5-29-21 Absolute Power

Esther Lesson 2: Absolute Power :: By Sean Gooding Published on: January 20, 2021 by RRadmin7 Category:General Articles, Sean Gooding Chapter 1:9-22 “9 Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus. 10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs; therefore, the king was furious, and his anger burned within him. “13 Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times (for this was the king’s manner toward all who knew law and justice, 14 those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who had access to the king’s presence, and who ranked highest in the kingdom): 15 ‘What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs?’ “16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: ‘Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.’ 18 This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king’s officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus, there will be excessive contempt and wrath. “19 If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. 20 When the king’s decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for it is great), all wives will honor their husbands, both great and small.’ 21 And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan. 22 Then he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people.” Today we are about to explore something that many of us do not know firsthand. The idea that a man can have absolute power. Most of us live in democracies; we get to vote in or out our political leaders. My wife and I have been watching the Crown, and even the Queen of England is limited as far as her power because she is a Constitutional Monarch. She has to live at the behest of the British Parliament. Even in the USA, there are three branches of government that are equal: Legislative (makes laws), Executive (carries out laws), and Judicial (interprets laws). None have absolute power. In contrast, the kings of the Old Testament and right up to the middle of the 1800s had absolute power. They could order the death of someone at a whim, and they were killed without recourse. In 2 Samuel 1, we find an account of a young man giving David a report, and the man admits to killing Saul so he would not be taken after his death in the battle. The young man may have thought he was gaining points with David, the new king, but what he was doing was signing his death warrant. In verse 15, David orders his execution. No trial, no warrant, no discussion, just kill him; and one of his soldiers did just that. This is absolute power, the power of life and death. Jesus, we are told, will rule like David. He, when He returns, will not be ruled by a voting public; rather, He will rule with a rod of Iron (Revelation 2:27). The Queen Had a Party as Well, Verse 9 As we can see here, the men and the women did not party together. This is very foreign to us, but I can attest to that personally. When I was a boy, about 12 or so, my cousin was getting married in Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean not far south of Barbados where I grew up. It was a Muslim wedding, and during the course of the wedding, the groom and bride were separated – men with men and women with women. We boys served the women their food and the like, and the couple even took their vows over a microphone and did not see each other that day until they left on their honeymoon. My family are East Indians, and I learned that this was their custom. The ladies partied in one area and the men in another. Now, if you recall our lesson last week, this had been going on for the better part of 6 months. Ahasuerus, now in his third year of power, is showing off his wealth and has opened the capital, Shushan, for 6 months to be viewed by the masses. At the end of the 180 days, he threw a 7-day feast with lots of food and drink. The queen also has a party for the ladies on her side of the castle, so to speak. Men and women did not conduct business together, and as we can see, they did not even party together. The king, if he wanted to see the queen, would send for her. So, on the 7th day of the feast, the king asks that the queen come dressed in her royal garb and finery. We see the term eunuch used in the verses from 10-12; these were men assigned to care for the needs of the king’s harem, but they were made into eunuchs so that they would not be able to engage in sexual relations with the king’s women. Like many kings of his day, Ahasuerus had a lot of wives and concubines in his harem. We are all familiar with Solomon; he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). But many do not know that David had lots of wives as well (2 Samuel 5:13). I am not justifying the practice, just reporting what the Bible says. The Queen Refuses to Come, Verse 12 I am not sure what she was thinking. Maybe she had too much wine or was involved in a deep conversation with one of the other ladies and did not want to end it. But she decided that she would defy the king’s request. Sometimes people forget who is the boss and who is not the boss. We have an issue with that in our lives sometimes. In the last twenty years, we have raised a generation of kids that do not know how to submit to power. They get in the face of all senses of authority, and then we wonder why they question every command of Jesus. We have a generation of people that defy God to His face; they literally look for ways to defy God. If God says ‘NO!” then that is all they want to do. The king was very angry. Not the end he was looking for to the 7-day festival. He wanted to show off his wife, his ultimate treasure. I am sure that Vashti was the preeminent beauty of her day; whatever the standard of beauty was, she was it. In keeping with the tradition of the times, this would have been an arranged marriage; maybe not a lot of love and romance was involved. She was a showpiece for the king. She would have his beautiful children, and when she was called, appear before him and be the queen. But she forgot her place. Now, I have heard a lot of lady preachers (not allowed in scripture) talk about feminism and women’s liberation from this passage. She was standing up for herself, showing that she was not just a showpiece. But Vashti knew her place, and with it came benefits of being the queen; she had the clothes, the money, the attention and the servants. She had the place that every little girl of her day wanted; and on this day, she lost it. She gave it up for some reason. Now we know the reason; God had an even more beautiful girl waiting to step into the role and to save the Jews from destruction. However, neither Vashti nor anyone else but God knew that. Sometimes we don’t get why things happen. I am struggling with that right now. I see attacks on the President of the USA, President Trump. This man has helped or orchestrated the closure of 900 abortion clinics; defunded Planned Parenthood; recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; helped to get peace treaties with some of her enemies; rather than start wars, he has ended them; built a great economy; and yet, here he is being destroyed by the very people he has helped, and I wonder why this is happening. I have to trust that God has a plan and that he has a goal in mind that needs these things to happen. It is hard to watch and hard to stomach, but we must trust that God is in control no matter what. The Queen’s Ripple Effect, Verses 13-16 What will the other wives think? If the queen can defy the king, then every wife in the kingdom will rebel against her husband. We can’t have that; it will be chaos. Our actions cause ripple effects. I have seen this often that what a parent does in moderation, a child will do to excess. People mimic leadership; if a country’s leaders are corrupt, society, in general, will be corrupt. But if the leaders are righteous, they inspire the same. What about you in your circle? What behaviors do you project? Do you and I live in submissive obedience to the Lord and the people around us who have the authority, or are we the rebels? I do not know what the queen was thinking, but she was about to find out who was the king and who was not the king. She was about to make life a lot harder for the wives in the Persian kingdom. Vashti was fired as the queen, and she never came to see the king again. She had been with the king, so she could not be with any other man; she would have been banished to the place where the concubines lived. These women were just used for sex, so to speak, and as we are told in verses 19-20, she was never allowed to come before the king again. I am not sure how old Vashti was, but the rest of her life was going to be a long and lonely existence filled with lots of regrets. The king and the men sent out a decree, and the women in the land would see that the cost of defying the king was great. Vashti lost everything, and she was never seen again. Order had been restored. We are not accustomed to this kind of power – the power to banish a person or simply make them disappear, the power of life and death, the power to give life and take life. This is the power that kings used to have – real power that was regarded and feared. One did not cross the king. While Jesus is a righteous King, He is an absolute King. He, too, will have the power to take and give life. Most people don’t like that, but it is what it is. Jesus will not have to go to the British parliament to get permission to do anything; He will just do it. God is a Sovereign God; He did not counsel to do creation; He did not ask permission or need help to create and set the boundaries of our world. Jesus healed on command; He did not need to conjure up a ‘spirit’ or have the right circumstances; He just did it. He spoke to the waves, He ordered withered hands to work, the dead to wake up, He called to the dead to hop from the grave, He fed 20,000 with loaves and fishes, and He did because he could. The Queen’s Lesson to Us God is king, and He has the right to ask you and me to do anything at any time and without explanation. He can allow anything to happen to us (see Job 1-2) and for as long as He wants because He has and is the Absolute Power of the universe. The queen’s refusal to obey the king did not really cost him anything, but it cost her everything. In the same way, our refusal to obey God does not cost God anything, but it can cost you everything. God can always find someone else to do your job and to bless them. You may think what about God’s grace and kindness? And yes, that is all good. And there comes a time when God exercises His power. Remember the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6:7? He touched the ark, trying to save it, and died immediately. God has strict rules of how the ark was to be carried; the Jews did not obey, and a man died. All too often, we take advantage. I take advantage of God’s grace, and we say ‘no’ to Him in defiance, thinking we have asserted our power when we have just cheated ourselves of His blessings. When we disobey God and others see, there is a ripple effect as well, and others think it is okay to defy God. Soon, an entire nation turns on God, and He executes judgment. Well, Vashti felt swift and severe judgment as a consequence of her actions. She may not have thought out her actions, and sadly, many of us do not think our actions through. I have known many saved people, myself included, who have had to suffer the consequences of defying God. Even in the midst of our rebellion, God can make something good. In the midst of hard lessons, God can majestically shine through and show His sovereignty and absolute power to not let all the failures of men thwart His plans. God is powerful. Our God is powerful. My God is powerful. Is your God All-Powerful? If he is not, why do you serve and worship him? Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ. God bless you, Dr. Sean Gooding Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church How to Connect with Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction) Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca