20 Oct Recap | Esther | Sovereign

This week, Matt kicks off the new series in Esther by teaching through the first chapter of the book. Though Esther does not explicitly mention God, it contains powerful lessons about divine sovereignty. It presents a narrative that clearly displays the transcendence of God’s plan in the seeming randomness of human life.

Chapter 1 begins with an introduction to the Persian Empire, which ruled over the land of Israel during the time of Esther. Verses 1-9 display the opulence of the empire and the power of its king, Xerxes, by detailing the magnificent parties that he hosted. The king was clearly an incredibly powerful, influential, and wealthy ruler.

However, verses 10-12 provide a stark contrast to the power of the king. He summons his wife, Queen Vashti, to appear before the nobles of the court and to display her beauty. She refuses to come, and Xerxes is incensed. In a poignant display of irony, the ruler of the largest empire of the day cannot even exercise power over his own wife.

To solve this problem, Xerxes consults his advisers and seeks to coerce Vashti by legal means (1:13-18). The advisers sympathize with his problem and compound it by suggesting that Vashti’s rebellion against her husband will incite women across the empire to resent and resist the authority of their spouses.

In the face of this threat, the advisers suggest issuing a decree that would banish Vashti and depose her as queen. A new queen, “more worthy than she,” would be chosen from among the women of the empire (1:19). This decree was put into action, “proclaiming that every man should be the ruler of his own home and should say whatever he pleases” (1:22).

This narrative highlights the randomness of human life. Often, the events around us, whether they be on a personal, family, or national scale, can seem very arbitrary and meaningless. Certainly, these events in the first chapter of Esther appear to have no real significance. However, Matt asserts that within the randomness of human existence, God exercises sovereignty over His creation. In the book of Esther, we see that a divine plan, often imperceptible and beyond our comprehension, overarches the mess of human life.

However, there is also a logical side to human life. We search for simple cause and effect relationships in everything and try to rationalize the events around us. For example, we can use science to understand patterns such as weather or sickness. However, Matt states that neither randomness nor logic can fully explain the complexity of human experience. For example, the crucifixion of Jesus may have seemed random to a disinterested passerby. To another, it may have seemed logical – Jesus was executed because He was a criminal. However, both of these perspectives fail to capture the reality of the situation: that God is working in a powerful and transcendent way.

In the face of this truth, Matt gives three ideas to consider as we read through Esther:

1. Our basic assumption has to be that God is working. We may not be able to see or understand His plan, but we should seek to see God’s work through prayer, meditation, reading of the Scriptures, and living in community.
2. We should pay attention when things around us don’t make sense. Our lives can read like a story, full of irony, randomness, and reversals. When things go wrong, if we lose a job, or go through a breakup, or are hurt by a friend, we should try to understand what God is teaching us rather than blaming others for adverse circumstances.
3. We are idolatrous of control. Our culture teaches us to control everything, whether our jobs, our children, our relationships, or anything else. If we want to live in obedience to God, we must abandon this idol, embrace the complex and unclear realities around us, and trust that God is moving. If we can trust Him with the eternal fate of our souls, we can trust Him with the future.

— Alexander Batson

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Worship Songs from the Weekend

• You Reign: Psalm 146 • Psalm 47:5-9 • 1 Chronicles 29:10-20
• In Your Presence: Psalm 16:11 • Deuteronomy 31:6 • Romans 8:31-34
• God With Us: Joshua 1:9 • John 1:14 (ESV) • Psalm 68:19-20 (ESV)
• God of the Redeemed: Psalm 10:17-18 • Ephesians 1:4-6 • Romans 8:23 • Romans 9:4
• Sovereign Over Us: Genesis 50:20, Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:28
• Christ is Enough: 2 Corinthians 12:9, Matthew 16:21-27