Sermon Tone Analysis

Where is God when evil surrounds me?

That is our question of the day!

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We are in our second study in the book of Esther, the Old Testament book that never mentions the name God.

If you weren’t able to join us last week, we have titled this series of sermons, Where is God?

And we are looking at the story of Esther and how it relates to various situations in life.

As a reminder church, the Bible is a compilation of 66 books that are all about God.

You and I are not at the center of the narrative, God is.

Especially as American readers, we tend to read the bible with us in mind - as if we are at the center of the story.

But that is simply not true.

At the center of the Bible narrative is God and His grace toward His chosen people.

Therefore, as we read the various genres of Scripture, we are wise to consider the authorial intent of the one God used to write that particular passage in light of the rest of the Bible’s narrative.

Friend, our desire as a church is for you to know God well, by knowing his Word well.

So we walk through books of the bible, alternating often from the new and old testament, so that we can learn about the main character of all the bible, and the center of all history - God Himself.

And as we come to the book of Esther, we see God on display, but behind the scenes.

As many of you will recall, this story is broken into 5 different scenes.

And last week in Scene 1 we looked at the question:

“Where is God when those in charge are wrong?”

And as we perused the pages of chapters 1-2, we learned some very fascinating details about the opening of this book.

To catch us all up, in the first scene of Esther you have:

King Xerxes (the ruler of the known world of this time) in the middle of 5th century BC.

He ruled a huge portion of that side of the globe, except a section of Greece that he failed to conquer.

Other than that, he is ruling over 127 provinces that span from upper Egypt to India.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Darius the Great, Xerxes is all about everyone knowing how awesome he is.

So he throws a 6 month long party and invites many of the important people in his provinces to come celebrate him.

One day, Xerxes decides to have his wife, Queen Vashti, leave a party that she was hosting to come and show off her beauty to all of his friends.

She refuses, and Xerxes is furious.

He receives some bad council from his advisors and they put a plan in place to banish Vashti and write an edict that would be sent to all the provinces that woman are to submit to their husbands.

After the rage (and alcohol) wear off, Xerxes misses his wife and slumps into some form of depression.

His helpers devise a plan to bring in all the available young woman from all the provinces in order to refresh Xerxes by finding him a new Queen.

It just so happens, that Esther (an ethnic jew who remained back from the Babylonian Captivity) wins the favor of the King and becomes the next queen.

It also is serendipitous, that Mordecai, Esther’s cousin who is also her guardian, overhears a plot against the King and is able to send a message to safeguard Xerxes life.

The assassins are caught, and Mordecai’s name is recorded in the history records.

And the curtain drops on Scene 1.

And as we looked a little closer at the story, and considered the details of what is going on, we quickly realize the wickedness of Xerxes and those who rule alongside him.

For starters, the pride and selfishness that exude from Xerxes and his advisors is hard to swallow.

Second, they uproot the lives of all these people and hold this immoral pageant, simply to appease one man.

Third, the disregard for humanity in general and the desire for power and recognition at whatever cost is hard to reconcile.

However, as someone mentioned to me this week as we reflected on the study from last Sunday, isn’t it interesting to see this being played out similarly right before our eyes on the world stage with Russia and Ukraine?

Pride, selfishness, immorality, disregard for human dignity and sanctity all for the desire of power and recognition.

However, we view the details of Esther alongside the rest of the Scriptures and learn that God is still present.

In fact, even as sin is rampant, and evil men rule with little regard for others, God is still at work - faithfully fulfilling His plans and promises.

As modern day readers, we have the blessing of seeing where the history of Esther led - to God caring for His people.

And friend, history repeats itself.

God cares for His own!

But before we get the cart before the horse, we enter scene 2 of this excellent story in chapter 3.

Hopefully you took the time this week to read chapter 3.

If you are joining us for the story, we encourage you to do that each week - to read ahead in the story before you get to the next Sunday.

This will help as we put the story in context and see how it all fits together.

At some point this week I hope you will read chapter 4 in preparation for next Sunday.

Regardless of your reading this past week, here in chapter 3, the story of Esther is becoming more intense.

The tension is building, and it begins in v. 1 with this:

1.

The Deluge of Evil (vv.

1-4)

We notice some history to this flood of evil starting in chapter 3 verse 1, that:

At first glance, this may not seem like much of a sentence.

However, remember what just happened as scene 1 closed out.

The character Mordecai thwarted an assassination plan on the King.

But as we start chapter 3, a new character, Haman, is promoted to second in command (similar to what we would know as Prime Minister in more recent times).

This doesn’t seem fair.

Shouldn’t Mordecai be recognized for his heroism?

We know that the account was written in the history log book for that day, but who is going to be reading those?

To make matters worse, the new guy who is second in command, is from a long line of Hebrew God haters.

As you will remember from last week, both Esther and Mordecai are Jews - they are the people of the God of the Hebrews.

As I mentioned a few moments ago, it is crucial as Bible students to do our best to learn the intent of the Author of the book that we are studying.

In other words, “Why did the author write what they wrote?”.

And in considering authorial intent, we notice that the author doesn’t simply mention that Haman is advanced, but that Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammadetha, is advanced.

There is a reason the author mentions Haman’s lineage.

If you know much about Jewish history, by reading the OT, you may recall the children of Israel exiting from Egypt and the long journey back to the promised land.

Along that journey, weary and vulnerable, we see them attacked by the Amalakites in Exodus 17.

This is the battle when Moses goes on top of a hill with Aaron and Hur and while he has his hands raised high, Joshua and God’s people prevailed, however when his hands lowered Amalek prevailed.

So, as the story goes, they pull a stone over for Moses to sit on, and Aaron and Hur proceed to hold Moses’ hands up for the duration of the battle.

Israel prevails there at Rephidim, and it is recorded that the Lord will eventually blot out the people of Amalek, but that there would be war with them from generation to generation.

And indeed there was.

In fact, Moses reminds them of what the Amalekites did to them just before entering the promised land, in Deuteronomy 25, and says, when you are settled and have peace all around you, don’t forget the Amalakites and when the directive comes, blot them out from the face of the earth.

Fast forward a few centuries, to about 1000 BC, and in 1 Samuel 15, you have King Saul, the one ruling the Israelites at that time, given the directive to wipe out the Amalakites.

Saul does things his own way, keeping back the best, including Agag the King, and actually is dethroned because of his disobedience.

So you have this repeated hostility, first in Exodus 17 with Moses and Amalek, then with their descendants in 1 Samuel 15 you have King Saul and King Agag, and as you fast forward another five or so centuries, you have our current story nestled in the Persian Empire with Mordecai (descendant of Saul) and Haman (the Agagite - descendant of Agag).

Remember, Authorial Intent, we will see why Haman’s lineage is so important in a few verses.

From this history lesson in v. 1, we see in vv.

2-4 that it was normal for those in attendance to bow to those in authority.

In fact, as now the second in command, all the officials are showing respect to Haman.

Well, everyone except Mordecai.

2. The Destructiveness of Evil (vv.

5-7)

Mention time frames (1-2 about 4 years) (12th year - about 9 years have passed since story began)

3. The Deceptiveness of Evil (vv.

8-11)

4. The Dissemination of Evil (vv.

12-15)

The decree is written, sealed, and sent!

This is going to happen!

Things are looking very bleak!

The enemy of God’s people is number 2 in the known world and has lied his way to a plan that will ruin everything!

It is a very fitting time to ask:

Where is God when evil surrounds me?

Throughout this scene, we find an enemy of the people of God using his power to try to get rid of them.

However we recognize, as the author leads us, that this is not a racial issue, as much as it is a religious one.

The flood of evil against righteousness began years before this example in Esther.