Introduction

The leader next pulled out a scarf and blindfolded the youth. He began to shake the keys and asked, “Where are the keys?” The student responded, “In front of me.” The leader then followed up: “How do you know?” To this the teen said, “I can hear them.”

Next the leader stopped moving the keys and asked, “Where are the keys now?” The student, not being able to see them or hear them, instinctively reached in front of him until he grabbed the keys and said, “They are in front of me.” The leader then asked, “How do you know?” and the student responded, “Because I can feel them.”

In the final phase of his illustration the leader took one step back just out of arm’s reach from the student and asked one final time, “Where are the keys?” The student could not see them, could not hear them, and as he reached out frantically in front of him and grasped nothing but air, he could not feel them. The leader asked again, “Where are the keys?” While still trying to find the keys, the student’s new response was, “I don’t know.” The leader then asked, “Where did I tell you the keys would always be?” The youth answered, “In front of me.” So the leader followed up with, “So, where do you think the keys are?” The frustrated teen responded, “I guess in front of me!”

The leader then had the student remove his blindfold, and when he knew the student could see the keys just out of arm’s reach but still in front of him, the leader asked, “So, where are the keys?” The teen responded, “In front of me.” The leader then explained all the mystery around the keys, the blindfold, and the questions: “There are times in our lives when we do not see God. There are times in our lives when we do not hear God. There are times in our lives when we do not feel God. But he has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Our trust in his presence is not based on our feelings but on his faithfulness.”

I did not know it when I saw this illustration unfold, but God would use it later in my life. When I was a senior in college, my father passed away unexpectedly. His funeral was the first funeral I ever preached. Later in the evening of the day we buried him, I was sitting on a swing in our front yard. On that swing I did not see God. On that swing I did not hear God. And on that swing I did not feel God. But I knew God was with me because of his promise and not because of an overwhelming sense of his presence.

Has there ever been some event or some blessing or some comfort or some guidance that you know was God’s work, but he did not audibly speak to you or perform a miracle to accomplish whatever it was? Maybe you said something like, “God did this,” or, “God provided that.” Perhaps he even used the ordinary means of an encouraging word from a friend rather than writing the message in the sky for all to see. There are things in all our lives that we attribute to God without his directly saying, “You know I’m doing this, right? You know this is my work, right?” We often refer to his providence even though we may not visibly see his presence. This is true for the book of Esther. In this book God’s name is not mentioned once, but his work is seen in every chapter. As LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush write, “Coincidences in Esther are the fingerprints of God’s hands at work” (Old Testament Survey, 538).

Here are some of those “coincidences” or “stuff” Dever says “just seems to happen” in Esther:

All of these “coincidences” show that the events in Esther are not determined by chance but by control, not by luck but by the Lord. To see it any other way is dangerous. As Dever warns,

Apart from believing that God actively and sovereignly rules over our world, the book of Esther becomes a mere celebration of Mordecai’s wisdom, Esther’s courage, and, most of all, simple chance and luck. . . . This book was written to show that God himself acts to achieve the total defeat of his foes and the safety of his people. (Ibid., 456)

Similarly, Elyse Fitzpatrick writes,

The book of Esther is not simply a morality tale about a few faithful Jewish people who stand up for God in the midst of a pagan land. More fundamentally and splendidly, it is the story of God’s desire to glorify himself and make his Son beautiful in the lives of alienated, weak exiles from covenant faithfulness—like us. (“Introduction to Esther,” 599)

We know the book of Esther is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16), but who was its human author? A lot of ink has been used by commentary writers espousing their views, but we do not know who wrote this book. The two most common guesses are the people who know the events best—Mordecai and Esther. Some scholars lean toward Mordecai as the author because of Esther 9:20: “Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahaseurus’s provinces, both near and far.” Not satisfied with this explanation, however, some church fathers thought Ezra may have written the book (Smith, “Esther,” 420). Whoever the author is, he or she recorded how God preserved his people and also how the feast of Purim was established. Not knowing who the human author is, however, does not make this book any less “profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).

First, you will most likely not surprise anyone with how Esther ends, but what may be surprising to them is how many details about the story they have wrong. “I know Mordecai entered Esther in a beauty contest.” That comment is what someone shared with me when I told them I was planning on preaching through Esther. That person is a believer and a member of a church. And also wrong. And he (or she—I’m protecting the guilty) is not the only one who holds views of the details of Esther that are incorrect. In preaching through the book, I found that the overall highlights of the story didn’t surprise anyone, but what was surprising was the number of details in the story that they had either missed or misinterpreted. If you preach through this book, it may not be the first time your people have heard of the story, but it may be the first time they study it and get the details straight!

Second, the imperfections of Esther and Mordecai may resonate with your people more than you imagine. As I prepared to preach through Esther, I was worried about how our people would respond to what seemed to be moments of compromise with the world in both Esther’s and Mordecai’s actions. I was worried that, since they seemed less consistent than Daniel or Joseph when striving to live faithfully in a foreign land, our people would not be able to relate to them. I was wrong. In my first meeting with our LifeGroup leaders, one of them expressed his appreciation for Esther’s and Mordecai’s imperfections but God’s still using them in his plans. His sentiment was echoed in my own LifeGroup later that night and throughout the semester. I found that at least in the case of the people I shepherd, Esther and Mordecai are far more relatable than I ever imagined.

Third, in Esther we have all the information we need but not all the information we want. Was Esther taken into custody against her will, or did she and Mordecai accept the situation? Why doesn’t Mordecai honor Haman? Mordecai tells others it is because he is a Jew, but even with that explanation the dots are not connected for us. Did Esther, Mordecai, and all the Jews pray when they fasted, or did they just fast? Was Esther right or wrong when she asked Ahasuerus for the Jews in Susa to have one more day to kill their enemies? The biblical author neither condemns nor vindicates her actions, which gets us to another possible frustration when preaching through the book of Esther.

Fourth, we may not be able to make as many definite calls as we would like. You will be tempted to say, Esther was wrong when she, or Mordecai was right when he, but because we do not have the information we would like, we can’t always be definitive. You will also find that the biblical author records actions made by the characters but does not comment on their morality or spirituality. As an example, let’s consider Mordecai’s lack of honoring of Haman but from a different angle this time. We are told Mordecai does not honor Haman, and when asked about it, the other gatekeepers discern it has something to do with Mordecai’s being a Jew. But nowhere along the way does the biblical author affirm Mordecai’s actions. The author neither supports nor dissents from the actions but just records them. As preachers of the text, then, we cannot add what is not supplied. We may be tempted to either vindicate or condemn Mordecai, but unfortunately we do not possess all the material to make such a call. Therefore, our aim (and responsibility) is to preach what is clearest from the text. And though we may not be able to say with complete certainty that Mordecai did the right or wrong thing, we can say in full confidence that God used Mordecai’s actions to advance his providential plan of preserving his people.

Fifth, God delivers his people through ordinary means. In the book of Esther, no sea is split for God’s people to walk across on dry land. In the book of Esther, no manna appears on the ground to sustain God’s people for forty years. In the book of Esther, no lions’ jaws are held shut by angels, and no young Jews walk around in and then out of a fiery furnace. No, in the book of Esther, God will not deliver his people through magnificent displays of his power. Instead, God delivers his people through the ordinary decisions and actions of Esther, Mordecai, and the others in the text. Perhaps this is another reason this portion of Scripture resonates so deeply with so many believers in our day, who have never walked on water or been used to raise the dead but who are striving to obey the Lord. God does significant work through what often seems like insignificant events in our lives.

Sixth, a lot of interesting names are listed in Esther, so take the time to make sure you can pronounce them clearly and correctly. Besides meeting Ahasuerus in the opening phrase of the book, you will eventually be introduced to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Parshandatha, Parmashta, and others. The feast of Purim may be new to you as well. While some may advise, “If you say the names of people and places in the Bible confidently, no one will know the difference,” for one of my seminary professors such lack of linguistic precision would never suffice. We should strive to both read and preach the Word faithfully. If you are unsure how best to discern the pronunciations, multiple Bible software programs as well as some helpful internet sources, such as www.blueletterbible.org, offer recordings of pronunciations for you.

In sermon preparation, knowing the meaning of a biblical text is only the first half of sermon groundwork. The next half is how to communicate that information, in the power of the Spirit, to the people God has entrusted to you. I am always excited when I believe the Lord has helped me, through my study, to understand the main point of a Scripture passage. But then a little apprehension creeps in as I am reminded I have to continue praying and discerning how to arrange and proclaim what I have learned in a way that will allow the truth to be communicated clearly. I often jokingly say sermon prep is a lot of agony and a little joy. It is actually all joy: joyful toiling to present ourselves “to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).

In the first sermon of the Esther series I preached for those I shepherd, I spent half of my time with introductory matters and then half of it examining Esther 1:1-9. Since some of the important details such as when, where, and two important whos (Ahasuerus and Vashti) are addressed in the first nine verses, that approach flowed well. You may, however, craft an introductory or overview sermon of Esther with key background and big picture information and then prepare a sermon on 1:1-9 or even 1:1-22 as a second sermon. You know the people you shepherd best, so do what will help them grasp Scripture best. For this commentary, however, I will treat the material in 1:1-9 as a single sermon. For a list of the remaining passages and how they are considered, please refer to the table of contents in this volume.

With these introductory matters considered and concluded, we will now focus on our responsibility and privilege of exalting Jesus in Esther! May the Lord use his Spirit and his Word in and through you, and may it be for your good, for the good of your faith family, for the good of your city, and, above all, for the glory of God.