February 6 Dishonor

Esther 2:1-4 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the capital, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.
 
HOW often the world tells us to, “Be happy. Do it your way. Put yourself first.”
    Based on everything we know from the Bible, though, this is the way of sin and destruction. “Have it your way.” is the way Satan tempted Adam and Eve. (See Genesis 3.) It is the way Rebekah maneuvered Jacob to cheat his brother Esau of Isaac’s blessing. (See Genesis 27.) “Your way” is the way of Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery. (See Genesis 37.) “Your way” is the way of the authorities to crucify Jesus. (See Pilate’s words in Matthew 27:22-24.)
    It has been four years since the end of Esther 1, and King Ahasuerus’ angry rejection of Queen Vashti. In that time King Ahasuerus had taken an incredible army of 1,700,000 soldiers and a 1200-ship navy to battle Greece. His campaign had suffered a terrible loss as only a few thousand soldiers returned. As “he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her”, King Ahasuerus may have been more humble in his attitude toward Vashti. But his self-serving advisors quickly gave him a plan to forget his defeat and to pursue his lust. They were also protecting themselves. If Vashti would regain any power, their lives may have been on the line!
    The plan to replace Vashti is as disastrous to the human soul as the military campaign was to Persia’s army. Satan attacks mankind to fill us with physical lust, leading to indecency and degradation of innocent women. See how virgins - young, unmarried women – are to be gathered from the Persia to form them into objects of sexual pleasure for the king. Furthermore, these women will be subject to the whims and directives of those who oversee them. Certainly this is the kind of sex-trafficking that wreaks havoc on innocent and unsuspecting children, teenagers and women throughout the world today.
    Again, I point out this reality of King Ahasuerus’ reign and the pagan Persian culture to help us understand the darkness into which Esther will enter and live. She is about to go into a world rife with self-seeking men whose pursuit of pleasure and power rule their minds. Women are property to be used and abused as desired.
    We’ll continue tomorrow on how woman are to be treated as we look at women in Jesus.
 
Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, deliver us from evil, for yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.