Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. The beauty pageant is announced. You didn't think there was a beauty A pageant in scripture, here it is. This was not Miss America or Miss World, this was Miss Persia. Uh Esther enters the beauty pageant.
She becomes a contestant. in this beauty pageant. Welcome to the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. In the Old Testament book of Esther, we're learning how our God is always working out his plan through events in our lives. even through events and people we'd never expect.
God even uses the unlikely event of a beauty pageant in ancient Persia to set the stage for the deliverance of his people.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe introducing his next message in Esther, titled The Beauty Pageant. Did you know that there was a beauty pageant in the Bible? It comes from the story of Esther which we're considering. The setting is very different from ours as the events occur about 400 years BC. and take place in the Persian Empire.
Some of the Jewish nation have been taken into exile And while some return to the homeland in Israel, others prefer to stay in Persia, which is the superpower of the day. We're going to meet King Ahasuerus. He's a very powerful man. and will learn he has a very public disagreement with his wife. We will learn how in this pagan culture God is at work.
His hand may be invisible, but he has not forgotten his people and is well able to protect them. I invite you to take your Bible. And turn with me to Esther chapter Last week, we began to study this fascinating story of the book of Esther. You'll remember that the Persian king Ahasuerus has a sumptuous banquet, he invites his people. Princes, his officials, his military advisors.
This is taking place about 483 or 482 BC. Um wine is flowing and the the king makes a very Foolish decision, a very impulsive decision. He commands his beautiful wife, Queen Vashtai, to come and to display her beauty in front of all of the men. And to the king's utter fury, She refuses to come at his command.
Now, remember. He is the king of the superpower. He's the king of Persia. Uh the Great Kingdom. that extended from what we know as uh Pakistan or India Right across Out of what we know nowadays as Ethiopia.
Uh or the sedan. A huge a kingdom and he's at the top of it, but he can't even get his wife. To obey him. A law is then passed. that the Queen never again be allowed to come before The king, she is vanquished.
Furthermore, all women throughout the Persian Empire are to give honor to their husbands. Every man is to be master in his own house.
So In private.
So, a matter of private humiliation for the king becomes a matter of international policy as this decree is to extend throughout every household in Persia. Absurd, isn't it? But in this highly unusual way, the Queen is removed. And King Ahazuera is no longer. has a queen.
Between chapters 1 and 2, we're going to look at chapter 2 in a minute, the king is entangled in various unsuccessful wars. with Greece for over three years. If you look at chapter one, verse three, as we saw last week, we read that the events of chapter one took place in the third year of his reign he gave this feast. If you look at chapter 2, verse 16, we read when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace. In the tenth month, which is the month of Tebet, in the seventh year of his reign.
So he's away fighting wars for about three years. And coming home, his anger perhaps subsides a bit. Perhaps he's humbled by the defeats that he has experienced. And he begins to remember Vashtai. And he realizes that never again will he see her as the law which vanquished her, the law of the Medes and the Persians, as the law which vanquished her, can never be repealed.
And we say here, God's sovereign providential hand at work. Who's living in Persia? Who is in Sousa, the capital?
Well, a number of people, but particularly the Jews. God's chosen people, the Jewish nation. They did have earlier, if you know the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, they had the opportunity to return home, to return back to Israel. And many of them did return, you will recall, in Ezra and so on. But a large number of them Including ester.
Remained in Persia, preferring, presumably, the comfort of Persia rather than returning to Israel. And although we don't know it from chapter one, Anti-Semitism is not far Below the surface in the Persian Empire. Certainly. In a few cases, as we're going to Find out. And the question is, is God going to take care of his people in Persia.
Even perhaps Those who had forgotten him. How is this going to be done? How can exiled people Living in a foreign land, stand against a powerful pagan. Came there. Our chapter this evening continues to set the stage.
And we're going to look very quickly. Through the content of chapter two, and then make some concluding observations. And applications. There are seven scenes we're going to mention. First of all, The beauty pageant is announced.
This was not Miss America or Miss World, this was Miss Persia. You didn't think there was a beauty pageant in Scripture? Here it is. Esther 2, verses 1 through 4. After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashtai and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
Then the king's young men who attended him said, Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. And let the king appoint officers in all the providences of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa, the capital, under custody of Haggai the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the woman. Let their cosmetics be given them. And let the young woman And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashtai. This pleased the king.
And he did so.
So, remembering beautiful Vashtai, perhaps coupled with his defeats in Greeks. Among the Greeks, may have plunged this king into some spirit of nostalgia, of loneliness, perhaps even in regret. And uh his attendants, these young men around him, have a solution. This is a huge kingdom, okay? And in the 127 provinces, there must be a lot of beautiful women.
Let's gather them together. And from the number that we gather, you, O king, can select the one that you wish. To be Yeah wife. And the queen.
Now, notice these women don't volunteer, they don't sign up to be the queen, they are gathered. uh whether they agree or not, they are gathered and brought to the capital. To get his wife, the powerful Ahasuerus didn't need to do what a farmer did, to put an ad in a newspaper that read, Farmer wants to marry woman. Thirty-five years old. With tractor.
Please send picture of the tractor.
So he doesn't need to send pictures. He is going to be the one who personally chooses His new queen. No. Google no Christian mingle or Persian mingle in those days.
Now it says in chapter 1 verse 19 Let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. In what way was the new queen to be better than Vansteil? More beautiful, more intelligent. Possibly more compliant. In any event, Mash ties.
Replacements must have three essential qualifications. Number one, they must be young. Secondly, there must be beautiful. And third, they must be virgins. We can work out the king's priorities, can't we?
These women will be taken to the king's harem. Where his previous wives and the concubines are. And this dark The spirit of gloom which came over the king is now dispelled. It says in verse four, This pleased the king. And he did so.
So the beauty pageant is announced. Scene 2, we have the introduction of Mordecai and Esther, verses 5 through 7.
Now there was a Jew. Interesting. There was a Jew in Susa, the citadel, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shemmai, son of Kesh, a Benjaminite. Who was the first king of Israel? Saul, which tribe was he from?
Benjamin. Who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives, carried away. With Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away. Remember? Before Persia, the superpower is Babylon.
They come into Israel, they decimate Israel Jerusalem, they decimate the temple and they take many, many captives. Away. He was bringing up verse seven: Hadassah, that is Esther. The daughter of his uncle. For she had neither father nor mother.
The young woman had a beautiful figure. And was lovely to look at. And when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own. The other one.
Now we're introduced to two key people in the book of Esther. Mordecai and Esau. Both of them are Jewish. Their an ancestors uh were taken in exile. From Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.
Because of the nation's disobedience, the Babylonians had been conquered. Replaced By the Medes and the Persians. We thought of that last week. Mordecai and Esther are cousins. We might call them dreamers.
And Persia. Esther is a young orphan girl whom Mordecai, obviously older, takes into his home and adopts her as his own daughter. And when we read in verse 7, look at verse 7, that the young woman Esther had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, we're being set up, aren't we, for the drama which is about to follow. The fact that she is given, we are given her Jewish name of Hadassah, meaning Myrtle. And their Persian name of Esther, meaning a star, is a reminder that they were exiled Jews in Persia.
Just as we who follow Jesus are living in this world, but are not to be of it. Esther and Mordecai, Jewish people, were living in Persia. But they were not to be of Persia. We wonder In that situation, with he truly faithful to the Lord. or not.
We can think. Of that question. Normally, Esther is referred by her Persian name, Esther. Rather than her Jewish name. In contrast to Daniel, remember when Daniel is taking exile and goes to Babylon?
He's given a name by the Babylonians, Beltishazzar, but he's commonly called Daniel. He's a man, unlike Esther. Good. Makes it very clear. Where is his allegiance?
Now, in verses 8 through 11, we have the third scene. Esther enters the beauty pageant. Verse 8.
So, when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa, the citadel, In custody of Haggai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Haggai, who had charge of the woman. We get the impression she didn't have much choice in this. and the young woman pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food. And with seven chosen young women from the king's palace, and advanced her and her young woman to the best place. In the harem.
Now notice verse 10. Esther had not made known her people or kindred. For Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. He is in loco parentis. He is her father, as it were, and he commands her: don't tell them that you're Jewish.
Verse 11: Every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. She becomes a contestant. In this beauty pageant. She's one of the young ladies. She's put in charge of this man, Hegei, one of the eunuchs.
Uh for the kings. Pajas. There must have been something very striking Not only about Esther's appearance, but her attitude. She finds favor with this man and she's provided all she needs: all the necessary cosmetics, a special diet. She's given seven choice women to help her to prepare for this night that she's going to spend with the king.
Everything is available to make her succeed. and the beauty pageant. Just Jewish. But this verse 10 makes it very clear, she had been instructed not to make that note. Why was that?
Did Mordecaia. Fear for her safety? Or did he consider? That Esther might be used in the future in protecting the Jewish nation against rising hostility. There was nothing about Esther's appearance, her clothes, her way of life, her accent to suggest she was Jewish.
To all intents and purpose, this was another Persian young woman. She'd lived all of her life in Persian. She looked like a Persian. She talked like a Persian. She must have acted like a Persian.
And no one at this point appears to know her true Identity. Was she compromising her faith? Shouldn't you have been like Daniel, another exiled Jew who purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself in a pagan world? Why doesn't she protest? that she's a worshipper of the living God, that she can't take part.
In such an immoral beauty pageant. Did she love the luxury? of the Persian court or did she hate it? The writer doesn't answer these questions. It does say.
That Mordecai is keeping a fatherly eye on Esther. Every day he's walking back and forth. in front of the court of Herd of the Haram. To learn how she is doing. Scene 4, the rules of the beauty pageant, verses 12 through 14.
Now, when the turn comes, came for each young woman to go into King Ahasuerus. After being 12 months It's a serious business, isn't it? 12 months Under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh, six months with spices and ointments for women. When the young woman went into the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem. To the king's palace.
In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Sha'ashkaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by na'am.
So here are the rules and the regulations uh of the pageant, as it were. Each contestant goes through this beautifying 12 months beauty treatment. I mean, we know. And your husband knows that women take a long time. uh to get themselves just right.
But twelve months? I mean, that's a bit much. Uh the Persians apparently were known for their perfumes, for their aromas, for their beautifying treatments, which improved the appearance of the skin and uh removed All of the facial blemishes. This is a serious contest. The end of the twelve months Just think of this.
Each candidate is going to go into the king. She's going to spend one night with him. That's it. Then she's going to spend the rest of her life, not out in society, but in his harem with the other concubines and the wives. She can dress verse 13 any way that she wants.
She is to make herself attractive and desirable to the king. And unless the king wants to see her again. She's gonna live a life of oblivion. Not allowed to go to her home, not allowed to marry anyone else. but to be totally at the disposal of the king.
He is the sovereign. He is King Ahasuerus of this huge Empire. Scene five. We could call it the king and I. Verse fifteen.
When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihil, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter to go into the king. She asked for nothing except what Haggai, the king's eunuch who had charge of the women, advised.
Now Esther was winning favour in the eyes of all. Who saw her? And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tabith in the seventh year of his Rain. The long awaited night. arrives For Esther.
She didn't ask for anything special. She did exactly as this man, Haggai, uh suggested to her Verse 15, it says, She was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. One has again has the question, Esther. for allowing herself to participate in such an immoral procedure. But dead an obscure, young woman that we know was Jewish.
Did she have any choice? in these circumstances. Was she glad to be there, or is she trapped by this powerful king? To refuse would have meant death. Did she realize that God was placing her there?
One can imagine the older Jewish woman who may have known what was going on. uh gossiping and talking about it. But there Esther is presented to the king. Verses 17 through 20, the winner is announced. The uh sixth scene.
The king loved Esther. More than all the women, And she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashtai. Then the king Gave a great feast for all his officials and servants. It was Esther's feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
The whole kingdom got a tax break from this. Verse 19.
Now when the virgins were gathered together The second time. Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Esther had not made known her kindred or her people. Here we have it again. Very key verse, verse 20.
Esther had not made known her kindred or her people as Mordecai had commanded her. For Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. Who's the winner? It's Esther. We're not surprised, of course, as we're following the drama of the story that she won grace and favour with the king.
That he preferred her more than all of the other virgins. He loved her, and she became his new queen. He crowns her. as queen with the royal Crown. In chapter 1, verse 11, Vashtai had refused to appear before the king with the royal crown, but now it's given to Esther.
And this great banquet is prepared in honor of Esther. She has become. Not only Miss Persia, as it were, but Queen Esther. And throughout all of this, She still does not reveal very key. She does not reveal that she's Jewish.
The final scene. Scene 7, verses 21. Through twenty-three. In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai.
And he told it to Queen Esther. Esther told it to the king in the name of Mordecai. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. Mordecai uncovers a plot.
This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, which are beneficiary? What do you think of beauty pageants? Do you think they're outdated or Do you think they still have a place? Certainly in ancient Persia there is this competition to discover who is going to be the new queen.
Well Few of us have ever been in a beauty pageant, but whoever you are, God sees you. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches you. and me. This gives us a confidence in life that in the most difficult circumstances, God is at work. Continue to trust them.
Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
