He's the man. And

he's going to have more power in this situation.

He's an official of the kingdom. So was Mordecai

involved in Esther being discovered and selected?

Is it possible that he actually approved of that,

knowing how beautiful she was? Or as her guardian,

did he hide her? I mean, right? Think about it.

Dads, dads, you have a beautiful young daughter,

and the knock on the door comes. Do you hide

your daughter? Do you protect her in that moment?

Did Mordecai try to do that? We're just not told.

But if Mordecai has any love for God's word,

he would have tried to prevent Esther from being

gathered into this pageant. On the other hand,

if you take the negative view, and some scholars

do, that Mordecai is a social climber, he was

the one saying, hey, I've got a beautiful adopted

daughter. You should consider her for this. But

that's something that we just don't know. But

I have questions. No question about it. Here's

the thing. Consider the criteria for the new

queen. How is she gonna be chosen? This is not

like Miss America where the women come out in

formal gowns and then swimsuits and they do an

interview in front of a panel of judges. This

one is much, much different, right? The criteria

for this pageant is pleasing just one man, the

king, and to please him in every way. We'll get

to this later, but that includes sexually. So

that's coming, just so that you know. Look at

verse nine. Look at how Esther now deals with

the king's eunuch. Now the young lady pleased

him, that's Haggai, and found favor with him.

So he quickly provided her with cosmetics and

food, gave her seven choice maids from the king's

palace, and transferred her and her maids to

the best place in the harem. Now, as you read

that word harem, don't be confused. The Hebrew

word there is just the standard word for house.

So what they're talking about when they say harem

are the women's apartments, the women's residences

there within the palace structure. But this verse

gives us insight into Esther's character. By

the way, again, there's a range of opinions on

the reason behind why she built this relationship

with Hege. Those who prefer to see her in a negative

light say, okay, see, here she was. She's a conniving

woman who's aiming to become queen, so she took

it upon herself to sort of manipulate this eunuch,

this man, in order to get an advantage. But I

think that is way over the top. I don't see that

at all. I think that reads far too much into

the text. Esther just seems to have an effect

on people. including, we'll find out, on the

king. Everywhere she goes, she finds favor with

people. And listen, this isn't just outside beauty.

Do we not know beautiful women who are completely

unlikable? Yes, we do. So this is not just about

physical beauty. There's more going on here.

That is not Esther. She seems to combine physical

attractiveness with this sort of gracious, demure

demeanor that draws people to her. That's not

to suggest that it's out of the question that

she would develop a strategy to make friends

with Hege so that using her charm and her demeanor

in order to sort of get an advantage over the

other women, that's possible. And I'm gonna give

you a controversial take on this. Think about

this. If you've been gathered into this pageant

and you've chosen to submit to it without resisting,

would it not be the wisest thing to win? The

pageant rather than lose? Now, hold that thought

because as we go along, you might agree with

that. But if you've chosen to be gathered and

you're like, I'm not going to push back against

this. I'm going to go through the process. It

probably makes more sense to win than to lose.

Hold that thought. Ultimately, what we can say

is that this favor that Esther won from this

eunuch. Comes from the sovereign hand of God.

He is at work behind the scenes, right? I know

he's hidden, concealed, whatever you want to

say, but he is at work even in building that

relationship between Esther and the eunuch. And

yes, Esther now has an advantage, right? Think

about that. She's just been given the best apartment

in the complex. She's been given all the food

and all the cosmetics she needs. And she's been

given seven assistants to help her in that process.

That's pretty incredible. Now, I'm going to read

verses 10 and 11, but I'm going to save my commentary

for the end because this is very controversial

as well. Look at verse 10. Esther did not make

known her people or her kindred. She did not

disclose her Jewishness, for Mordecai had instructed

her that she should not make them known. So it's

Mordecai's decision. Every day Mordecai walked

back and forth in front of the court of the harem

to learn how Esther was and how she fared. Now,

back to the harem, verse 12, we get insight into

the pageant process. Verse 12, now when the turn

of each lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus,

after the end of her 12 months under the regulations

for women, For the days of their beautification

were completed as follows. You ready? Six months

with oil of myrrh and six months with spices

and the cosmetics for women. This is the ultimate

spa treatment, right? This is a full year of

doing nothing but making yourself more beautiful

just for one night with the king. Incredible.

But don't read past what appears to be, it looks

like a simple phrase, but it's loaded with meaning.

It says, when each young lady went into the king's

chambers. That is exactly what the language infers.

And that's important. And here's how they would

go in. Verse 13, the young lady would go into

the king in this way. Anything that she desired

was given her to take with her from the harem

to the king's palace. So catch this now. She

goes through a year's worth of beautification.

And then at the end of that, her name gets called

and she can choose any clothing to wear. She

can choose any jewelry she wants, any perfume

she wants, anything that she thinks might help

her win the prize, she can take into the king's

chambers. And the goal was that Xerxes would

remember her name in the morning. That's the

goal. Verse 14, in the evening she would go in

and in the morning she would return to what?

The second harem, hold that thought. To the custody

of Shah Ashgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in

charge of what? The concubines. She would not

again go into the king unless the king delighted

in her and she was summoned by name. So there's

the catch. There's the catch. If any of you ladies

were thinking, a year of a spa treatment. I could

get used to that. I want you to see the bad news

here. What is the consequence of not winning

the pageant? You get one night with the king

and in the morning you're sent away, never to

return unless he wants to see you again. That

would put you in the second harem. That is the

other women's quarters. So the women being prepared

and the women who have spent a night with the

king and are now shoved off into the concubine

quarters. Now what is a concubine? Well, legally,

a concubine is considered a wife of the king,

but of a lesser rank, meaning she had to be available

to the king upon his request, but she has zero

power whatsoever and zero say or share in the

household. The worst part was this. These women

were basically made widows. You don't get a husband

of your own. You don't get to go back home. To

where you came from and you don't get a husband

of your own. You stay in the concubine's quarters

until the king calls upon you or not. Sad. So

this entire scene, everything that we've read

so far, the banquets in chapter one, this pageant

in chapter two, this is a disgusting, sordid

spectacle. It is an outflow of the fall of the

garden. A sad tale of how ancient cultures operated

where men are measured by wealth and power and

women by their beauty and their sexuality. It's

all on display here in these two chapters. Now,

with that context, how is Esther gonna handle

the situation when her name gets called? Verse

15 tells us. Now, when the turn of Esther, the

daughter of Avahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who

had taken her as his daughter, came to go in

to the king, Listen now, she did not request

anything except what Haggai, the king's eunuch,

who was in charge of the women, advised. And

Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw

her. Okay, there's that same statement reiterated

for us. That's the author making sure you understand

she's getting more favor from those who see her.

Now again, depending on who you ask, the choice

that Esther makes here either proves that she

is just clever, she did whatever it took to win

the pageant, or In my opinion, she just shows

a sense of humility and wisdom here. This is

just plain smart, isn't it? Right? As she's deciding

about how to present herself to the king, she

has a choice. She could rely on her own opinion,

her own wisdom, and do what makes sense to her,

or she could go to this man, Haggai, and say,

you tell me what I should do. After all, who

knows the king better than the chief eunuch?

exactly what he likes, exactly what he wants.

And so she asks him and does what he says. And

I'll say it again. If you've chosen to submit

to the pageant and not resist with the consequences

being as bad as they are of losing, would it

not be the wisest thing to go ahead and try to

win? Okay. Verse 16. This is complex, isn't it?

There's a lot going on. Verse 16. So Esther was

taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in

the 10th month, which is the month of Teveth,

in the seventh year of his reign. I know that

the author here is not giving us the gory details.

It's sort of sanitized for the reader, but make

no mistake, as adults, we know what's going on

here. She sleeps with the king. Now, my bride

this morning. Bless her heart. She's like, is

it possible that she didn't sleep with the king?

Right, yeah, she's like, is it possible that

nothing happened in the chambers because God

protected Esther? And look, all things are possible

with God, amen? But it's unlikely. We'll just

leave it at that. Love you, sweetie. Verse 17,

the king loved Esther more than all the women.

And here's the same language again. She found

favor and kindness with him. This brutal king,

based on who she was, she found favor and kindness

with him more than all the virgins so that he

set the royal crown on her head and made her

queen instead of Vashti. We'll stop there. The

Jewish, Orphan becomes queen of the greatest

empire of that day. What a turn of events. And

that's just the first of many. So the stage is

now really set for the rest of the story. As

we close here, let me just analyze a few key

issues and we'll draw some parallels in our lives.

Let's come back to that verse I sort of skipped

over. Mordecai's motives and choices. Back to

verse 10. Why does he... carefully instruct Esther

not to disclose her ethnic and religious identity?

Such an important question, and it's frustrating

that the author doesn't give us the reason, right?

It forces us to kind of speculate a bit. Again,

we can't be dogmatic because we just can't know,

but there's some things that we can consider.

First of all, were the Jews a minority people

living under the thumb of Persia? Yes. Yes, they

were. Were they potentially at risk of being

persecuted if those in power found out that they

were Jewish? Maybe. We can't say for sure. Again,

the Persian kings were very good to the Jewish

people, but it's possible, right? And listen,

going back to Fiddler on the Roof, Jewish people

have always struggled and suffered in the diaspora,

in persecution. In every time period, everywhere

they've gone, there has been hardship and persecution.

So it's almost like you can't say, well, Mordecai

just is clueless here. He's not naive to the

fact that that could be true. He's on the inside

of the Persian empire. But we simply don't know

what effect Esther's Jewishness would have had

on her chances of being gathered into the harem

or whether it would have made a difference between

her winning or losing the pageant. We just don't

know. But it does seem clear based on the text

that Mordecai's at least concerned enough about

her Jewishness to say, you know what, let's keep

this on the down low. At least for now, let's

keep this on the down low. And I do think it's

possible also that Esther's Jewish identity being

discovered might force his identity to come to

light. And that could be a problem. Remember,

he's an official in the palace. So if they find

out she's Jewish, they make that connection that

he's Jewish, is that somehow going to affect

his job? So is he thinking about himself? as

he's thinking about Esther, possibly. But all

of this is another example of what we talked

about last Sunday. As descendants of the exiles

who chose not to return to Jerusalem when they

could have, you've got Esther and Mordecai living

in two different kingdoms at the same time, and

that is an uncomfortable place to be. And this

is for us as well, as strangers and pilgrims

in this world that we live in, when we live with

a foot in both kingdoms, God's kingdom and the

world's, it's an uncomfortable place to be, right?

They had one foot in the empire of Persia. They're

trying to find their place in that world, but

they've got the other foot in Yahweh's kingdom,

remembering that they are children of Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob, a people called to be a light

to all the other nations. But they've got feet

in both worlds. And when the interests of two

kingdoms clash, you've got to make a choice.

Where do your loyalties lie? Which kingdom is

going to prevail? And friends, you and I face

these things all the time. Think about this.

In your life, you face this all the time. You

may not realize it all the time, but you do.

Paraphrasing Joshua, we choose this day whom

we will serve. Either we serve the Lord or we

serve the gods of this world. And you will be

confronted with those choices all the time in

your life. Where do your loyalties lie? Mordecai

and Esther had established themselves in successful

diaspora living, much as we tend to sort of meld

into our communities and our world and try to

become a success in the world that we live in.

But at what cost? We have to constantly be asking

ourselves that question. At what cost am I melting

into the population here in America? Mordecai

seems to be more than willing to comply with

the empire's commands rather than resist assimilation,

to stand for Torah. The question is, are you

and I doing any better than he was in the lives

that we're living? That's an important question

for us. I had to meditate on it a lot myself

this week. as I was challenged with it. Am I

melting into the population, or am I being a

light? Now, having questioned all that, I don't

think we should doubt Mordecai's love and care

for Esther. We see the text makes it clear. He's

sort of pacing all around the palace. He's looking

into the courtyard, trying to maybe catch just

a glimpse of Esther to make sure that she's okay,

that she's being cared for. Again, dads, imagine

if your daughter were Esther, if she were in

a situation like this, how hard would that be

to know that she's in there in this harem and

this is what she's facing and you've been cut

off? Even as her guardian, Mordecai couldn't

just go racing into the harem to see Esther.

It must have been incredibly difficult for him.

So I have more questions about Mordecai than

I do about Esther because, again, he's in a more

powerful place. She's in a more helpless place.

But, guys, she's not. She's not without accountability

in this. We need to be careful not to make her

such a passive agent that she didn't have a choice.

She's accountable. But before we get to the problems,

let's revisit the good qualities. Esther is a

mixed bag. She's a mixed bag like so many of

us, right? Being honest, she's a mixed bag. First

of all, there's some great things. She listens

to her guardian's advice. She respects Mordecai's

instructions. She listens to the advice of Hege,

respecting his knowledge and his insight. In

both of those cases, as she is faced with these

difficult choices in the midst of highly complex

circumstances, she welcomes counsel from those

who are leading her. Let me say that again. She

welcomes counsel from those who are leading her.

Rather than raising a fist and saying, no, I'll

do it my way. I know exactly what I should do.

I'll do it. What does she say? She complies.

She says, okay, I'll trust your leadership. And

as a result, she finds success and favor with

everybody she runs into. I think there's something

there for us to learn, right? Now the ugly parts.

I've literally read some opinions about Esther,

and here's how it generally goes. Okay, do you

really blame her for working the system? The

answer is yes. The answer is yes. Even as we

remember that, guys, the biblical character,

how many biblical characters are sin free? They're

all sinners in need of grace, right? What do

we sometimes, what expectations do we lay on

biblical characters? She's a mixed bag. She needs

a savior. And there are multiple violations of

Torah here. starting with the basic step of receiving

and eating the empire's food, unclean food, then

undergoing the empire's beautification treatment,

indulging in all that, and for what purpose?

To be able to sleep with the king. Deuteronomy

7 is clear that no Israelite should enter into

marriage with a pagan Gentile, which Esther does.

And it should be obvious that God's word prohibits

having a sexual relationship outside of marriage,

which Esther submits to. And in the ultimate

sense, what she does is she violates God's command

for his people Israel to be a holy and distinct

people set apart from all these pagan practices

that the nations involve themselves in. By the

way, this is why we had Adam read from Daniel

chapter one today. It gives us a contrast. between

Daniel and Esther, right? Listen again to the

words. Daniel made up his mind, committed himself

to do what? That he would not defile himself

with the king's choice food or with the wine

which he drank. So he sought permission from

the commander of the officials that he might

not defile himself. He took a stand. He said,

I'm not going to do it. And what was the result?

It says God granted Daniel favor, there's that

word, and compassion in the sight of the commander

of the officials. Now, let me be clear, standing

up for truth and resisting the enemies of God

does not guarantee that everything will work

out okay. Doesn't guarantee safety and security.

In fact, when you stand up for truth, you might

suffer for it. But that's where our truest loyalties

get tested, right? In the fires of persecution.

And we would love to see Esther at some point

in this chapter stand up and say, no, I'm not

going to do it. You'll have to kill me first.

Because that's what Daniel was saying. You'll

have to kill me first. I will not defile myself.

We'd love for Esther to be a Daniel, but she

never does that. Now I know Daniel is a high

standard, right? You can find all kinds of...

Daniel is one of those biblical characters where

you're looking for cracks. He is an amazing standard.

But Esther isn't a Daniel. She's a mixed bag.

Instead of trusting in the God she can't see,

Esther submits to the lesser gods that she can

see, and she submits to the empire's agenda without

really pushing back, as far as we can tell. It

would have been better for Esther to marry the

poorest Jewish man in Persia than to enter into

the chambers of the king. It would have been

better for her to resist the demands of the pageant

and suffer for it, even if it meant death, because

even in death, she would have honored the Lord

and received her reward in heaven. Now, that's

the question for you and I, right? Would you

or I have done any better than Esther? What are

you willing to endure for the sake of truth,

for the sake of your witness for Christ? Death?

I pray that we'll never have to make that choice,

you or I, but it's an interesting question. Could

I do it? Would I be Esther or would I be Daniel?

There's a reason last Sunday I made the observation

that both Mordecai and Esther seem to be, I call

them cultural Jews, probably non -practicing.

But that makes them very similar to many professing

Christians in America today. Let's be honest,

there are lots of folks in churches even this

morning who have caved under far less pressure

than what Esther faced. How many of us are guilty

of hiding our identity as Christians in the workplace

or in our neighborhoods? Going along with the

world system out of fear or going along with

the world system even worse for our own personal

advancement? If the day comes when we have to

make a hard choice like the one Esther faced,

I pray that we'll have the courage to be a Daniel

and glorify the Lord regardless of the consequences.

Amen? So I'll wrap up with this. Last week I

closed with a reminder that neither Mordecai

nor Esther are actually the main characters of

the book. God's always the main character. Today

I'll close with this. The big idea behind the

book of Esther really isn't to condemn. our choices

in morally difficult situations, the big idea

is how God sovereignly operates behind the scenes

in spite of our choices, in spite of us. It's

very good news that salvation doesn't ultimately

depend on our faithfulness, but on his. Because

we're all tempted to cave when the pressure comes.

Now, that doesn't excuse blatant sin on our part.

We should always be careful not to fall into

the trap of knowingly violating God's law and

then presuming upon God's grace. But at the same

time, let it be a comfort to you that God can

and does work through our poor choices, that

he can and does work through our compromises

for two purposes, to complete his work in us

and to accomplish his eternal purposes. That's

good news, isn't it? Know that while Mordecai

and Esther were sinfully positioning themselves

in the palace of Susa, God was sovereignly planning

to use Esther in that same palace to save his

people. He's at work. He might be hidden, he

might be concealed, but he is always at work.

So more on that next Sunday. Let's bow our heads.

Lord, you are a great God that sometimes we look

at the pages of scripture and it does look like

you're hidden, but we know better. We know the

truth about how you work in this world in ways

that sometimes we can completely see and completely

sense in other ways and other times when we're

just not sure. And so we trust what your word

says about your goodness and about your love

for your people. And we just say, Lord, thank

you that you are a gracious God who sees our

failures and sees our compromises at times, but

you don't give up on us. You continue to bless

us and do your work in us to complete this process

that you've started. So we're grateful, Lord,

for that grace. We're grateful people today,

even as you challenge us with this text in our

minds to consider hard decisions that we might

face in the future. Could we stand for truth,

Lord? Help us to process through that question,

even in the coming days, and to take that to

you and to say, Lord, strengthen me to be a Daniel.

I pray that you'd do that in my life, Lord. Thank

you for our time together this morning. We pray

in our Savior's name, Jesus Christ, amen.