Trusting God's Plan When You Don't See Him: Lessons From the Book of EstherSample

Celebrate good times, come on! That’s the theme of today’s passage as we start off the book of Esther with the party of the century! Xerxes, also known as Ahasuerus, is the King of Persia during this time in history, and he’s feeling the need to show off all his wealth to everyone in the empire. Did you notice how long he was parading around his vast fortunes? A full 180 days! My goodness, that’s a lot of wealth to showcase! It’s very possible he was doing this to impress neighboring countries or potential enemies so that they wouldn’t start a war with his nation.

After the massive 180-day show and tell, Xerxes throws a week-long party for everyone in Susa. And just for you history buffs, the ancient city of Susa was located in modern-day Iran. While he was drinking and celebrating with the nobles in the palace gardens, his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti, was hosting her own banquet for the women in the palace.

Here’s where things get very interesting. On the last day of Xerxes’ big banquet, the Bible says he was high in spirits from wine. In other words, Xerxes was drunk! He was not in the right mind to make any decisions. Picture the scene. He’s with all these men he’s trying to impress. He knows he has a beautiful wife, and he wants to show her off. Some commentators think he wanted her to parade her around, only wearing her royal crown and nothing else. We can’t be sure of that, but even if he had just demanded that she come to dance before his guests, she was seriously offended. Vashti’s reaction to his request is a game-changer in this story. She refuses to come before him. In those days, that is just not something a woman would likely do! She could have been put to death for her actions.

Xerxes is stood up by his wife in front of all the people he’s trying to impress. Naturally, he doesn’t take too kindly to her refusal. After all, she just embarrassed and humiliated him in front of all the guys. It’s no surprise that he gets seriously angry.

So, from the beginning of this story, in my humble opinion, Xerxes isn’t the best guy out there. If his profile was on a dating app today, he’d be a really cute guy with pictures of himself in front of his chariot, palace, etc. But looking past the flashy exterior and toys, he has a God-shaped void that he's trying to fill with things of this world. Truth be told, we all have God-shaped holes in our hearts that nothing can truly satisfy, not even the wealth of the world. I can’t blame Vashti for the decision she made to refuse this guy.

I told you all this is a story full of drama! We’re only getting started!

Questions:

1. Are we sometimes guilty of the same tendency to “show off” as King Xerxes did? Why do we do that?

2. Do you agree with what Vashti did? Why or why not?

3. Could there be an “emptiness” in us at times because we are trying to fill that space with people, money, or things?