1. Courage of Queen Esther
God’s Providence:
Courage of Queen Esther

2. God’s Providence: The Story of Esther
“…Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:13,14

3. King Xerxes Reigning King of Persia (486—465 B.C.).
Ruled over 127 provinces.
Warred unsuccessfully against Greece.
Jews were scattered as the result of Babylonian captivity.

4. Background In 483 B.C., the king gave a royal feast in Shushan.
It lasted 180 days.
Queen Vashti entertained the women.
After becoming “merry with wine,” the king sought to parade Vashti’s beauty before his guests.
The queen refused his order.
Esther 1:12,19

5. A New Queen The process took four years.
Esther was chosen, but she had not yet revealed her Jewish heritage.
Each woman spent a year preparing.
Then each spent a night with the king.
Those not chosen were placed with the king’s concubines.
Selection process

6. Major Players Mordecai Served as the king’s gatekeeper.
Esther 2:5-7
Refused to bow down and pay homage to Haman.
Revealed to Queen Esther the plot to assassinate the king.
Esther 2:19-23

7. Major Players Haman The king’s Prime Minister.
Esther 3:1,2
Devised a plot to kill all the Jews.
Esther 3:6-9
Got the king to consent to the plot.
Esther 3:10-15

8. Step 1 Esther is the queen.
Mordecai insists that she go before the king to intercede for the Jews.
Esther 4:14-17
Esther chose to risk her life.
Esther had noble character.
She invited the king and Haman to a special banquet.
Esther 5:4

9. Special
Banquet
Haman and the
King
Esther 5:4-6

10. Building the Gallows

11. Step 2 Haman encounters Mordecai the night before the first banquet.
Esther 5:9-14
King can’t sleep; asks that the chronicles be read.
Esther 6:1-3
The king asks Haman a question.
Esther 6:4ff
Haman is forced to honor Mordecai.
Esther 6:7-12
Haman’s wife’s warning statement.
Esther 6:13

12. Haman Honoring Mordecai

13. Step 3 The second banquet. Esther reveals her request to the king.
Haman pleads for his life.
Esther 7:6-8
Haman is hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai.
Esther 7:9,10

15. Step 4 Mordecai given Haman’s position. What about the decree?
Esther 8:1,2
What about the decree?
Esther 8:3-6
The king issues a new decree.
Esther 8:8-10
Jews receive permission to defend themselves.
Esther 8:11-17

16. Do We See God’s Hand in This?
An orphan taken in by her cousin. (2:7)
What if she’d gone to another relative’s home?
Revealed her identity to the king when Mordecai instructed.
Decree sent out because the kings held out the royal scepter. (8:3,4)
Mordecai, man of wisdom and intelligence.

17. Do We See God’s Hand in This?
How was Mordecai yet alive to be appointed Prime Minister?
What if the king had not been restless?
How did it happen that Mordecai’s good deed had been overlooked?
How did a young Jewish orphan become queen over a world empire?
Modesty of Queen Vashti.