Esther Chapter One

Setting The Scene

study one: CHOSEN, FAVORED, & PLANNED by GOD

| Esther 1 | 

Hello Sweet Friends! 

Welcome to BEHOLD PEACE! Today we are studying Esther chapter one! Last week we were introduced to this Esther study and now we will start reading and studying this wonderful book and woman together! 

| Introducing Esther |

If you have any thoughts or questions to add, please comment down below! This is a community and open discussion and I’d love to hear what YOU think! 

Setting the Scene

We are starting off in Esther 1! 

Chapter one in review: The angry, prideful, rash, hot headed king of Persia throws a lavish party lasting 180 days to show off his power, splendor, and wealth. At the end of the 180 day feast, another week-long feast commences with all the drink one could ever wish to have. Once the king is quite merry with wine, he sends for his final prized possession: his wife, Queen Vashti. The queen refuses to go parade herself among the party of only drunk men. Thus the king’s pride takes a hit and drunkenly he takes the counsel of men and makes a rash decision to banish the queen. Thus ends chapter one.

A lot happens in just this chapter. We see a prideful king have a party to shout out his wealth and at the end of the parting gets humiliated and makes rash decisions while drunk. He is not a perfect king in the slightest, as we will continue to see in chapters two and on through the rest of this story. We see sin, a worldly kingdom, and human corruption. 

I would also like to take a moment to defend Queen Vashti. Why? Because I feel like she can be a hated and villainized character (as done by myself growing up, I just could not understand her. It wasn’t until recently that began to change) and I’d like to give my current view on her and her situation.
Yes, this study is focusing on Esther and so far we haven’t met her, but her story could not have come to pass without this woman. I think that in itself is a wonderful thing. God can and WILL use those in our lives to get up to where we need to go—even people we don’t know, God will use in our lives. I think that is just amazing! 

Defending Queen Vashti

So we know almost nothing about Vashti besides that she was beautiful and the queen, thus the king’s pride possession.

On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing the royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the officials her beauty, for she was fair to behold.

Esther 1:10–11

So far we know of the king that he is prideful, angry, gets drunk often, possessive, and rash…and I can’t help but wonder how he treated Vashti. Remember this is set at a lavish men only party. After the 180 day feast, another week-long feat commenced with all the wine one could wish for.

Drinking was by ordinance without restraint, for the king had given orders to all the officials of his palace to do as each one desired.

Esther 1:8

The men became drunk. The king called on Vashti to come before him and his drunken guests to show off her beauty. Vashti is queen, she is above this treatment. This is humiliating, to parade yourself around drunken men. This was dangerous. Yes, she would be in front of the king but it was a room of men who were not godly and drunk. She could have been hurt or abused. I know I’m only guessing but I can’t help but wonder and want to put myself in her shoes. 

What if I got married and my husband was not a Christian and was hosting a party of men who were all drunk. Then my husband wanted me to show myself to all these drunk men. Thinking this through I think I would have been, one disgusted, and two scared. I wonder if there wasn’t a part of her that was scared too. She had to choose between two fears: coming before drunken men with the possibilities of what could go wrong are endless or the anger of her husband?

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him.

Esther 1:12

Like Vashti, I think I would have refused as well. But in her public refusal, the king is humiliated that she will not come. So, drunken, he makes a decision to banish her, a decision he will later regret. Yes, this is awful, she takes a hit and is banished from her husband (who wasn’t faithful) and demoted from her position. But I wonder, could that have been exactly what she wanted? What if she wanted space away from the king—out of his sight and no longer just a possession? It could definitely be possible. We know so little about her, but I don’t think she should be villainized. 

With this act of defiance, God used to set into place a Queen of his own who would fulfill his work and save his people. God is setting the stage to save his people and place among the place a queen after his own heart. A queen who would save his people. A queen who would fulfill a promise and finish what her ancestors could not. 

Just like the Jews at that time, they needed a Savior. We are the same. God gave us a promise, a promise to save us as he made his people in Esther’s time. Our answer is Jesus. God has sent us His son to save us from death and to fulfill his promises. To save His people. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

John 3:16–17

We get to see in Esther a parallel to the gospels. We see a humble queen come to save her people, likewise, God sent Jesus who was humble to save us—but he would save us for all time, for all people, no matter who you were. That is beautiful.

God uses the broken

Something I love about the Bible is that over and over and over again, we see God use broken people to do his work. God is not afraid of your brokenness. If anything, it makes you a greater tool for Him to make a beautiful, hopeful and redeeming story. God can use you just where you are even in your brokenness. You just have to be open to Him and His plan for you. 

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

In this story, God uses Vashti’s defiance and the king’s anger and drunkenness to set the scene and move things into place to set up His anointed queen. A queen who would be of Him, a queen who would follow and listen to God’s voice even when the whole world around her could not. Maybe that’s why God’s name isn’t mentioned once in this book (like we talked about last week). Maybe His name wasn’t mentioned so when we read the story, it would be like from the outside, like what it would have looked like to the Persians and the unbelievers. Because there is a difference when we follow God and when we do not. 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

With a relationship with God our world view changes. No longer are we of this world but of something far greater. We are of God’s kingdom, a perfect kingdom that will last forever, an upside-down kingdom nothing like the world. A kingdom of love, self-sacrifice, self-control, PEACE, hope, and joy, an absolutely perfect kingdom. Before we get to that kingdom, we live here. But here we get new eyes to see through, a new heart to love all people with, a new mind to understand things like the Bible and to build a relationship with God (things people without a relationship with God may not understand, and do not have because it is God who gives these things and no one else). 

I like to think that Esther, God’s set queen for this story, was like that. A girl who was one of God’s people, a girl who followed his ways, a humble girl, a girl who God gave wisdom, a girl who trusted God with her life. She is about to be tested in this, really, the next few years of her life will be tested but God would be there through it all with her setting the stage. 

do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
    I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

No matter where you are in life, God can and will use you. Next week we will learn a little more about Esther. We will read how she was a Jew (something almost outcast in the place she lived), she was an orphan at a young age, she was adopted by her cousin, and her entire life was about to be radically changed. God used her just where she was to put her in a place to not only save His people but to fulfill His work He started with her ancestors. It’s quite marvelous when you think about it. 

It makes me excited to see how God will use each and every one of us!

An Ending Note 

Thank you all for coming and being a part of this Bible Study! I can’t wait to dive deeper into Esther’s story with all of you! Come back next Monday for the next installment of this study! We will be going through CHAPTER TWO! See you all soon! 

Remember this is a community of believers coming together to study God’s Word. Please comment and add your own thoughts to this discussion. I would love to hear what you think of Esther chapter one! What are your views on Vashti? Are you excited to see God moving and at work in YOUR life? 

Also, if you have a prayer request, please let us know! I would love to pray for you! If you want to keep your prayer more private, go to the Connect page and fill out the connect form with the prayer request. 

Love, Moriyah