Esther 4:15-17

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan.

The crisis in the life of Esther

The spectacle presented reminds us--

I. That in neither place nor fortune has any one security against trial and danger. The palace may be a prison to its inmate, the hut cannot exclude the approaches of a grief.

II. That one reason not only for gifts of place and fortune, but foe experiences of trouble also, must be that we may help others in their perils. Power and opportunity measure obligation. Even sorrow and peril as they enrich and mellow the nature, enhance the power to help and bless.

III. That risk and difficulty do not exempt from duty or release from obligation. It is told of the Duke of Wellington that, in one of his campaigns, an officer awoke him to say to him that a certain enterprise to be carried into effect that night was impossible. As the officer was going on to give reasons for this opinion, the Duke replied, “Bring me my order-book.” Turning over its leaves, he said, “It is not at all impossible; see, it is down in the order-book.” Whereupon he lay down to sleep again. Risks are not to be unprovided for. Difficulties are not to be despised; but had there been none to run great risks, to undertake in the face of great hardships, prophets and apostles had been few. There had been no Elijah or Daniel, no John the Baptist or Paul the apostle, no Luther or Knox.

IV. That helping to save others is often the best way to insure our own salvation. The teaching of experience and history is that mere self-seeking is self-ruin. There is such a thing as the solidarity of human interests. The capitalist thrives best when he promotes the weal of the labourer, the labourer when he regards the interests of his employer. To save my children I must help to save my neighbour’s. To one who inquired if the heathen can be saved if we do not give them the gospel, the apt reply was, “A much more practical question for us is whether we can be saved if we do not help to give it them.” An eminent statesman early professed his Christian faith, and, for some years maintained a godly walk. After a time he ceased to be religiously active, and allowed his light to be hid. While not renouncing his faith, yet his Christian character did neither himself nor Christ any honour. One evening he dropped into a little school-house gathering, and at the close he introduced himself to the preacher, and after an earnest conversation with him, he said, “Sir, I would give all the fame I now have, or expect to have, for the assurance of that hope of which you have spoken to-night.” To be ourselves saved we must help to save others.

V. Of the true source of courage and help in perplexity and ill. Although no distinct mention of prayer is made, yet it is evidently implied. It is an instinct of the human heart to resort to the Hearer of Prayer. In its distress the soul cries unto God. When a great steamship was hourly expected to sink in mid-ocean we are told that all on board gave themselves to prayer.

VI. That God’s providence is always over his people for good. (Sermons by Monday Club.)

Difficulties cleared up

1. Esther’s heart was moved not to shrink from manifest duty. “Add to your faith, virtue,” courage, a manly and determined purpose to carry out its calls to their utmost extent. Stop not to ask leave of circumstances, of personal convenience or indolent self-indulgence, but go forward in your appointed work. How prone we are to shrink from disagreeable or dangerous duty. How many excuses we are able to frame for our neglect. How easy it becomes to satisfy our sinful hearts that God will not require that which it is so difficult or so dangerous to perform. Fly from no duty when the word and providence of God call you forward. Go on, and trust yourself to God.

2. Esther’s heart was moved to sincere dependence on God. Prayer seems the natural voice of danger and sorrow. The ancient philosopher said, “If a man would learn to pray, let him go to sea.” The hour of the tempest will be to multitudes a new lesson in their relations to God. When men are in affliction and trouble they are easily led to cry unto God. Esther and her maidens prayed. What if the husband does not or will not bless his household? Cannot the mother and the wife collect her children and her maidens for prayer?

3. The king’s heart was moved to listen and to accept her. The clouds have passed, and the Lord whom she loved has given her a token for good. This is the power of prayer, the work of providence, the influence of grace. The king’s heart is in the hands of the Lord, and as the rivers of water, He has turned it according to His will. What a lesson in providence is this! The same power which leads to prayer, and supports us in prayer, at the same time works over other minds and other things to make an answer completely ready for our enjoyment. How easily can God remove all the stumbling-blocks out of the way of His children! “What art thou, O, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.” Anticipated difficulties suddenly vanish; enemies whom we had expected are not found; the things which apparently threatened our hurt turn out to our advantage; and blessings which we had not dared to hope for crowd around our path. Thus Paul found it at Rome.

4. God moved Esther’s heart to great wisdom and prudence in her management of the undertaking she had assumed. Peculiar wisdom anal skill often are imparted to us in answer to prayers for the accomplishment of the work of the Lord. Our dependence and prayer have no tendency to make us headlong or rash. We are still to employ all the proper means and agencies which our utmost wisdom will suggest to attain the end we have in view. True piety in the exercise of its faith and love and hope towards God, is the highest wisdom. It unites all the wisest calculation and effort of man with all the goodness and power of God. It is a fellowship, a partnership with God in which He furnishes all the capital, and employs our sanctified labours alone; in which we strive to be faithful, and He promises to bless. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)

Esther’s petition

I. We note the fact that every one has some special mission. Esther’s special mission was to avert the destruction which threatened her people. Is it true that all have some such peculiar charge? We read of the decisive battles of the world and their commanders; of the dominating philosophies and their masters; of the ruling arts and their teachers; of the controlling religions and their high-priests; of the great reforms and their leaders. Yet these elect ones are but as a handful of sands to the grains which make the shore, For the rest, mere existence seems to be its own end and object. But it is not so. A persistent pressure is in and on every heart to enter into secret communication with God, and linking its weakness with His strength, exerts a blessed influence which, like the sound-waves, goes on endlessly. That hour of audience with its Maker is its greatest possibility. For that, at least, it has a special mission. From Him it receives what almost might be called “sealed orders.” Saul of Tarsus was given his at Damascus, and so he went to Jerusalem, not knowing how they would read as he opened them there. So every Christian goes his way, till we find Henry Martyn preaching Christ to the Hindus, Isaac Newton solving the problem of the apple’s fall, Leigh Richmond writing “The Dairyman’s Daughter,” George Muller erecting his orphanage, Mary Lyon opening collegiate doors to her sisters, and Abraham Lincoln issuing the emancipation proclamation. And though not yet widely observed, the prayers, counsels, and inspirations by which gifted souls have roused, led, and saved society originated in the closet, and kitchen, and field, where the godly parent or teacher has fulfilled a holy and particular mission. The successful general is feted and praised. Every soldier in the ranks is just as essential to the victory. Every individual, however insignificant, has his momentous obligation. The child’s hand in the lighthouse tower may turn the helm of a whole navy, that it is not strewn along the reefs.

II. Note the fact that love for others is worthy love of self. To lose one’s love of life, comfort, and honour in the greater love of the life, comfort, and honour of his kin is counted the highest of human virtues. Mettus Curtius, in spurring his horse into the yawning chasm to save Rome, was not the first nor the last to hold the welfare of the many above that of the individual. “We have no religion to export,” meanly argued a legislator against the Act of incorporation of the American Board. “Religion,” was the profound reply, “is a commodity which the more we export the more we have.”

III. Note the need of timely preparation for our work. Then--always--the idea has prevailed that united petitions, like the volume of the sea, would be mighty, while the solitary plea, like the single drop, would be null. Jesus promised answer when two or three were agreed in their request. Spiritual momentum, like physical, seems to be proportioned to the quantity of soul multiplied by its eagerness. The Church has upborne its ministers, and made them speak with authority when it has been praying with them. Individual preparation must also be made. Esther must fast no less than her people. She does all she can to pave the way for a favourable reception of her cause. Jacob’s present of flocks and herds, sent forward to placate Esau, with the greeting “and behold he is behind us,” fitly represents the forethought and tact which oftenest gains its end. We may call it “policy”; but what harm, if it be not bribery?

IV. Note the reward of venturing in a good cause. The supreme hazard gains the supreme desire. The fearless champion of a full and free religious life oftenest triumphs. St. Patrick before the Druid chieftain; Wickliffe before the angry bishops, and Luther before the Diet, succeed, when others of as noble wish, but of less courage, must have failed. Into the densest heathenism the soldier of the Cross penetrates, and a redeemed people build their monument of thanksgiving, not for his piety simply, but for his bravery. Holy causes seem often to clothe their advocates in such shining dress, that assaulting powers are abashed at the sight. (Moray Club Sermon.)

A suggestion and its operation

We have here illustrated--

I. Human obligation to suggestion. By far the majority of the imports into the soul and life of the world are marked “via suggestion.” As the present holds in it the past, so suggestion is the essential of progress, the root of accomplishment, the spur of duty. Compute, if you can, the poet’s debt to suggestion; Burns and the mouse, etc. The prime factor of invention is suggestion. Men see something, hear something, touch something, and in a flash an idea springs full-armed and captures the mind. The eye suggests the telescope, the heart the engine. Is naval architecture to be completely revolutionised? Is the new leviathan to be the future type of ocean steamers? Subtract the suggestion of a whale’s back, and what then? Human experience is largely the outcome of suggestion. Mordecai could not command Queen Esther, but he could pace in sackcloth before the palace gate. He could send a message to the queen making an entreating, pitiful suggestion.

II. The struggle which ensues in carrying a suggestion over into practice. Carlyle has said, “Transitions are ever full of pain.” Thus the eagle when it moults is sickly, and to attain his new beak must harshly dash off the old one upon the rocks. There is no more critical experience for a human soul than when a suggestion lodges in it; especially When it means the readjustment of all our spiritual furniture, burying of cherished plans, crucifying selfish ambition, stripping off desire, defying danger, releasing power, and making us risk the sarcasm, the scorn which are ever the pall-bearers of failure. This gives scope for the true heroism of life, a heroism which finds its choicest exhibit, not in those who have the leverage of a great enthusiasm and who are consciously beneath the eyes of a great multitude, but in those duels between souls and suggestions fought out in the solitude of the human breast. Thus John Knox, when summoned in public assembly to the ministry, rushes from the congregation in tears to enter, in his solitary chamber, upon a struggle which should last for days, but the outcome of which should be a face set like a flint. Thus Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel shrink and wrestle but obey. Thus Esther hesitates and excuses herself on the ground of personal danger, till at last the suggestion rides over her soul roughshod, and in the heroism of a great surrender she declares, “So will I go in unto the king. .. and if I perish, I perish.”

III. The availing of one’s self of allies in the execution of a determined purpose. Esther made three allies.

1. With herself. She knew her royal spouse was impulsive; she knew he was susceptible. And so, bent on subduing him, she bedecks herself with jewels, and right royally attired stands in the court. Impulse leaps, susceptibility flames: “She obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre.”

2. With her husband. In the execution of a worthy purpose one may find and may avail himself of the ally which resides in that which is to be overcome. It makes a deal of difference how you take hold of a thing. The handle of a pail is the water-carrier’s ally; he may despise it and fare worse! Said one of the keenest logicians in this country, “In entering upon a debate, find, to begin with, common ground with your antagonist, something you can both accept--a definition, a proposition, or if nothing else, the state of the weather.” Here is a deep truth. There are natural allies in the enemy’s country; it is strategy, it is generalship, to get into communication with them. Esther recognised her ally, and so she approached her husband, not with entreaty or rebuke, but with invitation. The suggestion of a feast prepared under her direction in honour of his majesty was the warder within the castle of the fickle king’s soul, who would not fail to raise the portcullis of his will to admit the entrance of a queen’s desire.

3. With time. There is a ministry in wise delay; haste is not of necessity success. Is procrastination the thief of time? Then precipitation is the assassin of it. To work and wait--to wait for the order, the chance, the moment to strike, was a lesson Esther had learned by heart, and so she refused to unbosom her petition till the hour struck. When Leyden was besieged by the Spaniards the inhabitants sent word to the enemy that they would eat their left arms and fight with their right before they would surrender. At last, in their extremity, they told the governor they must surrender. “Eat me, but don’t surrender,” was the heroic reply. Then some one thought of cutting the dykes and flooding the enemy’s camp; they did it, rushed upon the enemy in the confusion, and out of apparent disaster snatched a glorious victory. (Nehemiah Boynton.)

Esther’s petition

Learn--

I. That in the exigencies of religion and of God’s kingdom, the church may demand of us the disregard of personal safety.

II. That when God gives us a mission which we are wise enough to see and to fulfil, then we may humbly expect that he will accomplish blessed results by the feeblest instruments. (W. E. Boggt, D. D.)

I also and my maidens will fast likewise.

Mistress and maid

Some, it is probable, of Esther’s maids were heathens when they came into her service. Yet we find her promising that they would fast. She can answer for them, as Joshua for his household, that they would serve the Lord. If mistresses were as zealous as Queen Esther for the honour of God and the conversion of sinners, they would bestow pains upon the instruction and religious improvement of their female servants. If women may gain to Christ their own husbands by their good conversation, may they not also gain the souls of their servants? and if they are gained to Christ, they are gained to themselves also. (G. Lawson.)

Fasting is in itself a prayer

It is remarkable that nothing is here said about prayer, but fasting was in itself a prayer; for it was not a form put on from without, but the natural expression of the inner emotion, and as an application to God, it is to be explained much as we do the touching of the Saviour by the woman, who in that way sought her cure. Words are signs, just as fasting is a sign. That which is essential in either is genuineness. God does not look to the words themselves, any more than He does to the fasting in itself. He has regard only to that which the soul expresses, either by the one or through the other. The touch of the soul of the woman went to the Master’s heart through her touching of His garment with her fingers; and the yearning of the soul of Esther, through her fasting, made its appeal to Jehovah, even though she did not breathe His name. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

And so will I go in unto the king.--

Prayer accompanied by appropriate use of means

She will not think that her duty is done when she has prayed and fasted. She will seek, by the use of proper means, to obtain that blessing which she has been asking. The insincerity of our prayers is too often discovered by our sloth and cowardice. We ask blessings from God, and, as if He were bound to confer them, not according to His own will, but according to ours, we take no care to use those means which He hath appointed for obtaining them, or we do not use them with requisite diligence. (G. Lawson.)

Courage to face difficulties

There are two kinds of courage--the mere animal courage, which results from well-strung nerves, and is exerted by impulse rather than by reflection; and the moral courage, which, on a calm calculation of difficulties, and of the path of duty, will face the difficulties and prosecute the path of duty at any hazard, even at the risk of life itself. It will often be found that men are deficient in the latter of these qualities, while they are remarkable for the former. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)

Esther’s resolve

I. The Preparation: fasting and prayer.

1. Fasting is abused by the Church of Rome, therefore disused by many who belong to the Church of Christ. Deep feeling will make fasting natural. Moses (Exodus 34:28), Elijah (1 Kings 19:7), Christ (Matthew 4:2), fasted forty days each. See Ezra’s fast (Ezra 8:21; Ezra 8:23). Directions how to fast (Matthew 6:16). Paul was given to fasting (2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 2 Corinthians 11:27). Fasting is useless without faith. The Pharisee (Luke 18:12).

2. Prayer. Three days’ special prayer. The Jews in their synagogues. Esther in the palace. With what humility, sorrowful confession, and earnestness did they pray!

II. The resolution: “So will I go in unto the king,” etc. There are some points of resemblance and of contrast between the case of Esther and that of the poor sinner.

1. Points of resemblance.

(1) She was in extreme danger (verse 13). So with the sinner (Psalms 7:11).

(2) There was no other way for her escape. “By no means” (Psalms 49:7).

(3) This way seemed full of difficulty and danger. Haman’s influence the king’s temper. The royal guards.

2. Points of contrast.

(1) She went into the presence of an earthly monarch who was partial, changeable, irritable, weak. God is always the same.

(2) She was uninvited. The sinner pressed to come.

(3) The law forbade her to come.

(4) The king has apparently forgotten her for thirty days.

(5) She might have been stopped by the guards.

(6) She might have been misunderstood.

(7) She might have failed by going the wrong time.

Lessons--

1. Warning. Danger threatens.

2. Instruction. Prepare.

3. Encouragement. (The Study and the Pulpit.)

And if I perish, I perish.--

Love to God stronger than death

“If I perish, I perish.” Our lives are not our own; they cannot be long preserved by us. They will be of little value to us without a good conscience. The life which is purchased by neglect of duty is shameful, bitter, worse than death. Whoever shall save his life in this manner shall lose it in this world as well as in the next. But to lose life for the sake of Christ and a good conscience is truly to live. A day of life employed in the most hazardous duties, by which we show that our love to God is stronger than death, excels a thousand days of a life spent in the service and enjoyment of the world. (G. Lawson.)

Esther’s resolve

I. The impending danger.

1. A wicked, crafty, designing foe.

2. An irrevocable decree of destruction.

3. No visible way of escape,

II. The bold resolution.

III. The solemn preliminary: fasting and prayer.

IV. The successful issue.

1. Life spared.

2. Enemy is destroyed.

3. Honour is given. (The Study and the Pulpit.)

The crisis met

I. Observe the queen’s modesty--her extraordinary prudence at the very moment that she is most successful. Her request was a simple invitation to have the king come to a banquet of wine the next day, and as a mark of regard for his preferences, she wishes him to bring Haman.

II. In Esther’s fasting and prayer and pious courage we see that faith and piety are not always shorn of their fruits under unfavourable influences; they may flourish in a palace. In a chaotic state of society a pious man may have greater difficulties to overcome in maintaining a godly walk, but then, in overcoming these difficulties, he will gain a greater degree of spiritual strength.

III. Queen Esther was a true representative woman. Every one is raised up as she was, not to be a Sultana, and do just the work she did, but to do his or her own work. Every one has a duty to perform--a post to maintain--a lot to fulfil.

IV. It may sometimes be our duty to ourselves, our country, our fellow-men and our God to put our lives in jeopardy for the truth, or for the church, and for the sake of Jesus. True piety ought to make men brave.

V. We should never fear to do our duty. The God whom we serve is able either to sustain us under our trials or to deliver us out of them. Why should we yield to the fear of man that bringeth a snare, seeing that we are in the hands of Him who holdeth the hearts of all men and of devils in His hand?

VI. The privilege and efficacy of prayer.

1. As Henry remarks, here is an example of a mistress praying with her maids that is worthy of being followed by all housekeepers and heads of families.

2. And we are here encouraged to ask the sympathy and prayers of others when we undertake any great or perilous enterprise. The king’s favourite was her greatest enemy. But if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, even His own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

VII. One of the gracious designs of affliction is to make us feel our dependence upon God. A gracious result of trials to the people of God is that it drives them to prayer. But the court of heaven is not like that of Persia, into which there was no entrance for those that were in mourning or clothed with sackcloth. Such could not come near the palace of Ahasuerus. But it is the weary, the heavy-laden, and the sorrowing that are especially invited to the throne of grace, and invited to come boldly. “Is any among you afflicted,” saith the apostle James, “let him pray.” (W. A. Scott, D. D.)

Courage ought to be cultivated

The exigencies of human existence call loudly for the cultivation of courage. Victory is frequently suspended upon boldness. Cromwell’s Ironsides were accustomed to enter the battle shouting, “The Lord is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” They were always victorious. The Christian’s heroism should be like that of the Prince of Conde, who, when offered by his monarch the choice between three things--“To go to Mass, to die, or to be imprisoned”--heroically replied, “I am perfectly resolved never to go to Mass, so between the other two I leave the choice to your majesty.” If Luther dared to enter the Diet of Worms relying on the justice of his cause and the protection of God, assuredly the Christian in this age may confidently face the dangers which confront him. Genuine piety has a powerful tendency to develop heroism. Moses, Elijah, Nathan, Daniel, John the Baptist, etc. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)

Moral heroism

1. The Christian should make no concealment of his piety. If Esther dared to reveal her religion, asking her maidens to unite in imploring the interposition of Jehovah, surely the Christian ought not to cloak his.

2. Sympathy shown to the suffering is advantageous to the giver as well as to the receiver.

3. Those who resist the evidence that the Church is not infrequently in a condition calling for immediate deliverance are enemies of true religion, not friends.

4. Christians should possess moral heroism.

5. If desirous of securing deliverance for the Church, we should endeavour to impress upon each a keen sense of personal responsibility.

6. We should endeavour to sustain those who are passing through trials for us. Mordecai and the Jewish people engaged in prayer while Esther exposed herself to death on their behalf.

7. Assurance of deliverance should impel to the performance of present duty. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)

Esther’s peril and its attendant success

Notice--

I. The situation in which esther was placed.

II. Her conduct in the emergency.

III. The success which attended her application. (R. P. Buddicom.)

Esther’s resolve

This was not--

I. The resolution of a fatalist who acts upon the principle that what is destined to be must be.

II. The resolution of desperation, which feels “matters cannot be worse, and to have done the utmost may bring relief, while it cannot possibly aggravate the evil.”

III. The resolution of a person prostrated under difficulties, and yet, with a vague hope of deliverance, saying, “I will make one effort more, and if that fail, and all is lost, I can but die.” Esther’s purpose was framed in a spirit altogether different. It was the heroism of true piety, which in providence shut up to one course, and that, full of danger, counts the cost, seeks help of God, and calmly braves the danger, saying, “He will deliver me if He have pleasure in me; if not, I perish in the path of duty.” (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)

Access to the throne

I remember at the time of that marvellous “blizzard,” as it was called, in America, there was an astounding instance of roundabout communication. There were parties in Philadelphia who wanted to communicate with Boston, but all the telegraph lines were down, and they actually cabled the message across the sea to London, and from London by cable to Boston, in order to get the message through which it was desired to communicate to parties in that city. This may illustrate what I mean, that sometimes, when interruption of communication exists on earth, or there are closed doors or insurmountable obstacles which hinder our effective labour, and when in vain we knock and ring at the closed doors, or attempt to overcome the hindrances that exist between us and the ends that we desire to attain--if we can get access to the King of kings, and if we can send our message up to the throne, from the throne the answer will come. We shall find that the surest way to get to the upper storey of the house, or to reach across the intervening obstacles that have accumulated in our path, is to approach the desired end by way of God’s throne. (A. T. Pierson.)

Gospel-consecration

does not go farther than this. Everything dear and valued was left behind in order that she might serve God. “All things were counted but loss” that she might maintain “a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.” Ah! how this believer, in old times, when as yet the Saviour was only had in promise, puts to shame many in these latter days who are in possession of the finished salvation! Even the pleasures of sense, and the wealth and rewards of the world, keep them in a state of indecision and vacillation, if not of absolute indifference, to the call and claims of the gospel. (T. McEwan.).