It seems that after King Ahasuerus had calmed down following Vashti's refusal to parade herself in front of him and his drunken companions, he realised he no longer had a queen.
His servants suggested that the King appoint officers throughout the land to gather together fair young virgins and bring them to Shushan for the King to choose a new queen.
The King was agreeable to this suggestion and many young girls were brought to the palace 'house of the women' (harem) where Hegai, the King's chamberlain, was responsible for them, and they commenced a 12 month process of purification before spending a night with the King.
Amongst these young girls was Esther, a Jewish orphan being brought up by her cousin, Mordecai who was a descendant of King Saul's family (King Saul was the first King of Israel) carried into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar.
Esther was very beautiful and quickly found favour with Hegai, who gave her all she needed for her purification, including 7 maids and the best place in the harem.
During all of this time, at Mordecai's counsel, Esther had not revealed that she was a Jew, and Mordecai came every day before the court of the harem to find out how Esther was getting on.
My thoughts were particularly drawn to the last verse in this section, verse 11, where we read, 'Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her'.
This speaks to me of such a loving concern from Mordecai to Esther. We first see his love in his adoption of Esther after she lost both her parents - we read that 'he took her for his own daughter' (verse 7). And now, after Esther has been taken to the harem without any apparent say in the matter, Mordecai is anxious to know how she is each day and what will become of her. Would she find favour in the King's eyes and become Queen? Would she be despised or thrown out if she were found out to be a Jew? Could this work for the good of the Jews in captivity? Would she ever be allowed to come back home to him? What was she going through? Was she lonely, unhappy, being treated well? Perhaps all of these thoughts were going through his mind, and so each day Mordecai faithfully came to hear how Esther was and what would happen to her.
Does this make you think of how the Lord is concerned about his people's welfare, and how he likes to hear from us? And does it make you think how you would answer?
It reminds me of the account in Genesis 3 when we read how the LORD God came 'walking in the garden in the cool of the day' and called Adam, 'Where art thou?' and on Adam responding God asked more questions, 'Who...?...hast thou...?...what...?'
If God were to literally knock at our door each day and ask, 'How are you? What have you been doing?', what would we answer?! Would we, like Adam, be ashamed and not want to open the door, and hide ourselves, or would we run to open the door to tell him all our troubles and thank and praise him for all his love.....?
Although God doesn't literally knock on our front door, his spirit 'knocks' on the door of our conscience. Romans 1:20 tells us that the Lord gives us a natural ability to hear him through our 5 senses as we live and experience his visible creation all around us, which speaks of God's invisible power and Godhead.
And we read how the Lord 'knocks' on the hearts of his children: in Song of Solomon 5:2 it says, 'I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled....' ; and in Revelation 3:20 we read, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.'
What would I say if the Lord knocked on my front door this morning? ... In some ways I have already had a 'conversation' with him - I have spent time in prayer - prayer in which my thoughts wandered, prayer which was disorganised as my thoughts jumped from one thought to another. And I have listened for his voice in his word - how does it really speak to me and to you today?...
In Proverbs 8: 34 we read, 'Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors'. Why blessed - or happy? Blessed to have that revelation in our hearts that we are cared for and loved - blessed that we are saved - blessed to have that reassurance that we can tell him all and all is in his control.
One day, every single one of us will hear the voice of the Lord as we are brought before him in death, 'we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ' (Romans 14:10). How will it be with us each? What will we answer?
How I love that God cares about how I’m feeling!
ReplyDeleteHe’s given us such beautiful examples in the psalms of both lament and praise often mingled into one song and I love that we can just pour it all out to Him!
I love how you’ve brought out this aspect in Mordecai’s concern for Esther xx