First off, thank you to all who left comments on last week’s lesson. The comments really do add to the lesson and I’m being selfish here, but it helps me to learn from you as well. So, please leave your comments and help this teacher (me) learn from her students!
In last week’s lesson we
learned a little more about King Ahasuerus by looking at his lineage. We were also shown glimpses of his wealth and
saw that he was indeed a proud man!
This week we get a bit further look at the luxury the king enjoyed as he gave yet another banquet! Remember, all of this leads up to something BIG!
Let’s get started …
Verse 5: When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.
After the 6-month banquet was over, the king gives another banquet. This time though everyone who was present at the citadel was invited … this banquet lasted 7 days! Do you suppose the purpose of this banquet was to now convince the people to support an invasion of Greece? (He had just spent 6 months working on the military leaders.) Do you think he wanted to make sure that everyone, from the least to the greatest, knew he had the where-with-all to successfully invade Greece?
Verse 6: There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones.
Look at these descriptions, it sounds like everything around him screamed wealth and a lot of it. Purple, precious stones, and metals were not easy to acquire. The word ‘opulent’ (rich, luxurious, lavish) comes to mind when reading this description!
Man’s glory is clearly on display here instead of God’s glory. This is something we can all use as a reminder, God created great beauty in this world for us to enjoy but it was never meant to be more highly esteemed then He. Romans 1:25 alludes to this very thought, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” The word ‘creature’ represents created things in this verse. Could this include ourselves? King Ahasuerus went to great lengths to establish an image of himself and his abilities using all these beautiful, created things as part of his plan.
Verse 7: Drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful according to the king’s bounty.
They drank out of golden vessels!!! It seems the King is holding nothing back! All the royal wine one wanted to consume!!! It sounds like a lavish banquet!
‘The royal wine was plentiful’ makes me think there were a lot of intoxicated people in the palace! The ‘royal wine’ also indicates that it was some of the best and most likely appealed to everyone’s taste buds exceptionally well. Remember all of this as it is going to be important shortly!
Verse 8: The drinking was done according to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king had given orders to each official of his household that he should do according to the desires of each person.
It looks like the King might have tailor-made a law for this occasion or maybe ‘doctored’ one already on the books. They could drink as little or as much as they wanted. Drunkenness was prevalent among the Gentiles with rulers being at the forefront. King Ahasuerus didn’t force anyone to drink, he just made it very easy to do so!
Bible Markings and Notes, verse 8: I put an asterisk by verse 8 and wrote in the margin, ‘everybody did what was right in their own eyes’ referencing Judges 21:25, then I wrote, Do I?
Let’s sum up what we’ve learned so far in chapter 1 …
We were introduced to the King of Persia and the vastness of his empire.
He gave a 6-month banquet that had a military purpose.
Then he gave another 7-day banquet.
During both banquets, his pride and arrogance was on display as he showed off his riches and wealth.
The king’s royal wine was plentiful and freely provided to everyone!
In our next lesson, we’re going to see how all of this leads up to an unfortunate incident that has the potential to change the lives of an entire culture of people.
Can you see God working behind the scenes in verses 5 – 8?
One possibility that I picked up on was that God was allowing King Ahasuerus to dig himself deeper and deeper into a situation that was going to backfire. King Ahasuerus, it appears, had no interest in God and so God seemingly let him have his way.
For those times when we ask the question, ‘why doesn’t God do something’ this may be a clue … He is doing something. Just because we don’t see evidence of things changing, doesn’t mean He isn’t working behind the scenes.
It’s a faith/trust issue for us, what God is doing may not be what we had in mind, but we can rest assured that God’s way is the better way. One of my most prayed prayers is for God to strengthen my weak faith. Like the father of the child who had an unclean spirit in Mark 9:24 crying out, “I believe; help my unbelief.” (according to Strongs, unbelief here includes unfaithfulness, distrust, faithlessness, disbelief) I too find myself crying out to God for help to stand strong in faith when all seems hopeless.
God allowed King Ahasuerus to have his way so that things would be in place for Him (God) to have His way later for a much bigger and more important cause.
What are your thoughts on today’s lesson?
Next week we’ll move on into verses 9 -12 where we will see this proud, boastful king’s authority tested by his beautiful wife, the Queen … publicly!!! Yikes!
Don't forget to leave a comment and if you're enjoying this class, please share the link with other ladies who you think might enjoy it as well.
Until the next class ...
patsy @ From This Heart Of Mine
(c) 2023 by Patsy Norwood ~ All Rights Reserved.
I'm late, but I'm here, Patsi! Esther is one of my favorite books in the Bible. There is so much providence woven throughout it. One thing I noticed, mentioned in the previous lesson, is that the king threw the banquet in the third year of his reign. This had to have been God's timing, as I think parties and celebrations would typically be thrown right at the ascension of a throne, or very soon after. I think he was using it to show his power, authority, and capability of ruling over his realm, garnering admiration and loyalty in the process (which made Vashti's public disobedience a slap in the face to all of that.)
ReplyDeleteWhat I notice in my reading of the passages in this lesson is that the drinking was done according to the law. This is jumping ahead, but for context, I see the king often consulting and sticking to the law, consulting his counselors, looking through the books of records, etc in other parts of Esther. I think this is important as we see the providence in his putting away of Vashti (disobedience to the king is typically punishable by law), as opposed to the grace he extended to Esther later on. I definitely see a bigger picture playing out, not only in Esther's story, but in the idea of law vs grace for us. (I don't at all mean to compare God to a pagan king, but drawing from the context of Ahasuerus being sovereign over a realm and "having mercy on whom he will have mercy", so to speak, it is certainly food for thought to me!) There are some very obvious and notable differences between Vashti and Esther personality-wise, but I'm sure that will be covered later on. It's hard not to jump ahead- I love this story!
Kelsey, it is hard not to jump ahead! I struggle with not doing that as I research and write each lesson! I agree with you on King Ahasuerus' personal motives in giving the banquet other than planning an assault against Greece. It seems that what others thought of him was very important to him.
DeleteAs we'll see later on, King Ahasuerus was particularly concerned with making sure the law was carried out to a 'T' and we're going to see how God' uses that trait to accomplish His overall plan.
It really is an exciting book chalked full of lessons from God.
My first thought as I read about the king's lavish banquets and no regard for God was, we're watching leaders trying to some of the same things in our country today. Worshiping the creation with disregard to the creator is the norm of today also.
ReplyDeleteRanch Mom, sadly, I had the same thoughts!
DeleteOne thought I had was if the first banquet, which ran 6 months, was to garner the support of the men in the military who would lead the war on Greece, the second banquet was possibly to convince the rest of the populace to support this effort as foot soldiers. The king had a goal to increase his power and territory. As to doing things according to law, it would seem that law, at this time was extremely important to the king even though he was a proud and arrogant man, he wanted to be seen as above board in his actions and someone who could be trusted to reward or take care of his solidiers. A very interesting passage with so many nuances . Cookie
ReplyDeleteCookie, I think you're right about the reputation King Ahasuerus wanted to portray and protect. That's going to come into play in a big way in our next lesson.
DeleteKing Ahasuerus does indeed seem to have a penchant for obeying the law closely. I wonder if I can find any additional information on that aspect of his character. You've got me thinking!
I did a bit more research and it seems the law that King Ahasuerus was so determined to obey is the Law of the Medes and Persians. It seems he wanted to be seen and known as 'obeying the law.' Very Interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe king as a true politician! What a blessing it would be if our present leaders were to follow the laws!
ReplyDeleteLana, Amen!
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