(Read through the 10 chapters of the book of Esther)
This is a three part series covering the whole book of Esther. I will cover this by the end of this first week of February, a sermon preached at Trinity Baptist Church, Nairobi)

The purpose of the Book of Esther is to
display the providence of God, especially in regard to His chosen people,
Israel. In providence, God wisely and powerfully preserves and governs all His
creatures and all their actions in order to execute His decrees and accomplish
His purposes. In a biblical context, providence means that God
sees what is ahead and is at work to accomplish His future purposes through the
events of the present. Providence is God
at work, through natural means, in our world.
This is one of the greatest encouragements and comfort for Christians –
the knowledge that the Lord God is in absolute control of all things. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its
every decision is from the Lord” (Proverbs
16:33). He orders our footsteps, so that we are not overwhelmed by the
wickedness of this world as to be distracted from our eternal perspective.
The Book of Esther records the institution of
the Feast of Purim and the obligation of its perpetual observation. It was read
at the Feast of Purim to commemorate the great deliverance of the Jewish nation
brought about by God through Esther. Jews today still read Esther during Purim.
The noble Esther risked her own death as
she realized what was at stake. She willingly did what could have been a deadly
manoeuvre and took on the second-in-command of her husband‘s kingdom, Haman.
She proved a wise and most worthy opponent, all the while remaining humble and
respectful of the position of her husband-king.

“He [God] doesn’t sit for
a pent portrait in the story of Esther, but His mind, His will, His power, and
His presence are working in concert on every page.”
(Charles Swindoll)
A.
THE CONTENTS
1.
The
Feasting (1:4)
·
The Great feast
Ø Lasted
180 days (six months)
Ø Lavish
Display of Wealth and pomp
Ø Nobility,
Officials, Employees of the Empire were invited
·
The Smaller Feast (1:5-9)
Ø Lasts
for seven days (a week)
Ø All
people in Susa were invited
Ø Wine
for everyone (Hebrew is literally “drinking feast”)
Ø Queen
Vashti also gave her own feast for the women in the palace
•
The Awkward Request (1:11-2:1-4)
Ø “Queen
Vashti to the banquet hall, wear your crown.”
Ø Show
your beauty
Ø The
Refusal (1:12)
Ø The
king was enraged and banished/divorced her (1:13-22)
Ø Four
Years Pass: During which time Xerxes invades Greece suffering defeat
Ø Then
the king missed his queen
Ø His
advisers hold a beauty contest to find a new queen, a better queen
Ø The
Beauty Pageant to look for another queen
2.
Mordecai introduced (2:5-23)
v Tribe
of Benjamin, a descendent of Saul
v Caring
for his cousin Hadassah (Esther)
v Introduced
to Esther
ü Beautiful
figure and lovely to look at (2:7)
ü Esther
is made queen (2:17)
v Mordecai
overhears an assassination plot and reports it to Esther who tells the king
saving his life.
3.
Haman
introduced with his wickedness (3)
v He
was an Agagite, son of Hammedatha
v He
is a proud, arrogant man
v He
resents the attitude of Mordecai
v Haman,
knowing that Mordecai is Jewish, seeks to destroy all Jews. He accomplishes this with a sizeable bribe to
the king’s treasury. The date of the
genocide is set almost 12 months in the future.
4.
The
Courage of Esther (4:1-5:8)
v Mordecai
informs Esther of the plot against the Jewish people
v Mordecai
enlisted Esther’s help
v Esther
risked her life to go before the king and invite him to dinner
5.
The
Tables Turn (5:9-6:13)
v Haman
angered by Mordecai and seeks to have him killed
v The
king can’t sleep and reading the annals, realizes he owed his life to Mordecai
v Queen
Esther holds the first feast, inviting the king and Haman
v Mordecai
is honored at the expense of Haman
v The
Second Dinner (6:14-7:6)
v Esther
reveals Haman’s plot
v Haman
is killed on the gallows intended for Mordecai (7:7-7:10)
v The
Salvation and victory for the Jews and the destruction of their enemies
(Chapters 8 -10)
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